Making Faculty Commentary on Student Papers Meaningful For Students: Follow-up Activities for the Days After Students Get Graded Papers Back

(generated by faculty at an FS workshop on 2/16/01)

• After a paper has been returned, as a class generate a list of challenges and common pitfalls in this paper.
• Hold individual conferences after the first paper has been graded or the first draft completed. Ask students to come to the conference with one major question about the comments or the paper's content (barring them from asking, "why did I receive this grade?").
• Conduct peer group conferences after the first draft of the first paper. The faculty member meets with students who have read and critiqued one another's papers to facilitate a rigorous peer review session.
• Tailor a follow-up homework assignment to meet the needs of each individual by asking each student to revise a particular aspect of his/her paper (for example, first and last paragraphs, active voice, semicolons, etc.).
• Ask students to paraphrase the comments of the professor and respond to them.
• Require two copies of the paper on the due date. Then tell them to put aside the paper for a few days, not looking at it all. A few days later they should then grade and comment upon their own paper. In an individual conference with the professor, they will see how closely the two critiques match.
• Compile one problem sentence from all of the papers and in small groups have the class revise the sentences.
• Have a third rewrite focus on one particular issue (proof, organization, brevity, etc.).
• Have students write an outline of their paper after it's already written to study the paper's organization and consider other ways to organize the paper.