Attended a workshop for teachers this week over in the Springfield School District. The topic was writing, particularly about kids editing each others’ work. I was impressed to see so many in attendance, and especially pleased to see interest in the topic. Of course, interest does not equal willingness to implement, but it’s sure better than disinterest or even hostility.
I think peer-editing is a key to having a successful classroom writing community, but it takes a lot of planning, preparation, and follow-through. You have to spend time explicitly teaching students what editing means, that it’s about offering help to others and not about seeing how many mistakes you can point out. It’s also important that peer-editors do more than focus on grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Helping others in the areas of clear ideas supported by interesting details, consistent organization, voice, choice of words, and fluency is needed too. Developing editing skills takes mucho practice, and offering up some of your own writing will be highly motivating. Not every student will become a great editor, but all can be good enough to support each other and to greatly alter your teaching role (e.g much less paperwork time).
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