The Victorian Curriculum for Writing Requires Some Revision


In the new Victorian Curriculum, under the heading ‘writing,’ I came upon this statement regarding editing.

 ‘Editing: Reread and edit for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to improve content and structure.’




This sounds very much like revision. Surprisingly though, I could find no reference to revision in the documentation. I found this concerning. So, are the authors confused?

Editing versus Revision
Both editing and revising are designed to make the writing piece ‘reader friendly.’ They provide opportunities to raise the writer’s awareness of audience.

What is the difference between editing and revision? Enter a classroom and you will frequently hear these terms used interchangeably by teachers and often to the detriment of students and their writing efforts. If teachers are unsure about these processes, students are disadvantaged. Such confusion hinders the growth of writing development.

Is this Editing or Revision?
When teachers are confused about these processes it impedes the level of revision that takes place. It frequently leads to students just ‘fixing up’ the surface features of the writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation). They are not revising the piece. They are editing. 

 Revision requires the writer to re-vision the writing. This means revisiting the content and working to improve the way it is written. The writing is re-crafted, not merely fixed up. Young writers need to be shown how to do this critical work. 

It is therefore important to be aware of some important distinctions between these important processes.  The act of revision aims to improve the overall content of the writing. The writer examines the strengths and weaknesses of the writing. The purpose of revision is to ask questions of the writer and expand ideas. This assists the writer to meet the needs of the reader. This may require the writer to move or remove entire paragraphs, extend or narrow ideas, to rewrite vague or confusing text. It may require adding to existing sections of the writing.

 Revision can involve both minor and major surgery in order to improve the overall content of the writing. In the act of revision the writer hopefully gains a deeper awareness of strengths and weaknesses of the piece. In the end it’s all about improving the content of the writing.

The more time a writer devotes to revision, the less time is required for editing.

The editing process may involve correcting, condensing, organizing, and otherwise modifying the surface features of the writing, in order to produce a piece of writing displaying correctness, consistency, and accuracy.

We sometimes lament that student writers are not great editors of their written pieces. Let's face it, writers generally are the worst proof-readers of their own work. To compensate for this we need to approach editing in the same way as we approach any other aspect of writing. Editing needs to be taught just as we teach into drafting and revising. It also needs to be clearly separated from the act of revision so students fully understand the purpose. Developing editing check lists with students and incorporating peer editing and feedback strategies will support this endeavour.

  • Editing should involve proofreading on three levels- meaning, spelling, grammar & punctuation
  • Editing can also involve a sentence level focus- addressing problems with spelling, grammar, punctuation, or word choice.
  • Editing looks at fixing the writing where needed.
I would argue that a focus on both revision and editing is necessary, if as teachers of writing, we want our important work to truly impact the quality of student writing. The teaching of writing requires explicit and mindful teaching. Teaching that is continually informed by the learning needs of students. In this context the Victorian Curriculum statements concerning the editing phase of writing would appear to need some revising…




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular With Other Visitors

Writing Opposite Poems

Image
 O pp o s ite  P oem s In his book, ' How To Write Poetry,'  Paul Janeczko presents the idea of opposite poems. Paul suggests they could also be referred to as antonym poems. This is wordplay and it's fun to try. Here are some examples Paul provides to help us see very clearly how these short little poems work. I think the opposite of chair Is sitting down with nothing there What is the opposite of kind? A goat that butts you from behind Paul Janeczko You will  notice the poems are written in rhyming couplets. They can be extended so long as you remember to write in couplets. Paul shows us how this is done. What is the opposite of new? Stale gum that's hard to chew A hot-dog roll as hard as rock Or a soiled and smelly forgotten sock You might notice that some of Paul's opposite Poems begin with a question. The remainder of the poem answer the question posed. Opposite poems are a challenge, but it is a challenge worth trying. Not eve...
Read more

Writing About Reading - Reading Reflection Journals:

Image
UPDATED February 2022 Writing in response to literature can be a great way for students to organize their thoughts, explore what they think, and generate ideas. One of the strengths of writing in journals is that it allows students to capture all of those great ideas that generally float off into the air during the discussion.  Journal writing can also become drudgery if students are asked to write too often, given little choice or inspiration in what to write, or if they simply don't have anything to say. While some students eagerly share their impressions about selections they have read in class discussions, others are less comfortable and keep their thoughts to themselves. In an effort to encourage all students to think more about what they read and confidently share their observations and opinions, some teachers are turning to the reading reflection journal and are gaining insights they never anticipated.  The Value of Reflection Journals   Journals assist teachers...
Read more

Learning How to 'Zoom In' When Writing

Image
It is important for young writers to understand that not all parts of a story are equal. There are parts through which a writer moves quickly, and important parts where the writer slows down and lingers a while. This is where the writer might intensify the action or reveal the character’s reactions in greater detail. Young writers need to know that this is a deliberate strategy on the part of the author. The author consciously zooms in. The writer uses a magnifying glass to view a part of the story more closely; to focus on a moment and to slow down time. When an important part of the story is enlarged upon, it   is a signal to the reader, that this part of the story is important. The strategy of ‘zooming in’ goes by many names: ‘exploding a moment’ ‘magnifying a moment’, ‘hotspot’ ‘snapshot’, ‘adding detail’ or ‘slowing the action.’  What ever the name, the idea is the same. The author writes in a way that expands a significant part of the story with the intentio...
Read more

Slice Of Life Story-The Trials Of A Left Handed Writer

Image
Amazingly I learnt to write using my left hand. An achievement against the prevailing beliefs of the day. My very first teacher saw it as her mission in life to ‘fix’ the poor, wretched little boy suffering from what she clearly diagnosed as left handed disease. She must have thought, 'This child must be re formatted! If he remains left handed he will be forever condemned to writing in a scrawl that no one will be able to read. Ugly hand, ugly hand.' ...They tried to say it couldn't be done, it mustn't be done. They took the pencil out of my left hand and placed it in my right hand. It felt unnatural. It felt weird. It was not right. More to the point it was not left. I was not about to conform. At least they didn't try tying my hand behind my back. Watch me I said. I may be an oddball, left handed scribbler but I am a determined oddball. I mean how boring would the world be if everyone wrote with their right hand? So I dug my toes in –and my hands to...
Read more

Exploring Themes in Poetry With Emerging Writers

Image
There is so much more to poetry than haiku and acrostics. Yet, so many young poets never get to experience the rich breadth of poetry beyond these highly structured forms. Why? Primarily, it’s about their teachers comfort levels with poetry. We often teach to what we know, meaning that being adventurous and taking young poets into new realms is not part of the poetic landscape for many. This sells young poets and poetry itself short. Last week I had the pleasure to again work with a group of young poets from Derrimut Primary School grade 5/6 in Melbourne’s west. We have been exploring patterns and repetition in poetry. We have explored personification as a literary device to develop the writing of poetry. We delved into the idea of writing through a mask to provide inanimate and animate entities with a voice. They told stories in words from their own perspective. On this occasion we again went to the edges and began to explore poetry through themes. We discussed a range ...
Read more