Revising and editing
Proof-read own writing to check for errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation; evaluate and revise writing with teacher/peer support, re-reading to ensure meaning is clear and tense is consistent
What a learner can do afterwards
- Re-read own writing and spot a missing full stop or capital letter
- Identify and correct a tense inconsistency in a piece of writing
- Discuss improvements with a partner and make at least one revision to strengthen the writing
The lesson
When you finish a piece of writing, you are not quite done yet. Revising and editing means reading your writing again to check it makes sense, and fixing any mistakes you find.
Zara wrote this sentence: 'yesterday i go to the park.' She reads it again and spots two mistakes. She adds a capital letter to 'I', and she changes 'go' to 'went' so the whole sentence talks about the past. Now it reads: 'Yesterday I went to the park.'
When you check your writing, read it out loud, one sentence at a time. Check one thing at a time too: first spelling, then punctuation like full stops and capital letters, then whether all the tense words match. Asking a partner to read it can help you spot things you missed.
Read your writing again, fix the mistakes you find, and ask a partner to help you make it even better.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.