I find it very difficult to evaluate and revise my own writing and it is especially difficult to revise others writing. I know that it is extremely important in writing, and this is a definite weakness of mine. It is imperative to good writing and one must be able to do it themselves because it is not always practical or unethical to have someone proof read your papers. I do not have the talent and, therefore, find it a difficult talent to teach.
I have never thought about revising being close to comprehension. It is amazing how different aspects of learning are so closely linked. It is easy to understand why and how they correlate with one anther once they have been pointed out. Both areas have to do with making sense of what you read.
I liked the different ideas this chapter gave for the writing plan. I think it is good to see options because the same thing does not always work for all teacher or all classes. I think that at some points and for some classes all the ideas sounded very useable and appropriate.
I like all the integration of reading and writing. I try to integrate as much as possible in my class. It is very important for students to see how successful writers set up their stories, words they choose, and ideas they use. Analyzing published writing and letting children use text to mentor their writing is a great way to get students excited about writing. The mentor text gives them support and some ideas to build upon. This may not seem as scary and intimidating as just making them write.
I defiantly have some work to do in learning how to evaluate and revise but I do think that I am learning. I started the graduate program with each paper looking like a page from Chainsaw Massacre after having someone proof papers, and now they are much less gory. I feel that as I learn and become better at it, it will be easer to help my students.
