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Revision Strategies for Adolescent Writers
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Revision Strategies for Adolescent Writers
Moving Students in the Write Direction

Foreword by Vickie Spandel



November 2011 | 152 pages | Corwin

Enlarge your repertoire of revision strategies!

For many secondary students, writing effectively is the most elusive of the critical literacy skills needed for college and career readiness. And for many teachers, revision is the most difficult part of the writing process to tackle. How can adolescent writers be guided to revisit their work, to identify the weaknesses in their writing drafts, and revise—making their pieces stronger and more effective? The Common Core State Standards advocate strengthening students' writing through revision—a skill different from either drafting or editing—and using technology for creating and collaborating with others. This instructional guide, with its more than 30 flexible, classroom-tested strategies, demonstrates these practices and more:

  • Frontloading (planning, rehearsing, and conversing before writing)
  • Peer conferencing as part of a writers' workshop
  • Using technology to write, collaborate, and revise in and out of the classroom
  • Modeling effective revision techniques as writers and teachers of writing

Teachers will turn again and again to this easy-to-use resource, with its clear explanations of strategies correlated to the 6 Traits of Effective Writing, examples of "before-and-after" student work, and thoughtful quotes from published writers about their own writing and revision processes. These authors and experienced teachers of writing have provided a handbook that can be used immediately to scaffold students' revision and help them become more fluent, confident, and independent writers.


 
Acknowledgements
 
Foreword
 
About the Authors
 
Introduction: The Need for Revision Strategies
 
Revision Throughout the Writing Process
 
Part I. Think from the Start: Begin with Frontloading Activities
 
1. Code the Text
 
2. Cut, Slash, and Burn
 
3. Create a Character Sketch
 
4. Create an Argument
 
5. Write an Effective Speech
 
Part II. Focus on Ideas
 
6. Use Anecdotes
 
7. Expand the Memory, Expand the Text
 
8. Guided Revising
 
9. Search for Details: The Hunt
 
10. Read and Rewrite
 
11. Add Specifics
 
Part III. Focus on Organization
 
12. A B C Revision
 
13. Organize a Feature Article
 
14. Try a Different Genre
 
15. Snip 'n' Clip
 
16. Tally Up
 
Part IV. Focus on Voice, Word Choice, and Sentence Fluency
 
17. Create Authentic Voice
 
18. Write Less, Write More
 
19. Wordle
 
20. Sentence Fluency
 
21. Verbs! Get Some
 
Part V. Two Heads Are Better Than One: Peer Conference
 
22. SMART
 
23. Draw as a Way to Think and Revise
 
24. Marathon Writing
 
25. Pointing
 
Part VI. The Reading-Writing Connection: Consult Quality Literature
 
26. Once Upon a Time
 
27. And They Lived Happily Ever After
 
28. What Did You Say?
 
29. Paint a Picture with Words
 
30. Personification in Poetry
 
31. Write from Another Point of View
 
Part VII. Digital Communication by Nanci Werner-Burke
 
32. Vocabulary Exploration
 
33. Talk Before You Leap
 
34. All Together Now!
 
35. Give Me the Highlights
 
36. Picture This
 
List of Literature Cited
 
References
 
Index

"Revision Strategies offers strategies and lesson ideas for helping students re-think and re-envision their drafts and in so doing produce outstanding work. The authors make the hard work of writing well something all students can accomplish. You need this book!"

Carol Jago, Director, California Reading and Literature Project, UCLA and Past President
National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL

"Revisions Strategies for Adolescent Writers: Moving in the WRITE Direction is an innovative and engaging writing resource! Its ready-to-use handbook structure is just what teachers need to take a fresh look at the teaching of writing. It will be welcomed by every educator who values writing as a lifelong skill."

Maureen McLaughlin, Reading Department
East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania

"From the groundbreaking work of Janet Emig to recent studies of revision in digital composing, researchers of writing processes find that when students understand and practice a rich sense of revision, their writing improves dramatically. Revision Strategies for Adolescent Writers offers a wide-ranging collection of instructional strategies teachers can use to help with this key element to improving student writing."

Tom Fox, Associate Director, Site Development
National Writing Project

“This is a practical text for any teacher of writing in Grades K-12, but a rarity in its usefulness of 6-12 applications for revision instruction. I’ve been teaching English 9-12 for 28 years and found this book to be immediately usable in my classroom.”

Sandra Moore, English Teacher
Coupeville High School, WA

“The greatest struggle of English teachers is finding ways to incorporate meaningful writing assignments into the curriculum, giving effective feedback, and helping students make changes in their writing beyond editing for grammar. The sound theories in this book give teachers strategies to help their students move from editing to true revision.”

Kristina Turner, English Teacher
T.L. Hanna High School, Anderson, SC

“Finally there are some practical ideas for teaching revision that don’t involve gallons of red ink and loaded weapons! I found whole new lessons on every page.”

Earl Squyres, Teacher
Jackson Hole High School, WY

"This is an important reference for language arts teachers. The strategies give students concrete ways of revising, and for kids who have a hard time verbalizing or explaining their ideas, this book provides techniques for them to expand and describe what they're talking about."

Sarah Lucci, Middle School English Teacher
Allentown School District, PA
Key features
  • Real student writing examples from secondary classrooms.
  • Tools and schedules for using the book in a professional development setting.
  • A chapter on how frontloading during the prewriting process can result in less revision
  • Strategies for conducting effective mini-lessons on revision during writing workshop time
  • Tips for facilitating productive peer response time
  • A chapter on how teachers and students can use technology to enhance revision

Sample Materials & Chapters

Foreword

Introduction


For instructors

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