Revision Techniques

§List possible titles for your piece of writing that communicate the theme- come up with as many as you can

§Circle all “being” verbs (am, is, are, was, were, etc.)  Can you replace any of these with a stronger verb?

§Make three different beginnings for your story- What would happen if you started with setting? Action? Dialogue?

§Take one section of your writing and change it to a different person’s point of view

§Find the adverbs in your piece.  Do they have a purpose, or can you rewrite with a stronger word?  Ex:  He walked slowly down the street.  He trudged down the street.

§Eliminate 10 unnecessary words from your piece

Reflections on Professional Books

Key Points from the professional books we read:

• Living books- writer’s notebook for lists, ideas, small stories, etc.
• Setting up a schedule and daily routine which increases student independence
• Focus on drawing and how to draw people lessons
• Focus lesson, independent writing time, sharing everyday
• Identifying purposes of writing in all of your life (not just school)
• Seeing yourself as an author
• Seamless integration of reading and writing together
• Remember as a teacher what they need and don’t need
• Remember to write with your students
• “Writers don’t write with words, they write with information”
• They don’t need prompts- they have ideas
• It’s okay to write down the first letter or two letters of a word in order to keep rolling in their writing
•  Focus on process over product
• Difficult knowing how to conference effectively – so conference with one student who can then be the peer expert which “spreads like wildfire”