Editing Checklist

1. Begins sentences with capital letters: yes ____ no ____

2. Writes sentences with a complete idea: yes ____ no ____

3. Ends sentences with a period: yes ____ no ____

4. Circles words that don’t look

quite right (spelling): yes ____ no ____

5. Uses “isn’t” and “wasn’t” correctly: yes ____ no ____

15. What is Peer Editing? What is it used for?

Peer editing is a way for students to edit each other’s papers. Editing other students’ papers is also an indirect way to learn about spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

16. Describe the following Publishing types:

Author’s Chair

Students Books

Student Magazines or Newspapers

PowerPoint Books

An e-Story

Comic strips or comic books

Bulletin board showcase

Online website

Author’s chair. This is where a student reads a piece that she or he has written. If you are in a classroom setting, have one or two students sign up for author’s chair each day. I have found that two students a day generally works best.

Student books. Students love to read each other’s work. Create books for your classroom library that are made up of students’ writing. This is done by having individual students collect their best writings and create book. They would then design and illustrate a cover as well as create picture that might be included with each story.

Student magazines or newspapers. Create a monthly magazine (or twice monthly) that contains student stories along with other articles found in magazines. You could have advice columns, editorials, comics, or information columns based on students’ interests or expertise. Magazines and newspapers don’t have to be limited to a single classroom. They can be gradewide or even schoolwide.

PowerPoint books. PowerPoint books enable students to copy and paste pictures from the Internet to create a visually pleasing story.

An e-story. A variation on the PowerPoint story is the e-story. This is simply a matter of copying and pasting Internet and digital pictures into a word processing document to illustrate or enhance the story. This works better for longer documents. These longer stories would then be printed and read.

Comic strips or comic books. Similar to a PowerPoint book, students must think in visual images when creating a story.

Bulletin board showcase. This classic idea is still effective. Create a place on a bulletin board or wall for showcase stories. These are stories that have been edited and ones you believe to be outstanding in some respect.

Online website. For those of you savvy enough, create a website to display students’ stories. Links can be used to organize stories by topic, date, or student.

17. What kind of writing is authentic?

Authentic writing comes from within the student. In this way also, every student can experience success. For example, if you ask a student to describe what he or she likes to do on weekends, every child can do this. Some may need to use more pictures than words, but every child can use print to create meaning.

18. What kind of writing is inauthentic?

This occurs when students are asked to write a report on a subject somebody else has chosen for them or to do a book report in order to prove that they’ve read the book.

19. Match the writing prompts below to its type: authentic / inauthentic.

20. What are the benefits of temporary spelling?

Temporary spelling enhances the flow of ideas. When students are writing and they ask how to spell a word, tell them to use as many letters as they can hear to hold the idea. This is called temporary spelling, a placeholder for the idea. You might want to have students underline their temporary spelling so that they’ll know which words to give attention to during the editing phase of their writing.

21. Draw a Writing Assessment Form.