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writing guidelines, aeu notes
Citation preview
by Steve Peha
TheWritingProcess
Notebook
“FULL”
Version
For MoreinForMation
VisitttMs.org
The best way to teachis the way that makes sense
to you, your kids,and your community.
www.ttms.org
© 1995-2002 by Steve Peha. For more information, or for additional teaching materials, please contact: Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • E-mail [email protected] • Web www.ttms.org
NotebookA Practical Way to Get Kids Organized For Writer’s Workshop
The
What is the Notebook? The notebook is a way for kids to keep track of allthe work they generate in Writer’s Workshop. One of the first problems
teachers encounter when they begin using Writer’s Workshop everyday is that their kids create enormous amounts of writing. Kidscan turn out 20-30 pages or more in just a few weeks. Andbefore you know it, desks are bulging with loose papers that noone wants to throw away, but at the same time no one knowswhat to do with them either. If you don’t have a way of helping thekids organize their own work, you end up doing it for them. Andthat’s just not practical.
How Do I Use the Notebook? Each section of the notebookis tied to a particular section of the Writing Process. As students
move pieces from one stage to the next, have them store the thingsthey are working on in the appropriate section. All their pre-writing work
will be in the Pre-writing section, all their drafts in Drafting, and so on.When a piece is finished, it can be saved in the Publishing section. From
time to time, ask the kids to clean out their notebooks. You may want to setup some kind of permanent “archive” or classroom library to allow kids to save thingsthroughout the year (ideally for portfolios), or you can just have kids take things home.Once a piece has gone through publishing, kids should feel free to throw out most ofthe preliminary materials they created, but try to encourage them not to throw awayanything from Section 3: Responding or Section 7: Assessing. This is extremely valu-able information that is well worth reviewing from time to time throughout the year. Inaddition to helping kids stay organized, this type of notebook format is ideal for show-ing to parents at conference time because it illustrates in one place all the activitiesyou are doing in your writing program, and how each student is handling those activ-ities. Remember, too, that students can use this notebook to organize all the writingyou do in class, not just writing from Writer’s Workshop.
Do I Have to Use This Notebook? Absolutely not. In fact, I would encourageteachers to introduce their own notebook format that is ideally suited to their studentsand their style of teaching. This is the notebook I would hand out to my kids. It is verymuch in my style. But if you think it would work for you, please use it. Among otherthings, it has a lot of useful information about the Writing Process built into it. And thismaterial can easily be used as the basis for mini-lessons. To help you get started withcreating your own notebook, I have also included a set of “blank” section covers withjust the names of the stages of the Writing Process. In general, this type of notebookformat can be used for kids of all ages, except possibly very small children. My feelingis that 2nd graders and perhaps even some 1st graders should be able to managesomething like this. However, for many primary students, a simpler folder arrangementmay be more effective. For the most part, these very young students are not goingthrough the full Writing Process. They don’t need seven sections in a three-ring binderto stay organized. Last but not least, you may want to consider the addition of aneighth section at the back that students can use to save handouts, keep log or journalentries, and store other miscellaneous materials that don’t fit neatly into one of theseven main sections.
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
gPr
ocess
with
Sonja
Butl
er
© 1995-2002 by Steve Peha. For more information, or for additional teaching materials, please contact: Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • E-mail [email protected] • Web www.ttms.org
What is Pre-Writing? As its name implies,pre-writing is any writing you do before you start writing.Sound confusing? It’s not. We all do a little bit of thinking beforewe write (yes, even you). So why not write some of that thinking down?Maybe you don’t know exactly what you’re going to write about. Maybeyou don’t know what you’re going to write about at all. The fun of pre-writing is that it really doesn’t matter. Pre-writing is a time that you canuse to experiment, to jot down a few quick ideas, to try out somethingnew without having to try very hard, to take a little time to gather yourthoughts and choose a direction before you start drafting.
What Can I Do During Pre-Writing? You can do just about anythingyou want. You can draw. You can read (just like Alex down there in thepicture). You can make notes. You can scribble random thoughts. Youcan make a web or a story map. You can do anything that will help youcome up with good ideas for writing. It doesn’t really matter what youdo, as long as it involves turning on your brain and thinking about yourtopic. Then, just write down whatever pops into your noggin. As youbegin to put ideas down on the page, see if you can organize them insome way. Take your time. There’s no rush. Time spent pre-writing istime well spent.
Why is Pre-Writing Important? If you play sports or a musicalinstrument you know that it’s always a good idea to warm upbefore you start to play. (Actually, if you’re like most kids,you probably just ignore advice like this when silly adultslike me start yackin’ away like we think we’re handingdown some big secret that if you don’t know all about itsomething awful will happen. But anyway…) That’s kind of what pre-writing is. It’s warm-up. It gets your mind loose and limber so that bythe time you’re ready to start drafting, you can push the pencilaround the page without straining your brain too hard. Youknow the feeling: you sit there with that lazy look onyour face thinking, “I don’t know what to write.”You’re just not warmed up. That’s all. And ev-erybody knows you can’t play your best whenyou’re not warmed up. So do a little pre-writ-ing before you take the field. Chances are, yourgame will be much better for it.
Make Some Notes2
Pick a Topic1
A MESSAGE FROM MR. PEHA
“When I was your age, we didn’t get to
do pre-writing. We just started with
drafting, and boy was that a mess. We’d
all be writing away, not having any idea
what we were doing, and then…
BLAMMO! Writer’s block. Pencils froze
up mid-sentence. Sweat star ted
streaming from our brows. The air be-
came thick with the palpable anxiety of
young writers who knew they were in
for it. (I think some kids even had to
go to the nurse.) All I can say is you
don’t know how lucky you are to have
teachers who let you do pre-writing.”
1The Writing ProcessStage One
Pre-Writing
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
1 01
Thr
u th
e WP
(Pre
-Writ
ing)
.doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Choo
se S
omet
hing
to
Writ
e Ab
out
he fi
rst s
tage
of T
he W
ritin
g Pr
oces
s is c
alle
d Pr
e-W
ritin
g. “
Pre”
mea
ns “
be-
fore
”, a
nd y
ou a
lread
y kn
ow w
hat w
ritin
g m
eans
. But
wha
t doe
s “pr
e-w
ritin
g”
mea
n? S
ound
s kin
da w
eird
doe
sn’t
it? H
ow c
ould
you
do
any
writ
ing
befo
re y
ou
did
any
writ
ing?
Her
e yo
u ar
e, sh
arpe
ned
penc
il at
the
read
y, e
ager
to c
rank
out
an
othe
r 500
0 w
ords
bef
ore
lunc
h, a
nd so
meb
ody
says
you
’ve
got t
o do
this
“pr
e” w
rit-
ing
stuf
f bef
ore
you
can
even
get
star
ted.
(As i
f you
did
n’t h
ave
enou
gh to
do
alre
ady!
) W
ell,
you
don’
t abs
olut
ely
have
to d
o an
y pr
e-w
ritin
g, b
ut m
any
writ
ers f
ind
that
thei
r w
ork
com
es m
uch
easi
er, a
nd tu
rns o
ut m
uch
bette
r, w
hen
they
giv
e it
a try
. O
ne o
f the
thin
gs th
at p
re-w
ritin
g is
par
ticul
arly
goo
d fo
r is h
elpi
ng y
ou fi
nd so
me-
thin
g go
od to
writ
e ab
out.
Let’s
face
it: i
f you
don
’t ha
ve so
met
hing
goo
d to
writ
e ab
out,
som
ethi
ng y
ou re
ally
wan
t to
writ
e ab
out,
som
ethi
ng y
ou h
ave
stro
ng fe
elin
gs a
bout
, th
en y
ou m
ight
as w
ell p
ut d
own
your
pen
cil r
ight
now
and
go
to re
cess
. O
K, c
ome
back
her
e. I
didn
’t m
ean
that
lite
rally
. B
ut I
gues
s in
a w
ay, I
did
. Peo
ple
do th
eir b
est w
ritin
g w
hen
they
’re
writ
ing
abou
t thi
ngs t
hey
care
abo
ut a
nd th
ings
they
kn
ow v
ery
wel
l. Th
ings
we
know
ver
y w
ell o
ften
com
e fr
om o
ur li
fe, t
he ty
pica
l and
un
usua
l thi
ngs t
hat h
appe
n to
us.
