PROOFREADING Mini-lesson (Step 4 of WHAT GOOD WRITERS DO... )

Warm up – In 4 sentences (or more), explain how YOU proofread your papers and how much time (approximately) that you spend proofreading.

HUH? Read and correct: Potluck supper: prayer and medication to follow

Kids re-read their writing as they would read anything else – and think that they have proofread.

Reading is done quickly; proofreading is done s-l-o-w-l-y.

When we read, we read for comprehension. Our eye movements are too rapid, too rapid to see the details within words – failing to see some words at all.

Arocdnicg to rsceearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrms. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

We see what we want to see; the brain [self] corrects for omissions and oversights.

Professional editors proofread as many as ten times. Publishing houses hire teams of readers to work in pairs, out loud. ~ Virginia Tech Writing Center

Proofreading Strategies 1. Read your paper backwards (bottom to top) 2.Have a PARTNER read your paper OUTLOUD to YOU. 3.As you read your paper POINT to EACH word. 4. WAIT hours or days before you reread your paper.

Your job as a proofreader is to do ANYTHING that slows your eye down. WHY??

Our job as teachers is NOT to proofread & edit student papers, but to create competent self-editors who don’t need us.