Writing my college essay was the hardest piece of writing that I have ever done. Often, I came to class unsure of what I wanted to write about, what I was going to say, and how I was going to say it. During the college essay writing process, there were a few days that were dedicated to peer reviews. There were two types of peer reviews: one where we were in groups of four other students assigned by Mrs. Larson and ones with our table partner.
Prior to doing the peer reviews in groups of four, I was thinking: I’m doing fine. Why would I need someone to look over my work? Right from the moment I sat down with my group, I yelled over all the chaos, “I want to go last!” When it was my turn, I took a deep breath and sank into my seat, knowing I
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Now when I proofread, I read out loud to myself or to someone. Every time we did a peer review, I came out of class inspired by the suggestions because it sparked additional thoughts that I could incorporate into my writing. My peers taught me to stop doubting my work, as I realized that we all need others to help us learn and grow in writing; it’s not meant to be something we sit down in isolation and do on our own. It also made me see that there are multiple perspectives, as others thought through things very differently than I did. For instance, someone might not think that using imagery to describe loud, immature boys helps them to see what’s going on, while for others, it takes them to the scene. Because of this, I had to determine what suggestions to take and not to take. This was troublesome for me to do when I liked how I said something, but others weren’t able to understand what I was saying.
What I found most difficult with the peer reviews was listening to the comments without speaking. I always wanted to intervene and tell the person, “Oh I actually meant this” or “Would it be better of I did this?” or “I think you’re interpreting this wrong.” Also, I found that it was difficult to get through everyone in the group, within the time frame that we had. Everything felt rushed, especially when people were giving feedback. I found that we weren’t