Critiquing



= CRITIQUING =

When working in the classroom, you will often want your students to do for one another. Critiquing allows for students to receive some insight from their peers about their writing, and it allows for them to express themselves and their opinions about writing pieces. It doesn't come naturally for them though because they have a hard time saying that there is room for improvement. They want to say nothing but nice things and get it over and done with. That isn't helpful for anyone though, so proper critiquing is a skill you need to teach.

So why don't we try to critique the following poem by Li-Young Lee:


 * Eating Alone**

I've pulled the last of the year's young onions. The garden is bare now. The ground is cold, brown and old. What is left of the day flames in the maples at the corner of my eye. I turn, a cardinal vanishes. By the cellar door, I wash the onions, then drink from the icy metal spigot.

Once, years back, I walked beside my father among the windfall pears. I can't recall our words. We may have strolled in silence. But I still see him bend that way-left hand braced on knee, creaky-to lift and hold to my eye a rotten pear. In it, a hornet spun crazily, glazed in slow, glistening juice.

It was my father I saw this morning waving to me from the trees. I almost called to him, until I came close enough to see the shovel, leaning where I had left it, in the flickering, deep green shade.

White rice steaming, almost done. Sweet green peas fried in onions. Shrimp braised in sesame oil and garlic. And my own loneliness. What more could I, a young man, want. Please provide positive feedback and areas where you feel there could be improvement.

The following document gives examples of what you can expect your students to say. It also provides you with prompts that you can have them use to give more appropriate feedback.