1. Peer Edit

2. Write “Peer Edited By:_______”, at the top of your partner’s paper, filling in the blank with your name

3. Circle the thesis.
The thesis is the sentence in the introduction that names a parental dynamic in the chosen story and the parental dynamic in the student’s own life.
If no sentence does this, write “Needs thesis”

4. Put a rectangle around the word in the thesis that best names the parenting dynamic. Put a rectangle around the same word, a similar word (synonym), or a word that means the opposite (antonym), whenever such words appear in the essay.
In the best essays, such words will appear several times.

5. Find the first body paragraph
Find the first body paragraph. Does it summarize the story or piece for someone who hasn’t read the piece?
If it does, write “Summary” in the margin.
If it does not, write “Essay lacks summary paragraph” in the margin of the essay.

6. Find the second body paragraph
Find the second body paragraph. Write ‘CD’ (concrete detail) next to each quote from the selected story.
If there aren’t at least 2 CDs in the second body paragraph, write “Needs more CDs” next to that paragraph.

7. Find the third body paragraph
Find the third body paragraph. Write ‘CD’ (concrete detail) next to each detail from the student’s own relationship with a parent.
If there aren’t at least 2 CDs in the third body paragraph, write “Needs more CDs” next to that paragraph.

8. Look at the second and third body paragraphs again
Look at the second and third body paragraphs again. Write ‘CM’ next to each sentence of commentary. Commentary for this essay explains how a CD reveals a parenting dynamic.
If you find a CD with no commentary in these paragraphs, write “Add CM.”

9. Find a sentence that draws a contrast or makes a comparison between the two parenting dynamics. Write “Compares” or “Contrasts” in the margin next to this sentence.
If no sentence does this, write “Compare or Contrast your life with the story” in the margin.

10. Does the conclusion name the two parenting dynamics and speculate on how they will affect the lives of the character and the student author? If yes, write, “Conclusion explains significance.”
If no sentence does this, write “Conclusion needs to explain significance.”

11. Read the entire essay, looking for anything that sounds confusing or awkward. If you can fix a problem you find, fix it. Otherwise, just mark it ‘Awk’ for “awkward”. Mark run-on sentences ‘RO.’