Topic 1: Techniques and ActivitiesWriting and Editing

Topic 1: Techniques and Activities

Writing and Editing

After students complete pre-writing activities, they write. They may write texts such as a description, a letter, instructions, or a story. Writing activities help teachers see how students are developing as writers. Teachers can also see how well students are achieving the sub-skills stated in the learning outcomes. 

Models and templates

Teachers can also use models and templates to help students write. Models show content and how it is organized. Students can read the text and see how the ideas are organized. Models also show features of mechanics and language appropriate to the genre of the text. Teachers can give students templates for writing all kinds of texts including personal letters, emails, or postcards. Templates guide organization and layout. 

Activity 9 is from an elementary school textbook for young learners. Earlier in the unit, students read about Susan describing a present she received. This activity gives a model for writing about a present. Then, to the right of the model, students can draw their own present and use the template to write a description of their present.

Student involvement in the writing process

Students need practice to become good at reviewing and editing. Editing skills help students assess their own and others' writing. In Activity 10, students find and label mistakes in mechanics and language. 

Teachers can also give students correction sheets. As you saw in Unit 2, correction sheets give answers to controlled activities. Students learn to revise writing themselves by comparing their work with the correction sheet. Students can also use rubrics to guide their review. A rubric tells students what aspects of writing they should focus on. Look again at the three correction sheets and three rubrics from Unit 2, Topic 2. 

The Peer Review Sheet in Activity 11 is also a tool to guide peer review and feedback. It is more general than a rubric. Students can use it to give feedback on any piece of writing.