Reformulation Gallery

Student paragraphs are displayed next to the teacher's reformulated version of the same paragraph. Learners walk the gallery, spot the differences, and record what they want to remember. Turns one-to-one written feedback into a class-wide noticing task.

Procedure

1. Before class: Collect 4–6 short student paragraphs (80–120 words each) from a recent task. With permission, select for interesting errors and strong content.
2. Teacher reformulates: Rewrite each paragraph keeping the student's ideas intact but recasting into clearer, more accurate language. Don't mark errors — just produce the better version.
3. Gallery setup: Post the two versions side by side on the wall, 6–8 stations around the room.
4. Walk and notice: Pairs visit each station with a notebook. They:
   • Circle what changed.
   • Write down the 1 best phrase they'd like to steal.
   • Note any change they disagree with.
5. Debrief: What changes were about grammar? Vocabulary? Organisation? Whose reformulation had the most surprising change, and why?

Why It Works

• Input-output comparison: students see their own output juxtaposed with expert-reformulated input — noticing is built in.
• Ownership: it's their ideas in the better version; the upgrade is personal, not abstract.
• Craft over corrections: focus shifts from error-hunting to style, register, and flow.

Tips

• Reformulate generously: tighten, upgrade word choice, vary sentence starters. A reformulation with only corrections is a correction.
• Keep reformulations anonymised unless the writer opts in.
• After the gallery, students reformulate one of their own older paragraphs using what they noticed.

Caveat

Reformulation should make students proud to see their ideas elevated, not ashamed of their first draft. Frame it as coaching — "here's one way a writer might push this further" — not as marking.