Spelling & Grammar

[SC]

How is it that I can help students edit (4th graders), show them all of their mistakes, send them back to write a final copy, and the same mistakes are still there? I have been over and over with them how to use their rough drafts to make sure that their final copies are correct, and I've done mini-lessons on things that they frequently make mistakes on. I know that they will have more than one rough draft, but we can't be writing rough drafts forever. At some point they have to be able to write a "perfect" copy, and it frustrates me that they keep making the same mistakes on the final copies. It would help if we could use computers for writing assignments, but that's a different vent. Any suggestions?

 

[h0kie]

Power Proofreading

One of the teachers at a school I sub in found this website:
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/k_5/proofread/proof.htm

It is very age appropriate and helps kids practice common proofreading problems. The kids just love it too (3rd and 4th graders).

Do you mark reminders for the kids to refer to when they are rewriting the rough draft? Perhaps they are just forgetting where there mistakes were. If that's not it, it sounds like they're just rushing. Perhaps rewriting the entire final copy if it contains mistakes that were marked on the rough draft might slow them down.

Good luck whatever you decide to do!

 

[maryteach]

Consider that no piece of writing

is ever "perfect." If you are a writer yourself, you know what I mean. You can always reach back into that story or essay and tweak it, improve it. Nothing is ever truly "finished."

Try having kids just concentrate on one type of error, instead of all errors. I have them set their next writing goal, based on the highlighted six-trait rubric I give back to them on their last paper. They are to choose only ONE trait in which they are below proficient. Their goal for the next paper is to fix the errors that fall under that trait. Next paper, (hopefully), new goal.

Having kids find and correct every error just makes writing tedious, I think, and gives kids the impression that they'll never get it right. But it they can concentrate on just one problem at a time, then move on to the next one when they get the first one right, they have the opposite experience, which is a feeling of accomplishment. Give points on the next paper for having accomplished their writing goal, if they do accomplish it.

For kids who are proficient on all traits, have them begin to pick which trait they want to move into the advanced category, and that's their goal (and your writer's conference topic with them).

It's so much easier to concentrate on just one thing at a time, rather than the whole picture.

 

[SC]

Thanks for the responses, y'all. I do mark the errors on the paper, and we talk about why it needs to be corrected. Nine times out of 10 they know the mistake and just made it carelessly. I like maryteach's idea about having them work on one skill/trait at a time, but I'm not sure how that would work in my classroom. Do you use a computer? If not, it seems like kids would be rewriting over and over and over again, and I know that my students would be frustrated with that too.

 

[maryteach]

I should be more clear.

I apologize. No, you have them do, say, a compare/contrast essay, and you grade it on a six trait rubric. I highlight the rubric, so they can see at a glance where they fall on each of the traits--advanced, proficient, partially proficient, or unsatisfactory. This is their final grade for that paper. The goal they set will be for the NEXT paper (maybe a research paper, maybe a how-to), and the goal they set from that paper, in turn, will be for the next paper after that (maybe a persuasive piece or a narrative).

You're right; you can't ask them to do the same piece of writing over and over again. I think the key, though, is to have kids set their own goals, so that they're more meaningful, make choice central to everything you assign (I have to assign a compare/contrast, but I DON'T have to assign the topic), and most importantly, kids need to write every single day of their little lives.

Sorry not to have been clearer. Perhaps I could use a few writing lessons, myself. :-)

 

[SC]

Thanks, maryteach!

Thanks for your details, maryteach. In a way I do what you describe, but maybe it's not as clear to the students as it is to me. I'll have to put more emphasis on personal goals because I feel like students get their papers back and never look at them again.