Critiquing sample essays can be a great way to show what does and doesn't work in a piece of writing. However, I don't like to put my students on the spot with their peers, particularly when I'm trying to show the difference between strong and weak writing. That's why I'm glad there are so many sample essays online. At The Writing Site, which offers tips on how to score student work, I found this list of exemplars for fourth-grade narrative writing. You can select other grades and genres here.
I chose three of their sample essays about being invisible, which ranged in strength from weak to very strong. After starting class with a review of the Six Traits, my students and I read through the essays and then rated them using a very basic rubric. The kids got really into this exercise. By comparing the three essays, they were able to easily identify what was missing in the weaker ones and what made the strong piece so compelling. They also had plenty of advice for the writers!
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