Methods of
Writing Instruction
Introduction
Although we have artificially separated reading and writing instruction to
clearly explain them both, we must start this chapter by reiterating that
reading and writing are inextricably intertwined skills and processes. We
cannot and should not
separate the teaching of reading from the teaching of
writing. As you will see, the component skills of reading and
writing are most effectively taught in connection with one other.
In fact, students achieve the greatest academic gains when their teachers
effectively harness the synergy of the reading-writing partnership. As Marilyn
Jager Adams notes,
“Children’s achievements in reading and writing are quite strongly and positively
related... an emphasis on writing activities results
in gains in
reading achievement.”
Chapter Overview
We will
approach the subject of writing instruction from three, overlapping angles:
Part I—The Basic Building Blocks of Writing
First, we
will examine the basic building blocks of writing, such as spelling, grammar,
and handwriting. Students become effective writers more quickly when we teach these
fundamental mechanics explicitly and then ask students to put the building
blocks into practice by
writing with varying levels of teacher support.
Part II—Instructional Contexts Along a Continuum of
Teacher Directedness
In Part II,
we will explore a series of the most effective instructional contexts for writing that
fall along a broad continuum of teacher-directedness. As you recall, a fundamental
tenet of excellent literacy instruction is that the teacher leads students
toward independence as active readers and writers by providing increasingly
less guidance and support over time. While most of us will teach in ways that
fall on several places on this continuum on any given day,as a general matter,
successful teachers of writing are those that lead their students toward
self-reliance in the writing process. To that end, we will survey five contexts
in which to teach writing-Modeled
Writing, Shared Writing, Interactive Writing, Guided Writing, and Independent
Writing—each method more student-driven than the last.
Part III—The Writing Process: Pre-Writing, Drafting,
Revising, Editing, and Publishing
In order for
students to write independently, they need to know and be able to use the
five-step writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and
publishing. In Part III of this chapter, we will consider the writing process
itself, looking closely at techniques teachers use to teach the its five steps.
Of course, this
framework is not meant to be an alternative to (and is not
in tension with) the various methods
discussed in
Part II. In fact, all of the stages of the writing process can be
taught
through Modeled, Shared, Interactive, Guided, and Independent Writing.
Adams, Marilyn Jager. Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print
I. The Basic Building Blocks of
Writing
Reading and
writing are complex, interrelated processes. To read, we break apart a string
of letters, decide which sounds those letters represent, and put the sounds
back together to determine the word. To spell, we translate the so
unds that we
hear in speech into written letters. In this way, reading and spelling are
opposite but related activities. For this reason, much of the information
gleaned in Chapter Three, “The Building Blocks of Literacy,” will be useful as
you guide your students toward writing proficiency. In this section, we will
consider so me
guidelines for teaching spelling, grammar, and handwriting.
Invented and Conventional Spelling
Children
proceed through a relatively predictable set of sequential stages in learning
to write. They first scribble, and then make linear, repetitive drawings that
might resemble cursive in English. Children in this emergent stage may use a
few very familiar letters, primarily those contained in their names, to spell
all words (you might besurprised that four-year old Dominic would write MDNC
for float).
Next, children begin to write letters that represent beginning and ending
sounds in words (writing ft for float), and progress to include some consonant
blends and vowels (flot for float). As they understand more of the patterns
that influence spelling, children will be able to spell most single syllable
words with phonetic accuracy (flote for float) but will have difficulty
spelling across syllables (confedent for
confident).In
the final stage, children are able to spell most words correctly, though they may
make small errors in the spelling of words containing silent letters or those
derived from other languages (inditement for indictment).
As children
are motivated to write, their interest in communicating inevitably outpaces
their knowledge of proper spelling. If we accept that students’ interest in
communicating should take precedence over correct spelling, we are able to
ensure that students’ interest in communicating does not outpace
their ability to write. We simply have to allow young children to “write” in
less conventional ways.Kindergarten through second grade teachers in particular
should keep in mind that “invented spelling” is a critical part of the literacy
developmental process. Children who are using invented spelling are demonstrating
that they are concentrating on the sound/symbol relationship and then trying to
encode it themselves. At first this process doesn’t reflect all the
patterns that apply to a language (mostly because the student simply hasn’t
learned them all yet), so a teacher may see many word
s that are
conventionally misspelled, but still reflect a growing knowledge of the
sound/symbol relationship.
