✏️💡 Tired of students treating revision like a waste of time? 🤦♀️✍️ Let’s change that! This post is PACKED with strategies to make revision more engaging, collaborative, and effective. 🔥 From peer editing hacks to revision stations, your students will rethink the writing process & learn to revise like PROS! 🚀📖
But How Do I Make Them Actually Revise? Strategies for Engaging High School Students in the Revision Process
Teaching revision is often an afterthought, and when we do try to get the kids to revise, they typically don’t do much. To them, their essay is finished. Why should they waste time going over it again? They feel like they are done with the work, and they’re ready to move on.
And don’t get me started on peer editing. It often IS the waste of time students think it is, especially if you switch papers with your best friend, and she just puts a smiley face at the end and writes, “Great Job!”, like my best friend always did in high school (Thanks, Jessica!)…
But revision really is an important part of the writing process. So let’s not give up on it just yet. Revision can turn good writing into great writing; it can help us ensure we are communicating clearly and effectively. Often, we will notice things we didn’t see before, simply by taking another look at our work.
So, how can we transform the boring old revision process into something that is engaging, educational, and actually works for our students?
Shifting the Focus: From Product to Process
In an education system and culture where students often prioritize grades over learning, it’s crucial to make our writing journey as important as the destination. As teachers, we can help our 9-12 high school students change their mindset by changing WHAT we are grading. We know the grades motivate them and command their attention. So, instead of grading just the final piece, consider assessing each step of the writing process, including revision, and giving pretty substantial grades to these steps.
You could give students 10 points for participating in a thesis workshop, 20 points for doing an evidence gathering activity with a small group, 10 points for switching papers with a peer and judging one another’s analysis and reasoning, and then 20 points for participating in a revision activity (read on for specific revision activity ideas…). At the end, the final draft might be worth only 20 points, but the whole writing process equals that 100 points you usually give. This helps the kids see that the PROCESS is as important to you as the PRODUCT.
When your students need to learn about the writing process, it’s VERY important that you don’t just assign a prompt and then give them a few days in class to write or ask them to go write at home. What I do instead is break essay writing into structured segments and dedicate class time to each stage. For example, we might take five days in class for the following activities:
- Thesis Workshop: Dedicate a day to crafting strong thesis statements. Have students present their ideas to the class, where they receive feedback on which statements are compelling, debatable, or need refinement.
- Evidence & Organization Day: Have students work in groups to gather evidence, ensuring their claims are well-supported. Then, use a collaborative outlining activity where they organize their ideas using sticky notes or a digital tool like Padlet.
- Argument Day: Give students time to flesh out body paragraphs, presenting claims, providing evidence, and then analyzing how their evidence proves their claims. Once they have their 3 CER body paragraphs, have them find a buddy who will critique the clarity, structure, support, and reasoning they’ve provided so far.
- Support Day: Does the paper in its current state have enough evidence? Is it convincing? Ask students to get in small groups and read their work aloud. At the end of each paragraph, have them consult the group: Is there enough evidence? Is it convincing? Can the group think of anything the writer could add or help the writer find more proof?
- Intro & Conclusion Day: Give the kids a presentation on Intros and Conclusions. Show them plenty of examples. Then give them time to work on theirs. When they are finished, have them post their intros & conclusions anonymously (they can do this by printing them and taping them to the wall, or you can use your LMS in an anonymous discussion page). As others finish, ask them to read other people’s work and judge whether it is compelling & unique, or a bit too bland. In my room, we give a “check plus” for great, “check” for okay, and “check minus” for needs work. This is less confrontational or hurtful than writing something like “bland” or “boring” on our peers’ work.
By scaffolding the writing process and GRADING each part of it, students will engage more deeply with revision, seeing it as a natural and necessary step rather than an afterthought!
Making Revision a Collaborative Experience
Revision doesn’t have to be a solitary task! Collaborative strategies can help your students refine their writing while learning from one another at the same time.
