Reflection

NIWP

The Writer's Toolbox:
Five Tools for Active Revision Instruction
Laura Harper

This handout, like many of the others is covered with my bright yellow highlighter and red ink, notes and comments in the margins. But the most important note is the one on the front page, in the top right-hand corner scrawled in big red sloppy letters and highlighted: Keep Handy for School!!!

While Harper is simply digesting and regurgitating a lot Barry Lane's revision process from After the End, she nails down what I need to do to get ready for school in a way that I could really grasp! This simplicity is helping my confidence grow as I further envision how and what my classroom will be doing for Writer's Workshop.

First of all, I'm going to buy some small manila envelopes and some 3x5 note cards. I will label the envelopes with student names and 'Writer's Toolbox.' But before I do that, I'm going to make Mini-Lesson plans for Lane's five revision tools: Questions, Snapshots, thoughtshots, Exploding the Moment, and Making a Scene. I also intend on making Mini-Lessons on Show, Don't Tell, and Flashforward, Flashback and Brain Argument. We started on these this afternoon and with the template I found from Michigan State University's Ed Department, I'm growing more confident that I am actually know what I'm doing and I'll be successful teaching with this method. It all seems so clear to me now, and I think it's because we have broken down what writers do without thinking, which is just like taking for granted what our strategies are when we read. We just know what to do. Now I'm understanding how writers know what they do, plus I'm practicing these specific techniques! Not only is it awesome, but the revision is actually fun! Who would have thought? Not me!!!