Revision Strategies for Adolescent Writers

The Write Moves provides a comprehensive treatment of the revision process. It is a guide for secondary teachers to use in their classrooms so that revision strategies can be modeled and taught successfully. The authors present over 30 innovative strategies for teachers that are based on the following 10 keys for effective revision: 1. Teachers who better understand the writing process and the role of revision can better instruct. 2. Teachers who are writers and model revision strategies for their students have students who understand the revision process better. 3. Teachers who spend time frontloading through planning, rehearsing, and conversing during the prewriting stage provide ample information that streamlines the revision process. 4. Teachers who engage in explicit instruction explaining revision as the thought process of seeing their writing again have students who are more willing to apply the revision strategies to their own writing. 5. When students have choice of topic, they are often more motivated to go through the revision process. 6. When students are writing for an authentic purpose and a specific audience, they are more motivated to go through the revision process. 7. When students have an understanding of the prompt and ongoing assessment is done through checking for understanding, they are more aware of the teachers' expectations for revision. 8. One-on-one conferencing with the teacher facilitates each student's thinking during the revision process. 9. Students who hold peer conversations about their writing with guidance from the teacher gather more ideas to incorporate into their revisions. 10. Teachers who read aloud and think aloud the authors' purposes and discuss the authors' techniques are likely to have students who incorporate the authors' craft into their own writing.