Entry #8: How can writer's provide feedback to the work of their peers?

Hicks (2009) talks about the importance of peer review and mentions three ways to respond to the works of others: to bless, to address, and to press. When an individual blesses someone's piece of work they are offering praise. When an individual addresses someone's piece they are asking specific questions about the main ideas of the work. Finally, when an individual presses someone's piece they are asking critical questions and challenging the writer to explain their reasoning and clearly elaborate on their work.

https://minersp2019.blogspot.com 

After spending some time to reflect on the work of my peers, I have decided to focus on a peer's piece titled "Writing to learn integrates writing into all content areas." by Katy Miner. This blog post stuck out to me because of my own personal experiences with journal writing and the importance of incorporating journal writing into the classroom setting. I will use the ideas of Hicks (2009) to bless, address, and press this piece of work, and I will refer to chapter six of Tompkins (2019) when considering the various ways to incorporate writing in the classroom.

Bless
I'd like to begin by blessing my peer's work for the exceptional presentation of her blog post along with the content she chose to write about. Tompkins (2019) stresses the importance of author's craft when composing pieces, and this came to mind as I was reading this piece of work. When opening up to her blog page, I was very impressed with how each blog was presented and organized. When looking specifically at her post, "Writing to learn integrates writing into all content areas", I thought each idea written was presented in a way that was easy to follow and very engaging. I could hear Katy's voice as she wrote, so I believe her word choice was well thought out. Lastly, I enjoyed simply reading about journal writing because of my own personal interest in this genre. I was able to connect to many ideas that Katy discussed in her piece.

Address
One question that I have for my peer and her blog entry is, "What personal experiences have you had with journal writing when you were growing up in the classroom setting?" I ask this question because  I noticed that the author, Katy, focused more on the benefits of journal writing in the perspective of a teacher. Although Katy mentioned a particular experience at the end of her post, I would like to know more about her viewpoints when considering the benefits of journal writing. One reason that this post intrigued me is because I've had some wonderful opportunities as a student to work on fun and engaging pieces of journal writing that have had an impact on the way I view writing. I wonder if Katy has similar experiences or if she has not had similar opportunities when she was a student.

Press
I find that it's difficult to press my peer's piece because I am also still learning and growing as a writer and am looking for ways to improve and grow. However, one aspect that I would consider "pressing" this piece on is thinking about Hicks (2009) and creating a more digitally enhanced piece of work. One idea is to include some hyperlinks for each type of journal writing that truly gives the reader an example of what these pieces would look like in a classroom setting. Even incorporating pictures to show the different examples might be beneficial when crafting this blog.

Peer review is an extremely important aspect of the writing process, and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to practice the skill of blessing, addressing, and pressing.

References

Hicks, T. (2013).  Crafting digital writing.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019).  Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.