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Peer assessment is an invaluable tool that empowers students to work together towards common objectives, enhance each other’s assignments, and deepen their understanding of the material while reflecting on their own learning journeys.
Regardless of whether you employ a quick checklist or a more comprehensive feedback system, incorporating peer assessment into your classroom is always beneficial, no matter the grade level or subject. Explore a variety of traditional, inventive, and structured methods for students to evaluate one another’s work, complete with printable feedback resources and straightforward teaching tips suitable for both novice and experienced educators.
Classic Peer Assessments for Students
Classic strategies maintain their popularity for good reason! These assessment techniques have been classroom-tested across all grade levels, making them easily accessible for new teachers looking to expand their instructional toolkit. Implement these peer assessment activities in scenarios where clear feedback is crucial for progressing in the learning process.
- Rubrics: Create or find rubrics that allow students to evaluate different aspects of their peers’ work.
- Think-Pair-Share: Students first reflect on a peer’s work (Think), then discuss their thoughts with a partner (Pair), and finally share their assessments (Share).
- Traffic Lights: Students use traffic light colors to categorize their feedback: Green for “Keep this up,” Yellow for “Be cautious about this,” and Red for “This needs to stop.”
Teach Students How to Give Peer Feedback
Students often need guidance on how to provide effective feedback to one another. Some may confuse “polite feedback” with “harsh criticism.” Equip them with strategies that limit feedback options, fostering their ability to deliver actionable and constructive critiques to their peers.
Student Feedback Peer to Peer Feedback Made Easy
By TeachaDoodle
Grades: Not Grade Specific
This resource caters to all ages and skill levels, providing everything necessary to teach students how to deliver effective feedback. With TAG feedback steps (Tell Something You Liked, Ask Meaningful Questions, and Give Positive Suggestions), along with a detailed anchor chart and student reflection sheets, learners will acquire the skills to give constructive feedback that genuinely assists their classmates.
Editable Peer Feedback Sentence Starters – Peer Feedback Support Tool
By The Organised Teacher Collective
Grades: 3rd-6th
Subject: Writing
If your students need a starting point for peer feedback, this resource provides 26 editable sentence starters to inspire them when responding to their peers. Each starter is tailored to facilitate different types of feedback, enabling students to enhance each other’s work effectively.
Creative Peer-to-Peer Assessments
For those seeking innovative methods for students to give feedback to one another, consider these creative peer assessment strategies that encourage students to think differently while building a supportive classroom community where learners feel comfortable sharing and receiving feedback.
- Leave a Review: Students can craft reviews for their peers’ projects in formats similar to product, movie, or game reviews.
- Student Interviews: Pairs can conduct interviews in front of the class, providing live feedback on each other’s work.
- Drawing Feedback: Students can express their feedback through artistic means, such as drawing, painting, or sketching their thoughts.
Foster Inquiry-Based Learning into Peer Assessment
Successful peer assessment activities cultivate curiosity about the decisions made by others in their assignments. Utilize inquiry-driven feedback resources to inspire wonder and demonstrate that constructive criticism can be delivered kindly.
Peer Feedback Activity • Cupcake Critique • Writing Activity
By Expressive Monkey-The Art Teacher’s Little Helper
Grades: 2nd-6th
Subject: Writing
Standards: CCSS W.2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 6.5
Everyone loves cupcakes! Aligned with the CCSS for writing, this resource is designed for elementary writers across skill levels and encourages students to deliver both positive and critical feedback. The delightful cupcake theme makes the peer assessment process even sweeter!
Quick Peer Assessments for Students
Looking to integrate more peer assessment into your curriculum but short on time? Here are some quick feedback methods that are both efficient and effective.
- Elbow Partners: Students can quickly exchange feedback with their “elbow partner” during a brief five-minute session.
- Feedback Carousel: Distribute sticky notes for students to place happy face stickers on the aspects of their peers’ work they appreciate as they circulate around the classroom.