Chrane → train dwg → dog fesh → fish n → and
There is
some controversy about when the transition from invented to conventional
spelling should occur. Different students will reach the stage where they are consistently
using conventional spelling at different times. Usually by upper elementary,
students should not be encouraged to use invented spelling, but rather to use
resources to find the correct or standard spelling of words.
The bottom line
is that invented spelling should be encouraged when it signals that
students are using their knowledge of sound-symbol correspondences to reach beyond the
spelling patterns they have been taught. We do not want inability to spell a
word to stop students from writing. However, conventional spelling is the
ultimate
goal, and
students should be held responsible for spelling words and word patterns that
they have been taught.
Guidelines for Teaching Spelling
All students
benefit from systematic spelling instruction and practice, and students who are
experiencing difficulty in spelling need intensive instruction and practice
tailored to match their individual levels of word knowledge.
Strategically select spelling words.
Depending on
your school’s curriculum, you may be handed lists of words that students must
learn to spell each week that connect with the broader curriculum. If not, be sure
that you select words that include the spelling patterns that you have taught
and include words from the curriculum or other content areas. Always begin the
year with more frequently used and regular word patterns before moving to less
frequently used and less regular patterns. Here are some other general
guidelines for spelling instruction:
·
Review
frequently.Improving
students’ spelling accuracy requires that you review previously taught material
often. For example, if you are teaching your first graders the vowel consonant
e spelling pattern, you will ask them to spell words that contain that pattern
and some sound-spelling relationships that they learned earlier in the year.
When they blend and write kite, they’ll be forced to consider why the /k/ sound
is spelled with a k and not a c. Revisiting spelling patterns often
keeps them fresh in students’ minds. For the same reason, it is also useful to
provide students with opportunities to analyze and sort words into categories
to focus students’ attention on the spelling and letter patterns that they have
already learned.
·
Limit the
number of words in one lesson. Expect that
students will need to read and work with words many times before they are able
to spell them. To give enough practice with each word, do not make your lists
too long.
·
Teach
students the process of monitoring and checking their spelling. Ask students to double-check their
work for spelling and maintain high expectations for correct spelling of previously
taught words.
· Differentiate spelling instruction. For students
who experience spelling difficulty, provide individual or small group
instruction to help them hear the sounds in words and connect those sounds to
letters. With a small group of students, you might model how to
stretch out a word and segment it into individual sounds, then use spelling
cards or phonics charts to prompt students for the correct spelling of those
sounds. Students with audioprocessing disorders will struggle to hear the
component sounds in a word, so remind them to pay attention to their mouths as
they say the word slowly.
· Provide
immediate feedback. As students transition from inve
ntive to conventional spelling, be
swift and consistent with correcting the spelling of the words that you have
already taught. Do not let students reinforce errors once the word has been
taught.
· Connect it to their writing. Especially in the upper elementary
classroom, drawing a
portion of their spelling words from trends you see in their writing can be
very effective and relevant for them. Older students could even choose some of
their own spelling words by scanning their portfolio for words with which they have trouble.
· Don’t carry spelling instruction
over into their free writing or drafting.
This may only disrupt the flow of
their writing and put undo pressure on them at a time when
they should be concentrating on ideas.
· Teach students to spell high
frequency words correctly.
As mentioned previously, the 100 most
common words make up about 50 percent of the material we read. Thus, we can significantly
improve our students’ literacy skills if we teach them to read and spell these words
automatically. So, how does one teach these sight words? In a word, practice.
You simply have to arrange for students to have many, many encounters with
these words, both directly (flashcards, word walls) and indirectly (reading).