Thin
gs w
e ca
re a
bout
are
ofte
n th
ose
thin
gs w
e re
ally
lik
e an
d th
ose
thin
gs w
e re
ally
hat
e.
For h
er fi
rst p
re-w
ritin
g ac
tivity
, Son
ja m
ade
four
list
s: a
list
of t
hing
s she
like
d, a
list
of
thin
gs sh
e ha
ted,
a li
st o
f som
e un
usua
l thi
ngs t
hat h
ave
happ
ened
to h
er in
her
life
, an
d a
list o
f typ
ical
life
exp
erie
nces
. The
n sh
e th
ough
t for
a m
inut
e ab
out w
hich
one
to
choo
se. F
inal
ly, s
he c
hose
“he
ter b
urn”
from
her
“un
usua
l” li
st, b
ut a
s we’
ll so
on fi
nd
out,
it w
asn’
t rea
lly th
e he
ater
that
cau
sed
the
prob
lem
.
Teac
hing
Tips
Cho
osin
g so
met
hing
to w
ritin
g ab
out i
s the
mos
t im
porta
nt
pre-
writ
ing
activ
ity, s
o do
n’t t
ake
it lig
htly
. In
fact
, the
you
nger
or
less
acc
ompl
ishe
d th
e w
riter
, the
mor
e im
porta
nt to
pic
sele
c-tio
n be
com
es. T
radi
tiona
lly, t
each
ers a
ssig
ned
topi
cs. A
t the
ot
her e
nd o
f the
spec
trum
is th
e id
ea th
at st
uden
ts sh
ould
writ
e ab
out a
nyth
ing
they
wan
t. I’
ve h
ad th
e m
ost s
ucce
ss w
ith a
m
iddl
e w
ay: s
tude
nts s
elec
t the
ir ow
n to
pics
from
with
in c
er-
tain
bro
ad a
reas
that
I su
gges
t. H
ere
are
two
basi
c pr
inci
ples
abo
ut to
pic
sele
ctio
n th
at I
al-
way
s giv
e ou
t to
the
stud
ents
I w
ork
with
:
G
ood
writ
ing
com
es fr
om st
rong
feel
ings
. Writ
e ab
out
the
thin
gs y
ou re
ally
car
e ab
out.
G
ood
writ
ing
com
es fr
om li
fe e
xper
ienc
e. W
rite
abou
t w
hat y
ou k
now
. To
this
end
, I h
ave
a lis
t of l
ists
I us
e to
hel
p ki
ds o
n th
eir
way
. The
y al
l tak
e m
ore
or le
ss th
e sa
me
form
as t
he li
sts p
re-
sent
ed in
this
less
on. H
ere
are
som
e ot
her l
ists
that
will
enc
our-
age
kids
to p
ick
topi
cs th
at w
ill h
elp
them
gro
w a
s writ
ers:
Th
ings
you
regr
et, a
nd th
ings
you
are
pro
ud o
f. Th
ings
that
are
eas
y an
d th
ings
that
are
har
d.
Th
ings
you
are
goo
d at
and
thin
gs y
ou a
re n
ot.
Th
ings
that
are
silly
and
thin
gs th
at a
re se
rious
. Th
ings
you
are
an
expe
rt in
and
thin
gs y
ou w
ould
like
to
know
mor
e ab
out.
Th
e fir
st ti
me
you
ever
did
som
ethi
ng a
nd th
e la
st ti
me
you
ever
did
som
ethi
ng.
Of c
ours
e, th
e be
st to
pics
are
thos
e th
at sh
ow u
p on
bot
h si
des o
f one
of t
hese
list
s—th
e co
mpl
icat
ed id
eas t
hat h
ave
both
pos
itive
and
neg
ativ
e as
pect
s. H
elp
your
stud
ents
kee
p pu
rpos
e an
d au
dien
ce in
min
d, fo
r th
ese
are
the
prim
ary
mot
ivat
ors t
hat l
ead
to th
e be
st a
nd m
ost
valu
able
writ
ing
expe
rienc
es. W
hat d
o yo
ur k
ids w
ant t
o sa
y?
And
who
do
they
wan
t to
say
it to
? St
uden
ts sh
ould
sele
ct to
pics
from
the
area
s and
gen
res w
hich
ar
e m
ost l
ikel
y to
hel
p th
em im
prov
e as
writ
ers.
Don
’t w
orry
to
o m
uch
if st
uden
ts w
rite
for w
eeks
or e
ven
mon
ths a
bout
the
sam
e to
pics
. The
y’ll
mov
e on
whe
n th
ey’r
e re
ady.
Kid
s sho
uld
have
cho
ice
but t
hey
may
not
yet
kno
w e
noug
h ab
out t
hem
-se
lves
as w
riter
s and
hum
an b
eing
s to
mak
e go
od c
hoic
es a
ll th
e tim
e. S
o gu
ide
them
thou
ghtfu
lly a
nd “
with
a li
ght t
ouch
.”
T 1 PR
E-W
RITI
NG
Mak
ing
lists
of t
hing
s to
wri
te a
bout
is o
ne
of th
e be
st p
re-w
ritin
g ac
tiviti
es y
ou c
an d
o.
N
ot o
nly
did
Sonj
a fin
d so
met
hing
goo
d to
w
rite
abo
ut, s
he h
as
plen
ty o
f goo
d to
pics
fo
r nex
t tim
e.
Y
ou c
an m
ake
othe
r lis
ts, t
oo. A
ny li
st is
be
tter t
han
none
at a
ll.
Wri
ting
a fic
tion
stor
y? M
ake
a lis
t of
the
best
title
s you
can
th
ink
of, a
nd g
o fr
om
ther
e!
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
2 01
Thr
u th
e WP
(Pre
-Writ
ing)
.doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Make
Som
e No
tes
noth
er g
ood
thin
g to
do
befo
re y
ou a
ctua
lly g
et st
arte
d w
ritin
g is
to m
ake
a fe
w
note
s abo
ut y
our t
opic
. If y
ou c
hose
to w
rite
abou
t som
ethi
ng y
ou li
ke o
r hat
e,
jot d
own
a fe
w th
ough
ts a
bout
why
you
feel
the
way
you
do.
If y
ou’r
e w
ritin
g ab
out s
omet
hing
from
you
r life
, put
dow
n a
few
thin
gs a
bout
how
it a
ll go
t st
arte
d, w
hat h
appe
ned
in th
e m
iddl
e, a
nd h
ow it
end
ed u
p. W
ho w
as th
ere?
How
old
w
ere
you?
How
did
you
feel
? Th
is is
ver
y ca
sual
writ
ing.
You
don
’t ha
ve to
writ
e in
sent
ence
s or e
ven
in p
hras
es,
sing
le w
ords
her
e an
d th
ere
will
wor
k ju
st fi
ne. T
he p
oint
of d
oing
this
is to
jog
your
m
emor
y a
little
bit,
to h
elp
you
put d
own
a fe
w o
f the
big
idea
s you
wan
t to
be su
re to
ta
lk a
bout
.
