My two tutees provide interesting points of comparison–while Shruthi embraces essay changes wholeheartedly, Chimuanya is more resistant. I always try to explain the reasons for making certain changes. It was great today when after a bout of particularly difficult editing, she re-read the paragraph and exclaimed for herself, “Wow this really is better.” I’m trying to get her ideas to be more organized, rather than jumping about from idea to idea. Her comment made me optimistic that some of what I’m saying is starting to sink in.
I realized today, however, that improving her ability to proofread her own writing might prove more difficult. Normally reading sentences aloud help people to notice their mistakes, but when Chimuanya reads aloud, she just fills in whatever is missing or ignores what shouldn’t be there. While I can point out grammar mistakes to her either by correcting the mistake or telling her the location of the mistake and then having her identify it, I want her to be better able to recognize them on her own as she’s writing. Any ideas about what strategies I might implement next session to facilitate effective proofreading?