Choose one worthwhile target
Look at a short sample and identify an error the pupil has been taught to recognise. Check whether they can spot it in another person's writing before expecting them to find it in their own.
Free printable activities to try
These free Day by Day Tools activities include a printable pupil page and teacher guidance.
- Dialogue punctuation workshop — Add quotation marks and sentence punctuation to short speech examples.
- One-focus proofreading — Edit capital letters and full stops in separate passes.
Model a short checking pass
Demonstrate reading for one feature, explain the decision and repair a single example. Use a small reference if needed. Keep this separate from drafting so that constant corrections do not interrupt the pupil's ideas.
Example and review
After drafting, the pupil checks sentence boundaries in two sentences, explaining why a full stop is needed. A later task uses different wording. Review errors noticed and repaired independently, not just the appearance of the corrected page. When the target becomes manageable, add another check rather than expanding the checklist immediately.
Sources and further reading
These sources inform the wider approach. The classroom example illustrates practice; it is not a research case study.
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