What engages and motivates students to write excellent papers?

What makes teaching more enjoyable and efficient for teachers?

 

Peer Proofreading offers powerful answers to these questions for students at both the elementary and secondary level. This pedagogy makes teaching more enjoyable because students help each other produce high-quality academic work.

 

Proofreading teams – each with 3 or 4 students – encourage students to complete quality written assignments that are more closely aligned to the rubrics. Through the promotion of collaboration and cooperation, students energize and motivate each other toward improved academic achievement.

 

In the proofreading format, each student proofreads the work of three classmates. In this way, each member would have his or her assignment reviewed at least three times before it is turned in. Proofreading encourages each team member to develop “skills for helping others” while simultaneously reflecting on his or her own product. Attention to the structure will certainly give students more confidence in their own understanding of a task while boosting self-esteem as they help a friend.

 

The proofreading team’s process is a way to “bake in” the concept of giving scrutiny to one’s own work and giving compassionate, constructive, suggestions to teammates. Attention to structure and process helps students better understand the “how” of projects and reduces anxiety for students that frequently struggle with assignments. One such student smilingly exclaimed, “This proofreading makes completing the assignments easier to do!” Further, the busy hum of student voices creates an atmosphere of purpose, support, and teamwork.

 

Projects that encourage collaboration and cooperation, energize students and introduce “peer motivation” for improved academic achievement. Frequently, students within some learning styles, “catch on” more quickly when things are explained to them in “student speak,” expressed by fellow students.

 

To incentivize proofreaders, award two bonus points to proofreaders when the writer or submitting student receives a C+ or better grade, on the submitted project. However, if a lower than C+ grade is assessed to the submitter student, the proofreader would receive a minus two points. Not taking proofreading seriously is unacceptable. To “sweeten the pot,” 5 bonus points could be awarded to each team member, of groups where all four members receive, a finished product grade of C+ or better. In this system, students learn the power of working together to help each other achieve a common goal.

 

The task of a proofreader is to review the structure and process of the project not the content. Proofreading requires a principled dedication, and a fine eye for capturing the details, and mechanics of the rubric. A proofreader ought to be committed to careful, high-quality,

analysis of the rubric. However, it is the job of the project developer/writer to make final decisions concerning the content.

 

Rubric Guidelines for writing assignments:

1. Is there a title, when using a computer are the letters in the title 18 or 20 font?

2. Does the title consist of 5 or less words?

3. Is the writer’s name and date on the left side of the page, lower than the title?

4. If using a computer, is the font size 12 or 14, Calibri, Arial, or Times New Roman and consistent throughout the paper?

5. Is the first sentence of each paragraph indented?

6. Is there 1.15 spacing between sentences and 2.0 spacing between paragraphs?

7. Are the number of paragraphs and sentences according to the assignment?

8. Are the names of two or more proofreaders on the left side of the paper, 1.5 spaces below the conclusion?

9. Are there transitional words included throughout?

10. Is there conformity to the rubrics of non-writing projects, when applicable?

 

Although this rubric is limited to mechanics of writing, the same process can be adapted to science, math, and other subjects. Students often go beyond the format of their work to the substance of the ideas in their work. As students read and compare each other’s work, they begin to appreciate the differences in quality of their work products.

 

One of the results of the peer-proofreading process is a change in the relationship among the students. For example, Diamond was a quiet student in Ed’s class who was not in the In Group. Like many strong students, Diamond was marginalized by the more gregarious students. But after starting the peer-proofreading process, Diamond’s status began to increase because students wanted her to help them with their papers. Her competence drew students to her. Peer proofreading creates a meritocracy among students that recognizes and appreciates competence.

 

A note from the author, Dr. Ed Harris:

After serving in the United States Coast Guard for four years, I became a Social Studies teacher for 15 years in St. Louis Missouri. I then became Dean, assistant principal, and also a four-time high school principal in three schools in Illinois (where I was named Principal of the Year for the state of Illinois), and at one school in Missouri. I was inducted into The One Hundred Headmasters, a national organization which recognizes “outstanding principals.”

Simultaneously, I coached high school, then college football, and high school, then college Girls Basketball. I served as Director of Secondary Education in the Normandy School District in St. Louis, Missouri. I served as Director of

Secondary Education, Director of Curriculum and instruction, and elementary school assistant principal in Wilmington, Delaware. After retirement from Delaware, I moved to Philadelphia, where I was hired to coach and mentored K-12 principals.

After moving to Colorado (To be near the grandkids), I have worked at Overland High School as a Dean, at the Foote Center (Juvenile Penal System) as a teacher, while coaching football at Overland High School, I have held a COSA position at Prairie Middle School, and have served as an AVID Tutor in three Cherry Creek schools; Horizon, Sky Vista, and CT high School, I am currently coaching Freshman Girls Basketball at Vista Peak HS and previously at Cherry Creek HS, while serving as the acting Assistant Principal at West Middle School.

I hold a HS diploma, a BS Degree in social studies, a master’s degree in Education Processes, a Specialist Degree in Secondary Administration, a Doctorate Degree in secondary administration and leadership, and I have completed all course work required for a second Doctorate Degree, in curriculum and instruction. I have written two books about education, one book about parenting, and four recently published books on various topics. I am currently now structuring another book, “Shepherding” about organizing education where students and teachers loop together over two to three years. I am currently a substitute teacher and assistant basketball coach in the Cherry Creek School District, Colorado.