How to Edit a Child's Essay

Editing an essay for a child can prove to be a positive and educational experience. With many states requiring mandatory testing in public schools, essay writing has become a source of stress for many children. However, with gentle encouragement, a child can learn to improve their essays while they also learn to have confidence in their writing abilities. Edit a child's essay to foster a child's academic growth and self-esteem.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Understand that most people respond best to balanced and constructive criticism. Praise a child just as much or more than you criticize them or point out their errors. Understand that no one responds well to constant negative criticism or browbeating.

2. Know that most adults easily recognize and quickly point out faults in others. Challenge yourself to look for the good and to identify what a child does right. Teach yourself to offer praise when someone does well.

3. Ask the child you're offering to help to show you his writing assignments from school. Encourage him to write a few short paragraphs or make entries in a journal each week if he's not in school.

4. Begin by looking for the overarching idea or main point of the essay. Know that although grasping concepts and conventions like coherence and punctuation is important, conveying a central thought in an essay is most important for learning how to communicate through writing.

5. Congratulate a child when they've conveyed one big idea in an essay. Start with positive verbal comments or by writing notes (not in red ink) on their essay. Tell them you like the overall message in their writing and acknowledge that you understand it and appreciate it.

6. Leave organization, punctuation and spelling issues for the end when you edit a child's essay. Know that although grammar errors might be easiest to pick up on for many adults, a child doesn't really learn much about writing if you focus on rules and regulations. Highlight coherence next.

7. Point out sentences first that are coherent and support the overarching theme of the essay. Let her know you really enjoy reading those particular sentences because they are clear and help you to understand the message. Show her how other sentences can be changed to better support the essay's main idea.

8. Talk about overall development of ideas if a child is having trouble with flow in his or her essay. Edit a child's essay by pointing out the sentences that help the overall flow or development of the paragraph or paper.

9. Discuss voice used in the essay-use this as an opportunity to talk about how well the child expresses herself or himself in the essay. End with a few pointers about organization and mechanics (e.g., spelling). Explain that these things help the overall flow of an essay and help to get the message across. Avoid picking out every missing comma or misspelled word.

Tips & Warnings

• Use stickers and colorful pens when you edit a child's essay. Draw an encouraging symbol, write positive words and phrases or plant a congratulatory sticker next to sentences and sections a child wrote well in an essay.
• Avoid using a red pen, since most people tend to automatically connect red ink with criticism and blame.
• Avoid yelling or showing your frustration when you edit a child's essay since most people shut down in response to anger or aggression directed toward them or something they've done. Know that learning can't take place once someone has shut down.

Resources

• Examine at TAKS testing essay rubric used for public school essay writing in Texas.