REVISION STRATEGIES OF STUDENT WRITERS AND EXPERIENCED ADULT WRITERS
This piece was really interesting for me because I am a serious reviser. In fact, I often get so caught up with revising that I don’t complete what it is that I’m working on (currently trying to get myself to write the whole thing first, then revise, since I get so caught up revising I don’t finish.) Revision has never been a linear process for me in my personal writing, but I’ve found that every time I’ve been in a classroom, its been explained as such. While linear revision processes may work well with beginning or remedial writers who need structure and steps to follow, encouraging students to edit while they write, and to embrace revision as more than just editing a few vocab words and grammar would help them create a more polished product, while also encouraging a more process-oriented view point. Summers points out on page 79 that: “The students place a symbolic importance on their selection and rejection of words as the determiners of success or failure for their compositions. When revising, they primarily ask themselves: can I find a better word or phrase?” While it may be important to find a better way to say something if you handled it clumsily in the first place, students are so attached to their first drafts that a complete rewrite is sometimes a panic-inducing prospect (been there, now I love rewriting.)
This piece was really interesting for me because I am a serious reviser. In fact, I often get so caught up with revising that I don’t complete what it is that I’m working on (currently trying to get myself to write the whole thing first, then revise, since I get so caught up revising I don’t finish.) Revision has never been a linear process for me in my personal writing, but I’ve found that every time I’ve been in a classroom, its been explained as such. While linear revision processes may work well with beginning or remedial writers who need structure and steps to follow, encouraging students to edit while they write, and to embrace revision as more than just editing a few vocab words and grammar would help them create a more polished product, while also encouraging a more process-oriented view point. Summers points out on page 79 that: “The students place a symbolic importance on their selection and rejection of words as the determiners of success or failure for their compositions. When revising, they primarily ask themselves: can I find a better word or phrase?” While it may be important to find a better way to say something if you handled it clumsily in the first place, students are so attached to their first drafts that a complete rewrite is sometimes a panic-inducing prospect (been there, now I love rewriting.)