Day 1 Editing and Headlines

Prepared by: Jami Williams, Mexico High School, Mexico, Missouri

TARGET
Students will be introduced to the elements of editing, proofreading and style and will understand the job of a copy editor

EDUCATION METHODS

1. PowerPoint presentation
2. Group collaboration
3. Individual Learning Activity

OBJECTIVES

1. Level 1 (Basic) understanding of the elements of editing including proofreading marks and AP style guidelines
2. Level 1 (Basic) application and use of the above

MATERIALS NEEDED

1. Editing PowerPoint Day 1
2. Writing Rules Example
3. Developing Writing Rules Organizer
4. Proofreading Marks Guide
5. Common Grammatical Errors Guide
6. Proof It!

VERIFICATION
Steps to check for student understanding

1. Teacher will do frequent comprehension checks in the form of Classroom Assessment Techniques (thumbs up, thumbs down; exit slip in the form of post-it note summary)
2. Proof It! Is an individual learning activity that could be collected for a close assessment of the student’s ability.

FLOW OF LESSON

1. Suggested bell ringer: What is the one grammatical error that drives you crazy and how do you remember how to NOT make that mistake?
2. Teacher will present PowerPoint.
3. After the PowerPoint, the first order of business should be deciding what your writing guidelines should be. Use the Writing Rules example included.
4. Make certain that you are adapting the rules for your school environment. For example, at our school, the sports complex is not capitalized, but Homecoming is. Those are rules that were inherited from a previous adviser and that have been kept in place for consistency. During the collaboration session with your students, you should have them write down the specific areas they will have questions about and make a decision on those rules as you develop your guidelines.
5. Have two or three students act as the scribes for the class as you lead the class through the Developing Writing Rules organizer using the board and projector.
6. Once you have your set of rules, or if you would like to use the rules that are provided as example, print out a set for every student as they will need it for their individual learning activity.
7. Distribute the Proofreading Marks Guide and the Common Grammatical Errors Guide and go through them briefly, take questions as they come to make the rules applicable and easy to remember.
8. Students will take home the Proof It! Individual Learning Assignment. They will be required to apply the guidelines that they helped create in class as well as using the proofreading marks.

WRAPPING IT UP

1. Exit slip: Why do you think that it is important that the “language” of proofreading is standard?