Wednesday, July1 afternoon

Revision Workshop with Leah & Anne

Goals:
Shared thinking about revision, why it is valuable, and how to facilitate it
Generate ideas to use in your writing groups, with colleagues, and with students

Sharing -  "what does word revision mean to each of us?"

Sharing -  "what does revision mean to your students?"
     -noted difference between editing(mechanics)  & revising(words & ideas)
     -some give revision checklists
     -colored pencils for particular problems
   
Re vision - look at writing in new ways

Writing is a PROCESS

presenters
     -have students find acknowledgements by author

top, collaborate, listen
     -Stop occasionally to thick aout how your piece is progressing
     -Collaborate with friends and peers to improve your work
     -Listen to their advice and also to your own thoughts about the progress of your writing

How do you know if your writing is finished?
     -Is your piece--> raw extremely personal?
     -Are you still-->writing to learn?

But when the piece feels important, can speak to others, then it may be ready for revision

Remember to consistently ask yourself:  Is this piece of writing all it could be?

To the revisers:  Make sure to separate the writer from...............the writing

Make sure to create an environment where it is SAFE to SHARE
   
Honor your work:  REVISE

Strategies:
     -list #1:  essay content
     -list #2:  style, sentences, & grammar
     -Flipped Paragraph - compare 2 versions, example can help students see how sentence changes
          when important/powerful sentence is placed in a new location
     -narrative essay peer review
          -questions for peer to use after reading paper
          -revising for sentences and clarity
     -bless, address, press  
     -writer's questions can help reviser focus his attention
     -group revision - teacher sets up structure, writer/presenter pitches to group, group has protocol to
            follow, then presenter comes back
     -important to teach students how to give good feedback - words & body language important to
            practice in a safe place,  learn to interact positively in the world, model these ideas first before
            students begin to try this on their own

Group work - revising a piece
     -don't name writer by name
     -what moments stand out?
     -what type of mood does the piece describe?
     -most exciting, intense, or energetic sentence?
     -wait time - super important
     -monitor yourself
     -cue card might help younger student with sentence starter
     -ask "was that helpful?"
     -teacher needs to encourage attentiveness in readers

Divided into writing groups

Reading Discussion - "teaching writing" book talk, useful strategies
     -Write for Insight - teacher friendly, easy to flip through and find techniques to use
          -writing to learn - summarize the main idea of a lesson, have them switch pens to the opposite
            hand, makes us focus on using our hand than on what you want to convey, important to be
           fluent writers
     -After THE END
           -asking questions throughout the writing process
     -The Story of My Thinking, diverse reactions
           -kerneling, taking a small detail and expanding it
     -Write Like This
          -one idea was "evaluate and judge,"  focusing on having a real world purpose for writing
      -Craft Lessons
          -divided by grade levels, millions of ideas, all very good
      -Writing Reminders
          -much good information, type of book you go back to for different types of lessons
          -encourage students to be independent of us, useful  ideas before, during, after

Tomorrow
     -longer writing time
     -how you can get involved with SMWP beyond the Invitational
     -hammer out your plan for your project with your mentor
     -portfolio sharing

Closing Moment - quote from This is the Story of a Happy Marriage. In this book the author shares how she became a writer.  The quote relates to how difficult it is for writers to make a living.