Giving Quality Feedback to Your Peers

Feedback should… Feedback shouldn’t...

★ Help your peer grow not just improve their work
★ Should reflect your thoughts like a mirror-not
evaluate or give a grade
★ It’s a conversation between two humans who think
and feel
★ It should cause thinking to happen
★ It should tie into your peer’s learning goals
★ Be empty praise like “Great job!” or “Awesome!”
★ Anything mean that breaks the writer down.
★ Sugarcoating-be honest in a kind way. What’s
working and what’s not?
★ Lacking suggestions-what are some actual things
the writer can do to grow/improve?

Framework for giving feedback-option 1

❖ I heard…As a reviewer, summarize what you think the piece was about. Tell the writer what you saw as the
story or main idea. As a writer, listen to this section, and try to hear whether or not you communicated
what you wanted to communicate.
❖ I noticed… As a reviewer, tell the author about some of the things that attracted your attention. What worked
well? What Details really popped or painted a picture in your mind? What will you remember
from reading this? As a writer, think about why the reviewer noticed these things, and how can
you make all your writing as effective?
❖ I wondered… As a reviewer, did you have any questions when you finished reading? Did you not understand
something or why it was included? Did something bother or disturb you? Did you think something
might have worked better another way? This is your chance to ask the writer all these questions. As a
writer, try to answer the reviewer’s questions. Look at your writing again and see if there is any way to
make those parts clearer to the reader.

Framework for giving feedback-option 2

❖ Respond as a human being: How does what you read affect you emotionally or personally? What connections can you
make to the topic personally in your life or in the life you hope to have?
➢ “Your essay/poem/writing resonated or spoke to me personally because ___.”
➢ “I appreciate your writing on this topic because in my life ___.”
➢ “This topic/idea/writing hits me in the heart because I really care about ___.”
❖ Respond like a reader: What did you learn? What will you do with this information? How have your beliefs or thinking on
this topic shifted because of what you read?
➢ “I understand you better as a person because you’ve shared this story about ___.”
➢ “I am grateful you trusted us with this experience/thought about ___.”
➢ “When I was reading, it made me think about ___.”
➢ “This is a fresh perspective on ___ because usually people talk about it like ___.”
➢ “I understand the text/character/conflict/idea better now because before I thought ___ and now I think ___.”
❖ Respond as a writer: Which lines or phrases seemed most vivid or funny or descriptive or unexpected (in a good way)?
➢ “The most powerful/insightful part in my view was ___ because.”
➢ “The features of this writing that you did well were ___. For example, ___.”
➢ “One writing technique I noticed was ____; for example ___.”
➢ The best example you gave was ___.”