Why Every Student Needs Critical Friends
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| Why Every Student Needs Critical Friends | |
Every student needs critical friends--peer critiques transform the classroom into an authentic audience, students tailor their work in consideration of wider array of feedback, and student engagement goes up because they realize their perspectives are essential to classroom progress.
But, author Amy Reynolds notes in her November EL article, using peer critiques means establishing a safe and trusting environment for students to practice being constructive critiques. It also takes patience and helping students overcome initial fear and resistance.
Have you seen students display the fear and difficulty in giving and accepting criticism that pervaded Reynolds's early attempts? If so, how did you deal with these issues?
