Peer assessment is when you have a partner and you both look over your work
and you both list the strengths and weaknesses and you fix it.
I feel like I'm next to a teacher.
I can relate to my peer more because they're basically my age.
It was really helpful because sometimes
you don't get your ideas right and forget to include something,
but when you look at the rubric, you know what you have to include.
Yes, it helped me because I can see what I did wrong for myself
and then my peers or my friends, they can tell me
so that I can become better and they can also become better from reading my work.
Through this process, my grading over the years has gone higher for all my students
and it's not because I'm being a generous grader,
it's because the kids are so involved
in the independent process of learning through peer and self-assessment
that they are able to really raise their grade to where they feel it needs to be.
Before I was really doing self-assessment, peer assessment,
I wasn't really clear to myself what I was teaching
so if I wasn't clear about it, how a student is going to be clear about it,
and then when I had to really sit down and think about that,
it totally changed my approach to teaching and what the children learn.
So how do you do peer assessment?
One way to do peer assessment
is to use the Ladder of Feedback created by David Perkins of Harvard University.
This method provides a process of critique
that guides students to generate kind, thoughtful and effective feedback.
The Ladder of Feedback asks students to formulate their assessment in the following way:
First, questions of clarification such as “Am I reading this correctly?”
Second, comments on value, for example “What I think works really well is...”
Third, comments of concern such as “What I worry about is...”
And fourth, suggestions for revision, i.e. “Maybe this part would work better if you...”
Students may also base their feedback on the rubric you have created with them for the assignment.
It is critical that as students confer, you walk around your classroom
to monitor progress and ensure that the Ladder of Feedback is properly applied,
that each student is receiving useful feedback and as importantly,
when your class completes the peer assessment process,
students will have ample time to revise their work.
Vocabulary that I would try to teach before assessment just never seemed to stick
and now it's like sticking and they're using it naturally and they're speaking it,
it's amazing they're able to take ownership of their own work.
It's no longer just depending on me to tell them what to do.
They're making decisions themselves.
Their advice sometimes is clearer to their peer
because it's not coming from an adult, it's coming from someone that's really on their level.
They're a little bit more comfortable to hear the criticism from their peer,
as well as the values and compliments that is in their work from their peers.
I'm always amazed at what they're able to articulate.
It's often better than what I would say.
Peer assessment allows me to understand other people's opinion about my work
because self-assessment, you think it's perfect
but then you have to make other people think it's perfect also
so you have to have a classmate or a group of people view it
so it can help you better understand other people's opinion, not just your own.
Actually it makes me think “Wow I actually should change this”
and in the end, my work turns out really good because of all the editing.
By trying assessment, you're going to learn what it is you're trying to teach.
The greatest discovery for me is how much power this gives my students as learners.