Just when I thought we were through talking about revision, I came across one of my favorite books on the subject by Janet Angelillo. Her book, Making Revision Matter, is a practical, easy-to-implement book on revision that incorporates studying mentor authors, revisiting published pieces, and applying additional revision strategies to student writing.
Early on, Angelillo helps teachers with gauging students' abilities to use the revision process by giving the reader the qualities of a stage one reviser through those of a stage four reviser. For example, a stage one reviser "looks [the] piece over without purpose," while a stage four reviser, "is able to change sequence and reorganize chunks of writing." She says that a stage one reviser basically, "resists revision completely," while a stage four, "internalizes revision repertoire and chooses techniques from it purposefully."
As you can see the range is wide. The chart gives many more specifics, but I am intrigued by the stages and how they correlate with the characteristics of quality writing. In order to teach revision, Angelillo implements the essence of good writing into engaging lessons that use mentor texts as well as student texts. From beginning to end, tips given and lessons provided are useful to writers of every stage and can be used by all teachers who want to see their students grow as writers. Check it out.
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