Now that we’ve covered feedback from teachers and self, let’s look at peer assessment.
Peer assessment is one way that students can internalize the characteristics of quality
work.
It increases student responsibility and autonomy and helps move the student from passive learner
to active learner.
Peer assessment provides an opportunity for students to practice working with others,
communicating with others, and helping others to improve—all of which are important skills
for the increasingly collaborative world in which we live.
Another benefit of peer assessment is that students can adjust their own work and thinking
by investigating the work of othersStudents must feel that the classroom is a safe and
supportive environment.
For peer assessment, they must trust each other to provide honest and constructive feedback.
This allows them to become comfortable with one another, which increases the quality of
the feedback.
It does help to learn how to receive feedback from different people, so an educator should
encourage students to get feedback from all learners throughout the year.Providing peer
feedback and working toward peer assessment may not be familiar to all students, so building
peer assessment should be built into the classroom learning goals and with its own rubric on
how it should be performed.
Peer assessment is more effective when students are assessing against a predetermined set
of criteria.
Additionally, it can be very challenging and you will want to make sure that you provide
practice and support before, during and after the process.
So set up a practice session in which you provide a sample writing assignment or speaking
assignment and a rubric or checklist.
As a group, the students should discuss the rubric or checklist to make sure everyone
understands the criteria and expectations.
Then the students use the criteria to assess a sample assignment against the criteria and
determine how they would provide feedback.
This is a good activity to do at the beginning of the course and then periodically throughout
the course.
With students involved in the entire process, a teacher will notice that students can become
more independent with creating rubrics and providing feedback throughout the year.So
what else is involved in effective peer assessment?
Arthur Costa, Ed.D and Bena Kallick, Ph.
D have described three habits of mind that are directly tied to peer assessment: managing
impulsivity, thinking and communicating with clarity and precision, and thinking interdependently.Managing
impulsivity means taking the time to consider options before speaking or acting and being
thoughtful and considerate of others.
Feedback should include what was right, what needs to be adjusted, and some suggestions
on what can be done differently next time.
Don’t forget the work of Joellen Killion... and have your students practice!
Students need to think about what and how they are going to provide feedback so that
it comes across as constructive and not critical or condescending.
How feedback is delivered includes tone as well as the specific words chosen.
It’s not always easy to receive feedback from others, but managing impulsivity also
includes remaining calm when stressed or challenged.
Some students may feel challenged when receiving feedback from peers rather than those in a
position of authority such as a teacher, parent, or coach.The Habit of thinking and communicating
with clarity and precision is about selecting the appropriate words, which is essential
when implementing peer assessment.
The goal is to be clear and accurate, yet concise, whether providing feedback in writing
or verbally while trying to avoid hurting another student’s feelings.
To do this, feedback should be objective, related directly to the work being assessed,
and specific, whether it is positive or negative.
For example, You used many descriptive words, so I could picture exactly what you were talking
about is more effective than Great job!
Or I noticed that you repeated the same thought multiple times in the first two paragraphs.
One thing that helps me is reading my writing aloud.
When I hear repeated thoughts, I sometimes catch these better than when I re-read it
on the computer screen.The last habit of mind related to peer assessment is thinking interdependently.
This habit is the willingness to work with others and to welcome others’ perspectives.
It doesn’t mean that you always have to agree with or accept the feedback, but you
take the feedback graciously.
When peer feedback is being done in a group, there are times when you may be in the minority,
yet you abide by the decision.
There are many tools and strategies that you can use as a teacher and that you can teach
students to use for peer assessment.
Google applications such as Google Docs and Google Sheets is a great way for students
to review and comment on others’ work.
An advantage to the Google applications is that multiple people can be in the document
at the same time.
Video response and reflection applications such as Recap can be used to record student
work and thinking and can be shared with others to provide feedback and support personalized
learning.
There are also low-tech strategies that can assist with peer assessment.
Two stars and a wish is a good strategy for younger students.
Students indicate two positive things about another student’s work and give them stars.
They then identify a wish about what the student might do next time to improve part of their
work.
Plus, minus, and what’s next? is another approach for students to comment on what was
done well and what could have been done better based on the success criteria.
The what’s next?
also can be used to set or revise personal learning goals.Whether you go low tech or
high tech, make sure to model how to use the various tools and strategies to effectively
perform and use the results of peer assessments.
All students should be given the opportunity to do peer assessments.
If you can also help them to manage impulsivity, communicate with clarity and precision, and
think interdependently, you’ll see the benefits in your classroom and give the students skills
for outside of the classroom too!