PeerCommentaryTheme2

Peer Commentary, Theme 2

Instructions: Develop a written commentary (300-350 words) in response to the Written/Creative Product from someone else in the course. First, read through the product, and imagine that you are hearing the words as spoken by the author in their own voice (since you've experienced the voice of everyone in class at this point to some degree; also, recall the material on the "proprioceptive listening"). Once you have listened to the sound of what has been said, you are now asked to respond. Then, write your response (address the author in the first person -- rather than write "s/he seems to be saying this...", use phrases such as, "when you talk about...I understand you to mean...", etc.). Refer to the structure mentioned below, which is Elbow and Belanoff's "Voice" format for how a reader might respond to a writer when giving feedback (Elbow and Belanoff, 1999, A Community of Writers: A Workshop Course in Writing):

• "Voice: "How much voice do you hear in my writing? Is my language alive and human? Or is it dead, bureaucratic, unsayable? "What kind of voice(s) do you hear in my writing? Timid? Confident? Sarcastic? Pleading?" Or "what kind of person does my writing sound like? What side(s) of me comes through in my writing?" Most of all, "Do you trust the voice or person you hear in my writing?" This kind of feedback can be useful at any stage. When people describe the voice they hear in writing, they often get right to the heart of subtle but important matters of language and approach. They don't have to be able to talk in technical terms ("You seem to use lots of passive verbs and nominalized phrases"); they can say, "You sound kind of bureaucratic and pompous and I wonder if you actually believe what you are saying.""