Students edit each other's essays as well as their own during this unit of study. At the end of this lesson, students are going to:
- revise and edit at least two drafts to progress through the writing process and improve as writers.
- engage in collaborative editing with fellow editors by exchanging queries, concepts, data, and viewpoints.

- What effects do language conventions and grammar have on written and spoken communication? 
- What is the objective? 
- What makes writing clear and effective? 
- Why do authors write? 
- Who is the target audience? 
- What will appeal to the audience the most?

- Focus: The center of interest or attention. 
- Literary Devices: Tools used by the author to enliven and provide a voice to the writing (e.g., dialogue, alliteration). 
- Literary Elements: The essential techniques used in literature (e.g., characterization, setting, plot, theme). 
- Point of View: How an author reveals characters, events, and ideas in telling a story; the vantage point from which the story is told. 
- Style: How an author writes; an author’s use of language; its effects and appropriateness to the author’s intent and theme. 
- Tone: The attitude of the author toward the audience and subject (e.g., serious, playful, critical, ominous, wistful, humorous, etc.). 
- Voice: The fluency, rhythm, and liveliness in writing that make it unique to the writer.

- class viewing copy of a revised/marked-up essay (perhaps from a previous class; should reflect ongoing classroom instruction regarding editing marks, editing skills, and focus areas for revision) 
- four copies of each student’s revised draft 
- extra copies of a scoring rubric: either the state scoring guide (LW-7-1-2_PSSA Writing Scoring Guidelines) or the sample rubric included in the End of Unit Assessment 
- copies of Peer Evaluation Guidelines (LW-7-1-3_Peer Evaluation Guidelines) for each student

- Students who struggle with revising will benefit from seeing another example of a revised/marked-up essay.
- Students who are having trouble with the editing and rewriting of their essays can schedule individual meetings with you or one of the school's writing tutors.

Explicit instruction, modeling, scaffolding, and active engagement 
W: Students use the rubric to understand the scoring criteria for their essays. 
H: Students edit and receive feedback on their essays in groups. 
E: Students examine a sample of a polished essay. 
R: After completing the rubric, editing, and at least two rounds of revision, students reflect, go back, and rethink their essays. 
E: By forecasting their score on the rubric, students assess their essays. 
T: You might need to devote more time to groups that require more practice as students work in groups. Students who are struggling with editing and revising can schedule one-on-one conferences with you to discuss and work on their writing. 
O: Before turning in their papers, students assess each other's and their own. 

Focus Question: How does the writing process assist us in creating reflective essays?

Teach students to put their essays aside for a minimum of one day after finishing their first drafts. Give students a sample of a revised or annotated essay to review. "You have completed the task of writing a first draft," inform the students. "We will now examine an example of a revised or marked-up essay that includes editing and revision notes. To understand what the writer saw in their on writing, carefully read the notes and comments. Consider your advantages and disadvantages. Each writer possesses one. We have the chance to improve as writers and learn from our mistakes through our revision process."

Use the Peer Evaluation Guidelines (LW-7-1-3_Peer Evaluation Guidelines) or a similar checklist to help students proofread and edit their essays.

Is your essay well-structured? How? Is there an introduction, a few body paragraphs, and a conclusion in this essay?
Does your introduction make any reference to the significance or meaning of the event? How?
Are the main paragraphs organized chronologically?
Do the body paragraphs convey your feelings and thoughts in addition to the events as well as a particular tone? How? What kind of tone is it? Do they provide enough information to tell the entire tale?
Do the body paragraphs use precise adjectives and adverbs, vivid verbs, action, dialogue, and imagery to pique the reader's interest? 
Are there transitions both within and between paragraphs in your essay? What do they consist of? 
Does your significance statement appear in your conclusion? Does it explain to your readers the significance of the event? How?

To help students understand the peer review process, you could use the fishbowl technique (http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/otai/Fishbowl.asp). Give students the Peer Evaluation Guidelines (LW-7-1-3_Peer Evaluation Guidelines) to use when completing a peer review.

"Remember, you have already experienced the process of revision firsthand, but peer review has benefits as well. Peer review allows you to approach your writing from fresh angles and with fresh ideas. Your peers may bring their areas of strength and inquiry; these may be fresh perspectives or ideas that you had not previously considered. Listen carefully to what your classmates have to say; you can pick up a lot of knowledge from different viewpoints. Look for the wavy lines or notes that your peers have made in the margins; these point to problems that require your attention."

Language Skills Mini-Lesson

"I would like to provide you with one more tool to check for sentence structure errors before you finish your final edits with your peers. We practiced recognizing independent and dependent clauses to prevent sentence fragments in earlier lessons, and we reviewed how to correctly use commas with coordinate adjectives. Now we will identify and fix dangling or incorrectly placed modifiers in sentences. You will review your papers after we finish the samples to check for and fix any instances of this sentence formation problem."

"Let's define 'modifier' first. Any word or collection of words that describes something is a modifier. Adjectives, or adjective phrases, and adverbs, or adverbial phrases, are examples of modifiers. Let's examine a couple of short examples." Put the model sentences in writing on the board. Indicate which part of each sentence is confusing due to the construction. The kite, not the children, is hovering over the water in the first sentence. To make this more apparent, the sentence needs to be rephrased. ("Since the kite was hovering over the water, the kids hoped the string would not break." Alternatively, "The kids hoped the string wouldn't break because the kite was hovering over the water.")

Hovering over the water, the children hoped the kite string would not break.
Grandpa told me to throw the cow over the fence with some hay.
Locked in her room, her punishment was to clean out her closet.
Filled with rain, the boy collapsed his umbrella and walked inside.
The school newspaper produced 27 issues, which are run by just students.
The crisis troubled the rescue crew, making communication difficult.

Provide examples of how to correct the first two sentences' misplaced modifier and the confusion it causes, as well as reading the sentence aloud and modeling your thought process. As a class, make suggestions for sentences three and four after letting students identify the missing modifier. Take students' copies of sentences five and six, have them write a new sentence, circle the missing modifier, and attach the original sentences to a piece of paper. Next, having compared the circled, misplaced modifier in the sentences with a partner, the students should read their fixed sentences to each other. To share with you or the class, they ought to select the best "fixed" version.

"Now go over your essay again and look for any missing modifiers. Make wavy lines beneath them." After finishing, assign students to switch essays with a partner, who will also mark any misplaced modifiers with a wavy line. "Rewrite any sentences in your essay that have modifiers in the wrong place."

Give the students the go-ahead to make all final edits, including the margin note and wavy-line changes from the peer review. Sentence structure, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, point of view, and verb tense errors should all be fixed.

Request that students turn in their final essays in a folder together with their rough drafts, journals, and ideas for brainstorming.

Extension:

Students should be encouraged to submit their essays for possible publication in an age-appropriate local or school publication.

Compile all of the student essays into a book or post them on the school website with the consent of the principal, the student authors, and the parents.