Overview

On the first day of school, I introduce students to Ron Berger's critique protocol for giving and receiving feedback to improve their work. We start by watching a video where Berger tells "The Story of Austin's Butterfly" to elementary students. After that, I show a video of my former students explaining critique in their own words.

Next, I write Berger’s critique rules on the board:
  1. Be kind:
  • No hurtful comments.
  • Be kind so that the creator will want to listen to you.
  1. Be specific:
  • Avoid vague comments like “It’s good” or “I like it.”
  • Be specific so that the creator knows exactly what you’re talking about.
  1. Be helpful:
  • Avoid comments that can’t help improve the work or that have already been mentioned.
  • Be helpful so that the creator learns something new.
I also introduce Berger’s critique guidelines:
  • The creator introduces the work first and shares any relevant information.
  • The person giving critique offers praise or "warm feedback" first, followed by constructive criticism or "cool feedback."
  • The person giving critique uses “I” statements or asks questions whenever possible.

To prepare students for critiquing each other’s work, I model the critique protocol by publicly critiquing my first draft of an apple drawing on the whiteboard. I explain that my goal was to recreate the image as closely as possible. As I draw, I study the image closely and make a list of its attributes. I use this list as my success criteria, and students can reference it when giving me feedback. I write down their critique and update my list of attributes with each new draft.

Before asking students to draw their first draft of the same apple and critique each other's work in pairs, I clearly state that their goal is to recreate the specific image, not just to draw any apple. To support students during this process, I provide a graphic organizer for planning their drawings, documenting the feedback they receive, and planning their next drafts based on that critique. I also introduce sentence frames to help students with each part of the critique process, one at a time, starting with these:


Ways to Introduce Work
  1. One thing I want you to know about my work is __________.
  2. I would like you to focus on how I __________.
  3. One idea I had was ___________.
  4. One goal I had was ___________.
  5. One difficulty I had was __________.
  6. I chose to __________.
  7. I was influenced by __________.
  8. I know I need to work on __________.

Ways to Offer Praise
  1. I like how you __________.
  2. One thing I learned from your work is __________. Next time, I can __________.
​
Ways to Offer Constructive Criticism
  1. Have you considered __________? I ask that question because __________.
  2. Maybe you could __________ because __________.
  3. Something that worked for me was __________ because __________.
  4. I’m curious why you __________ because __________.
  5. I’m confused by __________ because __________.

During this process, I ask all students to take notes on the feedback they receive so they can consider it when working on their second drafts.

First Draft

Final Draft

​These drafts were completed by Nathan in 2012.

These drafts were completed by Cherry Pop in August 2013.

​These drafts were completed by Smartie 22 in August 2014.

​I used a similar process, using a picture of a banana, to teach a group of adults about critique during my final masters presentation in graduate school.

These drafts were completed by workshop participants in June 2012.

Each day during the first week of school, we follow a cycle: students publicly critique my drafts of the apple, draw a new draft themselves, and then receive feedback on their new drafts. This process continues into the next two weeks with self-portraits. We experiment with mirrors and photographs and even trace photographs using a classroom lightbox.

First Draft

Final Draft

These drafts were completed by Doggie in September 2013.

​These drafts were completed by Smartie 22 in September 2014.

In addition to the detailed critique process, we also use a method called gallery critique. Each student shares a draft by placing it on the wall or on their desk. The class then silently walks around the room to view the work. Some students select drafts that impress them and explain why in front of the class. This helps ensure that drafts are completed, new ideas are generated, and strong examples are recognized.