The Author Has the Last Word: Buddy Editing in a First-Grade Classroom

Abstract

In this essay, Jessie L. Auger reflects on the practice of Buddy Editing in her first-grade classroom as an opportunity for student and teacher learning. By explicitly revealing her pedagogical approach and sharing transcripts of students' engagement with her Buddy Editing protocol, Auger presents the dynamics of a learning partnership that exists among teachers and students and between students. She offers a glimpse of what happens in one classroom when the teacher focuses on providing students with the appropriate tools, environment, structure, and access to the subject matter; trusts students to enact their own agency as learners; and takes a reflective stance on improving her practice based on lessons from student practice.