In Legos and Editing and One-Minute Editing Check, I shared the idea of giving students a lens through which to edit their writing. Rainbow Editing is another strategy that helps them do that. The physical use of a different color of pencil for each convention gives students a concrete tool for a skill that often seems …
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Grammar
Daily Dictation Sentences
I used to use Daily Oral Language (D.O.L.) to teach many grammar and usage concepts to my students. I thought I used it pretty effectively, too. Then I started to hear rumblings that maybe this was not the best practice, but I didn’t really know why, so kept doing it but behind closed doors. Even though …
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One-Minute Editing Check
Today’s post gives a strategy for teaching editing, but also helps students develop automaticity using language conventions as I described in the blogpost Tidy-as-You-Go. In the middle of independent writing time, instead of or in addition to doing a mid-workshop teaching point, consider stopping to do a one-minute editing check. The key is that the editing needs …
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Legos and Editing
When my sons were younger, they liked to play in our basement playroom. If I didn’t go down to check on the condition of the playroom every day, I would sometimes find the entire floor covered with toys and would have to make the announcement that is was time for all toys to be put …
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Tidy-as-You-Go
In a recent post I compared editing to “tidying up for company” before a housewarming party. In that analogy the tidying comes after building the house and decorating the house (structuring writing and developing writing). That being said, I do not believe that all “tidying” should wait until company is coming! Don’t we also “tidy-as-we-go”? …
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Where’s the Grammar?!
I hear this question all the time. It usually comes from teachers who have adopted a workshop approach to teaching writing but are struggling to get students to use proper conventions in their writing. Other teachers are skeptical about using a workshop approach because they are under the assumption that we don’t teach grammar and …
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Apostrophe Detectives
Writing Trait/Strategy:Writing conventions Mentor Text Suggestions:Alphie the Apostrophe by Moira Rose DonohueThe Girl’s Like Spaghetti by Lynne TrussGreedy Apostrophe by Jan CarrThe Perfect Pop-Up Punctuation Book by Kate Petty and Jennie Maizels Description:This lesson focuses on apostrophes, but the procedures can be used for any writing convention. I noticed that my students were very confused …
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