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Notes About the Centerfold Lesson: Improving Student Work Improving Student Work The editing process is one of the most underutilized learning opportunities in education! This issue of KAT Talk offers in its Centerfold Lesson a sample of how this process integrates easily into KAT projects, and urges teachers to maximize the growth potential it provides. Granted, there is considerable resistance to editing. For some educators, editing smacks of criticism. They believe it's hard enough to get students to write at all; we want to encourage them, not discourage their efforts. Others are concerned about the amount of work and time revision takes. Who can afford the time to rework an assignment when there's so much new material to cover? And of course, revision doesn't always bring out the highest enthusiasm among students awed by speed and instant gratification. We can address these concerns quickly as we unleash the power of the process. Attitude and Routine: Both attitude and context must set up revision as a positive, routine step, not as a negative activity. Rather than implying failure, revision adds professionalism. Excellent communicators revise constantly. Reworking material reinforces, clarifies, organizes and consolidates it, building a more secure base for applications and for future learning. Students can find tremendous satisfaction in producing audience-worthy work in which they take pride. Seeing Differently: In revising work related to KAT projects, there are both general academic considerations and those specific to civic education. Revision is more than proofreading. Re/Vision implies to see again, and this is an important analytical skill for students, as citizens, to develop. In revisiting their work, students should be taught to take a step back from it, to try to see it as an outside reader might. Does the work express its purpose clearly? Is there evidence and logic in the presentation? Is there enough specificity to substantiate claims? Can a reader who is not familiar with the subject efficiently follow what's going on? Incorporating KAT Elements: During the editing process, we need to stretch our students, while helping them enjoy the workout! Does their work adequately tap into multiple disciplines? Is the research probing and broad? Is the thought process rigorous? Sometimes writers make assumptions about their audiences that they didn't realize, and should reconsider. Sometimes the wording is sloppy or less precise than is necessary. Do the words actually say what the students think they've said? And, finally, have the students really connected with their local government and does their work reflect serious growth in civic understanding and participation? Life-Long Learning: We need to build into our daily expectations the idea that our learning is a continuous work-in-progress. Even among professionals, our best work is not beyond challenge and improvement. When we integrate these concepts into our regular agendas, then editing and revision become inspiring lights to achievement and our ladders to civic responsibility. Additonal Lesson Information
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