A lot of times students will come in with a variation on the theme of “can you just look this over?” For many students, having perfect sentences and no grammar or mechanical errors is the definition of a strong piece of writing. It’s our job, though, to help students with a much bigger picture. When a student comes in, please have him or her read the entire document aloud, or read it yourself either aloud or silently. Keep the pen in the student's hands. Start with “higher order concerns”—how is the content? thesis or topic sentence(s)? order, organization? is the writing meeting the assignment? Once you have addressed these, then move on to “lower order concerns”—transitions, grammar, mechanics. If students are following a true process, some of those sentences they were worried about at the start might not even be present in the writing after a session that moves in the direction described above. This is not to advocate a dismissal of lower order concerns—they are important to the writing. But often there are bigger issues than a fragment or comma splice. Please get in the habit of addressing these first.
As a rule, I usually ask for the teacher's written assignment requirement, since a lot of students can use clarification on what a teacher expects from them. My next move is to read the paper aloud to let a student hear what the paper reads like. Often, he/she will comment on how the paper sounds, if the words express what he/she meant to write or if the sentences are clear. Usually this leads to discussion on what they have and where they need to go with the assignment. I use the assignment requirements as a checklist to follow for meeting what a teacher is looking for.
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