Lesson Plan: Peer Review (Thesis Statements-II)

Objective: To help students develop a clear and well-developed thesis statement that is sustained throughout the paper. 15 minutes: Peer Review PowerPoint: If this is the first time that you will be conducting a peer review in your class, it would be helpful to review the PowerPoint on peer review with your class.

30-45 minutes: Thesis Statement Peer Review: 1. Have students arrange their chairs in a circle if possible. 2. On a piece of paper have each student write his or her thesis statement on the top of the paper. 3. Have students pass their paper to the right. 4. Ask the students to read the thesis statement and write down what they believe the paper will be about and the type of information/evidence that they would expect to see to support the thesis statement. If the student does not understand the thesis statement or believes that there is no thesis statement (i.e., I am not sure what you are arguing/stating), the student should indicate that on the paper. 5. Every 2-3 minutes (depending on the number of students) have the students continue to pass the paper to the right and repeat step four. 6. Continue until the paper returns to its owner. Note: This was a very fun activity! Remind students to consider peer comments during the revision process, especially if the comments indicate that the thesis statement is confusing/unclear or that the content of the paper does not relate to the existing thesis statement. Rather than changing the content, the student may need to revise his or her thesis statement.