Thirty Days to Unlock FCAT Writing Success - Polk County School ...

Week One Additional Activities:
Group Drafting, Revising, and Evaluating
Each student needs two sheets of paper and one prompt (student generated or otherwise). Have
students get into groups and number each piece of paper consecutively. Students should remember the
number they started on. They must be in a circle and go in order. Each student adds one line to the
essay until they have gone all the way around; being sure their writing is still focused on the same
audience, for the same purpose, and in the same format (context). The purpose is to continue to
support the main message, keeping in mind that they want to complete the essays by the end of class.
Students should add detail, support, elaborations, and transitions. Students should try to write with a
unified voice so that it sounds like the same person wrote the essay. If you are doing the extension
activity, make sure students write double-spaced.
Extension #1- Next day, pass papers to other group and have them revise one or two of the pieces
directly onto the paper. Note areas of support. Use the Traits of Writing in order to address issues direct
students to spend five minutes each looking at: Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Ideas.
Extension #2- Give the essay back to the original group and they can edit/type and turn in for a grade.
Also, have them write a brief reflection about the original piece compared with the last, edited and
revised piece.
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