When students use a rubric and sentence starters to provide feedback to their classmates, they help each other improve their work.

At Whiting Lane Elementary School, in West Hartford, Connecticut, all students are held to a high standard for presenting their ideas—and they receive direct instruction and support in order to be successful in building communication skills. In a 4th-grade classroom, curriculum specialist Karen Bridges leads students through a feedback activity where they have opportunities to practice in trios, using a rubric to give thoughtful, productive critiques of their classmates’ presentations on local history.