Blog 18: Answer 3

1.  What is your essential question?

How can a writing group best be facilitated to help writers improve their craft?

2.  What is your third answer to your essential question (write your third answer in a complete sentence)?

Respect your boundaries as a critiquer.

3.  What are three details to support or justify your third answer (details are examples or facts)?

• Do not blatantly insult a fellow writer's work.

• The point of criticism to help improve the writer's craft, not disgrace it

• Effectively use diction that will clarify your needs as a writer so that the writers themselves can use it to make alterations in their pieces

• Ultimately it is the writer's choice how the piece is written - your job is to simply help them improve their weaknesses

4.  What source helped you prove this answer is justified for your essential question?

Loewen, Stanley C. "Constructive Criticism and Advice – Giving It, Taking It, and Reconsidering It." Constructive Criticism and Advice – Giving It, Taking It, and Reconsidering It. HealthGuidance, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/16145/1/Constructive-Criticism-and-Advice--Giving-It-Taking-It-and-Reconsidering-It.html>

This article was very useful in that it went into depth of how to exactly approach a writing critique. The last three points elaborate on how to appropriately evaluate someone's writing in that it says things like using words of encouragement, remaining detached from a piece as a writer and acting as a reader instead, as well as allowing the writer to understand your needs as a reader's needs.
I'm too lazy to check, but I also believe this article was the one that explained an idea of "sandwiching" criticism between praise.
In other words, you would praise someone, give them constructive feedback on their weakness, and then praise them further on their strengths. This allows for the writer to receive both advice on improving as well as encouragement to continue improving their craft.

5.  What do you plan to study next and why? 

What I plan to study next is effective methods for engaging student groups on activities because group working is essential to the dynamics of writing groups and I also need it to see how I can incorporate an activity into my two-hour.