The other day in class we read a series of classroom conversations in which the students took on the “teacher” or facilitator role for their peers as they discussed books, short stories, and articles that they had read. The students had clearly been coached on phrases and key words to use in order to facilitate discussion and prompt elaboration, and so the actually conversations were probably the product of a few class sessions of preparation. The conversations that emerged were really quite remarkable, in that the students encouraged each other to think more critically and develop their ideas more. For this reason, I want to highlight the last conversation as a great example of preparation for writing a persuasive essay, and also for giving effective peer feedback. Here is the text of the conversation:

Lenora: I think guns should be against the law.

Hilario: Why?

Lenora: Because the more guns around, the more people get killed. For example, those shootings at schools and in malls.

Hilario: Yes, but a counterargument would be that we have the right to own guns in the Constitution. What about that?

Lenora: It should be changed. That’s what amendment means. We should amend it.

Hilario: But if we change that one, we might have to change many more.

Lenora: Whatever, maybe something that makes it harder to buy guns.

Hilario: Maybe, but I know a lot of people want one in their house to defend it.

Lenora: So we need to weigh the right of having a gun and its protection against counterarguments of more people dying from lots of guns around. So, is less deaths worth giving up this right?

Hilario: How do you know less deaths will happen?

This dialogue is incredibly useful for the skills development of both students, and could easily be applied to an academic writing class in a foreign language or in a TESOL class. Hilario, in this example, is developing her ability to give useful feedback, to analyze an argument, and to fully develop her ideas. Lenora is also learning how to fully develop ideas, as well as how to respond to feedback, how to include counterarguments in a persuasive essay, and how to properly support her ideas with evidence. I really like the idea of using this activity as a pre-cursor to writing persuasive essays and peer reviews, because it is communicative and student-centered, and a great opportunity for learners to develop the skills they will need to become effective writers and peer reviewers.