Concept Mapping & Group Research
Another teaching method you could use is where you ask students to visualize their arguments through concept mapping: they expand on their thesis by connecting key ideas, evidence, and counterarguments in a web, either on paper or using tools like Canva or Power Point. This will help them organize their thoughts better & end up with a stronger sense of their essay’s structure. Note: For this group assignment, you could have students who chose the same prompt or thesis work in small groups to brainstorm ideas as they do this task, or you could even allow students to write a “peer paper” where they collaborate & write as a duo!
Follow this activity with a research day or two, where the small groups or peer buddies find relevant sources to support their claims (or find evidence from the literature they are writing about) & discuss how the information they’ve found supports their claims. This not only makes research less intimidating but also fosters a sense of shared learning. After the research time, you can have the kids break off on their own to flesh out paragraphs, or you can allow them to continue writing together as a team.
Structured Peer Review: Have You Tried the “Praise, Question, Polish” or “POP” Method?
Unstructured peer review often leads to vague or unhelpful feedback. Kids don’t know what to say, so they don’t say much at all. They often feel like they are not expert enough to tell their friends what to do with their papers. You need to give them something SPECIFIC to do. Make it a TASK for them to work through. For this, you can use the “Praise, Question, Polish” method:
- Praise: Identify something strong about the writing.
- Question: Ask for clarification on a confusing part.
- Polish: Suggest one way to improve the piece.
This ensures everyone knows what he or she needs to do, and kids are getting specific suggestions for revision instead of vague comments like “It was good” at the end of their papers. Pro tip: You may want to set a time limit on this to encourage them to focus & be productive. 10 minutes is usually long enough for a 2-4 page paper. A 5-10 page paper may take 15 minutes or more.
Finally, for more honest and focused peer feedback, try blind peer editing, where names are removed before review. Or simply mix up who partners with whom, as friends are often far less likely to write constructive criticism for one another’s work & feel pressured to leave only “good” comments, which we know is not really helping, despite being well meaning.
Do you need to teach them what to look for? Try this PowerPoint Lesson!
Note: Before revision activities, ALWAYS remind the students that you are grading them on being productive, engaged, and helpful, and you will grade the drafts based on how far along the writer of the draft is in the writing process (if they were supposed to finish drafting 3 body paragraphs, and they did, then that’s full points, or whatever). Tell your peer editors that you are NOT grading the student who wrote the piece “down” based on how many “critical” comments they recieved from their peer buddy or their small group on their drafts!! This ensures the peer or small group offering comments is not afraid to write suggestions for improvement.
Modeling Revision for High Schoolers
Students need to see what revision looks like as its being done. Modeling revision using a real student draft (anonymous) or your own writing can make the process less opaque for your students. Here are a few ways to model it:
- Think-Alouds: Project a draft and walk through your thought process as you revise, explaining why you’re restructuring sentences, adding a phrase or a word here and there for clarity, or working on improving word choice. You could also discuss where you might “mark a flag” for yourself to go find more evidence or better evidence. Things like this show that revision is BIGGER than editing. It’s not just fixing commas.
- Live Editing: Have students collectively suggest improvements to a sample paragraph. Put the example on the board & allow the class to guide YOU. Ask what they would change, and start making the changes so they can see the paragraph transform. This can show them how they can turn revision into a collaborative problem-solving activity rather than always being an individual struggle. Emphasize to them that it is perfectly okay to have a friend or a parent or a guardian help them brainstorm their way through a revision like this!
Using Revision Stations to Break The Work Down
Revision can feel overwhelming if students try to tackle everything at once. Revision stations help them focus on specific aspects of their writing, one step at a time.
Set up stations focusing on different revision elements:
- Thesis & Argument Strength – Does the thesis make a clear, debatable claim? Is the argument logical and well-supported?
- Organization & Transitions – Does the essay flow smoothly from point to point?
- Evidence & Analysis – Does every claim have strong, relevant evidence? Is the analysis thorough?
- Word Choice & Clarity – Are the sentences concise and impactful? Have I used verbs, adjectives, and adverbs that sparkle? Did I pick the exact right word, or was I lazy with my word choice?
