Bright Ideas Blog Hop: Personal Editing Checklists
How many times have you found yourself reading over an assignment, especially a writing assignment and asking the student the following questions:
Did you reread this?
Where are the capitals?
Do you have a problem with punctuation?
Where are the capitals?
Do you have a problem with punctuation?
I got a little tired of saying these things (and others) and I finally realized that students were waiting for me to tell them what they should do as writers (and assignment-doers) and so the responsibility was all mine. I had to find a way for them to help themselves for two reasons: one, it is important for their development as students, and two, I didn’t want to do it anymore.
So I made these!
Personal Editing Checklists!
Personal Editing Checklists are a handy tool glued on to a tent card. As you can see, I used nothing but the best materials to make my tent cards…I cut up an old cereal box.
I flipped the blank cardboard side out and made a little tent.
I only made personal editing checklists for my students who needed them, i.e., those students who have significant issues with conventions of writing. So I thought of those individual kids and decided what each student had to do in order for their writing to make sense. I wanted each step to be a specific direction, or action (not a question or single word like “capitals”, because I wanted kids to be able to use them independently).
This is the checklist I made for Chris, who struggled with the basics: capitalizing, using periods, leaving words out, and spelling.
I taught the kids how to use them in a small group setting so they knew what was expected. After that, when a student brought an assignment to me and said, “I’m done,” I had him or her plop down at my table with the personal editing checklist and review/improve their writing before I ever even see it.
And that improves their writing habits….and my life as well.
I hope you found something helpful here today! The best thing about this post is that it’s part of a Blog Hop! If you’re here, you’ve probably found tons of Bright Ideas by now and you’re in store for so many more!
The next blogger on the hop is Laura Martin at Peace, Love, and First Grade. Click to visit her blog and learn all about her bright idea: Keeping track of money! If you’re like me, collecting money from children is the bane of your existence, so click through for some great tips!
You may have just saved a portion of my sanity! I am so tired of telling students to watch for run-on sentences…I am going to make a little chart like yours so they can FIND their run-on sentences!
Love, love, love these checklists! All about creating independent learners! Thanks for sharing!
Laura
Peace, Love, and First Grade
Love the checklist idea! I need to do this with my upper elementary kiddos. Thanks for a great idea!!
~HoJo~
I love these checklists! Such a great idea 🙂 I also love the new look of your blog!!! (Not sure how long it's been, but this is the first time I've noticed.)
Fun in Room 4B
Great idea! I have been working on getting my students to edit their own papers for simple mistakes and this is a great visual to help them out.
Jen
http://endeavorsineducation.blogspot.com/