Responding to Student Writing

We've been asked by Mrs. Gibson, the middle school teacher at Greenwood, to respond to her seventh graders' writing on their blog. She would like us to comment to their writing:

The students have already posted their stories on the blog site. What I'm trying to do is get them more used to writing for an audience, to understanding what someone might need in order to understand their story. I'm also trying to model good ways to respond--more so to content than mechanics, but they also need to understand when their mechanical mistakes can get in the way of understanding for a reader. They're at a pretty basic level of responding to each other right now. We've been talking about constructive responses, digging deeper, asking questions, pointing out places that really jump out visually, etc. They are at a pretty tender age as 7th graders and are not too used to getting feedback that might challenge them to revise more thoughtfully.

Just the fact that I was going to have them put their work on the web caused several of them to rethink what they were going to write. That was encouraging! :) I've also got a website that I've been using to post student work, and of course, there's always Blackboard. The great thing about the edublog site is that each student can post his or her own work, yet I can monitor comments and content.

The website is http://greenwoodlab.edublogs.org

This is yet another exciting opportunity to work with students. I think one thing we can all work on as writing teachers is understanding what students need. No matter what our age or writing ability, we need to look at each piece of student work on its own merits. These are seventh graders, and I think Mrs. Gibson is asking us to "Bless" and "Press." The "Press" will require you to "point." As a reader, you will "point" to the reader parts that jump out. Elbow describes "pointing" as the following:

Ask readers: “Which words or phrases stick in your mind? Which phrases of features did you like best? Don’t explain why.”

"Pressing" will also be asking questions.

"I was wondering . . ."
"Which of these . . ."

We are not focusing on challenging or critiquing the students. Focus on providing comments that will encourage them to continue working on their papers, but also provide constructive comments that will give them ideas for revision. If you have any questions about what to say or how to respond to their work, email me or Mrs. Gibson. The students are writing short stories, and this is their very first draft.