Harper Response

Laura Harper's The Writer's Toolbox: Five Tools for Active Revision Instruction

The bulk of Harper's article is spent explaining five tools from Barry Lane's book: questions, snapshots, thoughtshots, exploding a moment, and making a scene. Since I have already responded to Lane's descriptions of these tools, I will focus on what Harper brought us that was new.

First, she provided new examples for each tool, bringing them to life and helping us to see their usefulness. Second, she introduced the idea of a writer's toolbox. In her case it is a manila envelope that is given to each student and gradually filled with cards (tools) that provide revision strategies. This is a great idea because it allows students to independently remember strategies they can use to improve their writing. I think having the cards with their own envelope would also help students to stay organized so they can easily refer to the tools.

I really like the writer's toolbox concept, and I think it would even be worth using in my music classes. This also got me thinking about creating a musician's toolbox to help kids practice their instruments more effectively.

Finally, associated with each tool in the writer's toolbox is a symbol that can be quickly drawn on a student's paper, eliminating the need to write "describe with more details" or other lengthy instructions.