How to -- Comment

Peer-to-peer feedback is an extremely important part of any Digital Writing Classroom project. Commenting helps students hear what their audience thinks of their work; in turn, they get to look at writing with an objective, constructive eye. They also learn how to receive criticism and to give it in a positive, constructive yet truthful way.

Each piece of writing on YWP Schools Project sites have a comment box at the bottom that allows other students, the teacher or a mentor (if one is assigned to the school) to post feedback. Other sites and software work differently. Regardless, students should preview their comments before submitting them to check for spelling and grammatical errors.

Why comment?

YWP surveys have shown that:

• Students want and appreciate feedback from their classmates;
• Students want substantive feedback, meaning they do not want comments like, "this is great" (or, conversely, "this is terrible"); and they want to know what works and how something that doesn't work can be improved;
• Students who receive the most and deepest feedback feel better about themselves and their writing; and
• Students who receive substantive feedback say it helps them improve their writing.

Some general questions to ask

Ask the class these general questions about commenting:

• Why do you want people to comment on your work?
• What kind of comments do you want to get on your work?
• What kind of comments do you not want to get?

How to comment

Regular and frequent commenting should be encouraged by everyone in the classroom. YWP suggests that students, with teacher guidance, set up the rules for commenting at the very beginning of the year. Some ideas:

• Do not pass judgment on the piece. The aim is to tell the author your experience as a reader -- what you liked, where you thought there could be improvement.
• Many classes follow a "One + One" model in which a student reader comments on One thing she/he liked about the piece (and why) and One thing the author could do to improve it.
• Don't worry about the spelling -- first comment on the idea, the content, the structure, the language.
• Keep in mind that everything you write in your feedback will appear harsher and more negative than intended. Reread your comments and ask: "How would I feel if I received this?"
• Be truthful: If you don't say what you think, the comments won't help.

Some questions students should ask as they are reading:

• Does the opening engage me and make me want to keep reading?
• Is the story or the central idea clear?
• Is the voice strong and clear?
• As I read where was I most engaged? Where did I get confused?
• What one thing did I like best?
• What suggestion could I make to help the author make this better?

Injecting academic rigor in the commenting:

• Have students choose specific attributes or rubrics expected of a piece of writing or a genre and tell the author whether those attributes were realized. Did, say, the persuasive essay have a clear, compelling point? Was the argument well presented? Was the tone appropriate?
• Have students post a comment on their own piece that has some questions they want answered.