So
nja
deci
ded
to w
rite
dow
n a
few
sim
ple
thou
ghts
abo
ut w
hat h
appe
ned
to h
er. S
he
quic
kly
wro
te d
own
ever
ythi
ng th
at to
ok p
lace
from
beg
inni
ng to
end
. Thi
s gav
e he
r a
gene
ral p
lan
for h
ow sh
e w
as g
oing
to te
ll he
r sto
ry. T
his m
akes
writ
ing
your
firs
t dra
ft a
lot e
asie
r. Sh
e pr
obab
ly w
on’t
be c
opyi
ng th
ese
wor
ds d
own
exac
tly, s
he’s
just
usi
ng th
is p
re-
writ
ing
activ
ity li
ke “
scra
tch
pape
r,” so
met
hing
roug
h an
d in
form
al th
at sh
e’s p
roba
bly
goin
g to
thro
w a
way
afte
r she
get
s her
firs
t dra
ft fin
ishe
d. B
ut th
ese
thou
ghts
will
giv
e he
r som
ethi
ng to
fall
back
on
if sh
e ge
ts st
uck
and
can’
t fig
ure
out w
hat t
o w
rite.
N
otic
e th
at S
onja
als
o dr
ew a
littl
e pi
ctur
e at
the
end
of th
e se
cond
pag
e. T
hat’s
OK
, to
o. A
nyth
ing
you
wan
t to
do th
at w
ill h
elp
you
get s
tarte
d on
you
r pie
ce is
just
fine
.
Teac
hing
Tips
I hat
ed ta
king
not
es w
hen
I was
in sc
hool
bec
ause
no
one
ever
show
ed m
e ho
w to
use
them
. As s
uch,
not
es w
ere
just
one
m
ore
thin
g I h
ad to
do
that
did
n’t h
ave
any
valu
e to
me.
The
ke
y to
get
ting
kids
to ta
ke n
otes
lies
not
in th
eir t
akin
g bu
t in
thei
r use
. Tha
t’s w
hat I
like
abo
ut th
is li
ttle
exer
cise
. All
kids
ar
e do
ing
is w
ritin
g do
wn,
in se
nten
ces o
r nea
r-se
nten
ces,
wha
t th
ey’r
e go
ing
to w
rite
abou
t. La
ter,
they
’ll si
mpl
y ta
ke th
ese
initi
al a
ttem
pts,
orde
r the
m, a
nd p
ut th
em in
to a
dra
ft.
A re
late
d id
ea th
at w
orks
wel
l for
chi
ldre
n w
ho a
re n
ot p
ara-
grap
hing
eff
ectiv
ely
is c
alle
d “S
ente
nce
Strip
s.” H
ave
your
ki
ds w
rite
out s
ente
nces
on
indi
vidu
al st
rips o
f pap
er. T
hen,
ha
ve th
em so
rt th
e st
rips i
nto
grou
ps o
f rel
ated
idea
s. Fi
nally
, ha
ve th
em p
ut th
e st
rips i
n or
der w
ithin
eac
h gr
oup.
Enc
oura
ge
them
to c
reat
e ne
w st
rips a
s nee
ded
to fi
ll in
the
blan
ks. T
hen
put t
he p
iles i
nto
an o
rder
that
mak
es se
nse.
I d
on’t
use
web
bing
, map
ping
, or o
ther
type
s of m
ore
com
-pl
icat
ed g
raph
ic o
rgan
izer
s. H
ere’
s why
: Fe
w, i
f any
, pro
fess
iona
l writ
ers u
se th
em o
r exp
licitl
y re
com
men
d th
em.
I h
ave
seen
no
sign
ifica
nt re
sear
ch in
dica
ting
that
thes
e to
ols h
elp
kids
writ
e m
ore
effe
ctiv
ely
than
sim
ply
mak
-in
g lis
ts a
s I a
dvoc
ate
here
. Fo
r man
y ki
ds, t
he o
rgan
izer
bec
omes
an
end
in it
self.
Th
e or
gani
zer o
ften
dete
rmin
es w
hat k
ids d
o, n
ot th
e ot
her w
ay a
roun
d.
I h
ave
neve
r see
n an
exp
licit
reco
mm
enda
tion
for t
heir
use
by a
ny o
f the
lead
ing
teac
her/r
esea
rche
rs (G
rave
s, A
twel
l, C
alki
ns, E
mig
, Mur
ray,
Elb
ow, e
tc.).
I d
on’t
mea
n to
be
dogm
atic
abo
ut th
is a
t all.
I w
ould
nev
er
tell
a ch
ild th
ey c
ould
n’t u
se a
n or
gani
zer.
Just
mak
e su
re y
ou
show
them
how
to tr
ansl
ate
thei
r “or
gani
zed”
wor
k in
to a
ctua
l w
ritin
g. M
odel
this
pro
cess
as o
ften
as p
ossi
ble.
A
nd la
st b
ut n
ot le
ast…
avo
id o
utlin
ing.
Onc
e ag
ain,
few
pr
ofes
sion
al w
riter
s use
out
linin
g, a
nd p
rom
inen
t res
earc
hers
ra
rely
reco
mm
end
it. L
ike
grap
hic
orga
nize
rs, o
utlin
ing
is y
et
anot
her p
re-w
ritin
g to
ol, b
ut it
’s p
opul
arity
is m
ore
the
resu
lt of
ac
adem
ic tr
aditi
on th
an re
al w
orld
eff
ectiv
enes
s. G
ive
min
i-les
sons
on
all t
hese
tech
niqu
es. B
ut m
ake
sure
ea
ch le
sson
focu
ses n
ot o
n th
e te
chni
que
itsel
f, bu
t how
the
tech
niqu
e he
lps w
riter
s har
vest
the
frui
t of t
heir
pre-
writ
ing
la-
bors
, pac
kage
it u
p, a
nd sh
ip it
off
to m
arke
t for
hun
gry
read
-er
s.
A
1 PR
E-W
RITI
NG
M
akin
g no
tes i
s a g
reat
way
to p
lan
out y
our p
iece
, Try
it!
© 1995-2002 by Steve Peha. For more information, or for additional teaching materials, please contact: Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • E-mail [email protected] • Web www.ttms.org
What is Drafting? When countries fight wars, sometimes they startdrafting people to fight them. They send you a letter in the mail, andoff you go. (If you don’t go they send you to jail, so either way you’regoing somewhere.) If you’re a college sports star the same thing canhappen. The pro teams start drafting people, they pick you, and you’reoff to a new city to play ball. (Same idea as being drafted for a war butyou make a lot more money, people don’t try to shoot you, and youcan wear your hair any way you want.) When race car drivers driveright up behind the cars in front of them, they do it to take advantageof the reduced air pressure that follows in the wake of the car ahead.This helps them go faster without pushing their engines quite ashard. It’s almost as if the car in front is helping to pull them along.This is called drafting. What’s my point? Well, the conventional mean-ing of the word “drafting” is, and I quote: “A preliminary version of aplan, document, or picture.” But all that tells you is that a draft issomething that isn’t finished. Big deal. You probably already knewthat. But what you may not have known is that drafting is all aboutbeing pulled into your topic and letting it carry you along right behind.You’ve thought about it during pre-writing, you may have even writtena few notes, now just let yourself go. Let yourself be drawn in by thepower of your own ideas. Get up close to them, put your pencil on thepaper, open up the throttle of your imagination, and don’t stop untilyou cross the finish line.
What Makes Drafting Hard? Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not.You see, a lot of us don’t like to drive fast. We putz around the trackat 10 miles an hour, and then we wonder why we never get anywhere.But hey, going fast is scary, right? And then there’s folks who spendmost of their lives with their foot on the break pedal. That’s self-consciousness—the feeling that what you’re writing is stupid, or thatit doesn’t make any sense, or that it will somehow embarrass you. So,drafting isn’t really about doing something, it’s about not doing some-thing else. It’s about not psyching yourself out, not making yourselfafraid, not worrying about spinning out in the third turn and losingthe race, because here’s the deal: you can’t crash. That’s right. Draft-ing is like playing a race car video game with an endless supply ofquarters. If you end up in a ditch with nothing to write about, just popin another coin, pick up your pencil, and start driving again on someother part of your topic.
