Discussing Peer-Assessments

Learners tend to be better speakers than writers.

Speech is a natural function of the human body. Something we become fluent in from an early age.

We can call on the power of speech when using peer-assessment.

Discussion gives learners an opportunity to share, order, edit and refine their thinking.

This is part of verbal rehearsal. The active practice that happens when learners discuss with purpose (that purpose usually being provided by the structure of the discussion).

Discussion of feedback is a good way for comments to be clarified and explained.

The process of discussing a peer-assessment helps learners construct understanding together.

It also gives the teacher a chance to elicit information. To listen in and hear how learners are doing their peer-assessments, and what they are talking about.

We can then step in to clarify or redirect, as necessary, guiding learners where they need it.

Here are three ways you can harness the power of speech by getting your learners to talk about their peer-assessments.

Three ways you can structure those discussions.

And don’t forget, the benefit of using a specific structure is that it directs learner talk towards the goals you identify as being important.

• Discussing Peer-Assessments: Example 1

Learners work in pairs.

They take it in turns to talk through the peer-assessments they have done on each other’s work.

The teacher scaffolds this by displaying a series of questions on the board that must be covered.

For example:

• Why did you identify those particular strengths?
• Why are the strengths examples of good things in the work?
• How did you go about picking out the strengths?
• Why have you set that particular target for improvement?
• How will it help your peer to learn?

As the learner talks they tick off each question in turn.

Discussion develops when their partner responds to what they’ve heard. This sees the two learners talking about the peer-assessment and whether they agree about the judgements made.

When they’ve finished, learners swap roles and repeat.

• Discussing Peer-Assessments: Example 2

Do this activity after learners have completed a peer-assessment.

Have partners take it in turns to interview each other.

The subject is the interviewee’s thoughts on the work they have peer-assessed and the thinking behind the strengths and targets they have identified.

A good way to scaffold this is to come up with a set of interview questions as a class.

Learners can then use these to structure their discussions, with the caveat being that, if they wish, they can develop their own questions as well.

You might also like to provide a pro-forma interviewers can use to make notes.

Learners take it in turns to play each role – interviewer and interviewee.

The goal is twofold.

First, both learners get an opportunity to talk about the peer-assessment they’ve just done.

Second, both learners get a chance to hear in detail what their partner thought about their work (and wrote up in the peer-assessment).

• Discussing Peer-Assessments: Example 3

Again, do this after learners have completed a peer-assessment.

Pairs are given a selection of question cards that they draw out at random and then discuss.

To make the cards, create a set of questions on Word/PowerPoint/Canva and draw a box around each one.

Print the sheet off and stick it onto a piece of card. Cut this up, stack the questions and then secure them with a rubber band.

You can either give each pair a set of these cards, or make a single set for the whole class.

The questions should be generic so you can use them with any peer-assessment.

That way, you can make them once and use them repeatedly.

For example:

• What did you think of the work?
• What was good about the work and why?
• How could the work be improved?
• How does your partner’s work compare to your own?
• What did you think about the structure of the work?
• What could you take from the work and use in the future?
• How might you combine the best bits of both pieces of work – yours and your partner’s?

The questions form the structure of the discussion.

Selecting them at random adds a nice element of uncertainty, keeping the pace up and keeping learners on their toes.

Read Aloud and Peer-Assess

There is a qualitative difference between writing and speech.

While each makes use of the same language and many of the same conventions, the structures that underpin them are fundamentally different.

Here are some of the disparities:

Writing

• Permanent
• Fixed
• Unresponsive to the audience
• No supplemental information to clarify meaning
• Time-consuming to correct or alter

Speech

• Impermanent (unless recorded)
• Disappears on being uttered
• Highly responsive to the audience
• Always supplemented (by tone, inflexion, gestures)
• Easy to correct or alter

This intimates why discussion is an important part of classroom practice.

It also suggests why it might be useful to give learners the opportunity to talk before they begin a written piece of work.

This particular activity brings discussion and speech to the fore. It works as follows:

Learners work in pairs or threes.

They take it in turns to read their work aloud.

While they do this, the other members of the group listen. The learner then reads their work aloud for a second time.

Other group members listen and make notes.

A minute or two is given in which learners can gather their thoughts.

An oral peer-assessment follows, with this leading into a discussion between the assessors and the learner whose work is being assessed.

The process is repeated until each member of the group has had their work peer-assessed.

The strengths of the activity are as follows:

• When reading aloud, learners must think carefully about whether their work makes sense. This forces them to look critically at what they have written and to ask whether it achieves what they set out to do.
• The learners doing the peer-assessment must pay close attention to what their partner is saying. This promotes careful, active listening.
• The oral peer-assessment promotes discussion and gives all parties an opportunity to edit and develop their thoughts as well as to respond to the thoughts or others.

This activity is particularly effective when used repeatedly. The first couple of times, learners are getting to grips with it. Gaining an understanding of what it is you want them to do.

Subsequent to that, they’ll become more proficient, leading to better peer-assessments and better discussions.

A final point to note is that you can model the activity for the whole class.

Either ask a skilled group to demonstrate how they did the activity while everyone listens in, or model it yourself with a couple of more-able learners.