Journalism was my major in college and honestly, I have had no one edit my work since then. On Facebook, all the past institute fellows talked about the dreaded red pen of the almighty Mr. Rewrite.
I was fine with that, I mean, this happened all of the time when I was writing in college and writing for our campus newspaper. Wrong!!! I was so nervous to get back my Callahan story, because I think that I know what I am doing and never want to get my bubble busted.
When, I got the paper back, to my surprise, it really wasn't that bad. A few mistakes with the flow of the article, and a few Oxford comma "errors" (HA!). So, it was really not a bad experience. I am excited to get back into writing, because as a teacher, I have not been able to write as much as I used to. Thanks for not only teaching us how to help our students, but teaching us to be better writers ourselves.
But, I have to wonder if you were grading our papers like this:
Divona Phillips
Irving High School
Irving, Texas
Great tips in here. Other than the movie teacher's racist remark, these are things that will make my feedback even more effective.
ReplyDeleteSteve Elliott
Arizona State University
Phoenix
I grade essays for the Nevada high school proficiency exam, the one students have to pass to graduate. It is absolutely depressing when you are grading a senior's paper in late May, and you know that student will never pass that test and never graduate.
ReplyDeleteDo you ever do this? You have students whose writing is so bad that when their papers are at the top of the pile, you put them at the bottom because you just don't have the strength to get through them. Those have to wait until the morning, when my mind is fresh.
Jerry L. Miller
Sparks High School
Sparks, Nevada
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI was nervous about getting edits from Mr. Rewrite as well, but mine wasn't that bad either. I suppose I have to follow the advice I give to my students that revision is process and it can be really rewarding to see your work become better than you ever thought it could be. It will also be beneficial for us to show our marked up papers to our students so they can see ALL writers do revisions, that ALL writers who are worth anything take constructive criticism and use it to their benefit.
ReplyDeleteShannon Kuehmichel
Berlin High
Berlin, Wisconsin
Putting your heart into a piece of writing and having someone tear it to shreds can be a pretty painful process, even if you don't care about the topic you wrote about. Putting ourselves out there for criticism is something we don't get enough credit for in comment sections. So, great job and courage, Divona!
ReplyDeleteWait... that's not how we're supposed to do it?
ReplyDelete-Travis Durfee
Watkins Glen Central School District
WG, NY
Bobby has a point. Somebody usually has taken a swing at me by this point. I salute anyone who can leave the front of a classroom and assume the role of student, red ink an all.
ReplyDeleteSteve Elliott
Arizona State University
Phoenix