Teaching Young Writers The Value of Rereading Their Writing


I revisited an old writing friend recently. I once again picked up Nancie Atwell’s ‘Lessons That Change Writers’ and began rereading. I like to revisit authors I trust. Atwell’s messages about writing are laden with timeless value. I possess a number of books I regularly revisit and reread. Pearls of wisdom frequently reveal themselves to me when I do this.

Nancie writes, ‘Writing is as much an act of reading over what we have written as it is drafting new writing.’


These words set me to thinking. A great many of our student writers are not consciously skilled where the act of rereading is concerned. For this reason, its value needs to be drawn to their attention. We need to demonstrate how, and why, rereading is an important skill. A skill to consciously add to their writing armoury. They need to see it explicitly modelled. They need to see it valued by a proficient writer. That way it is more likely to be adopted.

A lack of consistent and conscious rereading is frequently the thing preventing the words young writers produce, rising above the ordinary. Learning the habit of rereading and applying it in a conscious way could make the world of difference to the quality of the writing eventually produced for their readers.

The notion of self-reflection is a life skill. It develops over many years and its development requires intentional practice. If young learners are to develop in this way, they need to see adult models of self-reflection. The late Donald Murray reminded us, 'We need to teach students how to read their emerging drafts.’ To achieve this goal, we must begin with our own writing…


Rereading To Reflect
Here are some questions concerning our own writing, we can model for students:

How do I feel about my writing piece?
Which parts am I happy with? Where does it work?
Which parts require more attention from me?
Did I wander off my chosen topic/idea/story?
What do I want this writing to do? Have I succeeded in my aim?
Have I met the needs of my readers?
Where might my readers get confused?
Where do I need more specifics?

Ralph Fletcher says one of one of our main goals must be to help kids become better at reading their writing.



Rereading Notebook Entries
We need to model the way we reread our own notebook entries and alert students to the possibilities that this rereading presents. –All those long lost entries that bubble back to the conscious level of our thinking. This is rereading to ‘excavate’ lost gems and potential new writing ideas. We are showing how we mine old words for new ideas.

However, after all this rereading we have a further opportunity to encourage self-reflection. Before any new writing takes place, in that critical pre-writing time, we can ask questions that help clarify the writer’s intent:

Why does this topic, issue, idea matter to you as a writer?
Why should other people care about this topic?
What will you be trying to show your reader?


Rereading As We Write
Another type of rereading is the reading undertaken as we write. This rereading is equally important as it keeps the writing on track and headed in the right direction.

Rereading as we write has many benefits. It allows the writer to pick up many things including:

  • Unintended repetitions
  • Contradictions
  • Weak, junky verbs
  • Words omitted, or words in the wrong place
  • Anything overlooked
  • The voice of the writer
  • The point of view of the writer
  • The tone of the writing
  • Grammatical omissions
  • Spelling errors

Let’s Hear It for Rereading
Rereading aloud is as important as reading ‘in your head.’ It allows the writer to hear the text as a reader would hear it and serves to illuminate ‘the bumps’ in the text that may be inhibiting the flow of words. I often tell students to imagine they are hearing the text for the very first time. ‘Can you hear your voice?’  ‘Do your words flow easily from your tongue as you read?’ I ask them to take themselves to a quiet part of the room (along with their writing and pen/pencil) and read aloud to the walls and windows. No one else should be expected to read their writing until this important task has been completed. It is a way of showing respect for your readers.


‘If we want our students to be thinkers, researchers, collaborators, readers, writers, and evaluators, then they need to see us thinking, researching, collaborating, reading, writing and evaluating. We need literally, to live the life we’re asking them to lead.’
Regie Routman
Source: Literacy At The Crossroads



Rereading is a boon to any writer. Developing writers need to be aware of its benefits and learn from the example set by their teachers and mentors. If you’re still not convinced, might I suggest rereading this article?

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