112 Part II: Putting Your Lesson Together
After you add your corrections, make it clear whether you expect the student
to do the writing over again. Redoing the work helps to fix the corrections
in the student’s mind, but sometimes he’s sick of the sight of it by then and
may prefer to transfer the information to a new piece of writing. I encourage
students to keep a copy of the original anyway so that they can compare that
one, the teacher-edited version and the new improved one.
Marking criteria
A useful tool for students when they attempt longer compositions is mark-
ing criteria that inform students what you’re looking at and whether they’ll
receive a grade, percentage or a score. After all students may resent spending
all their time checking their spelling if it isn’t what you’re really looking for.
Areas you may want to focus on include:
✓ Structure: The composition should include an introduction, body and
conclusion.
✓ Content: Each paragraph should contain a topic sentence and a clearly
explained point with examples when necessary.
✓ Verb tenses: A variety of tenses are used accurately and appropriately.
Marking criteria help students keep their focus.
Praising the good bits
Your red (or other coloured) pen can have a positive function too. If the
students’ work contains some good aspects, tell them so. It’s rewarding for
students to see positive remarks and some personal interaction from the
teacher. So they’ll usually welcome comments such as the following:
✓ Good point!
✓ Well written!
✓ That’s better!
And suppose that your students express their thoughts on a matter, you can
tell them what you think as well.
