TEACH THE FOUR IMPROVERS OF WRITING AND MAKE YOUR STUDENT WRITERS THE EDITORS

 Evelyn Rothstein, Ed.D., Adjunct Professor and Educational Consultant

evelynstrategies@aol.com

Today with students using the computer to write, teachers have less need to “make” certain corrections because of the computer’s “marks” such as red for spelling, green for grammar, and blue for “writing errors”  which savvy students recognize. Nevertheless, many teachers still report on the tedium of “marking” papers and matching them to the “rubrics.”  Even more discouraging, is that the teachers find little positive change in the subsequent writing of the students.  Those who have received A or 4, continue to get the same grade on their next writing and students who have received C or 1 rarely improve.

In this paper, the focus will be on  the strategies for teaching students how to edit their own writing as detailed in Writing As Learning (2007, Rothstein, Rothstein, & Lauber).  We present a simple formula  which visualizes writing as W = F + O or “Writing must be fluent and organized” ( 1996 Ertmer & Newby) .  This statement is the significant rubric for all writing, meaning that the writer must use the “organization appropriate to the genre and have the vocabulary that goes with that genre.”  Further, every “writer” knows that the first draft will need work or revision or editing, a job that requires knowing how and what to edit and who to go to for help (2002 Reeves) .

We begin with the distinction between teacher editing and teaching editing, a major distinction (2007 Rothstein, Rothstein, & Lauber).  With this distinction, student writers are taught to focus on THE FOUR IMPROVERS OF WRITING, which are simply:  

• ADDING significant information or ideas

• DELETING redundant or insignificant information

• SUBSTITUTING better words AND PHRASES for weak or repetitive words AND PHRASES

• MOVING  or rearranging misplaced or poorly sequenced phrases or sentences

  Below is a summary chart of how these improvers work and must be presented and taught to all students within the context of Teaching Writing, Not Assigning Writing (2012, Rothstein). 

   

   

   

   

   

   

  THE FOUR IMPROVERS OF WRITING Here are four ways you can revise or edit your draft to improve your writing.  Practice these improvers to become a top quality writer.  You can: ADD information or expanded vocabulary. Draft :  The student got high marks. Revised: The student got high marks in all subjects, including mathematics and chemistry. DELETE or take away redundant words. Draft :  Seven days a week from Sunday to Saturday, Rosa struggled and struggled to make a living. Revised: Seven days a week, Rosa struggled to make a living. SUBSTITUTE words. Maria got up very early and made breakfast for everyone. Revised: Maria awoke at 6:00 AM and prepared breakfast or her parents and two brothers. MOVE OR REARRANGE words, sentences,  paragraphs. Draft: The teachers at the beginning of the school year passed out the textbooks. Revised: At the beginning of the school year, the teachers passed out the textbooks.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

 

Since an integral part of writing is editing, teaching writing includes teaching editing, the writing course of study must include these aspects of editing alongside the four improvers.  They include: Peer Editing by Reading Aloud, Peer Review, and the Essential Rubrics of Writing.   Every writer needs a peer, a person willing to listen to the writing and who responds gently with just enough judgment and ideas to encourage the writer. The peer then makes suggestions using the four improvers:

“I think you should add the color of the shoes the criminal wore.”   “You’ve used the word ‘said” several times.  What about ‘declared’ or ‘stated’?   “I think you don’t need to say ‘in the year 1215’; just delete ‘in the year’.”

When the peer editors have completed the listening process and the writer has made the changes, they exchange their papers for silent review and further editing before submitting them to the “teacher/editor.”

