Get the Most Out of Revising and Editing in the Classroom

The writing process

For years, I taught the writing process the way I was taught to teach it -- as a linear process in which revising and editing is a final step before publishing. I helped students learn how to revise and edit using mnemonics: ARMS and CUPS. I sent students through revising and editing stations, in which they used various colors of highlighters, sticky notes, and red pens. And I relied heavily on checklists.

It all sounds great and thorough, but regardless of how well I thought I was teaching revising and editing, nothing great ever came from it. Students would proclaim that they were finished, waving their paper in the air with pride. Upon first glance, I would see very few editing marks on their paper. Upon closer inspection, I would see at least 437 unfixed errors staring back at me. "Did you complete each item on the checklist?" I would ask. "Yes," they would reply, showing me their checklist, with every item checked off, as proof.

This exchange happened all too often. They weren't really editing or revising very much. Why not, and what was I doing wrong? I set out to find a better way to teach this process.

The real writing process

First of all, I decided I needed to dispose of that ridiculous idea that writing is a linear, step-by-step process, because it absolutely is not. It is more of a spiraling, repetitive, circular process in which revising and editing happen continually. I made this point to my students in a dramatic show of having a student take down the poster of the Steps of the Writing Process and tear it up in front of the class. Then I displayed for them a revised one that I created myself. I cannot find the original document I created, but it showed the writing process as circular, not linear, and it showed that editing and revising occur during each and every step, not just at the end. I stressed to students that as they are brainstorming, as they are organizing their ideas, and as they are drafting, there is revision happening, even before they put words on paper.

Better than a checklist

Then I showed them a method of revising and editing that I discovered after searching and sifting through the innumerable checklists and cutesy mnemonic devices available online. It is called C-D-O (Compare, Diagnose, Operate) (De La Paz, Swanson, & Graham, 1998). Using this strategy, students read their piece of writing one sentence at a time. After reading a sentence, students will Compare it to what they meant to say. Then, they will choose a Diagnose card that best matches what is wrong with the sentence. Finally, they will choose an Operate card that expresses the best way to fix what is wrong with the sentence.

When I introduced this strategy, I started with a small group during writing intervention. Each student in the group had a set of C-D-O cards and an essay they had been working on. They were at different stages in the writing process, and all were struggling readers and writers who were also English language learners. Each of them had the "Miss, I'm Done" disease (the ailment that causes students to skim a piece of writing, make a mark or two, then wave it around proclaiming it perfect, when in actuality there were still 437 errors present in the writing).

The results

When this small group of students used the C-D-O method of revising and editing, I watched them slowly and purposefully read each sentence of their essay aloud, one at a time. I watched them think carefully about the sentence, sometimes reading it multiple times. I watched them handle the task cards as though they were engaged in a card game, mindfully choosing the correct ones each time. Then I watched them mark up their papers in intensive revision, smiling with pride at how well they were doing with their essays. During this one day, I saw the most meaningful revision and editing I had seen in seven years of teaching. When we ran out of class time, all four of my intervention students wanted to take the C-D-O cards home with them so they could finish working on their essays.

And I was sold. What I love about the C-D-O strategy:
* The tactile element keeps students engaged.
* It forces students to slow down and read one sentence at a time, which means they are evaluating and thinking deeply about each and every sentence in their writing.
* It results in more meaningful revision and editing.
* It is easy for students to do.
* It is especially beneficial for ELLs.

How you can do this

While the C-D-O strategy has been around for at least 18 years, I just discovered it a little over a year ago, and all the teachers I have asked have never heard of it. Furthermore, it is difficult to find much about it online. I think that is a crying shame, so I created a product for TeachersPayTeachers to help other ELA teachers use C-D-O. I am not taking credit for the strategy itself, but I have created documents to show teachers how to use the method with their students. My product includes instructions for teachers, explaining how to model the process for their students; instructions for students to use after the initial introduction to the method; Diagnose and Operate cards teachers can print out and laminate for their students; and a progress monitoring sheet to help teachers track their students' writing progress.

Check out my product here: