Article
Carolyn Ridsdale
The Lazy Editor,

The Weirdest Laws in America

This short nonfiction article about America’s most bizarre laws is full of sloppy writing and grammatical errors that need to be fixed.

By Mackenzie Carro
From the September 2017 Issue

Learning Objective: to identify and correct errors in spelling, subject-verb agreement, and possessives

Featured Skill: Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics,
Other Key Skills: revising, understanding conventions of standard English when writing, making effective choices for meaning and style
Topic: History,
Common Core Standards
  • Anchor Standards
    L.1, L.2, L.3
  • Grade 6
    L.6.1, L.6.2, L.6.3
  • Grade 7
    L.7.1, L.7.2, L.7.3
  • Grade 8
    L.8.1, L.8.2, L.8.3
TEKS Standards
  • Grade 6
    6.14d; 6.19c
  • Grade 7
    7.14d; 7.19; 7.21
  • Grade 8
    8.14d; 8.19; 8.21
Read the Article
Activities (4)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Activities (4) Download All Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan

Close Reading, Critical Thinking, Skill Building

Download the Lesson Plan

1. REVIEWING GRAMMAR AND WRITING CONCEPTS

  • Have students work in groups to complete one or all of the activity sheets that support the skills covered in the article you’ve selected. You might have students complete the activity for a particular grammar skill that you know they struggle with, or you might have them complete all three activity sheets.
  • ALTERNATIVE IDEA: If students are already familiar with the concepts covered in the Lazy Editor, save the activity sheets for the end. Do the Lazy Editor first and assign the activity sheets on an as-needed basis for students to brush up on skills in areas where they showed weakness.

2. PREPARING TO READ

Have students read the headline, the directions, the captions, and the Find It/Fix It box.

3. READING THE LAZY EDITOR

Read the article once through as a class. Let students know that for now, they don’t need to worry about finding the mistakes—they should just pay attention to what the article says.

4. DOING THE ACTIVITY

Divide students into small groups and have them follow the directions in the Find It/Fix It box. Let students know they must all agree on their edits, discussing anything they disagree about until they reach a consensus.

TIPS:

  1. Some errors have multiple possible solutions (adding variety in sentence structure to a paragraph, for example). Students should work as a group to come up with an edit that everyone supports.
  2. Students may write many of their edits directly in their magazines, crossing out the errors and writing the corrections above. Some edits, however, will be easier to make if students write on a separate sheet of paper. 

5. ASSESSING AND REINFORCING

  • Reconvene as a class to go over the edits. (Answers can be found in the answer key.)
  • Invite students to explain their edits. 
  • If students are struggling with a particular skill, project the activity sheet for that skill and go over the grammar rules or writing guidelines that appear at the beginning of the activity. 
  • If students have not yet completed the activity sheets, assign them for homework as needed. 
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