Sommers: Response & Revision

“…teachers' comments can take students' attention away from their own purposes in writing a particular text and focus that attention on the teachers' purpose in commenting.” (Sommers 150)
Having worked in education for the past seven years, I have never before considered my students’ perceptions of what I wrote on their papers. I have always pointed out the mistakes of which I thought they should already be aware (either introduced in my class or in a required prerequisite) and graded them based on that. Rubrics distributed at the beginning of the school year are expected to be utilized in giving the students information on how I will grade their work. However, honest my comments, Sommers article has raised some questions which force me to reevaluate how I respond to student writing. I want my students to remain motivated without the fear of being ridiculed for their writing.
Sommers’ article on revision explores the process as one which builds upon what is already there, reproduction of existing writing. My prewrites generally take place in the form of outlines. Once prior to writing a paper my outline maps out the manner in which I will present the information. After writing my paper, I reread it for fluency and correct any grammatical, structural, reference, etc. mistakes that I discover. I also rearrange, add, and delete in order to make the paper flow smoothly. Sometimes, I ask a peer to read my work and ask the meaning as well as recommended changes to the content presented.
However, after going through the process of writing the literacy autobiography I find that the revision process which Sommers breaks down in her article is a more effective manner of writing. During the literacy autobiography process, we completed a number of invention activities which aided in developing ideas, some of which were more useful than others in constructing my discourse. My revision process now includes a process of producing various drafts of the same piece of work leading to the final product, which had been enhanced with each rewrite into a much higher quality final product.