- Grammar & Mechanics – Are there any distracting errors? Can I find any errors that we’ve studied lately, like comma use or misplaced modifiers (etc.)?
I like to set up the stations with a cup that has all one color of marker or colored pencil, so the edits are color coded! My students tend to prefer doing revision/edits on a paper copy, so this works well. They can certainly do them all on the computer though.
The basic idea though is that the students will rotate through the stations over the course of 1-2 class periods, revising specific aspects of their writing without feeling overwhelmed by trying to fix everything at once. You’ll get a feel for how long they need at each station, but I think 5-10 minutes is plenty for 9th-12th graders.
Incorporating Technology
Using Google Docs for real-time feedback can make the revision process more dynamic. Students can:
- Leave comments on each other’s drafts to ask clarifying questions or suggest improvements.
- Use the “Suggesting” mode to propose edits without permanently altering the text.
- Color-code their own revisions, marking changes in different colors to visually track their progress.
Word also has revision tools that are pretty easy to teach kids how to use.
Discuss with your students how using tools like these can turn writing into an ongoing conversation (with yourself or others) rather than a one-time, write it & submit it activity; this is what we’re trying to get kids to start understanding by emphasizing revision!
Teaching Students the Language of Feedback
Students often struggle to give meaningful feedback. Instead of vague suggestions like “needs more detail,” they should practice giving actionable comments. Give them real examples, like the ones below, so they know what you are looking for them to do.
1. Vague: “This part is confusing.”
✅ Specific: “I’m not sure how this idea connects to your thesis. Can you clarify how this supports your argument?”
2. Vague: “You need more detail.”
✅ Specific: “Can you add an example or a statistic to strengthen your point here?”
3. Vague: “Your introduction needs work.”
✅ Specific: “Your hook is interesting, but your thesis isn’t clear. Can you rewrite the last sentence to state your main argument more directly?”
4. Vague: “This paragraph is too long.”
✅ Specific: “Consider breaking this paragraph into two: one focusing on your main argument and another analyzing the evidence more deeply.”
5. Vague: “You should reword this sentence.”
✅ Specific: “This sentence feels awkward because it’s too long. Try splitting it into two shorter sentences for clarity.”
6. Vague: “Your argument is weak.”
✅ Specific: “Your argument would be stronger if you acknowledged a counterargument and refuted it. Can you add a sentence addressing an opposing viewpoint?”
7. Vague: “Work on your transitions.”
✅ Specific: “Your paragraphs jump between ideas. Try using transition words like ‘Furthermore’ or ‘On the other hand’ to guide the reader.”
8. Vague: “Your conclusion needs improvement.”
✅ Specific: “Your conclusion restates your thesis but doesn’t leave the reader with a final thought. Can you add a sentence that explains why this topic matters beyond the essay?”
9. Vague: “Check your word choice.”
✅ Specific: “Words like ‘thing’ and ‘stuff’ are too vague. Can you replace them with more precise terms related to your topic?”- This is effective because practicing giving constructive criticism makes your students stronger revisers of their own work as well.
The “More or Better” Strategy
When revising, students often don’t know where to begin. The “More or Better” protocol provides a simple but effective strategy:
- More: Does this paragraph need additional content, evidence, or explanation?
- Better: Are the existing content, evidence, or explanations clear, engaging, and well-chosen?
By asking this question for each section of their essay, students develop a systematic approach to revision rather than making random edits.
You can give them a “code” for revision like this: ME means needs more evidence. BE means needs better evidence. Create a handout or put the codes up on the board for them to use!
Do you need to teach them what to look for? Try this PowerPoint Lesson!
Transforming Students into Thoughtful Revisers
Making revision a central part of the writing process—rather than an afterthought—requires creativity, time, and patience. It’s going to make writing take up more time in your curriculum, but it’s so worth it! By breaking the writing process into structured steps, modeling revision practices, fostering collaboration, and providing clear feedback structures for students to use, we can help students see revision as a tool for improvement & growth.
By using one or more of the strategies listed above, teachers can turn reluctant revisers into enthusiastic ones, ensuring that every student leaves our classrooms with the tools he or she needs to write well.
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