Improve Student Writing through Effective Reviewing and Revising Strategies

Ask any teacher and they’ll tell you that writing is not just about stringing words together—it’s an art form that requires skill, understanding, and even a touch of creativity. In today’s post, we focus on the often-overlooked yet crucial aspects of reviewing and revising as a cornerstone of effective literacy instruction. These foundational skills ensure that all students can master the skills necessary for effective written communication. 

The Critical Role of Reviewing and Revising in Literacy

Reviewing and revising not only refine writing but also foster critical thinking and self-assessment skills in learning. This process:

1. Enhances Writing Quality: It allows students to deepen their ideas and express themselves more clearly.
2. Facilitates Learning Through Effective Writing Traits: Students become familiar with what constitutes good writing.
3. Promotes Reflective Practice: It encourages students to identify their strengths and areas for improvement.

Strategic Approaches to Reviewing and Revising

Drawing upon Charles Haynes and Terrill Jenning’s From Talking to Writing: Strategies for Supporting Narrative and Expository Writing, we delve into two effective strategies: the Cohesive Tie Strategy and the Detail Circle Strategy. These strategies are proven ways to remedy common issues in student writing: lack of cohesion and inadequate detailing.

The Cohesive Tie Strategy

This strategy targets the common problem of semantic cohesion, particularly the repetitive use of certain words.

For example, the student’s text below overuses certain words, making it more difficult to read:

“Many bears live inside Yellowstone Park. There are large bears found there. Every year bears cause serious injuries to visitors. Tourists at Yellowstone should stay at least 100 yards from bears. Visitors should admire bears’ beauty from afar!”

As a task, students should find synonyms for bears and rewrite the text to improve cohesion. Here is an example of the revised text: 

“Many grizzlies live inside Yellowstone Park. They are the largest of all the bears found there. Every year, they cause serious injuries to visitors. Tourists at Yellowstone should stay at least 100 yards from these dangerous creatures. Visitors should admire the bears’ beauty from afar!”

By focusing on the repetitive use of specific words, this strategy teaches students how to enhance the flow and readability of their writing. The transformation from a monotonous to a varied and engaging narrative demonstrates the strategy's effectiveness in promoting semantic variety.

The Detail Circle Strategy

This strategy helps students overcome the challenge of incorporating salient details into their writing.

The Detail Circle is separated into two levels:

• Basic Level Details (1-4): These are the foundational details students initially focus on.
• Advanced Level Details (5-8): These are introduced once the students have mastered the Basic Level.

When introducing the Detail Circle, the teacher begins by outlining only the Basic Level Details within the Circle. The instructional process involves:

1. Providing a Topic Sentence: The teacher presents a sentence with key nouns underlined, forming the basis for detail elaboration. For example:
   • The children raked the leaves in the yard."
2. Modeling Relevant Fact Details: The teacher then demonstrates how to add one or two sentences of Relevant Fact Details. Each detail sentence elaborates on one or more of the underlined key nouns from the preceding sentence, and semantic cohesive ties in each sentence are underlined. For example:
   • First Relevant Fact Detail: "The kids raked them into a large heap."
   • Second Relevant Fact Detail: "The pile of leaves started to blow all over the yard."

The resulting micro-discourse "chunk" from this exercise would be a three-sentence narrative, providing a clear example of how to expand upon the initial topic sentence.

Initially, students memorize the Detail Circle focusing only on the Basic Level details. They are encouraged to recall and draw the Circle in the margin of their paper, using it as a guide for crafting varied detail sentences. The practice progresses as follows:

• Micro-Discourse Exercises: Students start with creating two to three topic-centered sentences.
• Personal Sequence Narratives: They then apply the Detail Circle in crafting narrative sequences, elaborating events with phrases like "First," "Then," "Next," "After that," and "Finally."
• Expository Paragraphs and Essays: Once mastery over narrative elaboration is achieved, students advance to applying both Basic and Advanced Level details in more complex expository writing.

Through the Detail Circle Strategy, students learn to enrich their writing by systematically adding diverse and relevant details, moving from simple sentence-level practice to more intricate narratives and expository texts. This strategy not only enhances their writing skills but also fosters a deeper understanding of how details contribute to the overall coherence and richness of their written work.

Evidence-Based Early Literacy Instruction with AIM Institute

Are you looking to delve deeper into building effective structured literacy systems?

By incorporating the strategies of reviewing and revising into our teaching methods, we can significantly improve the writing abilities of our students. If you'd like to discover more about equipping all your staff members, from leaders and teachers to specialists and paraeducators, with effective learning opportunities, let’s start a conversation. 

You can also sign up for Pathways to Proficient Writing, a course designed for educators that are committed to learning about the connection between writing research, theoretical models such as the Not-So-Simple View of Writing and The Writing Cycle, and best practices for writing instruction in the classroom. Participants will learn effective instructional practices that will benefit all students, including linguistically diverse populations and those with or at risk for language-based learning disabilities. Learn more about the course here.

About AIM Institute: The AIM Institute for Learning & Research® is a non-profit center for educational excellence and professional development, providing educators with the latest research, technology, and  evidence-based practices in the fields of literacy and language-based learning disabilities.