Monday, December 2, 2013

November - Rough Draft vs. Final Draft With EEEs

     Now that I am having more of my students rough draft on their EEEs, I have come across an issue I haven't seen before. Because publishing has been the step where students have used EEEs in the past, they aren't understanding that just because it is typed doesn't mean it is perfect and in "final  draft" format. Many of my students are typing their rough draft and are not finding the need to edit because it is already in a published format. I have had to have a lot of conversations this past month about what a Rough Draft is and what a Final Draft is. If anything I think I might change these terms because as a colleague of mine pointed out "No draft is really a final draft." Many authors who type their work edit 80 or 90 times before a book is reading for publishing. More of my students need to understand this!
     My students are coming along with their editing and revising work, but I am still looking for ways to translate and have them apply this to their typed pieces as well. We will be using the highlighting tool moving forward, more comments with their writing partners moving forward, etc, but I am still working on hitting home that one editing, one revision, does not a "Final Draft" make. Has anyone else run into this using their EEEs more for writing? I am glad it has been part of our discussion in our classroom, but I want to find more effective ways to address it. I love how I am constantly being challenged in my instruction based on real world issues I see with the implementation of technology in my classroom!

4 comments:

  1. I have had this issue too! I have also noticed that students make errors during electronic publishing that they do not make when they use a pencil and paper. For example, many students do not capitalize the word, "I."

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    1. Tami,

      Agreed, I am still looking for ways to bring this more to the front of their mind, especially electronically! Glad to know though it isn't just my students. I wonder what secondary teachers notice with their students work...

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  2. I may be because in third grade some of us don't draft electronically. It is mainly a mechanical issue with my third graders. When typing and learning how to access Google Docs is such a steep learning curve (at the beginning of the year, the kids thought I was magic when I taught them how to center text on a line, or how to capitalize) therefore, I get much more actual writing in a written draft as opposed to an electronic one. I don't know if this will change in the future but I guess there has to be a grade when students are introduced to tech and begin to use it.

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  3. Jennifer,

    You are so right, the learning curve is huge and has to be accounted for! I think we work with what we have, but continue to stress that no draft is ever truly perfect or complete!

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