Color Code Revision Guide for Informative Drafts

Start with the hike narrative so students see what an off-topic detail looks like. Then hand out the color code guide during a draft workshop and have students revise with colored pencils.

Color code the thesis, evidence, transitions and domain words in an informative draft, then plan a change for every Not yet.

Yes. We made it for 8th Grade writing process, and it works the same at home or at school. At home a student can print it and keep it with their school work. Teachers print a copy per student or one for the whole room, whichever the day needs.

It means checking that every detail serves the moment being told. In Lucía's narrative about leading a hike, a sentence about where her boots came from wanders away from the story. Students cross out six such sentences and explain two of them.

Students give each part of the draft its own color: thesis, evidence, transitions and domain words. Then they read the marks to see what is missing, such as a body paragraph with no evidence. Each Not yet answer gets a planned change.

Trim Irrelevant Details From a Personal Narrative has an answer key. The color code revision guide is used with each student's own draft, so it has no key.