One
well-established list of these “sight words” from which teachers might work, is the “Fry
list” that we discussed in Chapter Three. You may find it beneficial to peruse
those lists now and return to them in your classroom so that you can teach them
to your students along-side spelling words.
Grammar and Mechanics
Research continues to suggest that teaching students to use correct grammar
in spoken and
written language improves their literacy skills substantially. While you may
not be teaching your Kindergarteners the parts of speech, you are—as part of
your strategies to enhance students’ print awareness—modeling, teaching and
reinforcing lessons about capitalization, punctuation, and other fundamental
mechanics of the writing process. Younger students need to be taught when and
how to leave space between sentences, for example. Older students need practice
with more complicated mechanics such as paragraph structure. As students
mature and
develop the capacity to think about the various parts of speech in their
writing, the mechanics lessons can become more complex. While it would
certainly be unwise to completely divorce these mechanics lessons from the real
writing that students are doing, most teachers find that regular “mini-lessons”
on subjects such as capitalization, punctuation, or subject-verb agreement are
an important means of learning the basic conventions of writing.
Teachers will often connect a given mini-lesson to a subsequent writing
project to allow students Letter Formation and Handwriting Most literacy
specialists recommend that lower elementary students have formal letter
formation instruction as part of their daily routine, even if it is a
relatively short exercise. Students, especially very young students, need the opportunity
to think about their writing free of concern for content in order focus
attention on improving handwriting skills. Most curricula will have a
particular method of teaching letter formation and handwriting. to
focus on the mechanics or grammar point in their writing. To plan your
grammar and language mechanics instruction, consider the following grade-level
benchmarks, from the Mid-continent Research
for
Education and Learning:
Level I (Kindergarten-Second
Grades)Language Arts Benchmarks Level II (Third-Fifth Grades)
Language Arts Benchmarks
|
Level
II (Third-Fifth Grades) Language Arts Benchmarks
|
· Uses conventions of print in writing
(e.g., forms letters in print, uses upper- and lowercase letters of the
alphabet; spaces
words and sentences; writes from left-to-write and top-to-bottom;includes
margins)
· Uses complete sentences in written
compositions
· Uses nouns in written
compositions (e.g.,
nouns for simple objects, family members, community workers, and categories)
· Uses verbs in written
compositions (e.g., verbs for a variety of situations, action words)
· Uses adjectives in written
compositions (i.e., uses descriptive words)
· Uses adverbs in written
compositions (e.g., uses words that answer how,when, where, and why
questions)
· Uses conventions of capitalization in
written
compositions (e.g., first and last
names,
first word of a sentence)
· Uses conventions of punctuation in written
compositions (e.g., uses periods after declarative sentences, question marks
after interrogative sentences, uses commas in a series of words)
|
· Writes in
cursive
· Uses
pronouns in written
compositions (e.g., substitutes pronouns for nouns, uses pronoun agreement)
· Uses nouns in written
compositions (e.g., uses plural and singular forms of naming nouns, forms
regular and irregular plural nouns, uses common and proper nouns,
uses nouns
as subjects)
· Uses verbs in written
compositions (e.g., uses a wide variety of action verbs, past and present
verb tenses, forms of regular verbs, berns that agree with the subject)
· Uses adjectives in written
compositions (i.e., indefitine, numerical, predicate adjectives)
· Uses
adverbs in written
compositions (e.g., to make comparisons)
· Uses
coordinating conjunctions in written compositions (e.g.,
links ideas using connecting ideas)
· Uses
negatives in written
compositions (e.g., avoids double negatives)
· Uses
conventions of capitalization in written compositions (e.g.,
titles of people; proper nouns [names of towns, cities, counties, and states;
days of the week;
months of
the year; names of streets; names of countries, holidays]; first word of
direct quotations; heading, salutation, and closing of a letter)
· Uses
conventions of punctuation in written compositions (e.g.,
uses periods after imperative sentences and in initials, abbreviations, and
titles before names; uses
commas in
dates and addresses and after greetings and closings in a letter; uses
apostrophes in contractions and possessive nouns; uses quotation marks around
titles and with direct quotations; uses a colon between hour and minute)
|
II. Instructional Contexts Along a Continuum
of Teacher Directedness
Spelling,
grammar, and mechanics make up the building blocks of writing, much the same
way phonemes, graphemes, and morphemes are the building blocks of reading, and
dribbling, passing, and shooting are the building blocks of playing basketball.
