Dyadic Essays

Students individually write an essay question and a model answer on a reading assignment, lecture, or other presentation of content. In the next class period, student pairs exchange questions, write a response to the partner’s question, and then trade, read, and compare model and in-class answers. This CoLT gives students practice identifying the most important feature of a learning activity and formulating and answering questions about that activity. It also gives students an opportunity to rehearse responding to essay questions with the added advantage of having a sample response with which to compare their answers.

1. Outside of class, students reflect on a learning activity and formulate and write an essay question.

2. On a separate sheet of paper, students prepare a model response to their own question.

3. Students bring a copy of their essay questions and model answers to class.

4. Students form pairs, exchange essay questions, and write responses.

5. Students trade model answers and compare and contrast their in-class answers with their partner’s model answer.

6. Partners discuss their responses first for one essay question and then for the other, paying special attention to similar and dissimilar ideas.

• https://www.andrews.edu/~freed/oldpages/pdfs/d10-confront.pdf
• http://alighufron27.blogspot.sg/2012/11/the-effectiveness-of-dyadic-essay.html
• http://madisoncollege.edu/in/dyadic-essay