After peer review and before submission to the teachers, the student writer completes the following Checklist of Improvements:

Name: ____________________________________ Title of my writing ______________________________________________ With the help of my peer editor, I revised and edited and made the following improvements:   YES NOT NEEDED NEED HELP Added descriptive and other important words Substituted weak or vague vocabulary Deleted unnecessary words Shifted or moved words as necessary Added missing transitions Added missing or significant details or information Added or deleted punctuation or parts of words Others (listed)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Role of the Teacher in Teaching and Editing Writing

While teachers certainly want their students to write well, they often assume that their students, past a certain age or years of education, have been taught how to write and already have mastered  or should have mastered this difficult aspect of writing.  There are times when we hear “If you can speak, you can write.”  This is clearly not true since all humans speak and speak a complicated language.  Without going into details, we know that writing requires a “different brain” than speaking.  And teaching writing is complex and time-consuming, but here is a general outline with details of specific instruction in Rothstein (2007, 2012).   Following is a chart of Rubrics for Teacher Evaluation with the goal of getting all your students to become fluent and organized writers, capable of self-editing and peer-editing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Followed the genre format (essay, report, reflection, narrative, etc. Indicated sense of audience Kept to the topic, theme, or thesis Had appropriate length Organized logically or sequentially Kept consistent point of view Used topic sentences as necessary Added support sentences Used varied sentence structure Included significant details Had a variety of words or terms Used pronouns appropriately Used capital letters and punctuation appropriately Spelled conventionally POTENTIAL FOR EXCELLENT REVISION COMMENTS

 

 

 

 TEACH THE FOUR IMPROVERS OF WRITING AND MAKE YOUR STUDENT WRITERS THE EDITORS

 Evelyn Rothstein, Ed.D., Adjunct Professor and Educational Consultant

evelynstrategies@aol.com

Today with students using the computer to write, teachers have less need to “make” certain corrections because of the computer’s “marks” such as red for spelling, green for grammar, and blue for “writing errors”  which savvy students recognize. Nevertheless, many teachers still report on the tedium of “marking” papers and matching them to the “rubrics.”  Even more discouraging, is that the teachers find little positive change in the subsequent writing of the students.  Those who have received A or 4, continue to get the same grade on their next writing and students who have received C or 1 rarely improve.

In this paper, the focus will be on  the strategies for teaching students how to edit their own writing as detailed in Writing As Learning (2007, Rothstein, Rothstein, & Lauber).  We present a simple formula  which visualizes writing as W = F + O or “Writing must be fluent and organized” ( 1996 Ertmer & Newby) .  This statement is the significant rubric for all writing, meaning that the writer must use the “organization appropriate to the genre and have the vocabulary that goes with that genre.”  Further, every “writer” knows that the first draft will need work or revision or editing, a job that requires knowing how and what to edit and who to go to for help (2002 Reeves) .

We begin with the distinction between teacher editing and teaching editing, a major distinction (2007 Rothstein, Rothstein, & Lauber).  With this distinction, student writers are taught to focus on THE FOUR IMPROVERS OF WRITING, which are simply:  

• ADDING significant information or ideas

• DELETING redundant or insignificant information

• SUBSTITUTING better words AND PHRASES for weak or repetitive words AND PHRASES

• MOVING  or rearranging misplaced or poorly sequenced phrases or sentences

  Below is a summary chart of how these improvers work and must be presented and taught to all students within the context of Teaching Writing, Not Assigning Writing (2012, Rothstein). 

   

   

   

   

   

   

  THE FOUR IMPROVERS OF WRITING Here are four ways you can revise or edit your draft to improve your writing.  Practice these improvers to become a top quality writer.  You can: ADD information or expanded vocabulary. Draft :  The student got high marks. Revised: The student got high marks in all subjects, including mathematics and chemistry. DELETE or take away redundant words. Draft :  Seven days a week from Sunday to Saturday, Rosa struggled and struggled to make a living. Revised: Seven days a week, Rosa struggled to make a living. SUBSTITUTE words. Maria got up very early and made breakfast for everyone. Revised: Maria awoke at 6:00 AM and prepared breakfast or her parents and two brothers. MOVE OR REARRANGE words, sentences,  paragraphs. Draft: The teachers at the beginning of the school year passed out the textbooks. Revised: At the beginning of the school year, the teachers passed out the textbooks.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

 

Since an integral part of writing is editing, teaching writing includes teaching editing, the writing course of study must include these aspects of editing alongside the four improvers.  They include: Peer Editing by Reading Aloud, Peer Review, and the Essential Rubrics of Writing.   Every writer needs a peer, a person willing to listen to the writing and who responds gently with just enough judgment and ideas to encourage the writer. The peer then makes suggestions using the four improvers:

“I think you should add the color of the shoes the criminal wore.”   “You’ve used the word ‘said” several times.  What about ‘declared’ or ‘stated’?   “I think you don’t need to say ‘in the year 1215’; just delete ‘in the year’.”

