Revisions & Edits!

I have experienced and participated in peer editing since middle school. I must say it's a process that I feel bittersweet about. I enjoy writing a lot (that's the sweet part). It's a way for me to express how I feel, but after the writing part comes the editing and revising (that's the bitter part). I guess editing and revising is an area in which I don't feel 100% confident doing. I always think I am going to miss errors or fix things that I thought were errors but were not.
The one thing I really enjoy about peer editing is I feel like they are very honest with me. If they don't like a certain sentence, they will tell me. I think constructive criticism is important. It's one of the ways I learn the best. It teaches me what I need to do better and I am thankful I have peers that will be forward with me. A lot of the times I think it depends on who is reading your paper too. I think that if you have a close friend, they may "sugar coat" a little more than a complete stranger.

I think peer editing is important for k-6 grades. I think with the younger grades you start off with a simple peer editing process. As in you would mainly be looking for punctuation and spelling errors. The older you get the more important I think it becomes. The one thing I wish I would have done more of in elementary school are these peer editing sessions. I am not strong in grammar and I think that if I had started at a younger grade, it may have helped me out a little more. I definitely think I will use peer editing in my classroom. It's a chance to allow students to talk to each other and not just listening to lecture all class. In the current classroom I am in now they peer edit a lot and the students really enjoy it.

You write in almost every subject, so you can incorporate peer editing in many subjects. Although you may not think it, if a student was writing a science report, you could pair two students up together and have them look at each others. This is a process that I think needs to be used starting at a young age. You can only become better at revising and editing when you practice a lot!