What Should I Do? Just keep going. If you feel your self-conscious-ness catching up with you, hit the gas pedal and outrun it. If you thinkyou’re running out of gas, come in for a pitstop: take a look at whatyou wrote during pre-writing, fuel up on some of the notes you madebefore the race began, and then just get back out there on the track.Try to remember this: it’s a long, long race from beginning to end,and part of the trick to finishing in good form is keeping that in mind.Every idea is 500 miles long, and every writer has to drive aroundthat oil-soaked oval again and again, one mile at a time. Sometimesyou’re inspired and the driving is a blast, but sometimes you’re notand the driving is no fun at all. That’s what being a writer is all about;it’s about writing even when you don’t want to, even when it’s hard,even when it looks like you’re the last car on the track struggling tofinish the race long after all the other drivers have seen the check-ered flag and all the fans have gone home.
Drafting2
Start Writing1
Don’t Stop2
A MESSAGE FROM MR. PEHA
“Writing is hard. Anybody who tells you
it isn’t is lying. But lots of things in life
are hard, and we do them all the time
because they’re important; they make
a difference in our lives and in the lives
of others. Writing is one of those
things. People will tell you that if it isn’t
going well, take a break. But I say stick
it out. If you can learn how to work
through the rough spots, they won’t
be so rough in the future. Day by day,
little by little, sentence by sentence,
word by word… writing will get easi-
er—but only if you learn to do it when
it’s hard.”
The Writing ProcessStage Two
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
3 02
Thr
u th
e WP
(Dra
fting
).doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Star
t Dr
afti
ng
s soo
n as
you
’ve
deci
ded
wha
t to
writ
e ab
out,
and
sket
ched
out
a fe
w th
ough
ts,
just
gra
b a
penc
il an
d go
to it
. Jus
t sta
rt w
ritin
g. A
nd d
on’t
stop
unt
il yo
u ge
t to
the
end.
Use
the
note
s you
cre
ated
dur
ing
pre-
writ
ing
for i
nspi
ratio
n, b
ut fe
el
free
to c
hang
e th
ings
her
e an
d th
ere
if yo
u’re
so in
clin
ed. Y
our p
re-w
ritin
g m
a-te
rials
are
mer
ely
mea
nt to
gui
de y
ou a
s you
wen
d yo
ur w
ay th
roug
h th
is v
ery
early
st
age
of c
reat
ing
a pi
ece
of w
ritin
g.
That
’s a
n im
porta
nt th
ing
to k
eep
in m
ind:
it’s
ear
ly. Y
ou’r
e on
ly d
rafti
ng. Y
ou’v
e st
ill g
ot a
long
way
to g
o—m
any
oppo
rtuni
ties t
o ch
ange
wha
t you
’ve
writ
ten,
to re
view
an
d re
vise
, to
add
and
subt
ract
, to
mod
ify a
nd m
ake
corr
ectio
ns. D
o yo
ur b
est,
but d
on’t
get d
istre
ssed
. Thi
s is n
ot y
our f
inal
cop
y, it
’s m
erel
y th
e fir
st o
f wha
t will
pro
babl
y be
m
any
atte
mpt
s to
get t
hing
s “ju
st ri
ght.”
And
with
eac
h at
tem
pt y
ou m
ake,
you
’ll g
et a
lit
tle c
lose
r to
you
goal
of c
reat
ing
a pi
ece
of w
ritin
g th
at sa
ys e
xact
ly w
hat y
ou w
ant i
t to
say
exac
tly th
e w
ay y
ou w
ant t
o sa
y it.
Y
ou c
an se
e th
at S
onja
’s g
otte
n of
f to
a go
od st
art.
In fa
ct, s
he’s
writ
ten
dow
n he
r en-
tire
stor
y fr
om b
egin
ning
to e
nd. S
he’s
com
plet
ed h
er fi
rst d
raft.
Not
ice,
too,
that
she
didn
’t ju
st c
opy
dow
n he
r pre
-writ
ing
note
s. So
me
of h
er p
re-w
ritin
g is
in h
er d
raft,
but
sh
e’s a
dded
som
e ne
w th
ings
, too
. O
ne th
ing
you
mig
ht th
ink
abou
t tha
t Son
ja d
id n
ot d
o is
this
: whe
n yo
u ar
e dr
aftin
g,
inst
ead
of w
ritin
g on
eve
ry li
ne, t
ry to
writ
e on
eve
ry o
ther
line
. Thi
s will
mak
e it
easi
er
for y
ou to
mod
ify y
our w
ork
late
r on.
(And
bes
ides
, it m
akes
you
feel
like
you
’re
writ
-in
g tw
ice
as m
uch!
)
Teac
hing
Tips
Can
you
real
ly te
ach
draf
ting?
Is th
ere
anyt
hing
to te
ach?
Pr
obab
ly n
ot in
the
tech
nica
l sen
se th
at w
e us
ually
thin
k of
, but
th
ere
is m
uch
we
can
do, i
t see
ms t
o m
e, to
hel
p ki
ds a
t thi
s st
age—
and
muc
h w
e sh
ould
be
doin
g, to
o.
If y
ou th
ink
abou
t it,
writ
ers a
re a
lmos
t alw
ays d
rafti
ng. A
ny
time
you
writ
e a
sent
ence
or a
phr
ase
for t
he fi
rst t
ime,
you
’re
draf
ting.
Eve
n w
hen
you’
re re
visi
ng, y
ou’r
e of
ten
draf
ting.
I h
ave
com
e to
thin
k of
dra
fting
as t
he c
opyi
ng o
f wor
ds in
th
e w
riter
’s h
ead
onto
the
page
. So,
one
way
we
mig
ht h
elp
kids
get
star
ted
is to
val
idat
e th
is id
ea o
f jus
t writ
ing
wha
t’s o
n yo
ur m
ind.
So-
calle
d “f
ree
writ
ing,
” if
done
for s
hort
perio
ds
of ti
me
and
on a
regu
lar b
asis
, is p
roba
bly
the
best
way
to g
et
kids
to b
ecom
e fa
mili
ar w
ith th
is si
mpl
e bu
t elu
sive
tran
sac-
tion.
W
hat s
urpr
ises
me
is n
ot th
at so
man
y ki
ds c
an’t
do th
is, b
ut
that
so m
any
don’
t thi
nk it
’s O
K. T
o ge
t kid
s com
forta
ble
with
th
is, I
do
a fo
rmal
min
i-les
son
in w
hich
I si
mpl
y w
rite
as fa
st a
s I c
an in
fron
t of t
hem
whi
le a
t the
sam
e tim
e sp
eaki
ng e
ach
wor
d as
I w
rite
it. It
’s v
ery
funn
y: I
mak
e a
lot o
f mis
take
s, m
y ha
ndw
ritin
g is
bad
, and
rare
ly d
oes w
hat I
writ
e m
ake
muc
h se
nse.
But
I do
get
som
e pe
arls
her
e an
d th
ere,
and
I al
way
s sh
ow k
ids h
ow I
can
go b
ack
to e
dit a
nd re
vise
the
roug
h re
-m
arks
I’ve
scrib
bled
dow
n du
ring
draf
ting.
I th
ink
mod
elin
g is
th
e ke
y he
re b
ecau
se it
is se
lf-co
nsci
ousn
ess,
mor
e th
an a
ny
lack
of a
bilit
y or
kno
wle
dge,
that
mak
es d
rafti
ng p
robl
emat
ic.
The
abili
ty o
f a g
roup
of s
tude
nts t
o dr
aft i
s ofte
n in
dica
tive
of th
eir p
ast e
xpos
ure
to w
ritin
g as
a th
inki
ng to
ol. C
hild
ren
shou
ld b
e w
ritin
g al
l day
long
, man
y tim
es e
ach
day,
ofte
n fo
r ju
st a
few
min
utes
her
e an
d th
ere.
It is
the
regu
larit
y of
thes
e “q
uick
writ
e” se
ssio
ns (a
not
e in
a re
adin
g lo
g, a
jour
nal e
ntry
, a
note
to th
e te
ache
r, a
“to
do”
list,
a si
gn, a
resp
onse
, a q
ues-
tion,
a m
emor
y, a
rem
inde
r, a
desc
riptio
n, e
tc.)
that
hel
ps k
ids
loos
en u
p. T
he b
est w
ay to
impr
ove
draf
ting
is to
mak
e su
re
your
kid
s are
eng
aged
in c
asua
l writ
ing
thro
ugho
ut th
e da
y.
