Article 10

I. Title: “But teacher, I added a period!” Middle Schoolers Learn to Revise
II. Author: Bruce Saddler
III. Author’s Purpose: The author describes how writers at different skill levels approach
revising, the difficulties they encounter, and shares several successful methods to help
middle school students.
IV. What are the points made in the review of the literature? Do they
support the need for the study? Saddler shows readers that skilled
writers view revision as a whole-text task; they often revise and retool
a piece as they write. Many middle school students do not view
revising in this manner. Saddler offers suggestions to use within the
writing workshop, again modeling for students.
A. Students need to know why revising is important. Writing is all about making the
things the writer knows known to others in a particular way and for a particular
reason.
B. Conferencing—have someone else read the paper for clarity and understanding. It is
important to hear what you have written out loud. Peer conferencing can be viewed as
an interactive dialogue between writers.
C. Provide students with a checklist to guide their review of their own and each other’s
drafts. Students have concrete tasks and clear-cut goals set out for them. This is helpful
for all writers.
D. Have several pieces of writing being worked on at the same time. This way a student
can step back from a piece that is giving them some trouble and work on another piece.
When a student returns to the first piece after this reflective pause, their mind is clear
and refreshed, ready to tackle writing again.
E. The author also suggests that you grade the process as well as the product. Writing is a
process, and having multiple pieces being worked on at one time allows you to see a
student’s progress.
V. Author’s Inquiry Question: I think the main question this author had was focused
on ‘how can I help my students to not only revise their writing, but to see that there is a
need for revision.
VI Author’s Methodology: The author is teaching revision skills through
modeling
A. Who is being studied? Students in a middle school language arts writing
workshop are being studied to see how well they develop their revision skills.
B. Over what length of time: No specific length of time is given.
C. What data is being collected? Student writing samples are being collected and
studied to see how well they implemented revision strategies.
D. How is it being analyzed? Saddler is looking for progress in student writing after
learning new strategies.
E. Any other interesting or pertinent data: Saddler included two samples of
revision guides for teachers to use. These are very user friendly and can be easily
adapted for classroom use.
VII. How the author collected information: He used student writing from
student journals, essays assigned, and other samples of their writing to
analyze for this study.
VIII. What the Author Discovered or Conclusions/Implications: The
author concludes that a teacher can change how students approach
revision as you model specific revision strategies and give them time
to practice those strategies. Here again, the idea of model is discussed
and applauded as a means of helping students achieve success in their
writing.