The Revision Toolbox ─ Teaching Techniques That Work

"Students need to be reminded that revision isn't merely making a few cosmetic changes. Revision is seeing and then reseeing our words and practicing strategies that make a difference in our writing."
-Georgia Heard

"You mean I have to change my writing?" Georgia Heard frequently hears this question from students too. "We must welcome young writers into the world of revision," she writes, "through invitations and tools that make it concrete and tangible."

With Georgia's Revision Toolbox, Second Edition, you'll lead students to see that revision is a natural part of narrative and nonfiction writing. "Students need to be able to bring the tools of revision to writing the way a carpenter comes equipped for a job with a toolbox," she writes. So Georgia shares three revision toolboxes-structure/organization, words, and voice-each with dozens of teaching ideas and strategies. They'll help writers:

• re-envision revision as an engaging process, not a punishment
• craft a piece all along the way instead of editing only at the end
• learn and apply revision strategies for work in any genre
• reread their writing with specific revision goals in mind.

This second edition brings Georgia's lessons and strategies-new and familiar-into the Common Core era with a focus on narrative, informational, and opinion genres. She also includes tools for targeted instruction such as strategic conferences, reproducible planning templates for narrative and essays, and reproducible revision checklists.

"Writing and revision are really one process," writes Georgia, and her Revision Toolbox, Second Edition, brings them together simply, practically, and elegantly. So the next time you hear a student say, "I like it just the way it is!" they'll be referring to a final draft.

As a writer, a poet, and a founding member of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Georgia Heard continues to bring a poet's ear and a teacher's know-how to every aspect of writing instruction. Her newest book, Heart Maps, provides 20 unique, multi-genre heart maps to help students write with purpose and authenticity. A heart mapping pioneer, Georgia has spent decades guiding students into more meaningful writing experiences by using heart maps to explore what we all hold inside: feelings, passions, vulnerabilities, and wonderings. Listen to Georgia talk about heart mapping on The Heinemann Podcast and explore the Heart Maps Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/heartmaps. Georgia is the author of The Revision Toolbox, Second Edition, Finding the Heart of Nonfiction, and Writing Toward Home, along with Awakening the Heart - which Instructor Magazine called one of its "12 Books Every Teacher Should Read." She is also the coauthor of Climb Inside a Poem, a curricular resource focused on how reading and writing poetry help teachers develop young students' language and literacy throughout the year. At the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Georgia worked for seven years as Senior Staff Developer in New York City schools. Today she travels the U.S. and the world as a consultant, visiting author, and keynote speaker in school districts and conferences. In addition to her Heinemann professional books, Georgia is the coauthor of the professional titles Poetry Lessons to Meet the Common Core Standards and A Place for Wonder, as well as children's literature such as Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems. Follow her on Twitter: @GeorgiaHeard1 Visit her website: GeorgiaHeard.com