Editing Circle Procedure
Gretchen OwockifromThe Common Core Writing Book
Materials: colored pencils – red, blue and green for each person, poster with job descriptions (see box below), each student needs a piece of their own writing
Objective: “Today we will learn one way to edit our writing. Editing is when we make sure that our writing makes sense and follows the rules of writing, like using a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence. It is important to edit our writing in order to make it easier for others to read and understand what we have written.”
Step 1: Briefly review the rules in the box above
Step 2: Remind students that they should be the first person to read their own writing. Give 3 minutes to reread their piece, fix any errors they can find and fix anything that doesn’t make sense (They should use a regular pencil).
Step 3: Students sit together in groups of 3 with their completed writing. Each is assigned a role from the box above. Each editor uses a different colored pencil. Remind students their job as editor is to find only those errors that are part of their job today.
Step 4: Students pass their writing clockwise to the next person in their group. At the end of 3 minutes, they draw a vertical line with the colored pencil after the last word they checked. Next they write their name in colored pencil at the bottom of the page.
Step 5: Give students 3 minutes to do their specific, assigned role as editor (just the one they are assigned today).
Step 6: Each time the timer goes off (after 3 minutes), they again draw a vertical line after the last word they checked and write their name at the bottom of the page (all in their colored pencil).
Repeat steps 4-6 until everyone has seen each paper. When their own paper is returned to them, students should try to find at least one more thing to correct.
Closure: We worked as a team to edit our writing so that others can more easily read and understand it.
The formal editing process should not be done with every piece of writing
- The goal is that students will write the best first draft they can produce. They do this by rereading revising and editing as they go along.