Fina
lly, a
noth
er th
ing
we
can
do is
to w
atch
our
use
of t
radi
-tio
nal t
erm
inol
ogy
like
“rou
gh d
raft”
or “
first
dra
ft” o
r “fin
al
draf
t” w
hich
can
mak
e th
e pr
oces
s of d
rafti
ng se
em m
uch
mor
e fo
rmal
than
it re
ally
is, a
nd h
ence
mor
e in
timid
atin
g. In
fact
, if
I had
my
way
, I’d
pro
babl
y ju
st a
bolis
h th
e te
rm “
draf
ting”
al-
toge
ther
in fa
vor o
f a le
ss sp
ecifi
c te
rm: “
writ
ing.
” B
ut it
is a
us
eful
term
as l
ong
as w
e ar
e ca
refu
l not
to a
ttach
to it
any
ex-
tra fo
rmal
ity, o
r the
sens
e th
at c
hild
ren
ofte
n ge
t tha
t som
ehow
dr
aftin
g is
a p
erfo
rman
ce th
at h
as to
be
exec
uted
in a
cer
tain
w
ay a
nd to
a c
erta
in a
rbitr
ary
stan
dard
.
A
2 DR
AFTI
NG
J
ust s
tart
wri
ting,
and
don
’t st
op u
ntil
you
get t
o th
e en
d!
© 1995-2002 by Steve Peha. For more information, or for additional teaching materials, please contact: Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • E-mail [email protected] • Web www.ttms.org
Think it Over3
The Writing ProcessStage Three
What is Sharing? Sharingmeans just what it says: shar-ing your work with other peo-ple and getting some feedback-about how you’re doing. Mostwriters in a writer’s workshop getresponse from other writers whenthey share their work in front of thewhole group. Your piece doesn’t haveto be finished for you to share it. Infact, it’s probably better for you to shareit several times long before it’s done, soyou have a chance to make changesbased on the comments you receive. Onething that helps is to focus your audienceon something in particular that you wouldlike them to respond to. Try this: “My piece iscalled…. I’d like you to listen for…, and tellme what you think about it.”
What Makes This Stage Hard? There are two troublesome thingsabout the sharing stage: getting responses and giving them. Standingup in front of the group and sharing your writing takes guts. You’reafraid people will laugh at you or that they won’t like your writing. Maybe
you don’t read very well. Or maybe you just don’t likewhat you’ve written. The only way to conquer yourfears is get up there in front of everyone and facethem. Each time you do it, you’ll begin to feel morecomfortable. After a while, sharing will be fun and you’llwant to do it all the time. On the other hand, com-menting on someone else’s writing can also be diffi-cult. Telling another writer that you like or hate theirpiece, while possibly an honest reaction, really isn’tvery helpful. The writer needs to know why you feelthe way you do and what specific parts of the writingmake you feel that way. It’s important to be both hon-est and respectful of other writer’s feelings. And thisis a balancing act that takes time to perfect and a
great deal of maturity. One tip for making insightful and appropriatecomments is to rely on the language of the Six Traits criteria. Phrasingyour reactions in these terms virtually guarantees that any commentsyou make will always be positive and constructive.
What Should I Do? Start by sharing your work with other people. Ifyou don’t feel comfortable sharing in front of the group, share with afriend or a parent or your teacher. Just share.
And see what happens. Most writersare pleasantly surprised by how muchfun it is to present their work to oth-ers. When it comes to responding to
others, try this: as you listen to thewriting being read make a mental noteof what you like and what you don’t. Then,before you make a comment, jot down anote or two. Try to answer these two ques-
Use Your Criteria1
Get Other Opinions2Hmm…
A MESSAGE FROM MR. PEHA
“Writing is a lonely business. You think
up something to write about: alone.
You make notes: alone. You draft:
alone. But in the end, the experience
you’ve created on the page begs to
be shared with others. So why not
share your work along the way? Ask
your teacher, your parents, your
friends, your enemies—ask anyone
to read your work and tell you what
they think. You don’t have to take their
advice, but it can’t hur t to consider it.
And do the same for other writers
when you can.”
Sharing3
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
4 03
Thr
u th
e WP
(Res
pond
ing)
.doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Get
Some
Fee
dbac
k ou
’ve
cran
ked
out a
dra
ft, n
ow w
hat?
Are
you
fini
shed
? Y
our p
iece
pro
babl
y do
esn’
t loo
k ve
ry fi
nish
ed. I
t pro
babl
y lo
oks a
bit
like
Sonj
a’s—
a lit
tle m
essy
w
ith a
few
cro
ssou
ts h
ere
and
ther
e, a
few
fals
e st
arts
per
haps
, a fe
w te
ntat
ive
ram
blin
gs, m
aybe
eve
n so
me
dood
ling
in th
e m
argi
ns. S
o w
here
do
you
go fr
om
here
? H
ow d
o yo
u fig
ure
out w
hat t
o do
nex
t? H
ow c
an y
ou d
eter
min
e w
hich
pat
h to
ta
ke to
mak
e yo
ur p
iece
the
very
bes
t it c
an b
e?
Whe
n yo
u do
n’t k
now
whi
ch w
ay to
go,
it’s
alw
ays a
goo
d id
ea to
ask
for d
irect
ions
. A
nd th
e fir
st p
erso
n to
ask
is y
ours
elf.
Star
t by
read
ing
wha
t you
’ve
writ
ten
from
beg
in-
ning
to e
nd w
ithou
t sto
ppin
g, a
nd th
en a
sk y
ours
elf…
Hm
mm
… W
hat s
houl
d yo
u as
k yo
urse
lf?
This
is w
here
the
Six
Trai
ts c
riter
ia c
ome
in h
andy
. Loo
king
at t
he c
riter
ia is
a li
ttle
like
read
ing
the
answ
ers t
o a
test
bef
ore
you
take
it. T
hese
are
the
thin
gs y
our w
ritin
g ne
eds t
o be
eff
ectiv
e. D
o yo
u ha
ve th
em?
Of c
ours
e, it
’s a
lso
a go
od id
ea to
talk
to o
ther
peo
ple,
too,
esp
ecia
lly p
eopl
e w
ho
mig
ht b
e pa
rt of
you
r aud
ienc
e. A
sk y
our f
riend
s wha
t the
y th
ink.
Get
som
e co
mm
ents
fr
om y
our t
each
er o
r ano
ther
adu
lt at
scho
ol. A
sk y
our p
aren
ts to
read
it a
nd g
ive
you
thei
r opi
nion
.
Teac
hing
Tips
Res
pons
e ca
n ta
ke m
any
form
s. I h
ave
feat
ured
in th
is le
sson
th
e id
ea o
f usi
ng th
e Si
x Tr
aits
crit
eria
as a
mea
ns se
lf-as
sess
men
t and
revi
sion
pla
nnin
g, b
ut th
at’s
har
dly
the
only
so
urce
of i
nspi
ratio
n w
riter
s sho
uld
seek
. Y
our r
egul
ar d
aily
shar
ing
is th
e fir
st p
lace
writ
ers w
ill g
et
feed
back
. Don
’t un
dere
stim
ate
the
pow
er o
f pee
r res
pons
e. W
e ar
e al
l inf
luen
ced
mor
e by
our
pee
rs th
an o
ur su
perio
rs, a
nd
youn
g w
riter
s are
no
exce
ptio
n. If
you
wan
t you
r stu
dent
s to
star
t sol
ving
cer
tain
pro
blem
s, us
e yo
ur sh
arin
g tim
e fo
r thi
s pu
rpos
e. M
ove
the
disc
ussi
on g
ently
tow
ard
your
are
as o
f con
-ce
rn, a
nd th
en b
ack
off a
nd le
t the
kid
s tak
e it
from
ther
e.
