Editing Boring Paragraphs!

I have been working on Narrative writing with my students over the past week. One BIG thing I am having them focus on are details. We can always use practice on being more specific, detailed, or descriptive. Sometimes getting students to write paragraphs, can be related to pulling teeth! These task cards, were anything but pulling teeth for my students. 

At first, I introduced the activity along with our goal for the day: adding details. I encouraged my students to replace any boring or dull words and add in detailed descriptions. The paragraph had to send the same message, but it should be more specific. For instances, when you are writing about apples, you can't change the subject to oranges. 

I made this a partner task, where I assigned the partners. You can have them do this activity in a group, individually, or partners. It's very versatile and completely up to you! They were each given an answer strip. Once they finished one, they were to sit it on their desk. This allowed me to see their completed work to help them make any changes. Some were exactly wonderful, others needed a little more guidance. It was perfect for differentiating while others kept working. 

In about 45 minutes, they had completed 3-4 paragraphs. This is a time consuming task. I stressed that with my students before hand so that I was getting quality work during this time. When the activity ended, I had them go back to their seats, read over all of their paragraphs and choose the BEST one to turn in for a grade. 

Overall, I was very impressed with their new paragraphs. I had not seen this level of quality from my students, until now. This was the perfect engaging activity for my students. For the teacher, this is definitely a time saver as well. NO PREP is needed! Just print, cut, and begin your lesson! Grab my EDITING BORING TASK CARDS HERE FOR $1.00!