Critique

Here are some examples of how critique takes student work and pushes it further. I do not like rubrics. I feel that they limit students. Critiques are great ways for students to learn subject matter, improve the quality of their work, and build a positive classroom culture.

Critiques must be three things:

-Be Kind

-Be Helpful

-Be Specific

Below is an example of how critique helped my students Denisha and Brad improve their work. Their assignment was to make the word parallel look like the definition.

1st Draft

Here is their first attempt. Yes, the orange lines look like a parallel circuit, but the way they arranged their letters they implied that the electrons would go from P to A to R, then magically up to the next A without a path. Bottom line, their draft had major errors. They earned full credit on this assignment, because they tried their hardest. It is perfectly okay if students have mistakes in their 1st draft as long as they are committed to improvement. Here is how I would organize a critique session:

After the students explained what their word was and how their drawing showed the definition, I would ask the class for Warm Feedback. As two random other students wrote down feedback, students would begin with Kind, Helpful and Specific feedback. For example, the font is clear and the diagram looks like a parallel circuit.

If I graded this on correctness, this draft would not pass. I grade all drafts based on effort, so this group earned 100% despite flaws in their design.

2nd Draft-

It is clear that the group listened to the critiques from the 1st draft, however, there are still some major errors in their design. If the unlit bulb was broken, then the two other bulbs on that branch would not turn on (series branch within a parallel circuit), the bottom two bulbs would be brighter than the top row, because of only two bulbs sharing the voltage, and why are there light lines coming out of the broken bulb? Despite the errors, the group earned 100% on this assignment, because they improved their draft and listened to critiques.

3rd Draft-

It looks like the group finally has a design that truly shows a complete parallel circuit, but they spelled parallel incorrectly.

Final Draft-

Here is the group's final design. their design is clear, illustrates features of a parallel circuit and shows how this group learned more deeply what a parallel circuit is. For me, the best part about this example is how resilient the group was and how much they learned through the critique process.

In order to earn full credit for a draft a group must:

-Try their hardest

-Complete the assignment

-Fully participate in the critique process

-Make a plan for improvement for their next draft

Here is a worksheet that might to go along with the parallel drafts and with Austin's Butterfly if you want to teach critique to your students.