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Students need so much practice with writing that they should write far more than you could ever possibly read. Targeted teacher feedback during (not after!) the writing process is essential for growing writers, but when you don’t have time to get around to it all yourself, peer feedback is the next best thing.

Peer editing is a simple yet powerful tool to help writers grow. When students review each other’s work, they not only learn to give and receive constructive feedback but also gain a better understanding of what makes writing effective.

Glow and Grow

The process works best when it’s structured and purposeful. I like having students give each other a glow and a grow – something done well (glow) and something that could make the writing even better (grow).

See the stems on the free resource below to help your students move past the “It’s good.” kind of feedback.

Peer Checklist

You could also provide students with a checklist or rubric tailored to the writing assignment. This gives them clear criteria to evaluate their partner’s work. For example, if students are writing opinion essays, they might check for a strong claim, supporting evidence, and transitions. I like to create checklists using language straight from the writing standards. You could have them highlight, underline, and/or annotate each component.

Peer Editing Rounds

My favorite way to use peer editing is with rounds. Students would leave their essays on their desks, and then stand up and move to the next seat. On the board I would display the second slide in the free resource below, showing each component of their papers we would be evaluating. So at the first seat the whole class would evaluate just the first component. Then they’d stand up, move to the next seat, read and leave feedback on the second component.

And so on, until we’ve moved through each thing I wanted to emphasize that day.

By the end of this students have read several of their peers’ papers, which is just as, if not more so, beneficial for them since they can see possibilities for their own work.

If students wrote on paper we’d leave feedback on post-it notes, one for each round. If the papers were typed, we would leave Google comments, one for each round.

One of the best parts of peer editing is how it transforms the classroom into a community of writers. Students begin to see themselves not just as learners but as contributors to each other’s success. They build confidence in their own writing and develop critical thinking skills that will serve them beyond the classroom.

By teaching students to collaborate through peer editing, we’re not only improving their writing but also fostering a culture of trust and shared growth. It’s a small shift with a big payoff.

How do you incorporate peer editing in your classroom? Share your favorite strategies in the comments!

Free Resource:

Link to “Glow” and “Grow” Stems and Peer Editing Rounds

Note 1: These are Google slides set to “View Only”. To edit, go to “File” and then “Make a copy” and it will save it to your drive where you can change anything you’d like.

Note 2: The components on the peer editing rounds are set to informative/explanatory essays on a fifth-grade level. Edit these to fit your genre and standards.

See the entire series on writing:

These resources are for opinion/argument and informative/explanatory essays, geared for grades 3-8.

• The Writing Process Explained in Memes
• 5 Types of Writing on the Mississippi State Test
• ChatGPT? Might as Well
• 18 Hook Ideas with Mentor Text
• Writing Introductory Paragraphs
• Writing Body Paragraphs
• Choosing the Best Evidence
• Revising
• Writing Conclusions