Chapter 11: Peer Pitching

 Chapter 11 begins section III on the media production process by focusing on the first two phases of story telling and preproduction.  One of the author's ideas that I feel would be useful in a classroom is the use of peer pitching.

"Peer pitching is an approach to student peer review that involves students pitching their ideas to each other as a form of critique (Theodosakis, 2001).  In my adaptation of this process, students pitch their stories to peers, using their story map as a basis" (Ohler, Kindle Edition1856 of 2900).

In my opinion, peer feedback is a great way to initiate conversation about and development of story ideas.  Using the story map provides guidelines for the students to use to assist them in giving helpful critiques.  There would need to be an appropriate amount of modeling of the process as well as an understanding of participation expectations and expectations for the critiques and recommendations.  Most teachers can remember at least one collaborative lesson that didn't turn out as planned.  I remember starting group activities where students sat and you could almost hear the crickets in the background.  In those cases, I would bring the whole class back together and provide more clarification and examples of expectations but it would be better to be proactive than reactive in general.  

Once again I will relate the idea of peer pitching to my current line of work.  If you've even been in a state government office, you are probably familiar with the 8x8 cubicle office setup where each employee has their own little "office space" within the larger room.  Our budget office is set up differently and instead has one large bullpen divided into four smaller cubicles with three feet high walls between each analyst.  The benefit of this setup is that within my unit, I can "pitch" my ideas to my coworkers easily.  I've used this strategy in the development of templates or spreadsheets.  Often I will be given an assignment where we know the information that we want displayed (the conclusion of the story) but aren't sure how to get there.  Working with others to pitch my ideas and having them assist me in modifying my vision to find the best format is incredibly helpful and gives me additional perspective on the project.