Virginia SOL 8.W.3.B
The Standard
Self-and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English (See Language Usage for grade level expectations).
Virginia Standards of Learning for English
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students edit their own drafts and a classmate’s draft for errors that distract or confuse readers. They make accurate corrections and explain feedback using clear editing marks or comments.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students independently find and correct errors at the word, sentence, and paragraph levels. They give specific peer feedback, explain their corrections, and preserve the writer’s meaning and voice.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may confuse editing with changing ideas or adding details. They often trust spell-check, miss homophones, or correct punctuation without fixing the sentence structure. Peer editors may mark preferences as errors or rewrite a classmate’s voice.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Give students a six-sentence paragraph with eight convention errors. Ask them to mark each error, write the correction, and name the rule used.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a printed flawed paragraph and colored pencils to mark word errors, sentence errors, paragraph breaks, and corrections.
Ask students to write: “Which three edits most improved your draft, and what rule supports each change?”
Run an editing relay where teams rotate through stations for spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and paragraphing corrections.
Have students edit a mock email to the principal, then discuss how errors affect clarity and the writer’s credibility.
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