09.02 - Revision

We started today's class with everyone responding to the following prompt in their writer's journal:

How do you go about revising your work...

before it is officially submitted

after you have received assessment

After everyone had a chance to respond to this prompt, we discussed different people's responses and recorded these on the board. Some of the responses included:
- -read what I wrote looking for specific sorts of mistakes (spelling, grammar mistakes)
- re-read what I wrote asking myself "does this make sense"
- re-read what I wrote asking myself, "is this the best it could be" and then make changes based on my answer
- have someone else read what I wrote
- read my writing out loud to myself to see if it actually sounds good
- read my writing out loud to someone else and see if they think it sounds good or if they have questions
- pause during my writing and then when I start again re-read everything to get started again and see if it still makes sense

Next we watched a video about effective approaches to the revision process (see below). This video is of Ron Berger who works for the Expeditionary Learning organization talking to elementary school students about revision and critique. While the video is of elementary school students, its audience is teachers. The video is trying to pitch this model of education to teachers. With that in mind, everyone was asked to watch the video and then respond to the following question:

What approach to revision is this video advocating?

 Be sure to identify specific features of this approach.

After watching this video, we discussed everyone's responses to this video.

Next, we reviewed responses to the quiz on A Separate Peace and Hamilton's Mythology from last week. I then returned essays and updated grade report sheets. Everyone had the last ten minutes of the period to review feedback on the paper and then plan their revisions according to our discussion today of the revision process. I met individually with students to answer questions about essays and quizzes.

Homework:

Begin revisions on your essay for A Separate Peace. Revisions are due Friday, 9/12.

If you did not originally submit an essay you may submit the essay by Friday, 9/12, but will not have an opportunity for revision.