[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 7 | March 14, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036]
Editing student writing typically takes a few minutes and a red pen. Teaching writing requires hard work, and even though many teachers assign writing, few actually teach the art of writing. The writing process is time consuming and often messy, so it’s no wonder that many teachers becomes editors by default. How can teachers be sure that they’re teaching students how to write and not simply editing writing assignments?
1. Ongoing Feedback
Teachers should offer feedback throughout the entire writing process and not just on the final product. If writing is done correctly, the majority of the work happens long before the final copy is submitted. When a teacher only offers feedback on the final paper, the window to teach and shape writing has passed, since the student has moved onto the next assignment.
Instead, check on student work at the beginning and in the middle of the process.Kaizena (a Google add-on that allows for voice comments on a document) or Google Docs are both great ways to have one-on-one conversations throughout the process. Issues concerning the overall focus, specific content, or organization can be caught early, giving students a chance to finish the paper with clarity.