New
New
Year 6

Self-editing the build-up of 'A Kind of Spark'

I can edit my own build-up of ’A Kind of Spark’, aiming to improve the punctuation, text cohesion and vocabulary.

New
New
Year 6

Self-editing the build-up of 'A Kind of Spark'

I can edit my own build-up of ’A Kind of Spark’, aiming to improve the punctuation, text cohesion and vocabulary.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Editing is a critical part of the writing process.
  2. Writing is most successful when editing is used to rethink, rephrase and reconsider first ideas.
  3. Editing can be done by oneself, with a peer or with a teacher.
  4. Editing is most successful when it is chunked by punctuation, sentence structure, cohesive devices and vocabulary.
  5. A growth mindset helps us benefit most from editing.

Keywords

  • Cohesive devices - language structures that develop text cohesion

  • Text cohesion - how a text flows to maintain the interest of the reader and achieve text purpose

  • Growth mindset - a desire to keep developing any skill set

Common misconception

Pupils may struggle to adopt a positive mindset towards editing.

Encourage pupils to see this as an opportunity to push themselves towards producing a polished piece of work that shows off all their skills. Having a real audience for the text in mind will help them with this.

The examples in this lesson have been kept relatively general to avoid over-scaffolding of editing. You should refer to local and national guidelines for editing if you are intending to use this piece of writing as evidence of independent writing for the purposes of teacher assessment.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
What language feature is shown in the following sentence? 'When Miss Murphy slammed the door, Addie shuddered.'
relative complex sentence
fronted adverbial of place
fronted adverbial of time
Correct answer: adverbial complex sentence
Q2.
What punctuation is missing from the following sentence? 'With a smirk Emily watched Addie from across the room.'
a full stop
a colon
Correct answer: a comma
a hyphen
Q3.
What punctuation is missing from the following sentence? 'Addie wiped her tear stained face with her hands.'
comma
Correct answer: hyphen
full stop
semi-colon
Q4.
Why has a colon been used in the following sentence? 'There was a pile of crumpled tissues next to her: she had been sobbing for what felt like hours.'
to introduce a list
to introduce a question
Correct answer: to introduce an explanation
to follow an explanation
Q5.
Which of these sentences is correctly punctuated?
Correct answer: The room is too small; Addie feels overwhelmed.
The room is too small, Addie feels overwhelmed.
The room is too small: Addie feels overwhelmed.
The room is too small Addie feels overwhelmed.
Q6.
Which of these sentences is correctly punctuated?
"You have a disease" Sneered Emily.
"You have a disease" sneered Emily.
Correct answer: "You have a disease," sneered Emily.
"You have a disease", sneered Emily.

6 Questions

Q1.
Who needs to edit their writing?
professional authors
people who make a lot of mistakes
people with bad spelling
Correct answer: everyone
Q2.
Which of the following are likely to be part of an editing process?
Correct answer: checking spelling
Correct answer: rewriting sentences to improve cohesion
rewriting a large part of the work
Correct answer: improving vocabulary choices
Q3.
Which piece of punctuation is missing from the following sentence? 'That was when she understood really understood the importance of what had happened to the women.'
hyphen
Correct answer: dashes
colon
semi-colon
Q4.
Which sentence punctuates the inverted commas used correctly?
Correct answer: "I'm sorry," said Mum, "but this isn't acceptable."
"I'm sorry," said Mum "but this isn't acceptable."
"I'm sorry" said Mum, "but this isn't acceptable."
"I'm sorry," said Mum, "but this isn't acceptable"
Q5.
Which of these sentences use tense correctly to ensure good text cohesion?
The university was huge and Addie feels a little unsure for the first time.
The university is huge and Addie felt a little unsure for the first time.
Correct answer: The university was huge and Addie felt a little unsure for the first time.
Correct answer: The university is huge and Addie feels a little unsure for the first time.
Q6.
Which features in the following sentence make it appropriate for a third person description? 'Mr Macintosh beamed broadly at the small crowd of journalists who had assembled politely.'
Correct answer: adjectives (small)
Correct answer: adverbs (broadly, politely)
Correct answer: interesting verbs (beamed, assembled)
informal language
contractions