- Golden Lines: Students select and share their favorite line from a peer’s work with the class.
Use Checklists to Streamline Student Feedback
Peer assessments can be concise yet impactful! Implement student feedback checklists to convey essential information without consuming too much class time. These checklists are particularly beneficial for students refining their feedback skills and for new teachers seeking additional tools for their assessment arsenal.
Fiction Narrative Writing Peer Editing and Feedback Checklist
By Teatime Teacher
Grades: 3rd-5th
Subjects: Creative Writing
This comprehensive feedback checklist allows student editors to highlight what their peers excelled at in their fiction narratives. It includes spaces to indicate narrative elements, spelling and punctuation errors, as well as suggestions for improvement.
Incorporate Peer Assessment into Your Classroom DĂ©cor
Every teacher, whether new or returning, recognizes that classroom decorations serve as ongoing teaching aids. Your bulletin boards can reinforce vital concepts while you deliver lessons — and peer assessment can certainly be among those concepts. These resources serve as excellent reminders for students as you integrate more peer-to-peer assessment activities into your teaching.
Peer Assessment Classroom Display
By Michelle’s Innovative Ideas
Grades: 3rd-7th
Subject: English Language Arts
Add peer assessment reminders to your bulletin board with this helpful resource. It features several speech bubbles that act as sentence starters for students to reference while providing constructive feedback to their classmates.
Formal Peer Assessments for Students
In the context of long-term formal assignments, peer assessments serve as exemplary strategies for cooperative learning. They encourage both the writer and editor to collaborate toward the common goal of achieving a deeper understanding and producing a stronger final product. Furthermore, formal peer assessments offer older students the chance to balance compliments with constructive criticism.
- Portfolio Reflections: Students can reflect on their peers’ portfolios with specific feedback and suggestions.
- Feedback Discussions: Create groups for students to exchange feedback on significant projects before submission.
- Group Evaluations: After completing a group project, students can assess their peers’ contributions and engagement in the creative process.
Equip Students for Long-Form Peer Assessments
After students complete more extensive projects, the peer assessment phase is crucial. Introduce structured feedback forms that focus on the student’s work, relieving student editors from the pressure of composing lengthy responses.
Peer Review Form: Projects, Gallery Walk, or Presentations
By EngineerDoesEducation
Grades: 5th-12th
Subject: Science
Encourage students to engage in the assessment process during your next class presentation or gallery walk activity. This half-page peer assessment form guides middle and high schoolers to address TAG elements in their classmates’ work, facilitating valuable feedback that peers can implement moving forward.
Tips for Using Peer Assessments in Class
Peer assessment activities offer significant benefits for students of all ages. Not only do they provide opportunities for students to reflect on their own work and assist their peers in enhancing their skills, but they also empower learners to take ownership of their understanding and share that knowledge with their classmates.
Consider these implementation tips and strategies when integrating more peer assessments into your classroom to help students develop into well-rounded learners:
- Demonstrate the distinction between useful feedback and unproductive criticism, using examples from your own work or previous students’ work.
- Incorporate peer assessment as a regular aspect of your classroom culture and protocols.
- Encourage students to reflect on the feedback they receive and choose which suggestions to implement.
- Provide scaffolding for the feedback responses you expect from students until they are capable of generating their own critiques.
- Employ a variety of peer assessment strategies to ensure students learn to communicate through different modalities.
- Integrate social skills into your procedures, such as maintaining eye contact, using polite language, and asking follow-up questions.
Curate Collaboration in the Classroom with TPT
By utilizing high-quality peer assessment activities in the classroom, you cultivate independent learners, collaborative team members, and a shared appreciation for teamwork and enhanced understanding. Students tend to invest more thought and reflection into their work when they know their peers will be reviewing it and when they are given the opportunity to view others’ work as well! Explore more resources for peer assessments for seamless implementation in your classroom, and enjoy an increase in student productivity and camaraderie throughout the school year.
