The critique process teaches students how to give and accept feedback in order to produce their best work. This lesson will guide you and the students through this process using a simple pencil drawing. All’s you need to do is find a simple photo online that students can reproduce easily, but not too easily. The lesson will guide you through the rest. You will be amazed at what students can accomplish after they have learned how to give one another effective feedback. Students also love to look through their drafts and comment on how much better they got with each successive draft.

This lesson was originally done with a group of high beginner-low intermediate ESL students to reinforce the opinion writing they were doing in their regular English classes. Please note that students should already have been exposed to opinion writing! This activity can take 2-3 days depending on how much time you have with the students and if you would like to add an extension at the end where the students edit their work. The lesson (following PowerPoint) 1- Review opinion writing/hand out tips sheet 2- Show the sample opinion piece/discuss 3- Try it together (have a news article ready) 4- Students go to one of two websites (or provide news articles), choose an article, and write their piece 5- Gallery walk, peer critique, and share An extension would be to have students edit based on critique they received. Included: 1- PowerPoint- editable 2- Opinion tips handout sheet- PDF 3- My sample opinion piece- editable PLEASE NOTE: Having access to computers would be best!