[trasie]

What kind of assistance do you (the teacher) give at the revision and editing phases? I ask this because a resource I am using talks about having students put their final draft in the "editing basket". Then I was at a conference where it was said not to have the students write their final copy without the teacher reviewing their papers. How much help should I give the students? Edit/revise for them? In other words correct their work?

This is a fifth grade class. I was moved from another subject and grade. I'm having fun teaching writing but there are many things I'm trying to figure out.

TIA

[MrsPic]

I read their essay and I make a dot at the end of each line that contains a grammatical mistake (spelling, punctuation, usage). I will circle tired or overused words and demand improved vocabulary. That's about all I have time for with over 100 essays to read and review

I hope that helps you. I also recommend writing essays in stages. I always begin with body paragraphs; grade and return. Then, I move into the introduction and conclusion. I have my students type the finished copy, mark the body paragraphs, and I only have to review the introduction and conclusion.

When I ask my students to mark the body paragraphs they must: bold the topic sentence, highlight their eveidence or examples in each paragraph, and underline the transititions. The only part of their paragraphs that is not marked is their explanations or linking information.

[Paolo]

I have both a revision and an editing conference with students before they publish a piece. When they are finished a draft, they put it in my "revising" basket so I can review it and prepare for the conference. After the conference, the writer completes his/her revisions, then does a self-edit before putting the piece in my editing basket. Again, I do this so I can look at the piece before meeting with the student.

The amount of help I give students in correcting spelling and conventions really depends on how "public" the publishing will be. I believe that the goal of the editing conference is to focus on teaching the writer, not just making the piece more perfect. So I try to focus on two or three "teachable" corrections or patterns in the writing. This means that for classroom publishing, the piece may be published with errors, because I focus on the learning rather than simply correcting every error. That said, if the piece is going public - into the world for some reason - then I go over the piece and do a final edit before the student publishes (word processes, rewrites, etc) it so it's as clean as possible.

[trasie]

Thank you for your helpful advice. I know I need to find my own way but I also needed some ideas that I can start from and you both provided that!

[CKathyteach]

Mrs.Pic... what a great idea! I am definitely going to incorporate this into my ELA classes starting tomorrow! I ♥ PTers!

I have a classmate edit and mark their rough drafts. This does not count for their report card. It merely gives students practice in editing, shares ideas and builds community. It also helps improve the marks. I always edit the revised copy and the final copy. I find that this is where most of the learning takes place - when they fix their mistakes. They don't need to fix the mistakes in the final copy, but I insist that they read it and the comments.