Red/Green Writing

If you are looking for a good and easy place to get started with the WBT writing program, I would highly suggest red/green writing. To get started all you need is a green and a red pen.  Assign students a ten-minute quick write.  Make the topic open-ended so that students can not claim to be finished.  Announce the focus skill/s that you will be looking for.  At the beginning of the year start with neatness.  Then, every one or two weeks, add an additional skill that you will be looking for.  Students are responsible for both the previous skills and the new one.  As students are writing walk around with your pens.  Place a green dot next to an example of something the student did right.  For example, a word that is written very neatly, a capital at the beginning of a sentence, or an end mark used correctly.  Place a red dot next to an error, but do not say anything.  You want the student to correct the error on his/her own. As a result, your students will be much more careful when they wrote.  They would get so excited when they had all green marks on their papers.  If you want to know more about red/green writing click this: Program 531

I have given a lot of thought to what I want red/green writing to look like this year.  I used the WBT proofreading list as a starting point and created my own proofreading list, upon which I have placed the focus skills in the order that I will be introducing them during red/green writing time.  This is the list that my students will be using to do Paperclip Proofreading.  In Paperclip Proofreading, each student is given a paper clip that they clip beside their writing rules.  Each rule has a proofreading task in parenthesis next to it.  When students complete the task, they move their clips to the next rule.  As a teacher, you can tell immediately which error a student is looking for, based upon where the paper clip is at.  It is also an easy way to tell which students are following directions.  Just watch their gestures.  On the WBT website, there is a great free download called Whole Brain Writing.  There you will find additional information on Paperclip Proofreading, as well as other components of the writing program. Click here to go to my Writing Rules and Proofreading Checklist. If you can't edit this please reach out to me.