So when it comes time for students to put those building block skills to work
in an actual “game” situation, you will move students through a continuum of
instructional
contexts that can be classified according to a gradual shift from
teacher-driven writing to student-driven writing. Keeping in mind that (1) independent
writing is the ultimate goal and (2) the path along this line for a class of students
is anything but linear (as a teacher might use all of the methods in any given
day), consider the following graphic representation of this continuum:
We will
consider each of these five methods in turn.
Modeled Writing—teacher creates, writes, and thinks
aloud
Under the
modeled writing method, the most teacher-directed approach, the teacher writes
in front of the students, creating the text, and controlling the pen. Even more
importantly,
the teacher constantly “thinks aloud” about writing strategies and skills.
This
approach allows students to hear the thinking that accompanies the process of
writing. Those thoughts may address choosing a topic, organizing your ideas,
using
a plan to
write your rough draft, removing repetitive information, or proofreading to fi
x grammar or
spelling mistakes, to name just a few. For beginning writers who are just developing
familiarity with basic book and print awareness, the modeling teacher might think
aloud in the following way:
Let’s see. First, I have to figure
out where to start. Do I write from the top going down or from the bottom going
up? I know that I write from the top going down. Now, do I write from left to
right [as teacher makes motion across chalkboard from left to right], or do I write
from right to left? [analogous motion] I know that when I read books, like The
Very Hungry Caterpillar that we read this morning, I read from this side to
this side, so I am going to write from left to right as well . . .
For slightly
older students, the thinking aloud might sound more like:
OK. I’ve written in my notebook
about the special Wednesday night dinners that my dad and I had when I was
little—our dinner dates.My ideas are really good but they don’t sound like a
story yet. I need to make a plan to help me write a story that other people will
enjoy reading. Hmm... Oh! Now I’m remembering how we read one of Jerdine
Nolen’s stories from In My Momma’s Kitchen. I’m thinking that one thing she did
to make us really love her story was to have everything that happened
build up to one really funny moment. Remember how we all laughed when Daddy
sang ‘La Cucaracha’ as his corn pudding cooked? We called that the ‘hot spot’
in her story, and everything else led us to that point—the funniest part of
all! I think that when I make the plan for my story, I’m going to tell what
happened during our dinner dates and then, at the very end, I’ll share the best
moment of all. My hot spot needs to be something really funny that happened during
one of the dinners, something that will make you all laugh when you read it.
Oh, I see some of you are remembering something funny from my writer’s
notebook, and it looks like you have suggestions for what my hot spot should be...
Good idea, guys! I think I’ll write my story so that all of the events lead up to my dad
spilling spaghetti all over his tie and the waiter bringing him a bib! That’s a
perfect hot spot.
Thus, by
talking aloud about your literacy objectives as you complete the writing, you
build your students’ skills, habits, and understanding of a writer’s thought process.
As the “modeling teacher,” your role in this approach as you think aloud is to:
· Use expressive language and actions
to model critical writing-process concepts
· Think aloud
about actions and choices in writing
· Show students
the metacognitive strategies involved in reading and writing
· Use modeled writing as a mini-lesson
to introduce new writing skills and genres
· Demonstrate the importance of
composing a meaningful, coherent message for a particular audience
and a specific purpose
· Demonstrate the correct use of print
conventions such as capitalization,punctuation, and print directionality
· Demonstrate
spelling strategies
· Connect
spelling to phonics lessons
· Demonstrate
re-reading as a process to help
students to remember what they are
writing
about
During
Modeled Writing, students are listening and watching, with the explicit
expectation that they will be using these strategies on their own at some point
soon. Although a standard Modeled Writing lesson will not last more than 15
minutes, this approach is appropriate for any type of grouping strategy, including
whole class instruction. Many teachers use Modeled Writing exercises each
time they introduce a new writing skill or genre and then transition to the
more student-involved approaches explained below.
