Constructive Email Feedback

Overview

Lesson 9 of 20 in Literacy Skills for CAAs. Students learn and practise a respectful peer-review process for improving emails, focusing on purpose, audience, structure, tone, clarity, spelling and punctuation.

Learning intentions

• WALT identify the features of an effective email.
• WALT give specific, respectful and useful peer feedback.
• WALT use feedback to revise an email for a clear purpose and audience.
• WALT explain how language choices affect the reader.

Success criteria

• I can identify a strength and an area for improvement in an email.
• I can give feedback using evidence from the email.
• I can phrase suggestions respectfully and clearly.
• I can make at least two purposeful improvements to my own email.

Curriculum links

• Creating and presenting texts for a specific purpose and audience.
• Selecting vocabulary, sentence structures and tone appropriate to context.
• Developing, organising and revising ideas to improve written communication.
• Key competencies: managing self, relating to others, and using language, symbols and texts.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 minutes – Hook: What makes feedback useful? Open with the hook and lesson introduction slides. Display two comments: “This is bad” and “Your purpose is clear, but adding a subject line would help the reader understand the email quickly.” Students discuss which comment would help a writer more and why. Establish that peer review is about improving the text, not judging the person.

2. 5–13 minutes – Revisit effective email features Use the email features slides to review subject line, greeting, purpose, paragraphing, appropriate tone, specific details, closing, spelling and punctuation. Briefly distinguish between proofreading, which checks correctness, and reviewing, which considers how effectively the whole email communicates.

3. 13–23 minutes – Teacher modelling: two stars and a wish Show the sample email in the modelling slides. Think aloud while identifying two effective features and one improvement. Model precise language such as, “Your request is clear because you state the event date. Consider adding a polite reason so the recipient understands why you are asking.” Highlight the pattern: notice it, explain its effect, suggest a next step.

4. 23–30 minutes – Build a class feedback checklist Distribute the peer-review checklist and practice email. In pairs, students turn the checklist into three priority questions: Is the purpose clear? Is the tone suitable for the audience? Is the message accurate and easy to follow? Invite pairs to share one useful feedback sentence starter. Record several on the board, including “A strength is…”, “I noticed…”, “This could be clearer if…”, and “Have you considered…?”

5. 30–45 minutes – Paired peer review Students exchange a prepared email or use the practice email on the peer-review checklist and practice email. Each reviewer first reads the email silently, then completes the checklist and gives oral feedback using two stars and a wish. Writers ask one clarifying question and identify the feedback they will act on. Circulate, prompting students to refer to specific words or sentences rather than making general comments.

6. 45–55 minutes – Revise and explain choices Students revise their own email, making at least two changes based on feedback. They annotate or briefly list their changes, explaining how each improves clarity, tone, structure or accuracy. Use the revision and discussion slides to display prompts: “What did you change?”, “Why did you change it?”, and “How will the reader benefit?”

7. 55–60 minutes – Plenary and exit reflection Return to the plenary slides. Students complete a quick reflection on the worksheet: one feedback phrase they used, one change they made, and one review skill they still need to practise. Ask two or three students to share examples, reinforcing respectful, evidence-based feedback.

Resources

• the complete peer-review slide deck
• the peer-review checklist and practice email
• Students’ previously drafted emails, if available
• Board or shared digital display
• Pens or highlighters
• Timer
• Optional dictionaries or classroom proofreading tools

Assessment

• Observe paired discussions for specific, respectful feedback linked to the email’s purpose, audience and language choices.
• Check the completed peer-review checklist for accurate identification of strengths and improvements.
• Collect or review revised emails and annotations, looking for at least two purposeful changes and an explanation of their effect.

Differentiation

• Provide sentence starters, a completed model and a reduced checklist for students who need additional support.
• Pair students thoughtfully and allow oral feedback before written recording; read the practice email aloud for students with literacy or processing needs.
• Support EAL students with a visible word bank including purpose, audience, tone, clear, polite, detail, suggestion and revise.
• Extend confident writers by asking them to comment on implied audience, formality, paragraph cohesion and how a change might alter the recipient’s response.