Revision Decisions: Talking Through Sentences and Beyond / Edition 1

by Jeff Anderson, Deborah Dean

Overview

Revision is often a confusing and difficult process for students, but it's also the most important part of the writing process. If students leave our classrooms not knowing how to move a piece of writing forward, we've failed them. Revision Decisions: Talking Through Sentences and Beyond will help teachers develop the skills students need in an ever-evolving writing, language, and reading world. Jeff Anderson and Deborah Dean have written a book that engages writers in the tinkering, playing, and thinking that are essential to clarify and elevate writing. Focusing on sentences, the authors use mentor texts to show the myriad possibilities that exist for revision. Essential to their process is the concept of classroom talk. Readers will be shown how revision lessons can be discussed in a generative way, and how each student can benefit from talking through the revision process as a group. Revision Decisions focuses on developing both the writing and the writer. The easy-to-follow lessons make clear and accessible the rigorous thinking and the challenging process of making writing work. Narratives, setup lessons, templates, and details about how to move students toward independence round out this essential book. Additionally, the authors weave the language, reading, and writing goals of the Common Core and other standards into an integrated and connected practice. The noted language arts teacher James Britton once said that good writing floats on a sea of talk. Revision Decisions supports those genuine conversations we naturally have as readers and writers, leading the way to the essential goal of making meaning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625310064
Publisher:	Stenhouse Publishers
Publication date:	09/26/2014
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	9 - 16 Years

About the Author

For the past 25 years, Jeff has worked with writers and teachers of grades, K-12, inspiring them about the power and joy of the writing process. He has written four books for Stenhouse Publishers: Mechanically Inclined, Everyday Editing, 10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know and his latest book with Dr. Deborah Dean of BYU Revision Decisions: Talking Through Sentences and Beyond (November 2014). He also has two middle grade novels, Zack Delacruz: Me and My Big Mouth (Sterling, 2015) and Zack Delacruz: Just My Luck (Sterling, October 2016). Jeff grew up in Austin, where he learned to love writing through journaling, a bit of positive reinforcement, and writing stories and dramas to entertain his friends on the phone. He wanted to become a teacher early on, but his parents tried to convince him otherwise. They wanted me to make more money. During an internship visit to a local elementary classroom, he made up his mind. When I saw those curious eyes, kids raising their hands, asking questions, I lost all track of time and from that moment on, I was a teacher. I want to create environments that feel safe for learners at the elementary, middle, and university levels and during professional development for teachers. Working together we figure out things, surprise each other, find our strengths, and experience the joy it is to be a learner and teacher. We are students and teachers to each other. Jeff specializes in writing, revision, and grammar. I love the ability to spark curiosity and creativity and to support students in finding their voices. That's pure joy. When it comes to his own professional development, he wants to explore things that have meaning to him in the classroom. I want to find out things I didn't know, be affirmed or reminded of what I do know, and be energized by thinking and action, reflection and application. Since that's what I want, that's what I give teachers. Something they can take, shape, and make their own. Something they can use right now. Jeff's first book Mechanically Inclined, came to life from what he didn't know and what he needed to know. I read, tried things out, played in my head and in my classroom, and read some more, permutating and refining. I thought about what worked and what didn't, as well as what'sound pedagogical principles are used in other disciplines. His other books also came from his work in his own classrooms and those across the United States. The invitational process Everyday Editing is built around was first shared in workshops until teachers wanted another book on grammar. 10 Things was Jeff's chance to share what his experience had taught him are the essential things every writer needs to know and be able to do. In his first collaboration, Jeff and Debbie came together to tackle a sentence combining and its larger effects on revision and writing. In his free time, Jeff walks his dogs Carl and Paisley or sits on the deck with his partner Terry. When he's not doing that he reads middle grade novels and his new addiction is nonfiction.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Part 1 The Basics 1

Chapter 1 Revision Decisions Are Possible: Actively Processing to Develop Options for Revision 3

Chapter 2 The Vocabulary of Revision Decisions: Introducing DRAFT with a Five-Day Lesson Plan 17

Chapter 3 The Process: The Anatomy of a Revision-Decision Lesson 41

Part 2 The Lesson Sets 57

Lesson Set 1 Modifying in the Right Direction: Right-Branching Sentences 59

Lesson Set 2 Can't Resist a List: The Compacting Power of the Serial Comma 67

Lesson Set 3 The Pair Necessities: Balancing Pairs and Deleting Repetition 75

Lesson Set 4 Asides Are Extra: Adding Flavor with Extra Information 83

Lesson Set 5 Sentences Interrupted: The Power of Putting Ideas in the Way 90

Lesson Set 6 The Participle Principle: The Verbal That Tracks Action 99

Lesson Set 7 A Verbal Remedy: Invigorating Writing with Gerunds and Participles 105

Lesson Set 8 Keep Your Reader Oriented: Using Prepositions to Connect and Navigate 112

Lesson Set 9 The Comma-Drama Dilemma: Use It… or Lose It? 118

Lesson Set 10 What's Left? Branching Out in New Ways 124

Appendixes A-G (Appendixes A-E relate to Chapter 3: The Process Lesson.) 131

A The Context 132

B The Demonstration 133

C The Practice 134

D The Collaboration 135

E Excerpt from Flesh and Blood So Cheap 136

F Charting Connections 137

G Decisions Writers Make 138

Appendixes for Lesson Sets 1-10 139

Lesson Set 1 (Right-Branching Sentences)

1.1 The Context 140

1.2 The Practice 141

1.3 The Collaboration 142

1.4 Excerpt from Unbroken 143

Lesson Set 2 (Serial Commas)

2.1 The Context 144

2.2 The Practice 145

2.3 The Collaboration 146

2.4 Excerpt from Most Fun Book Ever About Lizards 146

Lesson Set 3 (Pairs and Compounds)

3.1 The Collaboration 148

3.2 The Practice 149

3.3 The Collaboration 150

3.4 Excerpt from Blizzard of Glass 151

Lesson Set 4 (Asides)

4.1 The Context 152

4.2 The Practice 153

4.3 The Collaboration 154

4.4 Excerpt from Gulp! 155

Lesson Set 5 (Interrupters)

5.1 The Context 156

5.2 The Practice 157

5.3 The Collaboration 158

5.4 Excerpt from On a Beam of Light 159

Lesson Set 6 (Participial Phrases)

6.1 The Context 160

6.2 The Practice 161

6.3 The Collaboration 162

6.4 Excerpt from Wild Tracks 163

Lesson Set 7 (Verbals)

7.1 The Context 164

7.2 The Practice 165

7.3 The Collaboration 166

7.4 Excerpt from Charles and Emma 167

Lesson Set 8 (Prepositions)

8.1 The Context 168

8.2 The Practice 169

8.3 The Collaboration 170

8.4 Excerpt from Liar & Spy 171

Lesson Set 9 (Commas)

9.1 The Context 172

9.2 The Practice 173

9.3 The Collaboration 174

9.4 Excerpt from Hand in Hand 175

Lesson Set 10 (Left-Branching Sentences)

10.1 The Context 176

10.2 The Practice 177

10.3 The Collaboration 178

10.4 Excerpt from Pirates: Robbers of the High Seas 179

References 181

Index 185

Editorial Reviews

“Revision Decisions will provide teachers with much-needed tools to facilitate the teaching of revision in a way that will make it stick with their students. Pick this one up and add it to
your reading stack—you will be glad you did (and so will your students)!” — Texas Voices

From the Publisher