Shared Writing—teacher and students co-create; teacher
writes and thinks aloud
Shared
writing also has the teacher control the pen, but invites the teacher and the
students to create the ideas for the text together. That is, the students and
teacher plan out the writing and then the teacher actually scripts the words.
Like in Modeled
Writing, it is important that the teacher engage the students by thinking aloud
about the processes that are happening as he or she writes. And, of course, the
teacher
may involve
students in other ways as well, such as asking them to spell certain words or
to decide when a new paragraph should begin. This approach effectively
reinforces the concepts of print, as the students’ thoughts are transformed to
written language as they watch. In addition to the process-related issues about
which teachers
might think aloud during modeled writing, the teacher in a shared writing
session may think aloud and talk to the students more about the content of the
writing. Thus, the role of the teacher in Shared Writing is to:
· Introduce
the lesson or topic by modeling how to begin writing
· Plan the
text and help students generate ideas for writing
· Record
students’ ideas
· Reinforce print conventions such as
capitalization, punctuation, and print directionality
The student,
meanwhile, is contributing ideas to the writing and will read and reread the
composition with the teacher. This strategy is also useful for whole group or
small group instruction.
Interactive Writing—teacher and students co-create and
co-write
For
Kindergarten and first grade students, one of the most educationally fruitful
learning models is interactive writing. This approach brings the students into the
writing process to create products that are well beyond the level of anything
they could create on their own. The teacher and students share the pen (or
chalk or marker) to do the writing. The teacher plays an active role in
monitoring and guiding the process, talking students through various writing
conventions that the group encounters while they write.
The purposes
of this approach are many. By having a two-way conversation around the creation
of words, sentences, or paragraphs, teachers can negotiate the content of the
text, construct words through the
analysis of
sound, and develop concepts of letter, word, and punctuation. Moreover,
teachers are able to lead students to increase and reinforce letter knowledge,
and gain
familiarity with some frequently encountered words.
Guided Writing—students create and write in small
groups while the teacher guides the process
In Guided
Writing, the teacher works with the whole class or a small group of students who
have similar needs and coaches them as they write a composition. Here, the
students take on the actual drafting responsibilities as the teacher presents a
structured lesson that guides the students through the writing process. The
teacher
closely
supervises the students, an element that makes this model most appropriate for
small groups. Guided writing gives each student the opportunity to produce his
or her own writing, with a bit of teacher support. This approach is often used
to teach a specific writing procedure, strategy, or skill.
In this
approach, the role of the teacher is to:
· Observe and
assess students’ writing
· Meet with
individuals or small groups who have similar needs
· Actively
prompt, coach, and guide individual students
’ writing skills
· Respond as a
reader
· Ask
open-ended questions
· Extend
students’ thinking in the process of composing
· Foster
writing
independence Independent Writing—students create and
write while the teacher confers and monitors progress
The student
is in charge of the drafting under an independent writing model.Students use
the writing process to write sentences, paragraphs, stories, or essays. The
teacher monitors students’ progress and intervenes appropriately. This model
can be implemented in any number of ways, including writing centers, writing
workshops, journal writing, and letter writing. Do not misinterpret the name of
this approach as implying that the teacher is not involved. The teacher continues
to be involved—by creating opportunities to engage in authentic, purposeful
writing, by responding to the content of students’ writing, and by assisting
students with the revision and editing process. The student’s role does grow
under this model, as he or she takes a larger ownership of both the process and
the product. The student might select topics and content, or even genre in
some cases. Eventually, the student should be responsible for his or her own
revision and editing, as well.
Review of Part II
Method
|
Summary
|
Tips and Suggestions
|
Modeled
Writing
|
Teacher
creates,
writes,
and thinks
aloud.
|
· Think
aloud constantly, explaining the strategies you use.
· Use
expressive language and actions to describe exactly what you’re doing.
