Allowing for Revisions While Still Moving Forward
Now, more than ever, I require students to revise and resubmit work. I think it is a very beneficial exercise for the student, but I realize it can be very time consuming for the teacher.
Does anyone have any tips, suggestions, best practices, or half-formed ideas for how to have revision be a major part of the instruction of writing without letting it take over a teacher's life?
5 replies
-
Hi Ryan!
Moving students away from the one and done attitude towards writing is so important. Embedding consistent opportunity for revision, teaching students how to revise, and empowering students to recognize what good revision looks like can eventually cut down on the time we need to devote to looking at student revision. Here are a few resources/strategies that I use.
1. Focus revision on a specific writing learning target so that when you look at student revision, it doesn't take as much time to provide feedback.
2. Use a Reader's/Writer's Workshop model (Kelly Gallagher/Penny Kittle) to embed consistent revision practices for students looking at their own work and the work of others. I notice, I wonder, What If.
3. Teach them how to revise. I use the RADaR strategy from Kelly Gallagher combined with the Austin's Butterfly video to show students how multiple revisions that are kind, specific, and helpful can totally transform a piece of writing. Once students see the power of revision and know how to do it, they can become more independent.
4. Use mentor texts that reveal a revision process so that students see what good revision looks like. Sometimes I use my own work as a writer. At other times I use the work of former students. The Draftback Chrome extension is a cool tool that allows you to playback the entire Revision History of a Google Doc. Students can see the video of a paper being written and see how many revisions were made.
5. Ask students to write/talk about what they have revised. Turnitin Feedback Studio is great for supporting this activity if you use the rubric and aligned QuickMarks. Students can discuss in writing or in a conference what they did or need to do to move their writing from less proficient to more proficient on the rubric. Embedding these conversations consistently over the course of a year can promote incredible change in the way students approach revision. Having students explain their revision practice in a video (Flipgrid or discussion post in Canvas or other LMS) can be a great way to share student insight with the whole class as students learn from each other.
6. Providing authentic opportunities for students to write can make them care more about revising their work. Using blogs or portfolios that have a real audience can motivate students to commit to a process of revision. Receiving comments or Likes from a real audience can be an academic parallel to the social media world they live in. If you can't beat them, join them!!
Using these strategies over time can make students more independent in their revision work. If an entire school committed to using revision strategies like this, writing in each discipline, imagine how skilled students would become!
-
Lisa Wathen I love everything about your post! We are on the same page when it comes to our views about best practices when working with young writers.
Lisa Wathen said:
1. Focus revision on a specific writing learning target so that when you look at student revision, it doesn't take as much time to provide feedback.Yes! We often make the process of providing feedback so much harder than it has to be. Also, a few learning targets takes a lot off the students' plates and makes the mastery of writing, which is a life-long process, more manageable for them. Considering that we often are leaving the same comment on a majority of the work we read, identifying a few learning targets for the entire class will save us all a lot of time.
Lisa Wathen said:
2. Use a Reader's/Writer's Workshop model (Kelly Gallagher/Penny Kittle) to embed consistent revision practices for students looking at their own work and the work of others. I notice, I wonder, What If.
3. Teach them how to revise. I use the RADaR strategy from Kelly Gallagher combined with the Austin's Butterfly video to show students how multiple revisions that are kind, specific, and helpful can totally transform a piece of writing. Once students see the power of revision and know how to do it, they can become more independent.I think teachers often have students revise or peer edit, but they don't give them the guidelines and tools needed for them to be successful. The only model many students have for revising their work or providing feedback to others is their own graded work, which is too often covered in red ink explaining all the things they have done horribly wrong. They don't feel they are strong writers, so they don't feel they can revise their own work or provide meaningful feedback. Having a specific structure and guidelines help simplify things and leads to meaningful revision.
I had not heard of the RADaR strategy until reading your post, but I'm going to start using it immediately.
-
I love all of this conversation. I would also suggest this blog post by Kristy Louden on Cult of Pedagogy Delaying the Grade: How to Get Students to Read Feedback. It is all about getting students to resubmit and reflect before getting that final grade.
-
This is a great idea. Building in a pause so that students read and consider feedback is a great strategy. I also agree with @lisa_wathen on the issue of specific goals or targets. Very young writers may be doing a dozen things wrong, but no one can focus on that many moving parts. Writing teachers have to take a process that looks terribly abstract to students and make it as concrete as possible.
