According to the Common Core State Standards, writing should be a collaborative activity from kindergarten on. During the earlier grades, students can brainstorm topic ideas and improve their writing based on suggestions from their classmates. As they progress through middle and high school, the Common Core takes the collaboration a step further, asking students to "develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach" with help from their peers. This process, known as peer editing, helps students learn and develop writing skills in a whole new way. Here are a few benefits of having your class peer edit:
Varied feedback is essential for developing as a writer
Learning from feedback given by the teacher is an important way for students to improve as writers. However, it's unlikely that any writing they do in the future will be read by just one person, which means it's important to gain insight from multiple people. Each peer editor will notice something different about a piece of writing, and having that variety of perspectives can help students learn to think about their writing from the audience's point of view. This will help them improve everything from word choice to organization to topic development.
Editing the work of another person helps students understand their own writing
The peer-review process isn't just beneficial for the person whose writing is being edited. In fact, research shows that it may be even more beneficial for the editor. A 2009 study published in the Journal of Second Language Writing divided students into two groups: givers and receivers. The givers edited other students' work throughout the semester but didn't get any feedback for their own writing, while the receivers got feedback from their peers but never edited another student's work. Interestingly, the givers who only edited during the course of the class showed significantly more improvement in their writing abilities than the receivers.
Students must learn to accept constructive criticism
Children need to understand early on how to handle receiving constructive criticism, which can be very difficult for those who get their feelings hurt easily. Peer review, especially when it includes both positive and constructively negative feedback, gives students experience with this from a young age. As they progress through school, college and careers, students will need to learn not only how to accept feedback, but also how to put it to use, and the peer-editing process will give them ample opportunity to practice.
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