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8th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 9 of 12

Write It Better

Voice, revising and proofreading

What your child practices

Choosing the right form and tone for an audience, using reliable sources and giving credit, building voice, acknowledging other perspectives, and revising, editing and proofreading drafts.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 8.2.3.1; 8.2.1.1 · revising, editing and proofreading

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Use an outline to organize ideas before you draft.
  2. Revise to add evidence and cut wordiness. Edit and proofread for errors.
  3. Match form and tone to your audience, use reliable sources and give credit.

Example: Remove the wordiness: “Due to the fact that it was raining, the game was postponed.” “Due to the fact that” uses five words. “Because” says the same thing in one. Answer: Because it was raining, the game was postponed.

Write It Better in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 9 of 12 in 8th grade English Language Arts, after Digital Citizens and before Precise Words & Spelling.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which source should you cite in a report?

    • A friend's guess
    • A book you used to learn the facts
    • Nothing at all
    • Only your own opinion

  2. Question 2

    A writer adds the sentence “For example, 70% of students walk to school.” What does this revision do?

    • removes repeated words
    • changes the text form
    • adds supporting evidence
    • fixes a spelling error

  3. Question 3

    Which sentence uses a precise verb?

    • The team did a thing across the field.
    • The team moved over the field.
    • The team went across the field.
    • The team sprinted across the field.

  4. Question 4

    What is the best way to give credit when you use someone else's idea?

    • change a few words and skip the credit
    • name the source in your text and list it in your sources
    • mention it only if you copy exact words
    • use it without mentioning it, because ideas are free

  5. Question 5

    Tap the sentences in the best order.

    • Finally, walking with friends makes the trip fun.
    • Walking to school has many benefits.
    • First, it gives students daily exercise.
    • Second, fresh air helps them feel awake.

  6. Question 6

    Which concluding sentence best wraps up an essay on recycling?

    • By recycling more, our community can protect resources for the future.
    • Also, aluminum is a metal.
    • That is all I have to say about lunch.
    • Recycling bins are blue.

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