· Use
modeled writing as a mini-lesson to introduce new writing skills
and genres.
|
Shared
|
Writing
Teacher and students co-create; teacher writes and thinks aloud.
|
· Have your
students watch as you transform their thoughts into written words.
· Contribute
ideas to the writing, but help students generate ideas
themselves.
|
Interactive
Writing
|
Teacher
and
students
co-create
and
co-write.
|
· Talk,
think aloud, and involve your students while one or more write.
· Have a
two-way conversation around the creation of words, sentences, or paragraphs.
· Move your
students to independence by not doing what they can do for themselves.
· Demonstrate
the writing in a way that is
large enough that all students in
the class can access it and be involved.
|
Guided
Writing
|
Students
create
and write
while
teacher
closely
monitors
and
guides
process.
|
· Work with
the whole class or a small group of students who have similar needs as they
write a composition.
· Observe
and assess your students’ writing, actively coaching their skills.
· Ask
open-ended questions to extend your students’ thinking in the process.
|
Independent
Writing
|
Students
create
and write
while
teacher
monitors
progress.
|
· Intervene
with the writing process only when appropriate.
· Continue
to be involved, but let the students’ role grow.
· Respond to
the content of your students’ writing.
· Assist
students with the revision and editing process.
|
III. The
Writing Process: Pre-Writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing
The final
way that we can think about the task of writing instruction is by considering
how you might approach instructing students to create a particular written
product. The most effective approach to writing any particular text, be it a
paragraph, letter, essay, short story, or research project, requires the writer
to break the process into five steps:
(1) Pre-writing
(2) Drafting
(3) Revising
(4) Proofreading and Editing
(5) Publishing and Presentation
As a strong
literacy instructor, you will be teaching students both how to implement
strategies for each of these steps, and the sequence of these steps themselves.
That is, you want your students to associate the concept of writing with this
complete process. It should be second nature to your students that there is a
meaningful
pre-writing
stage of any writing project, and that there is a crucial revising stage to any
writing project. At the same time, your students should have command of a range of strategies
to use within each stage of the process. In this section, we will consider
various strategies that you will teach your students to help them at each
stage of the
writing process.
Note that
our focus in this chapter will be on writing both as a process and a product. Traditionally,
classroom writing instruction has focused on writing products (sentences,
paragraphs, essays, research papers, etc.), with little regard for process. For
example, students might be expected to write an essay based only on their
review of models of an essay. In the last two decades, however, we have seen significant
changes in the way schools approach writing instruction. The most effective
approach involves more attention to instructional activities that lead students to
think through and organize their thoughts before writing and to re-think
and revise
their initial drafts.
So, while
today westill emphasize the importance of the final product, we recognize that
we must also focus on the process itself, expressly teaching students the steps
that go into writing. These trends have led to our focus on the five-step
writing process of pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing and publishing.
(1) Pre-Writing
Pre-writing is arguably the most consequential step in the writing process,
and it’s importance
is often overlooked by teachers and students. Many elementary students think that
“writing” a story or paper means sitting down and creating some thing that
will not be altered. While it takes somewhat different forms depending on grade
and developmental levels, pre-writing is both a discovery stage, when content and
ideas are being collected and organized, and a rehearsal stage, when writers
are mentally, verbally, and on paper “trying out” different topics about which
they might write. Among the many forms that pre-writing can take are:
Smith, Carl.
“Writing Instruction: Changing Views over the Years,” ERIC (Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and
Communication Digest, #155.)
·
Generating Words and Ideas Exercises.Motivate students
to start thinking about words and the subject that will be written about, such
as:
- Brainstorming
- Listing
- Observing/taking
notes
- Reading and
conducting research/taking notes
- Free writing
- Sentence
frames (My favorite place is...)
·
Organization.All students need to be taught how to organize
their ideas before they write a first draft. Graphic organizers and outlines
are excellent tools for pre-writing, as they force students to think about connections
and relationships between ideas. You can teach students to create a plan before
they write, either by using a teacher-created organizer or a student-created
outline. For some examples of graphic organizers, see the Instructional Planning & Delivery text.
