Kind Feedback Writers

Overview

Lesson 14 of 16 in Empowered English: Tuarere Tahi. Students share a short piece of writing, practise giving kind and useful feedback, and make one purposeful improvement. Activities are adaptable for Years 0–3, with drawing, oral rehearsal, shared writing, or independent sentences as appropriate.

Learning intentions

• WALT share our writing and listen carefully to others.
• WALT give feedback that is kind, specific, and helpful.
• WALT use feedback to improve one part of our writing.
• WALT explain one choice we made as a writer.

Success criteria

• I can share my writing with a partner or small group.
• I can say one thing I liked and one helpful suggestion.
• I can use a sentence, picture, word, or sound to explain my idea.
• I can make and show one improvement to my writing.

Curriculum links

• Oral language: listening, speaking, taking turns, and responding to others.
• Writing: creating texts for a purpose and audience, and developing ideas using words, pictures, and sentences.
• Making meaning: using knowledge of sounds, words, sentences, and text structure to communicate.
• Learning dispositions: working collaboratively, showing manaakitanga, and taking responsibility for learning.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–8 minutes – Welcome and learning focus Display the learning intentions using the opening and learning intentions slides. Explain that writers improve their work by listening to readers. Establish the feedback rule: “Be kind, be specific, be helpful.” Model a warm response: “I like your character because…” and a helpful suggestion: “You could add…”

2. 8–18 minutes – Teacher modelling Show a short teacher-created example on the model writing and feedback slides. Read it aloud, then think aloud: “I can picture the setting, but I could add where the character is.” Invite students to identify what is helpful about the feedback. For Years 0–1, use a picture and one or two sentences; Years 2–3 can identify detail, sequence, word choice, or punctuation.

3. 18–25 minutes – Practise feedback together Present a second simple example. Ask students to turn and talk using the prompts “I notice…” and “I wonder…” Record two or three responses. Rehearse listening behaviours: face the speaker, wait, ask a question, and thank the writer. Clarify that feedback is about the writing, not the person.

4. 25–42 minutes – Partner peer review Pair students carefully and distribute the peer feedback and revision sheet. Partner A reads, shows, or retells their writing while Partner B listens. Partner B gives one specific positive comment and one suggestion, using the worksheet prompts; then swap roles. Students who are not yet writing independently may share a drawing, oral story, labelled picture, dictated sentence, or copied model.

5. 42–53 minutes – Revise and improve Students choose one suggestion and improve their work. They may add a detail, draw an additional part, choose a stronger word, reorder an event, add a sentence, or correct a sound, capital letter, or full stop. Encourage students to explain to a partner: “I changed ___ because ___.” Use the revision and partner-check slides to display the steps.

6. 53–60 minutes – Share and reflect Invite several students to share their original and improved work, or describe the change they made. Complete the reflection on the reflection section: “My feedback helped me…” or “Next time I will…”. Revisit the success criteria and celebrate thoughtful listening, courage in sharing, and useful feedback.

Resources

• the peer feedback lesson deck
• the peer feedback and revision sheet
• Students’ writing or writing books
• Pencils, coloured pencils, and erasers
• Teacher-created model writing and picture
• Visual timer
• Flexible seating or a quiet sharing space
• Class feedback sentence stems displayed or written on the board

Assessment

• Observe whether students take turns, listen, and give feedback connected to the writing.
• Confer with selected students during revision: ask what feedback they received and what they changed.
• Collect or photograph the feedback sheet and revised work. Look for one clear improvement and evidence that the student can respond to feedback.

Differentiation

• Support Years 0–1 and emerging writers with picture choices, oral rehearsal, scribing, sentence stems, and feedback focused on one feature such as adding a detail or naming a character.
• Support EAL learners with visuals, gestures, repeated modelling, partner rehearsal, and the frames “I like…” and “You could add…”. Allow home-language discussion before sharing in English.
• Support students who need additional structure with a carefully chosen partner, a shortened task, a teacher conference, or feedback given through drawing, pointing, or recorded speech.
• Extend Years 2–3 writers by asking for two linked suggestions, such as improving description and sequence, and requiring them to justify which suggestion they used.