Teaching children how to proofread and edit their own work

Teaching children how to proofread and edit their own work is vital for their futures and gaining independence. They can reflect on their work and critically analyse their own work as well as others before you come to mark them. This skill is helpful for various aspects of life, but it gives children independent learning skills. Plus, they understand their mistakes more and can learn from them quicker.

We have sourced ways to teach your pupils proofreading and editing. We also delve into what each year group should be able to do after learning this skill and why it is important.

What is proofreading & why is it important?

Proofreading is a type of reading work where children check for grammatical errors and spelling in their work or others. Proofreading is vital as it ensures that work is error-free so that others can understand it better. It is also a chance for children to pinpoint their mistakes and edit them. Editing their work after proofing allows them to learn from their mistakes quickly and not repeat them.

How to teach proofreading and editing

Below we have created some tips on teaching children how to proofread and edit their own work. Use these to ingrain the skill of proofing into your pupils and allow them to develop their English skills through the process.

Model 

The greatest way a pupil will learn proofreading and editing is through you. Set an example and show your pupils how to proofread and edit work. This can be done through your marking as well as discussions about their work. Try having two different coloured pens, one for proofing and one for editing their work. Doing this clearly defines the differences between proofreading and editing to the children and shows them how to do it.

Read a physical copy

For proofreading and editing, it is easier for children to read through a physical copy. Whether this is their own work or their classmates. Sometimes it is better for your pupils to do their work digitally; however, when it’s time to proof and edit, encourage them to print it out. Mistakes and highlighting edits to make are easier to spot as words appear different physically than on the screen.

Proofread one line at a time

Teaching children how to proofread and edit their own work can sometimes be small, simple things. If your pupils struggle with proofing and editing, let them know that they can take it slowly. Show them to read line by line and take their time reading it so that they take note of every detail to spot mistakes and changes needed. It’s always best practice to double-check over after the first proof and edit just to make sure.

Read it out loud

An excellent way for children to recognise and learn from their mistakes is by reading their work out loud. It’s the perfect way to see if their writing flows and makes sense too. Allow them to read slowly, line by line and guide them through their work. To help children follow their writing, suggest that they use a ruler to hide the other lines underneath. They can move it down as they read each line at their own pace. It also helps them spot errors more clearly, as they won’t get distracted by the other words on the page.

Read it backwards

This may be strange advice for your pupils to wrap their heads around, but sometimes mistakes can be spotted when read differently. The best way to read differently is to read it backwards. To do this, tell your pupils to read from bottom to top instead of top to bottom. This helps children to find errors easier after reading the usual way. They can often skip over or not see things, but reading from a different perspective can stop this.

Mistakes pupils need to spot

It is good for pupils to know the common mistakes to spot when proofing and editing work. This way, they have a guide to follow to help them learn how to proofread and edit. We have listed some of the most common mistakes to spot for you to share with your pupils as a guide for them to use.

• Capital letters in places they aren’t needed
• Missing capital letters at the beginning of a sentence
• Misspelt words
• Missing words
• Punctuation in the wrong place or missing
• Mixing punctuation up
• Sentences mixed up/don’t make sense

Differences between proofreading and editing

Proofreading and editing can work hand in hand, and children should learn to proof then edit work. However, they are two different processes to improve their work, which can confuse them.

To make it easier, share this list of differences and teach them the importance of doing both to their work. Make sure they know to proof first and edit after, as they can spot mistakes and then change them later if they take note of them.

Proofreading

• It is done to make the work mistake free
• Takes out any spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes
• Provides consistency by correcting language and out-of-place sentences

Editing

• It aims to improve the work but can be a personal opinion
• Changes or rearranges spelling, grammar and punctuation to get the work to make sense
• Changes or alters the language and out-of-place sentences to bring quality to their work

Use these tips for teaching children how to proofread and edit their own work for them to understand the differences and easily spot mistakes. These tips will assist your pupils with reflecting on their own work and learning from their mistakes. They can also grasp how proofing and editing works to be able to do this on others’ work. This skill is crucial for children’s futures, and progression in their learning, so make sure to spend time with them individually so that they fully understand it.

Bring another skill to children to develop their learning with our ‘teach guided reading in the classroom’ blog.