The Writing Process
What is the Writing Process?
DISCUSSING/ REVISING |
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| *Generates topics from personal experiences or interests, or classroom experiences
*May use very little planning; spontaneous *Webbing *Topic organization *Listing *Describing |
*May verbalize as student writes
*Message is sometimes disorganized and hard to understand *May show tendency toward repetition of ideas *May include 1-3 examples of topic choices as restatement in a list of sentences *May have limited attention span *May be constrained by handwriting *Length of text varies greatly from child to child, as writing task changes *Makes considerable use of "and then" *May simply name events *May use little selection or cohesion *Slice of life-writer simply takes reader through chronological listing of all events that happened *May rely predominantly on simple sentences |
*Shares writing in writing conferences
*May enjoy reading to others but is sensitive to criticism *Experiences differences in writing for different audiences *Usually attends to the whole, not the parts *May see no need to change *May have difficulty with concept of space, where to put information *cut and paste *rewrite *adds details |
| EDITING | SHARE | PUBLISHING |
| *May be limited by current knowledge
*May overuse a new skill *May tend to erase rather than cross out *May ask for skills information Spelling *No relationship between spelling and the word it represents Pre-phonetic Stage *Spelling is hard to read, but decipherable if you know the code *Initial and final consonants become correct Phonetic Stage *Almost perfect match between letters and sounds *Some sight words spelled correctly *Overgeneralizations occur Transition Stage *Words look a lot more like English *Better grasp of conventions and begins to refer to classroom resources |
* a friend
*a teacher *a parent *a response group *entire class |
*Class books
*Individual books *Letters *Recordings *Invitations |
Teaching Methods
Classroom Activities--send activities to us to put on the web page.
TEACHING IDEAS 3-6
Prewrite
1. Create a life map-ask the students to draw a curvy line across a large piece of construction paper. The beginning of the line represents when they were born and experiences that they have had should be illustrated along the line. Each map becomes a time line of events that have occurred to this student. This is a great way to get to know the students in your class as well as a wonderful resource to the student ass they think about events in their life that they may want to write about.
2. Keep an idea notebook-Read the book Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox. The young boy learns that a friend in the nursing home has lost her memory so he asks his other friends who live there what a memory is. Develop categories that each student might add memories to of their own on the first page of their idea notebook. The student can add ideas to each category throughout the year as they make connections with other literature or have experiences they would like to write about.
3. Storyboard-fold a piece of paper into six squares. The first square should be labeled beginning, square two through five will be events in the middle, and the last square will be labeled end. Working with a partner, the student will share the experience or story they would like to write about. The partner then asks appropriate questions to help include additional details. The author then makes a simple sketch in each square that will outline the main ideas that he or she has just discussed. This becomes the prewrite for the student's rough draft.
1. This activity will help students understand that stories have a beginning, middle,, and end. Take a piece of paper and fold it into thirds. Label the boxes beginning, middle, and end. Read a short story to the students and have them draw the beginning, middle, and end in the appropriate boxes. The beginning starts the story. The middle has most of the action, and the end tells us how everything turns out.
2. Guidelines for rough draft:
Revise
1. Exploding a moment-tell students they are going to practice writing in slow motion. Ask if they can think of a moment in a film where slow motion is used as a model to follow.
*Adapited from After The End: Teaching and Learning Creative Revision, Barry Lane
Edit
1. Color editing (adapted from Steve Dunn) -ask the students to look through their rough draft and use colors to edit. Using red, circle all ending punctuation. The students can then check for correct use of punctuation as well as for sentence fluency. Using green, circle around the first word of each sentence. The students will check for capitalization along with word choice at the beginning of each sentences. Beginning at the end of the rough draft, put a blue dot under each word that is spelled correctly. Check backwards for correct spelling.
Publish
Resources
Write On Reader. This site was created by a fifth grade classroom. It includes surveys of favorite authors and books as well as instructions for making and publishing your own book.