In collaborative learning classroom
Peer review gives bad vibes

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Teachers trying to incorporate collaborative learning and team-building activities in their English language arts classes often latch on to peer review as a way to accomplish those goals.

Before you decide to use peer review as a classroom team-building exercise, take a quick look at peer review from a student's perspective.

You may find its negative connotations make peer review an unsuitable term to use in describing the kinds of team-building exercises and collaborative activities you want to build into your learning program. If so, there is other language and other team techniques you can use instead.

Reviews in K-12 settings

In school, review is something teachers say students should do in preparation for a test. When teachers say, "We're going to review," that means the teachers are going to review and students are going to be bored.

In English language arts classes, may have encountered something the teachers call book reviews. These are reports in which the students tell teachers what the teachers want to hear about reading assignments the students probably did not read.

Reviews outside school settings

Reviews students are familiar with outside school usually have negative connotations. Students know about reviews of music and TV shows.

Usually what students have inferred from what they've heard about reviews is that a bad review hurts the person or group that's reviewed. A TV show may be canceled because of bad reviews. A band may not get paying gigs because of bad reviews.

Alternative terminology is better

Save yourself grief by avoiding language that will turn students off. You'll find it much easier to get students to help each other learn to write better if you don't use the term review.

Learn alternative language you can use to describe collaborative learning activities in which students give and receive writing feedback.

I find that the best time to involve students in collaborative learning is during the planning stages of the writing process. The experience of helping one another prepare to write is generally seen by students as supportive and useful, which contributes to team building.

Materials that I developed to guide my students working together in essay planning are the Talk It Out duplication masters for sale on this site.