Surviving 9th Grade

I'm currently avoiding giving more feedback on student papers. I seem to be saying the same things over and over again, and most of them really come back to a lack of self-editing.

Now, I could just hand back their papers and tell them to fix them, but I'm not sure that some of them would even know where to start. They simply don't know how to evaluate their own writing critically. You know, "Did I say what I meant to say?" "Did it make sense?" And, the list goes on.

The cool thing about having students is that you get to shape their minds and habits throughout the year. In this case, it means withholding a grade until they fix the problems, but it also means getting them to adopt habits that they've formerly avoided.

I'm not sure how this whole process will work, but I'm excited to find out. I look forward to seeing them grow as writers as I'm already seeing them mature as young adults. Now, if they can just pass the midterm...