Editing Writing Process with Newcomers

This is POST #3 of three different posts
​Read post #1 (It's not Magic)  AND  #2 (Act of Writing)

This post is wrapping up the writing lessons I've shared in three previous posts. My newcomers are finishing up their first semester in the US and I wanted to demonstrate how capable and successful they can be with writing and demonstrating their understanding. 

As I stated in my previous post, my newcomers are at all different levels for writing. Some can write in English on their own, others just need a little support from peers, while others need teacher support to guide their writing.

Because all students are at different levels, I incorporated an activity for all students to complete while we were finishing up our final essay draft.

The editing process for newcomers DOES NOT need to be complicated. Do NOT make it too much that they can't handle because is too overwhelming. My editing process was simple and doable. The goal was to have peer and teacher reviews. This allows newcomers to feel empowered because they edit a peer's work.

Objective: I can make my summary better by having my peers and my teacher edit my writing. 
This objective was comprehensible and doable by all students. We discussed that "edit" is simply reading and fixing what you think needs to be fixed. I modeled it with a paragraph adding periods, fixing capital letters, adding commas, fixing misspelled words, etc. Minor edits!

Students changed papers with a peer and they all received a PEN. I instructed them to NOT erase anything but to write over the written work that needed to be edited. Some students used Google Translate to verify some spellings and that was OK!

"I've learned to stop rushing things that need time to grow."

Working at their own pace

As a writer myself, I respect the writing process. Writing should not be rushed. Writing needs a comfortable environment to get our thoughts together and get them on paper. As an English learner myself, I understand how difficult the writing process could be. 
This is why I provide the time my newcomers may need to complete their wiring. As long as they are working and the work is productive, they can take their time.  

Extended/enrichment assignment

Because all students were at different stages in their writing process, I decided to have them complete an assignment as an extension of the compare & contrast skills we have been learning. 
We read "Climate Change" as a class and students LOVED the plot of the story. This is a fiction story but there's a lot of language around climate and weather that it served as a language lesson too.
I had them create a foldable with 4 tabs. One tab is the tile, and 3 tabs to share a cause & effect event in the story. The outside of the tab is an image matching the event, the inside has the description of cause-and-effect. Students who had completed draft #2 were with me conferencing to make their draft #3 much better. 
Since I had to conference with students 1-on-1, students who were waiting on me were at their seats completing their graphic organizer. 

There was not too much to prepare for. I just pulled a few "causes" from the story and they had to find the effect that'd go along with the cause. It turned out to be a fantastic activity that served as a class decor. 

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Final Drafts 

As you look at drafts 2 & 3, you will see that the edit process is at the minimum level. We want to empower students and have them feel successful. If you mark ALL OVER their paper with every single grammar error - the writing will not sound like the student and they might not understand all the errors. 
Be selective about what you edit. I tend to focus on past and present tenses, missing verbs, nouns, capital letters, and punctuation. 

Students re-write the letter fixing the errors you edited and read the letter to YOU (the teacher) and a class peer. They've read it several times so it was great to hear them read with fluency. 

Here're some examples! Please, be sure to share some of your ideas as I intend to use this lesson again with other stories.

Featured Work!!!

I am THRILLED to share that Dr. Jana Echevarria shared my students' amazing work in a recent blog post. I am so honored to see how this practice is validated and honored. 

Read her post HERE!

Thank you so much for reading!!