Early on, give your students some direction with the revision of their selections. Have them stop occasionally and analyze their drafts for possible revisions by creating a quick chart with 4 columns. Have them number their sentences and write each numeral in the first column. Then, alongside each appropriate numeral, record the number of words in each of the sentences in the second column. In the third column, list the first two words of each sentence. In the fourth column, record the type of end punctuation mark. Reflecting on the second column will help the writers decide if they are varying their sentence lengths. We need long, medium, and short sentences to create better fluency and interest. The third column will reveal if there are too many similar sentence starters (breaking the "I am..." "I was..." syndrome). The fourth column will help the writer determine if different sentence types are used in the piece. After a quick glance, your students will know how to get started with revisions by getting focused on what might need immediate attention.
No comments:
Post a Comment