·
Previewing Grammar and Mechanics.
Previewing a specific grammar skill
that you want students to use in their writing will give them an immediate
understanding of your expectations, as well as the necessary time to practice
the skill in isolation. For example, if your students are about to write a
narrative with dialogue,
you could take that opportunity to teach a mini-lesson on the use of quotation
marks.
·
Teaching Characteristics of Particular Forms/Genres. A
critical stage in the pre-writing process is instruction in the genre of writing
students will be producing. As you can imagine, you cannot expect students to write
a persuasive letter, a personal narrative, or an expository article with any success
if they do not know the characteristics
of a piece of writing in that genre and have not read or examined exemplary
models. Just as when you are teaching any other skill, when teaching the skill
of writing in a particular genre, explain the characteristics of the genre,
look at several exemplary models to identify those characteristics, model the
creation of a piece in the genre, and then have students apply the characteristics
of the genre as they draft their own piece
(2) Drafting
Once students know the characteristics of the genre and have collected and organized
their ideas, they are ready to work in the second stage of writing. Drafting
refers to the time when the student is actually crafting language and
translating an outline or plan into a more coherent piece. Part of your role as
a teacher of literacy will be to disabuse your students of the idea that
drafting is writing.
Rather, drafting
is one step
in the writing process. The first draft is usually done relatively quickly
to get ideas
on paper. In fact, research indicates that writers who try to make the first
draft “perfect” run the risk of missing opportunities to discover ideas that
could
be surfacing
during the drafting process.Young writers need quiet and focused atmospheres
that will be conducive to drafting. Create routines that get all distractions
(sharpening pencils, gathering materials, etc.) out of the way before writing
time begins. Many teachers, for example, use a routine called Writers’ Workshop
when students are working in the stages of the writing process and the teacher
is having writing conferences with individual students about their progress.
(3) Revising
Revising
refers to those substantive changes that are made after the rough draft.
Primarily, this stage considers the effectiveness of a piece, both in terms of
content and language. Revision does not focus on mechanics, a task that makes
up the editing and proofreading stage. To help young
students understand the difference, you might explain that writers focus on how
their piece sounds during the revising stage and how it looks during editing.
While this description is not perfect, it is often a helpful distinction for
beginning writers. Possible foci during the revision stage of writing are the
ideas and content, the organization and “flow,” and the language choices made
in the piece. Of course, the extent to which students revise a written
piece
depends partially on their developmental level. For example, while you might
teach first graders simply to delete ideas that are off topic, you will
probably expect upper elementary students to revise more extensively, perhaps
by adding descriptive language, clarifying sections that are unclear, including
transition words and sentences, or changing the order in
which ideas are presented.
(Botel, M. and Susan Lytle. Pennsylvania Comprehensive
Reading/Communication Arts Plan II. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Department of
Education – Communications Division, 1998.)
process. As
with instruction in all stages, you should deliver a whole-group mini-lesson on
a revision topic, and then model revising your own piece for your students. You
might consider one of the following sample topics, depending on the skills that
your students need to develop:
·
Varying
sentence structure
·
Elaborating
on ideas
·
Creating
strong topic sentences
·
Consistency
of voice, character, or style
·
Organization
of ideas
·
Improving
introductions/story beginnings
·
Adding
sensory details
·
Including
time and transition words
·
Using
dialogue
·
Choosing
strong action verbs
·
Crafting
conclusions/story endings
Additionally,
students need varying amounts of feedback from you and their peers as they
attempt to revise their first drafts. Teachers of Kindergarten through third
graders, as well as fourth and fifth teachers whose students are just beginning
to use the writing process, need to provide a good deal of structure during the
revision process. One way that you might provide structure is by literally
“cutting and pasting” students’ first drafts (mimicking the word processing
function on a computer),opening up space for students to add details or helping
them to rearrange the order in which they express their ideas.
