Prompts for Guiding Student Revision

Here it is.

This list is not a definitive list of things to ask students to write about other student’s writing.  Use these prompt verbatim, if you wish, but always consider how you might reword them for your own students to fit their particular assignment and voices.

Before I have students “trade papers” (and I control this process; I have them pass them forward around the room six times or pass them backwards 3 times), I have the students attach a blank sheet of paper underneath their draft and have them do some of these prompts on that extra sheet.  Sometimes I keep going and I may need to have students add another blank sheet once this one gets filled, but you should always consider your purposes in having students answer these questions; sometimes, it’s better to have them answer fewer of these prompts but responding to them in more depth.  Sometimes I am very explicit about how much they need to write to answer these prompts (i.e. “each response needs to take up at least a quarter of a page”) and other times, I let the prompts dictate how long or how short the responses are.

I typically begin with having students read through and the fix “obvious” errors first before going to these prompts.  Some students cannot attend to other issues until they’ve dealt with surface correctness issues first.

Prompts:

1) Read through the paper and write a sentence that expresses what you would say is the writer’s message. Is the message in the paper or is it merely implied? If this message is explicitly stated in the paper, circle it.

2) What details did the writer seem to skim through?  If the writer were asked to add an entire extra page to this assignment, what would you tell them to make that additional page about?

3) Underline the best sentence in this paper.  Now, explain why you like this sentence. What makes this sentence work for you?

4) How well would you say the writer fulfilled the requirements of the prompt?  If the writer made choices that took the writing away from what you think was assigned, what advice would you give about how to bring this paper back toward what the assignment was asking for?

5) Draw a box around the five most interesting words in this paper.  List them here and explain what makes them good choices.

6) Draw a triangle around the five weakest word choices in this paper.  List them here and offer suggestions for more interesting words.

7) Draw a star somewhere in the paper and draw the same start on this paper.  Now write a simile that you could insert into the paper.

8) Describe how this paper is organized.  How else could you fulfill this assignment using the material in this paper using another way of organizing the material?

9) What details in the paper seem to take up space without adding anything to the reader’s interest or understanding?

10) If you were to describe the person you think this writer is writing this paper for, who comes to mind?  Who do you image as this writer’s ideal reader?

11) If this paper is supposed to be “academic,” in what ways does the writer match the academic “voice”?  In what ways does this paper not fit “academic” expectations?

12) If sometime later tonight, you were telling someone about this paper you read and critiqued today in class, what would you say was most memorable about it?

13) What mood or emotions would you associate with this paper?  Does this mood seem appropriate for this particular assignment?

14) If this paper were to be sent off to a writing contest that was going to be judged by a famous novelist, what suggestions would you make to this paper’s writer to increase the chances for winning the contest?

15) List five questions you would ask the writer about this piece if you were a reporter and you were assigned to write a story about this paper’s topic.

16) Imagine that this paper is going to be published in a magazine.  What suggestions would you make for the illustrations that would accompany the text?

17) Rewrite this paper into a haiku.

18) If this paper were a flavor of ice cream, it would be ________  because _______.

19) After reading this paper, what would you say the writer values the most in his or her own writing?

20) Did anything in this paper surprise you?  If so, what would you say surprised you the most?  If nothing surprised you, would you say this paper suffers from being too obvious?  How might the idea of surprise make this paper more interesting?

21) If this paper were remade into a YouTube video, what music would be a good choice for its soundtrack?

22) If you were to take the message of this paper and put it on a T-shirt, what would it say?

23) If you didn’t know the identity of the writer of this paper, would aspects of the writer’s identity would you be able to figure out from the text alone?

24) Write something encouraging to the writer about this paper.  Be enthusiastic without being sarcastic.