4 Ways To Coach The Revision Process To Develop Writers

Revising is one of the most challenging parts of the writing process. When students hear they have to or need to revise the moaning and groaning begin. It feels like more “work” for them and they are right. Revising is hard work and it is not fun. Some students become resistant and even shut down during this stage of the writing process. This is because some students don’t know how to revise, what to revise, or even how to go about revising. Revising in itself is a tedious, lengthy process, and it can be intimidating. Most writers, at any age or grade level, dread going back to the drawing board to rethink and redo. Sometimes writing can be such a daunting task that the goal is to just get it over with and finished as soon as possible. But in my experience with becoming a better writer myself and transforming my students into budding writers, it’s all about coaching students through the revision process and giving them the right tools to help them develop into writers.

Develop The Writer

Revising conferences are the perfect opportunity to have meaningful conversations with students about their writing. Unlike planning, drafting, and editing conferences, revising conferences focus on improving the writing and making it better. Most of the writing is in place, already thought out, and organized but here is where the writer has the opportunity to get feedback to improve the writing. The role of the teacher is to listen, hear concerns, and answer questions. I like to start off revising conferences by asking students what they like about their writing and what they think they did well. This encourages self-reflection and builds confidence. Then we delve into one, yes only one thing, to focus on that needs improving. Sometimes the student is able to pinpoint a part of their writing they need help with or would like to improve. Other times the teacher might suggest a part of the writing that needs some improvement and offers ideas, techniques, or strategies that were previously taught. We want students to revise their writing feeling encouraged, confident, and ready to try new ideas to make their writing better.

I require students to come to our revising conference with this plan. It helps them prepare for our upcoming conference and is good to have on hand along with conference notes and each student’s writing portfolio. You can get this Revising Conference Plan, along with other freebies in my FREE Resource Library here.

 A Simple Revising Equation

Many teachers use the ARMS acronym – ADD, Remove, Move, and Substitute but I prefer Ralph Fletcher’s clever, yet simple, equation for revising:

This equation makes it easy for students to think about adding or expanding something, like a description to help readers visualize or more information to explain a nonfiction piece better.  Perhaps take something out like a part that doesn’t move the story along or a character that doesn’t add anything to the piece. Maybe change something, like a part, lead, or genre, and divide the writing into paragraphs or chapters. This equation has been such a game-changer to help students get through the writing process with ease and give them a clear focus for revising.

Getting Feedback From Peers

After students experience several revising conferences with their teacher, “train” them to become writing coaches. Conferring with peers to give and receive meaningful feedback allows students to share and discuss different ideas, especially when they are stuck, and to get another’s perspective. This needs modeling and practice in order to be effective. I had a designated area in my classroom (our morning meeting carpet) where a pair of students would meet and sit side to side, shoulder to shoulder, and thigh to thigh with one of the student’s writing pieces in front of them to focus on one at a time. The students may say or ask their peers, “I need help with…” “Can you listen to…?” “I’m stuck here…” “I need suggestions for…” Then the students return to their own writing and revise taking into consideration the suggestions that were made during the peer conference. I encourage students to have multiple peer conferences to get more than one perspective and as much feedback as they can to improve their writing.

These feedback sticky notes and posters are an effective way to encourage feedback between teacher, students, and peers. It keeps peers focused by giving valuable feedback when conferring with each other.

You can check out these Feedback Sticky Notes & Posters here.

Revising By Trait: Checklists, Checklists, Checklists

Revising by trait is helpful for breaking down the revising process into small, focused parts. Sometimes we just need to provide our students with the right tools to become successful with revising. I created poster checklists for a Writer’s Workshop bulletin board or wall space, student reference checklists, and sticky note checklists which are especially helpful for revising with a focus on the six traits and uses the revising equation: +add, -subtract, X change, and /divide.  These checklists are easy to use and provide just enough guidance for students to use independently and with peers. Soon enough you’ll see that your students will not only become experts at revising but at mastering the six traits of writing as well.

Take a look: Revising Checklist Posters & Sticky Notes: Six Traits of Writing

Just the sticky notes –Revising Sticky Note Checklists: Six Traits of Writing

Just the checklists: Revising Checklists: Six Traits of Writing

Practice Makes Better

Students need a lot of guidance and practice with revising as they confer with their teacher and peers. Getting students comfortable with this process is really important in actually improving their writing. There’s no race getting to publishing. Be clear with the expectations and deadlines to complete the writing but be sure to allow students to work at their own pace. The more time students spend on revising and conferring to receive meaningful feedback the more students will be successful at improving their writing. You’ll also see a lot of growth and progress as your students begin to think and write like writers as they develop into writers.

Writing Like Writers: Guiding Elementary Children Through a Writer’s Workshop

This book for sure has made me a better writing teacher. I love that it is a teacher-friendly, easy to use guide for any teacher seeking to build a classroom of writers.  There are fantastic mentor text examples to teach each writing trait, skill or strategy that engages students and helps them develop into writers throughout the writing process. This book is a must-have for all teachers with tons of reproducibles too. My students and I even named our class writer’s workshop, Writing Like Writers, after this book. It’s definitely a must-have!

How do you coach your students through the revising process to develop them into writers? Share in the comments.

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Oh, by the way, if you need help organizing and managing Writer’s Workshop in your classroom, check out my Boot Camp Mini-Course to get you started.