For a unit on revision, students revise their first and second high stakes papers during the last two weeks of class. As an introduction to this unit, students reflect on their past experiences with revision, learn the definition of revision (in contrast to proofreading), and get familiar with four objectives of revision (follow original directions, follow through on feedback, take initiative, and show effort).

I contextualize the topic of “applied grammar” (i.e., revising sentence-level writing in their first drafts) as a chance to take initiative. That is, my feedback on their first drafts focuses on content and avoids criticism about punctuation, syntax, and sentence structure; therefore, working on granular levels of sentencing offers students an opportunity to take initiative. Topics covered during lecture and on in-class worksheets include run-ons, capitalization, wordiness, and fragments. To supplement these lessons, I offer hardcopy handouts from the OER textbook College ESL Writers: Applied Grammar and Composing Strategies for Success that include explanations and exercises. The handouts reiterate the previous lessons, giving students an opportunity to absorb the lessons in a new and reinforcing way. For the purposes of this workshop, I am submitting pages from College ESL Writers about run-ons that we read together; students completed exercises from the handout in small groups and submitted them as low stakes in-class work.

Exercises from College ESL Writers: Applied Grammar and Composing Strategies for Success (2018)
by Barbara Hall and Elizabeth Wallace