Bey
ond
larg
e gr
oup
shar
ing,
you
hav
e yo
ur m
ini-
conf
eren
ces,
peer
con
fere
nces
, con
fere
nces
with
oth
er a
dults
, an
d es
peci
ally
with
par
ents
. Ask
par
ents
to re
spon
d fo
rmal
ly in
w
ritin
g to
thei
r chi
ldre
n’s w
ork.
Sho
w th
em th
e cr
iteria
for S
ix
Trai
ts, a
nd th
en a
sk th
em to
wor
k th
at v
ocab
ular
y in
to th
eir r
e-sp
onse
s whe
neve
r app
ropr
iate
. B
ut g
ettin
g fe
edba
ck is
onl
y pa
rt of
the
deal
. It’s
wha
t a
writ
er d
oes w
ith it
that
cou
nts.
Yes
, tha
t’s re
visi
ng, b
ut th
e se
eds o
f suc
cess
ful r
evis
ion
are
sew
n du
ring
the
resp
ondi
ng
stag
e—an
d th
at’s
why
it n
eeds
to b
e a
form
al st
age
of th
e pr
oc-
ess.
I ofte
n as
k ki
ds to
writ
e do
wn
the
mor
e im
porta
nt re
-sp
onse
s the
y ge
t. Y
ou c
an u
se a
two-
colu
mn
form
at so
kid
s can
re
cogn
ize
wha
t’s w
orki
ng a
nd w
hat s
till n
eeds
wor
k. T
hen,
as
they
revi
se, e
ncou
rage
them
to g
o ba
ck to
this
list
from
tim
e to
tim
e. I
like
to c
all i
t a “
revi
sion
pla
n,”
and
thou
gh th
at’s
rath
er
form
al, y
ou m
ay fr
om ti
me
to ti
me
wan
t to
requ
ire th
e cr
eatio
n of
such
a p
lan
befo
re st
uden
ts m
ove
ahea
d.
Usi
ng th
e Si
x Tr
aits
crit
eria
, in
a fo
rmal
way
as I
hav
e de
m-
onst
rate
d in
this
less
on, i
s pro
babl
y th
e be
st w
ay to
intro
duce
st
uden
ts to
inde
pend
ent s
elf-
asse
ssm
ent.
I hav
e ki
ds fi
ll ou
t a
lot o
f the
se. I
n fa
ct, I
hav
e th
em lo
ok a
t the
crit
eria
eac
h tim
e th
ey th
ink
they
are
fini
shed
. I d
on’t
mak
e th
em a
ddre
ss e
very
is
sue,
just
the
one’
s the
y th
ink
are
impo
rtant
. But
I ha
ve n
o-tic
ed th
at th
e m
ere
repe
titio
n of
this
ritu
al h
as th
e ef
fect
of
mak
ing
stud
ents
muc
h m
ore
awar
e of
thei
r ow
n w
ritin
g. A
s D
onal
d G
rave
s has
poi
nted
out
, we
spen
d a
lot o
f tim
e te
achi
ng
kids
to re
ad th
e w
ritin
g of
oth
ers,
but v
irtua
lly n
o tim
e te
achi
ng
them
to re
ad th
eir o
wn.
Tha
t’s w
hat r
espo
nse
is a
ll ab
out.
It’s
like
getti
ng d
iffer
ent “
read
s” o
n yo
ur o
wn
mat
eria
l so
you
can
com
e to
read
it b
ette
r you
rsel
f. Th
e Si
x Tr
aits
crit
eria
act
like
a
guid
e. T
hey
don’
t tel
l the
writ
er w
hat t
o th
ink,
they
tell
the
writ
er h
ow to
thin
k ab
out t
he w
ritin
g th
ey a
re re
adin
g.
Y 3 SE
LF-A
SSES
S
Use
the
Six
Trai
ts c
rite
ria
to fi
nd o
ut h
ow to
impr
ove
your
pie
ce.
© 1995-2002 by Steve Peha. For more information, or for additional teaching materials, please contact: Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • E-mail [email protected] • Web www.ttms.org
4The Writing Process
Stage Four
RevisingA MESSAGE FROM MR. PEHA
“Finally, after writing professionally for
almost 10 years, I am coming to un-
derstand the value of revision. I used
to hate it. I would crank out a maga-
zine article or a book chapter in a day
or two and never look back. But now,
when I do look back, I see things I
could have improved had I taken the
time to consider my writing from my
reader’s point of view. I now spend
weeks or even months on single piec-
es, revising my writing again and
again—and because of this I feel I
am finally learning to write well.”
Produce a New Revision3
Plan Your Changes1Make Your Changes2
What is Revising? The word “revision” literally means“to see again.” This is what revising is all about. Havingreceived comments about your piece during the Respond-ing stage, you can better see your writing now from thereader’s point of view. That’s the key. Up to this point,you’ve probably been more concerned about yourself—what you wanted to say, how you felt about it, things youwant to include. But now it’s time to shift your thinking justa bit and really start considering your audience. It’s timeto start asking yourself, “How can I say what I want to sayin a way that will make my readers understand how I feeland maybe make them feel that way, too?”
What Makes Revising Hard? Revising is hard becauseit involves four distinctly different things you often have todo all at the same time: [1] Adding things; [2] Movingthings; [3] Cutting things; and [4] Leaving things alone.You may read over a sentence, decide to add a few wordshere and there, realize that you need to move thingsaround, then cut some words that don’t belong, and allthe while you’re thinking about what you can leave alonejust the way it was. And you have to do all this as bothwriter and reader. As a writer, you have to make the changesyou think your readers will appreciate, but then you haveto switch over to the other side and try to experiencethose changes as your readers will. This is an impossibletask. You can’t get it right, you can only come close. This iswhy writers revise their work so much. Revision isn’t some-thing you do just once. Some writers revise parts of theirwork 5, 10, 15 times or more; they revise until they thinkthey’ve gotten it just right.
What Should I Do? Hmm… that’s a very good ques-tion. There’s no one right answer because there’s no oneright way to revise. The important thing to recognize is
how important revising is. It isthe most important stage inthe Writing Process. It is whereyou should be spending mostof your time because it will helpyou more than anything elseto improve. Revising is also themost difficult stage in the Writ-ing Process, so be patient withyourself. Don’t expect to suc-ceed right away. Nothing willtest your patience and cour-age as a writer more than fac-ing up to the task of revisingyour own writing, but there re-ally is no other part of writingthat is more rewarding.
Repeat Until It’s Just Right4
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
5 04
Thr
u th
e WP
(Rev
ising
).doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Plan
You
r Re
vision
s rm
ed w
ith a
mpl
e in
form
atio
n ab
out h
ow to
impr
ove
your
pie
ce, y
ou’r
e re
ady
to
revi
se. T
here
are
man
y di
ffer
ent w
ays t
o re
vise
you
r writ
ing.
Eve
ry w
riter
has
a
diff
eren
t app
roac
h. T
ake
a lo
ok a
t how
Son
ja d
id it
. Afte
r get
ting
som
e fe
edba
ck
on h
er d
raft,
she
deci
ded
to a
dd a
few
thin
gs. S
he m
arke
d th
e pl
aces
whe
re sh
e w
ante
d to
add
new
mat
eria
l by
putti
ng a
num
ber i
n th
e m
argi
n to
the
left
of th
e lin
e w
here
the
new
info
rmat
ion
wou
ld g
o. T
hen,
on
a se
para
te sh
eet o
f pap
er, s
he w
rote
out
th
e se
nten
ces s
he w
ante
d to
add
, and
num
bere
d th
em a
ccor
ding
ly.
