It is impossible to write about all the wonderful strategies for revision, but I do have some more that I wanted to add. We have discussed revising for organization, word choice, and for a different audience (voice), but I haven’t really mentioned much about revising with details that appeal to the senses. It is very important for students to show, and not just tell, in their writing.
Also, when helping to delete parts of their papers (that they will swear are set in stone), tell them that you are just helping them cut clutter. Just tell them like it is.
When working on slotting and word choice, encourage students to use specific action verbs and not to rely on weak helping and linking verbs.
I discussed using M-E-S-S when revising, but there are other acronyms that you might want to keep in mind.
ARRR: adding, rearranging, removing, replacing
ARMS: add, remove, move around, substitute
Coming soon: Writing the final copy and publishing student writing
Ok, we’ve worked to make our papers clear, concise, and complete during revision. Now let’s proofread to work on the way the writing looks: punctuation, capitalization, spelling, formatting/indenting, homophones, contractions, margins. You know: all that grammar and mechanics stuff. We work on that regularly through Daily Oral Language (DOL), but let’s take it to the next level and apply that DOL knowledge. Students have to acquire the ability to proofread, and we have to acquire the ability to teach them how to get it done. Again, teaching skills in isolation won’t transfer when students go through the writing process. Skills need to be taught in context.
Hopefully, you have posted common mistakes and given students a checklist before starting to proofread. You know the grammar and mechanics skills your students are responsible for and at what time. Hold them accountable once you have taught the skills and they have had adequate time to practice them in context. After they proofread for two or three skills, check for corrections and then move on to another skill. They can then make changes in those on the same rough draft. You should have several proofreading sessions with feedback between each. If revision and proofreading really happen, your students will have a sloppy copy as a rough draft!
Tips:
1.Have students read the paper backward so they aren’t blind to their own errors. This way they read what is there and not what they think is written. Reading a paper backward is a great way to check for spelling errors.
2. This day and time, we need to have students check for texting shorthand.
3. Have students pair up and read their papers aloud. When they actually look at what they have written as they read, they will catch errors.
3. CUPS is a commonly used acronym that might be beneficial. CUPS stands for capitalization, usage, punctuation, and spelling. The following chart I found online might be useful.
http://www.stjoanofarc.org/school/grade5/cups.htm
I will be adding to this list so come back when you can.
What a day to be an educator and a student when one considers all the wonderful technology at our fingertips!! Did you know that the definition for literacy now includes interacting with technology in a meaningful way besides just the reading and writing components of literacy of which we are aware? Technology is a tool to help us teach and to help us reach our lesson objectives, not an end-all. It should help to motivate students and to make learning more relevant to them. As someone once said, technology adds a new dimension to our teaching if used effectively.
To start off, I want to make it clear that I am not an expert on the technology that is available today. In fact, sometimes it scares me just to think about it! When I started teaching in 1980, I had a chalkboard and chalk, a filmstrip projector, and a huge reel-to-reel film projector on wheels that I checked out from the library. Using the purple master copier was a highlight of my day. And to think…I averaged my grades by hand!! I won’t ever forget the day we received overhead projectors and no longer had to erase the chalkboard after every class. You get the picture. Over the years came white boards and markers, computers, e-mail, and all of what we have today: all of it much easier for our students to use than for us. Technology is such a normal part of their lives, and we do students a disservice by not experimenting with it and implementing it into our plans on a regular basis. Let’s make it a point to take advantage of the necessary training that is offered to us so we will be prepared and relaxed. Seek out those co-workers that have been successful with the technology and ask for help.
Not all of us are afforded the same technology, but we all have something we can use as we encourage our students down the writing road, as we take them from passive to active learners.. Whether it’s an overhead projector, LCD projector, or SMARTBoard, our students need access. Technology is such a part of their worlds that we cannot be afraid to try. Just try. Word processing and laptops are an easy place to start. Why not have our students e-mail “real” authors? We’ve got digital and video cameras that can enrich interview sessions as preparation for a writing assignment. We could create digital memory books. Powerpoint is available for final presentations, google docs for rough drafts, revision, and feedback, and the internet for research. Blogs and class websites can be used for publishing. And what about Skype and video-conferencing? With permission and some planning, you have the world in your hands. With a little innovation, imagine how we can transform our classrooms.
Technology can give us access to programs that help struggling students with organization, notetaking, and writing assistance. Really, there is no excuse for not experimenting with what is “out there.”
If you really want to venture out, think about iTunes, iPhoto and youtube…
All school systems have procedures for usage of technology and you know when parental permission is necessary. Yes, we are accountable and should be cognizant of the need for safety as our students go online. However, the advantages of using the technology far outweigh the disadvantages. Decide today to get to know a new technology and then find a way to share this with your students. Take advantage of all the training that is offered to you and expect great dividends. Don’t let a little fear or technology-intimidation stop you from making a difference.
