Overview | How can we learn to pay closer attention to detail in writing? How can we put knowledge about grammar and mechanics into practice? In this lesson, students consider errors in signage and other textual displays and create lists of common errors to check as they proofread. They then practice proofreading and develop strategies, taking into consideration the possible consequences of making language mistakes.
Materials | Computers with Internet access, projector, grammar manuals, dictionaries, images of signs and other materials that contain mechanical errors, copies of a New York Times article with errors introduced
Warm-Up | Before students arrive, place images of signs and other types of textual displays that contain errors around your classroom. Sources might include photos from Web sites like the Grammar Vandal, the Great Typo Hunt, Cake Wrecks and the Times slide show “A Sampling of Chinglish.” (Please note that some of the images on these sites may not be appropriate for use in your classroom.)
Tell students to take their notebooks and pens with them as they circulate silently and look at all of the signs. Tell them to write down what they notice about the images, but do not tell them directly that they are to find errors.
When they are finished, ask for their observations and go from image to image, noting what error appears and how it should be corrected. Ask: How could have these errors been prevented? Why do you think we noticed them but the creators of these items did not? What makes these errors funny? When might grammatical and mechanical errors actually cause seriousproblems, for both the writer and the reader? In what situations is it especially important to get every last detail right?
Next have students discuss their own experiences with proofreading. Ask: How does proofreading differ from revising and editing? When and what do you proofread? Have you ever proofread something carefully but later learned that you still had mistakes? If so, what do you think caused the errors?
Ask students to share the errors that had cropped up (or continue to crop up) in their writing. Create a list of common writing errors on the board and have students copy the list in their notebooks. Tell them they will add to their lists throughout this lesson.
Related | In the Choice blog, Dave Marcus addresses the importance of proofreading in a post titled “Not the ‘Hook’ the Admissions Department Had in Mind”:
