Jago - Chapter 5

I am one of those writers who sit down and expect great things to flow out from my pen. I am very much a perfectionist and I love to be right. I have high expectations for myself and one of those is to be able to produce excellent writing on my first attempt. I detest the revision process for my own work, unless it is something I am extremely passionate about. If I’m gong to revisit something, then I am ultimately going to rewrite it. Putting my personal issues aside, I think revision is important for students in order to correct errors, as Jago suggests. Her set of beliefs on page 85 are something I need to keep in mind for myself but also instill in my students. I also love her five day writing plan on page 89 simply because it makes sense (not to mention it plans a few weeks for me.) 

Assessing student papers during the writing process is one of my favorite activities. I really feel that this is where I can do the most good for the students on an individual basis. I take their work and give feedback that is specific to them. It also lets me know where the student is at and if I need to clarify anything for the group. I believe that if I give good feedback, it will teach them how to give feedback while peer editing. The purpose for peer editing is not for the students to be criticized by their classmates, but for their classmates to provide a realistic response to how the material is communicated. It doesn’t benefit a student to get comments back from a peer that read, “I liked it. Good job.” Or “Nice paper.” But if comments read, “I really enjoyed reading your paper. I was confused in the second paragraph though,” at least gives the writer an idea of where to revisit. It isn’t enough to teach students how to write; we have to teach them how to evaluate writing as well. This should ultimately help them become better writers as well.