I began my teaching adventure as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) leading College Composition I, a required class comprised primarily of freshman students, at Northern Michigan University in the fall semester of 2019. Having had a 2 week intensive teacher boot camp that was a mix of pedagogy and composition topics, I knew what I was supposed to do, but not necessarily how I was supposed to do it. I’ve got a good head on my shoulders, so I thought I was covered. My first experience trying to execute a peer review process, about a month into the semester, showed me otherwise. My 24 students were sitting 4 to a pod in a spacious, modern classroom with their university-issued laptops. They had completed their first draft of a literacy narrative. I had told them from the start that peer review would be a big part of the class, since everyone can benefit from another set of eyes on their work, and students learn a lot from reading their peers’ work. My intentions were sound—my execution was not. I learned that I shouldn’t ever assume anything and anticipate where a process could break down. Next time around, I’ll be much more explicit in my instruction and limit some choices that could introduce unwanted and potentially troublesome variability.
I had previously asked students to save 3 copies of their drafts to a Google drive (providing them the link) using a particular naming convention so we could see whose paper was whose. Only about 80% had used the correct naming convention and only half had put it onto the Google drive. All of this meant I had to spend precious class time sorting through something I had assumed would have been complete.
I demonstrated how to download a draft—and asked them to do it with me. When I asked them if their screen looked like mine, they all said yes. Many of them were NOT with me. (I should have remembered from my training days. No one wants to look like they can’t keep up). I had to run around the classroom to show about 6-8 of them how to download and save their drafts. Some of the students were used to Chrome, so what happens at each step can look different. Some people worked in Google docs—I’d expected them to use Word. Most of them are much more familiar with Google docs than Word, so I had to show them how to add a comment (even though I’d demonstrated it and had the keystrokes written out). Here’s what I wrote in my teaching journal later that afternoon:
It was a lot of pandemonium and it wasn’t until 30 minutes in before everyone had something to work on. Decided to make the other 2 reviews their homework for tonight and we’ll do the reflection as the daily writing tomorrow.
Students will not always do what’s they’re told. Students will lie. I shouldn’t assume ANYTHING. Lesson learned.
I vowed that “next time I will check sooner than 15 minutes before class.” Now that I’m about to do it again, I decided not to risk it.
I’d say I was 95% successful the second time around. Still had a few snags. One student brought his own laptop rather than the school-issued one. And it died. And no one had a cable for it. So… he went to the library and got one. I ended up signing in on someone else’s computer so the student to access the other student’s draft (needing to run back to my desk to get my phone so I could authenticate). More running around than expected. But in the end, it only meant that he and the person who was supposed to do his A review will do them for homework tonight.
I demonstrated how to insert comments. Good thing I did because some of the students said they didn’t know how to do it! I didn’t show them the sentence starters in action because I was afraid of running out of time (which ended up being a good call, I think, because we did run out of time.)
I gave them specific questions to answer for the A, B, and C drafts. I think that was a good decision, because it resulted in more actionable and constructive feedback, but it also meant that they took longer than 8 minutes per review. As a result, they didn’t have time to review the feedback they received or give me their 3 things to work on. I asked them to do it tonight and email to me. (About half of them did in the end…)
Also had one girl out sick. She sent in her draft so her peers could review, and I sent her the drafts she would have reviewed in class. All in all, the process went much better. The students said they received useful feedback and learned from reading their peers’ papers. Their main complaint was not having enough time to do the reviews. That’s valid and I will make sure to allot enough time next time around.