Applying Proofreading and Editing Skills

Tuning In

• Choose a slide from the Editing Passages PowerPoint - Year 3 or the Editing Passages PowerPoint - Year 4 to display on the board. Ask the students to rewrite the chosen passage correctly in their workbooks.
• Display and discuss the answer slide for the selected passage. Ask the students:
  • What strategies did you use when trying to find the incorrect spellings and missing punctuation?
  • What else might you need to look for when proofreading and editing your own writing?
  • Why is proofreading and editing your own writing so important?

Teacher Instruction

• Explain to the students that they are going to proofread and edit the informative text that they wrote in the previous lesson.
• Discuss some editing strategies with the students (these could be recorded into workbooks for future reference). These might include:
  • using a checklist for text structure and language features
  • reading the text aloud to see if it sounds correct when spoken
  • using common symbols when proofreading to make editing easier e.g. underlining all incorrect spellings
  • using a bright pen or pencil when proofreading to ensure editing symbols stand out
  • addressing one aspect of writing at a time, rather than concurrently e.g. looking for punctuation errors, then spelling errors, then grammatical errors.

Guided/Independent Learning

• In their writing pairs, allow the students time to thoroughly proofread and edit their informative texts. Monitor and support the students as required.

Wrapping Up

• Allow each pair to swap their informative texts with another pair. After reading the text, each pair is to provide feedback using the 'Three Stars and A Wish' technique (three positives and one suggestion for improvement). Teachers may wish to collect the students' informative texts in order to informally monitor student progress.