1. Peer Editing Debbie Sponaugle 6 th Grade Language Arts South Davie Middle School Mocksville, NC

2. Background I have been teaching Language Arts for 17 years. I have attended many training sessions on teaching the writing process. Most methods are a form of “Writer’s Workshop.” One of the components of this method of teaching writing includes the students reading and editing each other’s papers as a way to help improve writing.

3. What Does Research Say? Advantages of peer editing include: Students engage in each other’s writing more than textbooks (Kemp, 2003). Students are concerned with audience and audience response when they know other students will read their work (Kemp,2003). The act of discovering critical factors in a piece of writing and explaining them to the writer is the strongest way to encourage better writing (Kemp, 2003).

4. Research cont…. “Peer-editing will give students positive and helpful feedback from their classmates and offer multiple perspectives on their work” (Maifair, 1999). “Peer-editing can force students to complete written assignments earlier and even lighten the workload for overworked English teachers” (Gregory, 1994).

5. Is this too good to be true?

6. Research Question Does peer editing improve student writing in a sixth grade class room?

7. Participants Sixth grade students Two classes (one high achieving) Rural, middle class 10 students chosen at random

8. Intervention/Instruction I made 3 personal narrative writing assignments: 1 st Essay – teacher edited rough draft 2 nd Essay- peer edited rough draft with no instruction 3 rd essay- peer edited with teacher modeling and written feedback sheet

9. Data Collection 3 assignments Rough draft and final copy for each Anecdotal notes Survey results

10. Data Analysis StudentRough DraftFinal CopyRough DraftFinal CopyRough DraftFinal Copy David106128142156116132 Cameron213164245318189231 Jeremy291280376425350474 Erika183 178196393 Denise199 100132258265 Whittney244246435 324 Landon165175239251298341 Myles68102234314125186 Ashley48140187260296321 Caroline194 220224192261 Average 171.1181.1235.6271.1254.1292.8

11. Results Average Total Words

12. Results Average Grammar Errors

13. More Results Average Spelling Errors

14. Results Number of Changes from Rough Draft to Final

15. Survey Results Did you enjoy reading other students’ work? (92% yes) Did the peer editing in class help you? (98%) Did you use the suggestions from your peer editor when you revised your paper? (94% yes) Do you think that peer editing makes you a better writer? (88% yes) How? (76% didn’t know)

16. Discussion Teacher editing has little impact on the revision process. Peer editing has little impact on the revision process. Peer editing can help in identifying and correcting errors in spelling and grammar. Students enjoy reading each other’s work and can learn from the experience. Peer groups in writing instruction helps build the classroom community as students share personal thoughts and feelings.

17. References Atwell, Nancie. (1998).In the Middle. Portsmouth, NH : Boynton/Cook. Gregory, Cynde. (1994) Editing that Engages. Instructor, 104,40. Retrieved September 19, 2005 from NCLIVE Full Text Database. Kemp, Fred. (2003) The Importance of Peer Interactivity in Writing Instruction. Wadsworth Insite for Writing and Research. Retrieved September 19, 2005 from EBSCO Host Database. Maifair. Linda.(1999). (Practically) Painless Peer Editing. Instructor- Intermediate, 108, 8-10. Retrieved September 12, 2005 from EBSCO Host Database. No Author.(2004) Writing in the Middle Grades. English Teacher, 123, 45-49. Retrieved September 12, 2005 from Education Full Text Database.