The Need For Revision

Can we have more teacher/intellectuals in our classrooms? This book demonstrates that we can. But many things have to change before intellectual standards appear again in public schools. David Owen attempts to show, but not in outline form, how we can revise our schools. Can we escape the rut in which public education finds itself, dominated by the inane (tests), the stifling (reduction of school to job training), and the insane (transformation of a life-affirming odyssey of the mind to clichés, information gathering, and slogans)? We can reclaim the beauty of an education if we join David and re-vise our classrooms. Education is uncertain, risky, wonderously adventurous—yet schooling has become stale. No—tediously dreadful. There is a need to revise. Reject standardized tests! Repeal pay for performance! Eject No Child Left Behind before no child has a thoughtful mind left. It is time to revise, and David’s book explains why. Are we still interested in the mind, soul, and substance of the individual? Does it matter who we are and become, or just what we do? If these questions still matter, dwell carefully with David’s ideas and transform yourself, your students, school, community, state, nation, and world. It is time to revise them all. John A. Weaver, Georgia Southern University

A trusted editor turns his attention to the most important part of writing: revision. So you’ve just finished writing something? Congratulations! Now revise it. Because revision is about getting from good to better, and it’s only finished when you decide to stop. But where to begin? In On Revision, William Germano shows authors how to take on the most critical stage of writing anything: rewriting it. For more than twenty years, thousands of writers have turned to Germano for his insider’s take on navigating the world of publishing. A professor, author, and veteran of the book industry, Germano knows what editors want and what writers need to know: Revising is not just correcting typos. Revising is about listening and seeing again. Revising is a rethinking of the principles from the ground up to understand why the writer is doing something, why they’re going somewhere, and why they’re taking the reader along with them. On Revision steps back to take in the big picture, showing authors how to hear their own writing voice and how to reread their work as if they didn’t write it. On Revision will show you how to know when your writing is actually done—and, until it is, what you need to do to get it there.

Revision is often a confusing and difficult process for students, but it's also the most important part of the writing process. If students leave our classrooms not knowing how to move a piece of writing forward, we've failed them. Revision Decisions: Talking Through Sentences and Beyond will help teachers develop the skills students need in an ever-evolving writing, language, and reading world. Jeff Anderson and Deborah Dean have written a book that engages writers in the tinkering, playing, and thinking that are essential to clarify and elevate writing. Focusing on sentences, the authors use mentor texts to show the myriad possibilities that exist for revision. Essential to their process is the concept of classroom talk. Readers will be shown how revision lessons can be discussed in a generative way, and how each student can benefit from talking through the revision process as a group. Revision Decisions focuses on developing both the writing and the writer. The easy-to-follow lessons make clear and accessible the rigorous thinking and the challenging process of making writing work. Narratives, setup lessons, templates, and details about how to move students toward independence round out this essential book. Additionally, the authors weave the language, reading, and writing goals of the Common Core and other standards into an integrated and connected practice. The noted language arts teacher James Britton once said that good writing floats on a sea of talk. Revision Decisions supports those genuine conversations we naturally have as readers and writers, leading the way to the essential goal of making meaning.

This book explores Wilde's works from the hypothesis that they call upon the active participation of the reader in the production of meaning. It has a twofold objective: first, it shows that Wilde's emphasis on the creative role of the audience in his critical writings makes him conceive the reader as a co-creator in the construction of meaning. Second, it analyses the strategies which Wilde employs to impel the reader to collaborate in the creation of meaning of his literary works and casts light upon the social criticism derived from these. The examination of Wilde’s writings reveals how he gradually combined more sophisticated techniques that encouraged the reader's dynamic role with the progressive exploitation of self-advertising strategies for professional purposes. These allowed the ‘commercial’ Oscar to make his works successful among the Victorian public without betraying the ‘literary’ Wilde’s aesthetic principles. The present study re-evaluates Wilde as a critic and as a writer. It demonstrates that, while Wilde the ‘myth’ was ahead of his time in many ways, Wilde the ‘ARTIST’ anticipated in his aesthetic theory various themes which occupy contemporary literary theoreticians. Thus, it may contribute to give him the status he rightly deserves in the history of literature.

The fifteenth volume in the Art of series takes an expansive view of revision—on the page and in life In The Art of Revision: The Last Word, Peter Ho Davies takes up an often discussed yet frequently misunderstood subject. He begins by addressing the invisibility of revision—even though it’s an essential part of the writing process, readers typically only see a final draft, leaving the practice shrouded in mystery. To combat this, Davies pulls examples from his novels The Welsh Girl and The Fortunes, as well as from the work of other writers, including Flannery O’Connor, Carmen Machado, and Raymond Carver, shedding light on this slippery subject. Davies also looks beyond literature to work that has been adapted or rewritten, such as books made into films, stories rewritten by another author, and the practice of retconning in comics and film. In an affecting frame story, Davies recounts the story of a violent encounter in his youth, which he then retells over the years, culminating in a final telling at the funeral of his father. In this way, the book arrives at an exhilarating mode of thinking about revision—that it is the writer who must change, as well as the writing. The result is a book that is as useful as it is moving, one that asks writers to reflect upon themselves and their writing.

Supported by the Common Core State Standards, the 30] strategies in this book include pre-writing planning, peer conferencing, modeling effective revision, and using technology.

Originally published in 1961 by the founder of Rodale Inc., The Synonym Finder continues to be a practical reference tool for every home and office. This thesaurus contains more than 1 million synonyms, arranged alphabetically, with separate subdivisions for the different parts of speech and meanings of the same word.

Get all three Fixing Your Revision Problems books in one omnibus This book contains Fixing Your Character & Point-of-View Problems, Fixing Your Plot & Story Structure Problems, and Fixing Your Setting & Description Problems--PLUS a BONUS workshop: How to Salvage Half-Finished Manuscripts. A strong story has many parts, and when one breaks down, the whole book can fail. Make sure your story is the best it can be to keep your readers hooked. Janice Hardy takes you step-by-step through the novel revision process, from character issues, to plot problems, to description issues. She'll show you how to analyze your draft, spot any problems or weak areas, and fix problems hurting your manuscript. With clear and easy-to-understand examples, Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft offers eleven self-guided workshops that target the common issues that make readers stop reading. It will help you: Flesh out weak characters and build strong character arcs Find the right amount of backstory to enhance, not bog down, your story Create unpredictable plots that keep readers guessing Develop compelling hooks to build tension in every scene Determine the right way to include information without infodumping Fix awkward stage direction and unclear character actions Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft starts every workshop with an analysis and offers multiple revision options in each area. You choose the options that best fit your writing process. Learn how to: Develop a strong and effective revision plan Analyze your manuscript to find its strengths and weaknesses Spot common red flag words for problem areas (such as told prose) Determine the best way to revise a scene, plot, character, or novel Fix problems holding your novel back Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft is an easy-to-follow guide to revising your manuscript and crafting a strong finished draft that will keep readers hooked.