Imagine your students replacing dull words, adding details, checking for spelling, and even more to improve a rough draft. Most students think that revising means copying the rough draft in their best handwriting. The fact is that students do not know how to revise. Over the years, teachers have told students to write a rough draft and a final draft, but we all know that just telling them to revise does not teach them how to do it. They need to know exactly what the word revision means.
In an effort to provide a step-by-step method to revision, we developed an acronym. Each letter in the acronym will remind students of the twelve mistakes and/or traits on which they should focus when transforming their rough drafts into well-written stories or essays. Using the South Carolina state writing rubric, we pooled together the traits, and came up with “Lifesavers”, a memorable acronym to help teachers get the revision job done. By introducing this simple acronym and teaching a method to revision, our students can become confident in making rough drafts much better!
This book will explain the acronym and provide you with lots of handouts for you to use with your students.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Section 1: Getting to Know the Acronym
Personal Spelling List
How Do I Write an Awesome Grabber?
What Grabs Your Attention?
Practice Writing Awesome “Grabbers”
How Do I Write a Topic Sentence After Reading a Writing
Prompt?
Topic Sentences
Practice Writing Topic Sentences
How Do I Spot a Sentence Fragment?
How Do I Spot a Run-on Sentence?
Punctuation Police Tickets
Watch Out for Sentences That Do Not Fit the Prompt!
When Do I Start a New Paragraph When I am Writing a Story?
Practice Revising Dull Details
The Case of the Missing Details
Samples with Poor Word Choice and Revision
A List of Commonly Overused Words
Let’s Practice Replacing Overused Words
A List of Transition Words
Section 2: Let the Revising Begin!
Steps to the Process
Lifesavers Acronym
Wallet-size Lifesavers
Time to Revise Worksheet
Writing Assessment Rubric
Lifesaver Peer Edit
