Self Responses

When you submit essays for evaluation, you will also submit your own evaluation of the struggles and achievements you've encountered in the writing process. Create a new document in your Google Drive essays folder for this course; use the following filename for each self response you write:

"LastName.FirstName.PaperTopic.Self.Response.F13"

The content parameters of this response are pretty wide open, but your discussion should revolve around your impressions of your experience working on your paper. Points might include what you felt successful doing, what you felt frustrated by, areas in which you needed help but did not ask, and areas in which you felt confident. What was it like to write this paper, and how can you apply the lessons you learned to future papers? To what extent have you improved yourself as a writer through the process of writing this paper?

Write at least 300 words for this self-response.

Peer Responses

As your peers make progress on their own essays, you will offer evaluations of their work that help them (and you) continue to improve.

On the day a rough draft is due, you will begin evaluating the essays of two different peers (and two peers will review your essay). Arrange with your group how you will distribute the sharing. Only students with a complete draft can be reviewed, each student must review two essays, and each student (with a complete draft) must have two reviewers.

On each essay you evaluate, you should spend 45-60 minutes. The first step is to read the essay and make comments in the margin about various strengths and weaknesses of the essay. Focus on the ideas of the essay and the structure of those ideas in the essay, not the grammar or style. As you read the essay, ask yourself, "How can the writer be more specific? How can the writer make the ideas more vivid? How can the writer improve how each idea BUILDS from the one before it?" Remember, the standard of excellence you're reaching for is effective communication. As Hjortshoj wrote, "Effective writing, therefore, facilitates continuous reading from beginning to end" (115). Make substantial comments on parts of the beginning, middle, and end of the essay.

Once you are done commenting on the paper, create a new document in your Google Drive essays folder for this course.

By default, you will be the owner of the document, but when you share this document with the peer you are evaluating, you need to make that student the owner. First, grant them editing privileges; when you see your peer's name on the sharing list, make him/her the owner. After doing so, you will still be able edit the document, but the student you are evaluating will actually own the document. And as long as you created the document in your essays folder, I'll have access to it as well.

Type a 300+ word response to your peer's paper. To earn credit for the peer responses you write, you must refrain from superficial, trite, cliched statements of praise and approval. Instead, I need to see evidence that you are grappling with the writer's actual attempt to communicate an idea and how that attempt can be improved. Do not generalize about the student's essay; instead, use specific examples from the essay to show what works but can work better. Also, show what does not work and suggest how to make it work.

Your response needs to be thorough because you also stand to benefit from the thorough responses of your peers. In other words, do your part and do not let it slide. Your peer responses will be featured in the final portfolios of the students you help, so you need to be accountable to this responsibility. At the top of your peer response, indicate which paper you are evaluating and address the writer ("Dear Michael"); at the end of the response type your full name after "Sincerely"--in this way, you are communicating directly with your peer.

Assigned Reading Responses

For various readings you choose, whether from the book we are reading or from magazine articles that spark your interest, you will compose intelligent responses that show your understanding of the content of the material and your interest in discussing its importance. You will write these responses on Google Drive. We will set up your Google Drive during class, when I can give you guided instructions.

Steps for Doing an Assigned Reading Response

1. Type out the citation of the reading assignment. Use proper MLA format for credit.
2. The first paragraph of your response should highlight an idea from the assignment that caught your eye and made you think. I do not want the main idea of the article, but a single idea that stood out to you while reading it. Explain what the author is trying to communicate about the issue at hand and give some examples from the text to show his point of view.
3. The second paragraph of your response should connect the author's idea to one that you come up with that relates. Your idea should be personally signficant to you and must be specific, not general. How does the author's idea extend to an issue you find important? Show the relevance of the author's idea by explaining what it made you think about.
4. Give your response an intelligent and original title.