Response to the Peer Review Workshop

When I was creating my Digital Biography assignment I was excited to share my personal narrative with my fellow classmates. This particular assignment was enjoyable for me because I love delving into my past in order to understand how the elements of the past influence who I am today. The Penguin Handbook defines narrative writing as a deep reflection focusing on experiences from the past and written in first person voice. Writing in first person is always wonderful for me because I feel that when I create a composition in first person, I am speaking directly to my audience in my own voice. During the day of our peer evaluations I was both nervous and anxious to have my peers read my writing. I felt that my story was a personal extension of myself. During the process of the peer review I felt that I was sharing my writing in a safe environment because everyone in the class was required to share their writings with others. The peers that looked over my rough draft read it throroughly and gave the paper back to me offering very insightful tips on what needed to be revised or reworded. I felt that my peers gave very positive, detailed feedback regarding my paper. I also feel that my peers handled my paper and the critiquing of it in a professional and serious manner. When it was my turn to read my peer’s paper I wrote helpful notes in the margins and offered different ideas regaurding how to make the ideas of the paper flow during paragraph transitions. Overall, I feel that the class peer review workshop was a successful activity because now I see my classmates as writers who, like me, are constantly trying to improve their writing. Peer review is a great tool for our class to support one another as writers.