Before sentence-combining is begun in revision, please take time to review the types of sentences. Review declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory. Teach simple, compound, and complex, and in some cases, teach the compound-complex sentence. Review your standards and the expectations for your students to see what they should know and be able to use in their own writing. Again, do not teach these in isolation. Of course, you must model and use mini-lessons. Rather than have students copy 40 sentences from their grammar books and label them (though there is a place for a grammar book as a resource), have them find these sentences in their writing, in their library books, and in exemplary papers that you share. Have them write some of their own as a ticket- out-the- door. Listen for the types of sentences in class discussions and note them. Chart examples and post them around the classroom. Students need a reference as they begin revision of their own papers, especially the sentence-combining component. Isolated grammar instruction appears to have little or no positive impact in helping poor writers become better writers. (Graham and Penn 2007) Let’s keep that in mind.
Start by asking students what it means to combine something. Explain that sentences are combined to help improve style and voice and to keep their writing from being monotonous. It is about changing sentence structure. The purpose is NOT to produce longer sentences but to produce more effective ones. We need to model sentences of different types and lengths and then expect to see these used in student writing. Variety is the key to more interesting papers.
Tips:
1. Combine two simple sentences into a compound one by using a comma and a conjunction or by using a semi-colon. You may need to stop and teach these skills at this time. Talk about independent clauses.
2. Combine elements within a sentence. Rather than write “Sally laughed at her sister. She also hugged her.” Talk with the students about compound verbs. “Sally laughed at her sister and hugged her.”
3. Use appositives to connect ideas. “My brother is a doctor. He lives in St. Louis.” becomes “My brother, the doctor, lives in St. Louis.” You talk at that time about how to use commas with appositives.
4. For practice, give pairs or groups of students kernel sentences and specific instructions on combining them. Once they practice, have them apply immediately the knowledge to their own writing.
5. Have all students share orally one place they used sentence-combining.
6. Talk about differences in dependent and independent clauses and then practice complex sentences. Discuss comma usage with complex sentences. Have students find a couple of places in their papers to apply this concept.
You need to inspect what you expect so conferencing with all students is very important.
Now you are equipped with all four strategies for cleaning up the M-E-S-S. Please let me know any success stories you have with your students as they continue writing.
Expansion is just what it sounds like: adding details and expanding ideas. This is a great place to teach modifiers, but don’t get too carried away with adjectives and adverbs. E.B. White said, “It is nouns and verbs, not their assistants, that give good writing its toughness and color.” Students do need descriptive language peppered throughout their papers, but too much is overkill.
Teach students to ask the who, what, when, where, how, and why about what they write. Teach them to pretend the audience knows nothing about their topic and that they need to leave the readers with no unanswered questions. They have something to say; we just have to help them say it.
Slotting is another part of cleaning up the mess during revision. I talk with students about what a slot is and then we discuss taking out overused words and replacing the slot with more descriptive vocabulary. We make a list of overused words to post on our word wall , and we call these dead words. We then use the thesaurus to help find vobabulary that we can use to replace the dead words. The lists are posted on the word wall, placed on the SMARTBoard, and written in their writing notebooks for them to refer to during revision. Together we look at their papers and highlight words they have overused. Then they use their lists and write new words above the old ones.
Some commonly overused words are good, bad, cute, nice, little, big, said, and old. Let these be a starting place for your class as they begin to slot. Tell them from the beginning that “Said is dead,” and you choose not to see it quite so often. I do give them a chance to use, but not overuse, these on words on occasion.
Next time, we will look at sentence-combining. Until then, I hope you try expansion and slotting and see some great results.
While I have been working on the revision blogs, I have had in the back of my mind all of you who are working with those at-risk students and how difficult teaching them to write can be. I want to encourage you not to give up but to keep working and you will see progress. I am listing some tips here that might give you a bit of help.
1. Writing needs to be relevant and related to students’ backgrounds and experiences.
2. These students need a minimum of 30 minutes of writing DAILY. More would be great , but this is adequate.
3. They need to be engaged in practical and creative writing.
4. Writing at home is generally not successful for them.
5. Look at and discuss pictures, movie clips, and picture books as a basis for their stories.
6. Keep in mind that these students usually have low vocabulary so you must work on building it.
7. Don’t stress over mechanics too soon. That will come later.
8. Many of these students are weak in spelling, grammar and have poor handwriting. Work on these but not in isolation.
9. Patience is key.
10. Many of these students are passive. Genuine learning is active, not passive. To work on this, give writing that stresses discovery and active learning.
11. Work regular teacher-student conferences into your schedule.
Please don’t get discouraged and give up on the students that need us the most.
Movability is a strategy I have used for many years with my students, all levels and abilities, as they revise their sloppy copies/rough drafts. I introduce it by asking students what the word sounds like and they generally tell me it sounds like “move.” That opens the door to what it really is: moving ideas, words, parts of sentences, whole sentences and even entire paragraphs. The goal for revision is to improve style, voice, and organization. Movability is one way to help meet that goal.
