Everyday EditingFinding Power in Process

Authored by

Jeff Anderson

What do we want them to do when they write?

Turn and talk

We want them to have…

AttitudeKnowledgeSkills

Communication has gotten shorter…

Think about all the technology that our students use to write with each other everyday.

If they have learned that process they can learn ours…STANDARD ENGLISH!

What about cursive?

Is it the technology of yesterday?

We want them to have…

Confidence that leads to competence

Vicki Spandell

“In the zest to make everything right some teachers offer so many suggestions that all but the most energetic writers die.”

Do not use quotations marks for emphasis!

Please do not tie

“Danger”

Dogs to chairs!

“THANK YOU”

Daily Oral Language DOL

We really don’t want to start everyday with an incorrect sentence on the board.

What is a problem with this?

Turn and talk

Some ideasThey don’t know it is wrongThey assume everything is wrongThey are just guessingEditing becomes changing not shading

meaningThe real test has only one errorWe don’t start out giving wrong

examples in math

Research

Writing next:

Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle School and High School by Steve Graham and Dolores Perin

This book is online and FREE

Why is it wrong to use DOL?

Teaching parts of speech in isolation has negative effects

What works!

The study of models In giving activities

Use alternative approachesto formal grammar instruction that focuses on function.

Research

by Nicholas Carr

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Reticular activating system

RAS helps us notice things we see often

You buy a red mustang…now you notice them all the time

How do we use RAS to improve recall?Give an “Invitation to Notice”Put up a really good sentenceAsk… What do you notice?

Record their findings. They can’t be wrong….that is the cool part

of this activity. You are burning correct information into

their memory.

Example:

“The deputy told me to empty my pockets: two quarters, a penny, a stick of bubble gum, and a roll of grip tape for my skateboard.”

From…Carl Hiaason, Flush

What do you see?“The deputy told me to empty my pockets: two

quarters, a penny, a stick of bubble gum, and a roll of grip tape for my skateboard.”

Commas in a series Colon marks A capital letter at the beginning of a sentence A period at the end of sentence Listing

Now what?

“The deputy told me to empty my pockets: two quarters, a penny, a stick of bubble gum, and a roll of grip tape for my skateboard.”

Continue by asking: What else? What that ___is doing when I read it aloud or read

it with my eyes?

What does that mark tell you to do?“The deputy told me to empty my pockets: two

quarters, a penny, a stick of bubble gum, and a roll of grip tape for my skateboard.”

Causes a pause Punctuation is a road sign Separates ideas Good writers use a list to show not tell about

a character Slows us down for dramatic effect

Scaffolding the next step Then write your own example of a really

good sentence following the same pattern

“The TSA agent emptied my backpack: an I Pod speaker, cords, pens and twelve children’s books for my presentation.”

Ask…them to compare the sentences Think…What did this force you to do?

Finally Now the student writes and shares a

sentence written using the same pattern. Ask the student what they see? What does the mark tells them to do and

how does it effects their sentence.

What about the test? Now bridge to the test. Type out four sentences using the same

pattern and make one mistake in each sentence.

Talk with the students about each sentence. It is not uncommon for the student to tell you

that there is no mistake because they are so similar.