Mistakes are proof of trying!

Yes, that phrase is true… however if students don’t know that they’re making a mistake, they will not know what to correct when a teacher says to them to go back and edit their work.

Teachers need to teach students HOW TO EDIT.

Using an iPad’s camera is a powerful editing tool.

Carefully select a student’s work that has features that you are focusing on. The example I used above was to discuss the use of full stops. I read the sentences to the class and it wasn’t long before students identified full stops were placed at the end of each and every line.

This was a perfect moment to reinforce “whisper reading” for students to hear where the natural pause of the sentence falls and to check for the subject and the predicate in their sentences.

Give it a try!