Before they are required to try this on their own papers, I give students practice papers, and we work together to revise using this strategy. We then move to their own papers to select a place for them to try movability. Once I see they are “getting it,” they choose a section of their own to practice. After students understand the purpose for this revision, they usually have little apprehension about trying it. I know many are wondering how long this takes. Well, that depends on you and your students.
Students do not need to recopy a draft after each revision session. They continue to make changes by highlighting, drawing arrows, whatever works for your classroom. Skipping lines in the rough draft helps if you worry about students’ papers getting too sloppy. That way they have the space for changes. Also, if their rough draft is in pencil, making changes in ink works well. Try until you find what works for your classroom of students.
Tip: Have students underline the first word in every sentence. They will probably be shocked at how many begin the same way. Give them an opportunity to have a couple of sentences start the same way and then reword the rest until they have more variety. Soon their own voice will begin to shine through their writing.
Expansion is next as we guide our students toward cleaning up the MESS . I hope you’ll join me as we continue down the road of revision, often rocky but so rewarding.
Before we begin the discussion of revision techniques, I wanted to remind you to do something before you begin. Get to know your students and their strengths and weaknesses in writing. This way, you can identify “experts” before pairing up students or before placing them in triads . I recommend placing two or three students together and having them have a specific focus for revision. For instance, one might read both or all three papers, depending on your set-up, for just one skill. One might check all the papers for introductions, another might read for overused vocabulary (those dead words), while the other suggests revision for sentence structure. It all depends upon what your instructions lead them to do. PLEASE do not give the students a checklist of 15 things and tell them to go revise their papers without guidance. They have to be given opportunities to practice the strategies before using them. Do not overwhelm them or they will give up.
We are all different so there is not a “one size fits all” way to accomplish the huge revision task; however, there are strategies that may make your teaching world a bit less hectic if you really give them a try. Over 25 years ago, our school participated , probably for the first time, in professional development (staff development at that time) in writing instruction. That first year, we worked with a gentleman who was developing a writing program, we attended workshops in Atlanta to help us better evaluate student writing, and we worked with Dr. Spilton, an educator in GA, who had much success with her strategies. Since then, I have continued to use some of what I learned back then, as well as develop what works best for me based on the research and my students’ writing growth. An idea from Dr. Spilton that I have modified to fit my needs is “Cleaning up the “M-E-S-S ” during revision. Though there are many revision techniques out there for educators, this has proven the most helpful to me over the years. Like I said, I have modified it, but the heart of it still lives.
M-E-S-S is an acronym for movability, expansion, sentence-combining, and slotting. Each of these techniques should be taught well before expecting students to benefit from them. Let’s start with movability. What is it and how is it used when revising student work?
Until next time, take every chance you get to help your students become better writers!!
Revision is the third step in the writing process and may be the most important piece of the process. I like to think about revision as the opportunity to make changes in the the way the paper sounds if read aloud. (Proofreading, step 4, will be about making changes in the way the paper looks.) Revision isn’t about correcting, but about clarifying, what has already been written,and it is an ongoing process. Students must be taught revision strategies and should be given time in class to revise.
Teachers need to establish a purpose for revising and give students feedback and guidance for better revision (Robinson 1985 and Sommers 1982). As long as students feel revising is meaningless, they will continue to take it lightly and papers will reflect the lack of effort. Revision involves word selection, rearrangement, adding and deleting parts, as well as varying sentence structure and type. It can be accomplished by using partners, triads, groups, or by working alone.
I suggest giving students the opportunity to write two ot three different papers in a genre before attempting to revise. Have the students choose their favorite of the pieces and then start the revision. I really believe it is more helpful to revise one piece of writing over several weeks, a bit at a time, than to write many rough drafts with little or no specific revision. Always model through a mini-lesson what you would like them to do. If you want students to improve their introductions, read several exemplary ones to them or write one together. Have them look in their library books for techniques great authors use.
Equip students with necessary tools as they begin their revising. They need a thesaurus, a dictionary, highlighters, the rough draft/sloppy copy, revision checklists, their rubric , pens and pencils and specific instructions as they begin.
My next entry will include specific tips that should be useful for you and your students as you devote the needed time to revision.
Christmas has once again come and gone and I await,with anticipation, the new year of 2012 and what it will bring. Sitting and enjoying a steamy cup of coffee last night, I started reminiscing about growing up and about my grandmother who lived with us. Granny had a habit of pouring her creamed coffee into her saucer to drink it which always seemed normal at our house. I hadn’t thought much about it while it was happening, but now it is a special memory to me. Wondering if it was just a southern thing, I researched and found it had been prevalent for years in many countries. Apparently it wasn’t always considered polite to those in the upper class though. I realize now that I really need to take time to jot down all these little memories.
What an opportunity we can offer our students if we also allow them the chance to research and interview their families before they are gone. We will not only give them writing and researching opportunities, but we will give them a chance to build deeper relationships with those around them. Students will have the chance to learn about family and to compare their findings to those of others around the world. What an interesting way to get them to write!!
