Gilmore Chapter 1

Good and short. Chapter 1 reaffirms what we were talking about in class: teachers shouldn't revise for the students. Teachers should give students the tools to revise their own papers. I like the rules that are listed the inside of the book. I have heard some of those rules before. Especially bullet number four: "Good writers read. They read a lot." I think this point can improve writing for any student. 

I like that Gilmore is using humor in this book. While I am a grammar geek, I am NOT a big fan of revision myself, and I get the feeling that revision is the main subject of this book. The reason I am not such a fan is because of this: 

1. I always put a lot of effort into my first drafts. 

2. In order to get a good grade on your paper, you have to make your final draft "better" than your first draft.

3. If your first draft is absolutely terrible, then its easier to show "how much you've improved."

Besides, I was never taught how to revise. I mean, of course we went through the trading papers in class and peer editing, but I was never focused on the content. I did, however, love to look for grammatical errors. Even if I did look at content, nobody is going to help out with my content. I could do all the work for my classmate by telling them about their content, but what does that do for my paper? Maybe it makes me a better writer too, but if I'm a high school student playing three sports, participating in many other extracurricular activities, AND my parents want me to get all A's.... Okay Gilmore, let's see if you can make revision seem worthwhile.