How to Help Your Child Edit a Paper

I think this is a wonderful way for parents to be involved in their children's schoolwork. This, along with reading the same books, is one of the best ways a parent can provide guidance for homework.

There is nothing wrong with having a student show a paper to someone else for editing. It is very difficult for anyone to find errors in writing, and it is always nice to have someone else help. Professional writers have editors who are paid to look for errors. Of course, students do need to learn how to edit, and this is how I teach them:

Go to a quiet location, where there will be no interruptions, and have your child read the paper (essay or story or whatever) out loud. Follow along and make sure that every pause, emphasis, and inflection is reflected by the appropriate punctuation mark. If it isn't, comment to your child about it and ask if they heard the pause.  Ask your child what punctuation mark belongs there.  If they don't know, don't belabor the point;  show how to put in the correct punctuation. Continue in this way, noting any other grammar, diction, or structure errors.

Run-ons are very common.  If a child goes past a run-on without catching it, say, "That sentence is a run-on.  Read it again out loud and tell me where the period goes."  As your child reads, he or she will naturally pause where the mark goes.  Often, I notice kids don't even have to re-read--they know where they paused.

When will a comma work and when will a period work?  Commas can never fix run-ons.  Only periods, semi colons, and a comma plus a conjunction.  I tell the kids you need a comma/conjunction or period when what is on either side of the pause can be a complete sentence on its own.

What about the word "and"?  When does a comma come before it?  Same as the period rule:  when what is on either side of the "and" could be a complete sentence.  (The use of "and" with items in a series is a different rule.)  Here are two examples:

1.  I walked to the store and bought a pencil.
2.  I walked to the store, and I bought a pencil.

Sentence #1 does not need a comma because what is on either side of the "and" could not each be complete sentences.  Sentence #2 needs a comma because what is on either side of the "and" could be a complete sentence on its own.  (There are exceptions and nuances, but I teach a very strict prescribed grammar to keep the rules to a minimum.)

Fragments, actually, are rare at this age, but they do happen.  (For some reason the kids love to use them in their introductions, but I don't even allow those.)  Usually a subject or verb is missing; sometimes they'll just write a prepositional phrase.  These are harder to teach because the kids do not know subjects and verbs well yet.  Point out why the fragment doesn't make sense and have them explain what they want to say.  For example, "The wind in my face."  They mean, "I could feel the wind in my face."  Usually that takes care of it, but, if it doesn't, help them.

I tell the kids not to start sentences with the words "like" and "because."  Invariably, these lead to fragments, and they should be giving examples with the previous sentence.

Essay assignments come with a sheet that lists everything that should be checked. Again, help your child look for all of these conventions, but only point out errors when your child can not find them.  The proofreading checklist is actually a good guideline for how to edit and help edit.  Here is the link to the proofreading checklist:

http://gs.riverdale.k12.or.us/%7Ebblack/ProofreadingChecklist.pdf

A parent should not type a paper, nor should a parent do the editing for a child, even if the child is to fix the errors. Unless a the student is shown how to find errors (as opposed to where the errors are), the editing process will be lost.

Spelling

To check for spelling, have your child look through the paper backwards. Tell your child not to "read" the paper, but simply go through word by word backwards looking for spelling errors. Some words kids just don't know how to spell, and therefore they won't know they're misspelled. In this case encourage your child to look for words that might be misspelled and look them up in the dictionary.  I recommend electronic dictionaries or online dictionaries.  Good old fashioned book dictionaries are great, too.  Also, it's ok to tell your child how to spell a word.  When the answer is always "look in the dictionary," kids learn fast that it's better not to ask at all...and then not look the word up.