Teac
hing
Tips
Rev
isio
n is
the
hard
est p
art o
f writ
ing,
but
that
is ju
st a
s it
shou
ld b
e be
caus
e re
visi
on is
als
o th
e m
ost i
mpo
rtant
par
t. R
e-vi
sion
is w
here
writ
ers i
mpr
ove
thei
r writ
ing,
so if
you
r stu
-de
nts d
on’t
spen
d si
gnifi
cant
tim
e re
visi
ng, i
t is u
nlik
ely
they
w
ill m
ake
sign
ifica
nt im
prov
emen
t. R
evis
ion
is to
ugh
beca
use
it is
real
ly tw
o ta
sks i
n on
e. T
he
first
task
is th
e on
e w
e us
ually
thin
k ab
out,
it’s t
he a
esth
etic
ta
sk: w
hat n
eeds
revi
sing
, wha
t wor
ds n
eed
to b
e ad
ded,
m
oved
, or c
ut to
mak
e th
e pi
ece
bette
r. Th
e se
cond
task
is th
e m
echa
nica
l tas
k: g
iven
the
chan
ges t
hat n
eed
to b
e m
ade,
how
do
es a
writ
er a
ctua
lly e
nter
thos
e ch
ange
s int
o th
e pi
ece?
I’ll
star
t with
aes
thet
ic is
sues
firs
t, si
nce
with
out t
hose
ther
e w
ould
n’t b
e an
y m
echa
nics
to w
orry
abo
ut.
Writ
ers h
ave
four
cho
ices
whe
n re
visi
ng: [
1] a
dd so
met
hing
ne
w; [
2] m
ove
som
ethi
ng a
roun
d; [3
] cut
som
ethi
ng o
ut; a
nd [4
] le
ave
som
ethi
ng a
lone
. I th
row
the
four
th o
ne in
bec
ause
I th
ink
it’s i
mpo
rtant
to h
elp
kids
real
ize
that
dec
idin
g no
t to
re-
vise
som
ethi
ng is
a si
gnifi
cant
act
frau
ght w
ith im
plic
atio
ns
that
nee
ds to
be
cons
ider
ed ju
st a
s car
eful
ly a
s any
thin
g el
se.
Now
, her
e’s t
he to
ugh
part:
the
typi
cal t
ype
of re
visi
on a
w
riter
doe
s inv
olve
s all
four
of t
hese
act
iviti
es si
mul
tane
ousl
y.
You
see
som
ethi
ng y
ou w
ant t
o ch
ange
, you
cut
som
e of
it o
ut,
you
leav
e so
me
of it
beh
ind,
you
add
som
ethi
ng n
ew, a
nd th
en
you
push
thin
gs a
roun
d to
mak
e it
all f
it—to
ugh
wor
k fo
r an
8-ye
ar o
ld. S
o w
hat d
o yo
u do
? St
art w
ith a
ddin
g. T
hat’s
the
easi
est.
Show
kid
s how
to a
dd
sim
ple
thin
gs (t
ypic
ally
det
ails
) tha
t will
impr
ove
thei
r pie
ce.
Intro
duce
them
to si
mpl
e ad
ditio
ns o
f an
entir
e se
nten
ce, p
ara-
grap
h, o
r sec
tion.
Tre
at th
ese
“rev
isio
ns”
esse
ntia
lly a
s min
i-dr
afts
to b
e in
serte
d in
to a
n ex
istin
g pi
ece.
Ne
xt, t
hink
abo
ut m
ovin
g. A
re th
ings
in th
e be
st o
rder
? W
hat
if th
is p
art c
ame
first
and
that
par
t nex
t? M
ovin
g is
eas
y.
Ther
e’s r
eally
no
writ
ing
invo
lved
. It’s
mor
e an
exe
rcis
e in
re
adin
g, a
nd in
thin
king
abo
ut h
ow a
pie
ce w
ill b
e re
ad a
nd e
n-jo
yed
by it
s aud
ienc
e.
Then
cut
. Tre
ad li
ghtly
on
this
act
ivity
at f
irst.
Cut
ting
is
hard
. Hav
ing
stru
ggle
d to
sque
eze
seve
ral s
ente
nces
out
of
thei
r pen
cils
and
ont
o th
e pa
ge, f
ew w
riter
s of a
ny a
ge o
r lev
el
of e
xper
ienc
e, re
lish
the
thou
ght o
f thr
owin
g an
y of
it a
way
. Th
e m
ost i
mpo
rtant
thin
g to
rem
embe
r is t
hat a
ll ch
ange
s sh
ould
be
mot
ivat
ed b
y th
e ne
eds o
f the
aud
ienc
e an
d th
e pu
r-po
se o
f the
pie
ce. W
ithou
t aud
ienc
e or
pur
pose
, rev
isio
n ha
s lit
tle m
eani
ng.
A 4 RE
VISI
NG
The
re a
re m
any
way
s to
revi
se y
our w
ritin
g.
Try
a fe
w d
iffer
ent
thin
gs a
nd th
en p
ick
the
ones
that
wor
k be
st fo
r you
. Dev
elop
yo
ur o
wn
revi
sing
sy
stem
, som
ethi
ng y
ou
can
coun
t on
to p
ro-
duce
the
resu
lts y
ou
wan
t.
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
6 04
Thr
u th
e WP
(Rev
ising
).doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Writ
e Ou
t Yo
ur R
evision
s fte
r mak
ing
a fe
w re
visi
ons,
writ
e th
em o
ut a
nd re
ad e
very
thin
g ov
er a
gain
so
you
can
see
how
you
r cha
nges
fit i
n w
ith w
hat y
ou a
lread
y ha
d. S
omet
imes
, id
eas t
hat l
ook
good
on
a se
para
te p
age
or sc
raw
led
into
the
mar
gins
and
in b
e-tw
een
the
lines
, don
’t so
und
so g
ood
in th
e co
ntex
t of t
he e
ntire
pie
ce.
The
key
here
is p
atie
nce.
The
firs
t tim
e yo
u m
ake
chan
ges m
ay n
ot b
e th
e la
st. I
n fa
ct,
mos
t writ
ers f
ind
them
selv
es re
visi
ng c
onst
antly
. Why
? B
ecau
se re
visi
on is
the
mos
t im
porta
nt th
ing
a w
riter
can
do.
Tim
e sp
ent i
n re
visi
on tu
rns b
ad w
ritin
g in
to g
ood
writ
-in
g, a
nd g
ood
writ
ing
into
gre
at w
ritin
g.
How
man
y tim
es sh
ould
you
revi
se a
pie
ce o
f writ
ing?
As m
any
as y
ou w
ant t
o. Y
ou
can
keep
mak
ing
chan
ges f
orev
er (o
r unt
il yo
ur te
ache
r tel
ls y
ou to
turn
it in
, whi
chev
er
com
es fi
rst).
Eve
ry ti
me
you
finis
h a
revi
sion
, get
som
e fe
edba
ck. L
ook
at y
our S
ix
Trai
ts c
riter
ia a
gain
, tal
k to
you
r frie
nds,
teac
hers
, and
par
ents
. You
don
’t ha
ve to
take
th
e ad
vice
you
r aud
ienc
e gi
ves y
ou, b
ut it
nev
er h
urts
to li
sten
to it
.
Y
ou c
an se
e th
at S
onja
mad
e th
e re
visi
ons s
he h
ad p
lann
ed o
n. S
he a
dded
the
new
se
nten
ces s
he h
ad w
ritte
n, a
nd c
opie
d th
e w
hole
pie
ce o
ut a
gain
. But
wai
t a m
inut
e. H
er
piec
e lo
oks l
ike
it’s j
ust a
bout
as l
ong
as it
was
bef
ore.
How
cou
ld sh
e ha
ve a
dded
so
muc
h ne
w m
ater
ial—
abou
t 10
or 1
2 lin
es—
and
not m
ade
her p
iece
any
long
er?
She
mus
t hav
e ta
ken
som
ethi
ng o
ut?
She
mus
t hav
e de
cide
d, a
fter r
eadi
ng it
ove
r one
mor
e tim
e, th
at so
me
part
didn
’t fit
any
mor
e. A
ppar
ently
, afte
r her
firs
t rev
isio
n, sh
e st
ill h
ad
mor
e re
visi
ng to
do.
