Revising Reflection
This lesson will show you how to make your reflective narrative more compelling to read.
Objective
Students will:
- Revise a reflective narrative, adding more sensory details and more precise language.
Skills Needed
Students must be able to:
- Draft a reflective narrative.
Key Words
- draft
- revising
- proofreading
- sensory details
Why Revise?
Isn't it just fine already?
Now that you have written a draft of your reflective essay, you're more than halfway finished with your assignment. You still need to revise it, though. Writers vary widely in how they think about revising. Click through the slides below to see some reactions to what all published authors know is true: Writing is rewriting. What does it mean to revise my writing?
That's It-- Precisely!
What does it mean to be precise?
As you know, there are many different ways to say the same thing. For instance, you can make a very general statement that leaves a listener wondering, or you can provide enough detail so your listener knows exactly what you are talking about. The sentences in the slideshow below describe the same event, but they move from the most general to the most precise, or specific and exact. Must every sentence of my essay include precise details?
Get Clear
What else can I do to make my draft stronger?
As a writer, it's your job to help readers imagine what you describe in your reflective narrative. As you revise your draft, look for sentences that may be too general to help readers visualize the details of your experience.
This sentence appeared in the first draft of a student's reflective narrative. How clearly can you "see" what the author describes? It was a weekend during the day. My family was not home. I heard a sound and wondered what to do. At first, I just tried to ignore what I heard. I listened for my dog Jojo to begin to bark. To make the paragraph clearer, the writer needs to use more precise language. That may mean adding more details to show the reader what happened or what is being explained. It may also mean replacing some vague, or very general, words with more precise ones. Read each set of sentences below--the original sentence from the paragraph and another sentence. Decide which sentence is more precise, and connect that sentence to the phrase more precise sentence.
Get Clear
Get Clear
Get Clear
Get Clear
Get Clear
Good Sense
What can I do to help readers feel as though they're there with me?
Sensory details--words and phrases that help readers see, hear, feel, smell, or taste what you describe--can help readers feel as though they are sharing an experience with you. And that means they're more likely to understand the importance of the event.
As you revise your draft, look for places where sensory details might work to connect readers more fully with the experience you're describing.
Suppose you start with the sentence about the tulips again–the most precise version of that sentence:
- I saw four red tulips in the grass while strolling through the park.
Good Sense
What can I do to help readers feel as though they're there with me?
How can sensory details make this sentence more real to readers? See each sense to see how describing each of the five senses can liven up the tulip scene. Should every sentence in my essay include sensory details?
Proof It!
What's the best way to find errors in writing?
Proofreading is an important and necessary part of revising your draft. However, it appears last in this lesson because it is what you should do last with your draft. Do your proofreading only after you've made other needed changes--to how your essay is organized, how it sounds, and the images it creates (or doesn't yet create).
You may think you are already a good proofreader (and you may be), but click through the slides below to learn some strategies used by the very best.
Assess Yourself
Assess Yourself
Assess Yourself
Assess Yourself
Revising a Reflective Essay
Apply what you've learned in this lesson as you revise your reflective essay.
You've reached the last stage in writing your reflective narrative. Before you begin revising, click through the slideshow below to remind yourself of the most important steps to take.
Revising a Reflective Essay
Apply what you've learned in this lesson as you revise your reflective essay.
Now use what you've learned in this lesson to revise and improve you reflective essay. Locate the Drafting a Reflective Essay worksheet where you wrote parts of your essay. Copy and paste those parts into the Revising a Reflective Essay worksheet linked to the Activity button below. Then follow the directions on the worksheet to improve your essay. When you have completed the worksheet, submit it to your teacher.
Reflective Writing Rubric
Take the Revising Reflection Quiz
Revising Reflection
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Transcript
Revising Reflection
This lesson will show you how to make your reflective narrative more compelling to read.
Objective
Students will:
Skills Needed
Students must be able to:
Key Words
Why Revise?
Isn't it just fine already?
Now that you have written a draft of your reflective essay, you're more than halfway finished with your assignment. You still need to revise it, though. Writers vary widely in how they think about revising. Click through the slides below to see some reactions to what all published authors know is true: Writing is rewriting. What does it mean to revise my writing?
That's It-- Precisely!
What does it mean to be precise?
As you know, there are many different ways to say the same thing. For instance, you can make a very general statement that leaves a listener wondering, or you can provide enough detail so your listener knows exactly what you are talking about. The sentences in the slideshow below describe the same event, but they move from the most general to the most precise, or specific and exact. Must every sentence of my essay include precise details?
Get Clear
What else can I do to make my draft stronger?
As a writer, it's your job to help readers imagine what you describe in your reflective narrative. As you revise your draft, look for sentences that may be too general to help readers visualize the details of your experience. This sentence appeared in the first draft of a student's reflective narrative. How clearly can you "see" what the author describes? It was a weekend during the day. My family was not home. I heard a sound and wondered what to do. At first, I just tried to ignore what I heard. I listened for my dog Jojo to begin to bark. To make the paragraph clearer, the writer needs to use more precise language. That may mean adding more details to show the reader what happened or what is being explained. It may also mean replacing some vague, or very general, words with more precise ones. Read each set of sentences below--the original sentence from the paragraph and another sentence. Decide which sentence is more precise, and connect that sentence to the phrase more precise sentence.
Get Clear
Get Clear
Get Clear
Get Clear
Get Clear
Good Sense
What can I do to help readers feel as though they're there with me?
Sensory details--words and phrases that help readers see, hear, feel, smell, or taste what you describe--can help readers feel as though they are sharing an experience with you. And that means they're more likely to understand the importance of the event. As you revise your draft, look for places where sensory details might work to connect readers more fully with the experience you're describing. Suppose you start with the sentence about the tulips again–the most precise version of that sentence:
Good Sense
What can I do to help readers feel as though they're there with me?
How can sensory details make this sentence more real to readers? See each sense to see how describing each of the five senses can liven up the tulip scene. Should every sentence in my essay include sensory details?
Proof It!
What's the best way to find errors in writing?
Proofreading is an important and necessary part of revising your draft. However, it appears last in this lesson because it is what you should do last with your draft. Do your proofreading only after you've made other needed changes--to how your essay is organized, how it sounds, and the images it creates (or doesn't yet create). You may think you are already a good proofreader (and you may be), but click through the slides below to learn some strategies used by the very best.
Assess Yourself
Assess Yourself
Assess Yourself
Assess Yourself
Revising a Reflective Essay
Apply what you've learned in this lesson as you revise your reflective essay.
You've reached the last stage in writing your reflective narrative. Before you begin revising, click through the slideshow below to remind yourself of the most important steps to take.
Revising a Reflective Essay
Apply what you've learned in this lesson as you revise your reflective essay.
Now use what you've learned in this lesson to revise and improve you reflective essay. Locate the Drafting a Reflective Essay worksheet where you wrote parts of your essay. Copy and paste those parts into the Revising a Reflective Essay worksheet linked to the Activity button below. Then follow the directions on the worksheet to improve your essay. When you have completed the worksheet, submit it to your teacher.
Reflective Writing Rubric
Take the Revising Reflection Quiz