(4) Proofreading and Editing
During the
proofreading and editing phase, the student-author does the nitty-gritty check
on the mechanics of the writing, watching carefully for details such as punctuation,
spelling, and grammar. These editing skills must be taught to even our youngest students.
Children should leave your room not only commanding age-appropriate
proofreading and editing skills, but believing that this stage is an integral
part of writing that cannot be skipped.
Teaching
this part of the writing process can be accomplished through presenting
mini-lessons on capitalization, punctuation, etc. and through providing a
checklist of language mechanics expectations for the text. It is also taught
through teachers’ modeling during modeled writing, shared writing, or
interactive writing.
(5) Publication and Presentation
This stage
brings closure to the writing process by allowing students to share their best
work with others, whether that sharing takes the form of a book that is sold at
local bookstores or an oral presentation about a written project to the class.
Many teachers report that the possibility of publication, in its many
forms, has a significant impact on a students’ motivation to write and also
focuses students’ energy on revising and editing.
There are
obviously many ways to publish students’ writing. To spark your own thoughts,
consider the following methods:
·
read writing aloud
·
submit to a contest
·
create a class anthology
·
record on a cassette tape
·
send it to a pen pal
·
submit it to a magazine
·
read it at an assembly
·
share in a reading party
·
share with family
·
hold an “author’s tea”
·
display on bulletin board
·
make a hard-bound book
·
make a big book
·
share with younger students
Review of Part III
Thus, when
we think carefully about the writing process itself—pre-writing, drafting,
revising, editing, and publishing—we uncover a whole menu of activities and strategies
that will help us improve our students’ literacy skills. During pre-writing,for
example, we can teach vocabulary and organizational techniques. During the
editing process, we can focus students’ attention on particular grammar skills.
Combined
with the
various contexts for teaching writing that span the continuum of teacher directedness,
these strategies create powerful tools for literacy instruction.
Stage
|
Review
|
Tips and Suggestions
|
Pre-Writing
|
Teacher
leads children to generate and organize content and ideas before
beginning to write.
|
·
Ask students to free write in a notebook to spur
ideas.
·
Teach students to read and take notes.
·
Enable students to organize ideas through the use of
graphic
organizers.
·
Use exemplary models to teach characteristics of the
genre.
·
Preview a grammar skill to make students comfortable
with
using it in their writing.
|
Drafting
|
Student
crafts the
language.
|
·
Teach your students that drafting is not
writing, just one step of the writing process.
·
Provide a quiet and focused atmosphere with set
routines and procedures.
|
Revising
|
Student
(often with
teacher’s
guidance)
makes
substantive
changes to
draft, including
fixing
content and style.
|
·
Note: this step doesnot focus on mechanics; that
will be addressed in the next stage.
·
Encourage students to improve their word choice,
change the organization of ideas, or ensuresufficient evidence is provided to
support a claim.
|
Proofreading
and Editing
|
Student
checks the
mechanics
of the writing,
watching
carefully for
punctuation,
spelling and
other
mechanics.
|
·
Teach these editing skills, even to very young
children.
·
Present mini-lessons on capitalization, punctuation,
etc.
·
Provide a checklist of language mechanics
expectations to your students during this stage.
|
Publishing and
Presentation
|
Allow
students to share
their best
work with
others in
various ways.
A few ways
to “publish” your students’ writing:
|
·
Read the writing aloud.
·
Invite others to hear student-authors read their
published work.
·
Submit the piece to a contest or magazine.
·
Make a book.
|
Conclusion
This chapter has
focused on methods of writing instruction:
·
In Part I, we considered some of the
basic building blocks of writing that we know form a critically important foundation for literacy
development.
·
In Part II, we considered the various
teacher- and student-centered modes of writing, including techniques
such as Shared Writing and Interactive Writing.
·
Finally, in Part III, we considered the
various stages of the writing process that students use to create their own written products. As you read,
each stage of the writing process—pre-writing, drafting, revising,
editing, and publishing—offers a range of educational opportunities for
teachers and students.
(http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/standa
rdDetails.asp?subjectID=7&standardID=3
, accessed 7/10/2010.)
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