When the peer editors have completed the listening process and the writer has made the changes, they exchange their papers for silent review and further editing before submitting them to the “teacher/editor.”

After peer review and before submission to the teachers, the student writer completes the following Checklist of Improvements:

Name: ____________________________________ Title of my writing ______________________________________________ With the help of my peer editor, I revised and edited and made the following improvements:   YES NOT NEEDED NEED HELP Added descriptive and other important words Substituted weak or vague vocabulary Deleted unnecessary words Shifted or moved words as necessary Added missing transitions Added missing or significant details or information Added or deleted punctuation or parts of words Others (listed)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Role of the Teacher in Teaching and Editing Writing

While teachers certainly want their students to write well, they often assume that their students, past a certain age or years of education, have been taught how to write and already have mastered  or should have mastered this difficult aspect of writing.  There are times when we hear “If you can speak, you can write.”  This is clearly not true since all humans speak and speak a complicated language.  Without going into details, we know that writing requires a “different brain” than speaking.  And teaching writing is complex and time-consuming, but here is a general outline with details of specific instruction in Rothstein (2007, 2012).   Following is a chart of Rubrics for Teacher Evaluation with the goal of getting all your students to become fluent and organized writers, capable of self-editing and peer-editing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Followed the genre format (essay, report, reflection, narrative, etc. Indicated sense of audience Kept to the topic, theme, or thesis Had appropriate length Organized logically or sequentially Kept consistent point of view Used topic sentences as necessary Added support sentences Used varied sentence structure Included significant details Had a variety of words or terms Used pronouns appropriately Used capital letters and punctuation appropriately Spelled conventionally POTENTIAL FOR EXCELLENT REVISION COMMENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Followed the genre format (essay, report, reflection, narrative, etc. Indicated sense of audience Kept to the topic, theme, or thesis Had appropriate length Organized logically or sequentially Kept consistent point of view Used topic sentences as necessary Added support sentences Used varied sentence structure Included significant details Had a variety of words or terms Used pronouns appropriately Used capital letters and punctuation appropriately Spelled conventionally POTENTIAL FOR EXCELLENT REVISION COMMENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THIS VISION OF TEACHING SUCCESSFUL WRITING AND TEACHING EDITING CAN BE ACHIEVED FOR ALL STUDENTS

REFERENCES

Atwell, N. (1998).  In the middle: New understandings about writing, reading, and learning (2^nd edition). New York:Greenwood-Heinemann.

Caine, R.N. & Caine G. (1991).  Teaching and the human brain.  Alexandria, Va. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Ertmer, P.A. & Newby, T.J. (1996).  The expert learner: strategic, self-regulated, and reflective. Instructional Science, 24, 1-24. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer

Langer, J. & Applebee, A. (1987).  How writing shapes thinking: A study of  teaching and learning. Urbana, IL. National Council of Teachers of English.

Marzano, R.J. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement.  Alexandria, Va. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Pinker, S. (2000). Words and rules.  New York: Harper Collins

Reeves, D.R. (2002).   Reason to write.  New York: Kaplan.

Rothstein, A., Rothstein, E.&, Lauber. G.  (2007). Writing as learning.   Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press

Rothstein, E. & Rothstein, A. (2009).  English grammar instruction that works.  Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Rothstein, E. (2012) Manual: writing as learning.  New York: Evelyn Rothstein Strategies.

Sanavi, R.V.,( 2012).  IELTS writing component: Iranian EFL learners’ awareness of and attitudes towards writing and corrective feedback (CF) strategies and their effectiveness.  IAU – Science and Research Branch, Tehran.

Scarborough, H.A. ed..  (2001) Writing across the curriculum in secondary classrooms: teaching from a diverse perspective.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill