Brave Writer® 201: Academic Revision provides parents and students the opportunity to partner in the revision process of nonfiction academic writing. Participants focus on identifying strengths in writing, writing appropriately to audience, fleshing out incomplete paragraphs, strategic editing, and using transitions expertly.
Students learn specific tips to make a compelling writing piece. They practice using powerful writing craft elements as they move through the writing process from freewrite to revised writing to final edited copy.
Parents apply techniques taught by the coach as they identify areas where the student’s writing is working and areas where improvement is needed. They give constructive feedback in a way that helps encourage writing growth.
Syllabus
Week One
Using a passage from the book Braiding Sweetgrass, participants identify high-quality writing choices. They follow up with a hands-on opportunity to notice writing techniques in a student's freewrite.
Week Two
While students work on original freewrites, parent coaches practice asking for more writing rather than critiquing what’s missing in a piece. They key in on the intent of the student’s writing, notice possibilities in the raw writing, and make suggestions that inspire.
Week Three
Students draft a nonfiction piece to receive directed feedback under the guidance of the writing coach. Students learn to choose from the feedback offered to have agency over direction of change in the piece.
Week Four
The focus this week moves from revision to editing. Students are introduced to a tool they can use to edit any piece of writing and take the lead in polishing their draft.
Common Core and Academic Standards Support
What follows is a word bank and set of skills associated with this class. Use them to craft your own learning narrative for use in year-end evaluations, charter school reports, or any other accountability source.
Word Bank
- Agency
- Editing
- Fluency
- Formats
- Idea generation
- Nonfiction
- Research
- Revision
- Sequence of ideas
- Transitions
- Vivid Detail
- Vocabulary development
- Writing craft
- Writing mechanics
- Writing voice
Core Skills
- Cite expert opinion or sources
- Edit writing for standard English usage
- Employ strong verbs to create clear images
- Employ vivid detail to engage readers
- Generate topics for nonfiction writing
- Maintain distinct writer’s voice
- Research and absorb material for writing
- Revise writing for clarity, flow, order, interest, and economy
- of language
- Utilize effective transitions
- Utilize sentence variety to add impact
- Write detailed, organized, structured original narratives
- Write in emphatic order
- Write for a particular audience
