I have to admit that our workshop on the literacy autobiographies this week opened my eyes to the idea of reading my essays out loud as a means of revision. In the past when this method was mentioned, I would scoff at it, thinking to myself something along the lines of, "I basically read it out loud to myself in my mind while I write it, anyway. I don't need to actually read it out loud." Enter the workshop.
I wrote my autobiography (at least the first draft) in such a way that it would more conversational than a normal essay. Reading it out loud helped me to see spots where the language worked a lot better in my head than it did on the page. Consequently, I know places where I need to revise the language and change some of my thoughts.
I've been a fan of peer editing for quite some time, up to a point. One of my biggest pet peeves is something that I think teachers need to coach their students to avoid. One of my first classes at CSUDH will stand as an example of this unfortunate event in peer editing. An essay was assigned in one of my classes where the idea was that we would write a rough draft and then do group work for editing and revising. I ran out of time to spend fully on this particular essay, so I turned out my rough draft in about an hour or less (approximately 5 pages), so I knew that it was a pile of horse stuff and was looking forward to getting some feedback for where to go on the revisions. Fortunately for me, the responses were very helpful: "Good job! Don't change a thing!"
Bottom line, peer editing with a structured method like we were given in class is a great thing. Otherwise, people are like sheep (which means the general intelligence, especially in large groups, tends to be low), so they need to be taught how to give useful advice for their projects.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Reading it out loud helped me to see spots where the language worked a lot better in my head than it did on the page."
ReplyDeleteSometimes to see what we mean (i.e., to figure out what we’re trying to say) we need to hear what we’re actually saying, not just what we think we’re saying.
I encourage my students to verbalize what they're thinking and to read aloud what they’ve recently written, promising them that doing so will improve their chances of actually saying what they mean and meaning what they say.
By concretizing the abstract, we are better able to find a form that fits the function of our discourse:
"Say it loud/
Say it clear/
You can listen as well as you hear."
~"The Living Years," by Mike Rutherford and B. A. Robertson.
I agree Lief and found the writing workshop process the be very helpful as well. When I was reading my piece it really made me think about voice and audience. Both are of the utmost importance, but I often overlook them because I get caught up in structure. The whole oral process really helps because you get instant feedback and catch many mistakes. I intend to use this process with my little high school scholars.
ReplyDelete