Can
you
tell
wha
t she
took
out
? W
hy d
o yo
u th
ink
she
deci
ded
to
mak
e th
is p
artic
ular
revi
sion
?
Teac
hing
Tips
Now
, let
’s lo
ok a
t the
mec
hani
cal i
ssue
s. D
on’t
take
this
lig
htly
. It’s
act
ually
just
as h
ard
or h
arde
r for
you
ng w
riter
s to
man
age
the
mec
hani
cs o
f rev
isio
n as
it is
to d
ecid
e w
hat a
nd
how
to re
vise
. M
anag
ing
addi
tions
. Man
y of
the
little
thin
gs w
riter
s nee
d to
ad
d ca
n ju
st b
e w
ritte
n in
the
blan
k lin
es st
uden
ts le
ave
be-
twee
n ea
ch li
ne w
hen
they
dra
ft. B
ut w
ait a
min
ute.
Ski
ppin
g ev
ery
othe
r lin
e is
not
som
ethi
ng a
ll of
us d
o. In
fact
, mos
t kid
s do
n’t d
o it
unle
ss th
ey a
re e
xplic
itly
told
to d
o so
. Her
e’s h
ow I
hand
le it
. I d
on’t
tell
kids
to sk
ip li
nes w
hen
they
writ
e. I
wai
t un
til th
ey n
eed
to re
vise
and
then
I m
ake
them
aw
are
of h
ow
muc
h ea
sier
it w
ould
be
if th
ey h
ad so
me
spac
e to
wor
k w
ith.
With
all
aspe
cts o
f ins
truct
ion,
it’s
the
ratio
nale
that
’s m
ost i
m-
porta
nt, s
o I t
hink
kid
s sho
uld
com
e to
the
ratio
nale
in a
nat
ural
w
ay, r
athe
r tha
n ha
ving
it im
pose
d fr
om o
utsi
de. Y
es, i
t wou
ld
be g
reat
if a
ll of
us s
kipp
ed a
line
whe
n w
e dr
afte
d, b
ut v
ery
few
of u
s do.
It si
mpl
y is
n’t n
atur
al. S
o if
we
wan
t kid
s to
lear
n ho
w to
do
it, w
e ne
ed to
mak
e su
re th
ey u
nder
stan
d w
hy fi
rst.
For l
arge
r add
ition
s, ha
ve th
e ki
ds m
ark
whe
re th
ey th
ink
they
wan
t the
m to
go
with
a n
umbe
r or a
sym
bol,
and
then
just
w
rite
the
new
mat
eria
l on
a se
para
te p
iece
of p
aper
. The
re’s
no
best
way
to d
o th
is, a
nd u
ltim
atel
y ea
ch k
id w
ill h
ave
to c
ome
up w
ith th
eir o
wn
proc
ess.
So m
ake
it fu
n. A
sk th
e ki
ds to
in-
vent
way
s of d
oing
it. T
ry th
em o
ut a
s a c
lass
and
see
whi
ch
ones
wor
k be
st. A
nd d
on’t
forg
et: m
odel
eve
ryth
ing!
M
anag
ing
mov
es. M
ovin
g te
xt w
ithou
t a c
ompu
ter i
s har
d w
ork.
Onc
e ag
ain,
any
thin
g th
at h
elps
is ju
st fi
ne. I
’ve
had
kids
cu
t the
ir pa
pers
into
pie
ces a
nd re
-ass
embl
e th
em w
hen
nece
s-sa
ry. A
s with
add
ing,
enc
oura
ge k
ids t
o de
velo
p th
eir o
wn
ap-
proa
ches
and
syst
ems.
Shar
e id
eas w
ith th
e cl
ass.
Mod
el.
Man
agin
g cu
ts. F
ortu
nate
ly, t
he m
echa
nics
of c
uttin
g is
as
easy
as t
he a
esth
etic
s of c
uttin
g is
har
d. A
fter a
ll, h
ow m
any
kids
do
you
have
who
can
’t sl
ash
thei
r pen
cil t
hrou
gh a
line
of
text
? H
ere’
s a b
it of
cau
tion,
how
ever
: dis
cour
age
kids
from
er
asin
g te
xt o
r bla
ckin
g it
out s
o th
orou
ghly
that
it c
anno
t be
read
or—
and
this
is th
e im
porta
nt p
art—
retri
eved
whe
n th
e au
-th
or w
ants
it b
ack
late
r. A
ligh
t, th
in h
oriz
onta
l lin
e th
roug
h th
e ve
rtica
l cen
ter o
f a w
ord
wor
ks ju
st fi
ne.
The
way
to g
et k
ids d
oing
thes
e th
ings
is to
mod
el th
em in
yo
ur o
wn
writ
ing
durin
g m
ini-l
esso
ns. H
ave
at le
ast o
ne m
ini-
less
on e
arly
in th
e ye
ar o
n th
e m
echa
nica
l ope
ratio
ns a
ssoc
i-at
ed w
ith e
ach
type
of r
evis
ion.
The
n, p
erio
dica
lly, a
sk k
ids t
o ex
plai
n th
e te
chni
ques
they
use
whe
n re
visi
ng.
A
4 RE
VISI
NG
E
ach
time
you
mak
e su
bsta
ntia
l rev
isio
ns, w
rite
them
out
.
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
7 04
Thr
u th
e WP
(Rev
ising
).doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Make
a C
lean
Cop
y f y
ou’r
e lik
e m
e, y
our h
andw
ritin
g pr
obab
ly is
n’t a
s nea
t as i
t cou
ld b
e. O
K,
I’ll
adm
it it:
my
hand
writ
ing
is a
wfu
l. So
, you
’re
prob
ably
not
like
me.
You
’re
prob
ably
a lo
t nea
ter.
Even
so, r
evis
ing
can
be a
ver
y m
essy
bus
ines
s. So
be-
fore
you
hea
d of
f to
the
editi
ng st
age,
you
may
wan
t to
mak
e a
clea
n co
py th
at
incl
udes
all
the
revi
sion
s you
hav
e m
ade.
D
o yo
u ha
ve to
use
a c
ompu
ter f
or th
is?
Not
at a
ll. C
ompu
ters
can
be
help
ful,
espe
-ci
ally
at t
his s
tage
of t
he w
ritin
g pr
oces
s, bu
t the
y ar
e no
t nec
essa
ry. T
he g
oal h
ere
is
just
to g
et a
nic
e cl
ean
copy
of y
our w
ork,
so y
ou c
an b
egin
to m
ake
the
tiny
corr
ectio
ns
mos
t writ
ers n
eed
to m
ake
befo
re th
ey p
ublis
h th
eir w
ork.
And
mos
t writ
ers—
even
w
riter
s with
abo
min
able
han
dwrit
ing
like
me—
can
copy
out
thei
r ow
n w
ork
quic
kly
and
clea
nly
with
out m
uch
effo
rt.
And
that
’s th
e ke
y: e
ffor
t. W
ritin
g is
har
d en
ough
as i
t is,
you
certa
inly
don
’t w
ant t
o m
ake
it an
y ha
rder
on
your
self.
If y
ou h
aven
’t le
arne
d to
type
—an
d I
mea
n “t
ouch
ty
pe”
with
han
ds o
n th
e ho
me
row
(no
peak
ing)
at l
east
15-
20 w
ords
per
min
ute—
don’
t m
ess w
ith a
com
pute
r. Y
ou’ll
take
muc
h to
o m
uch
time,
and
you
’ll p
roba
bly
crea
te
man
y ty
ping
err
ors t
hat w
ill o
nly
mak
e ed
iting
har
der.
The
Frog
Lep
This
is a
true
stor
y ab
out m
y ba
byho
od. I
t was
the
year
198
7 an
d I w
as te
n
mon
ths o
ld. I
was
in m
y ol
d ho
use
the
one
I was
bor
n in
. I w
as o
n m
y
chan
ging
tabl
e. M
y M
om a
nd D
ad w
ere
with
me.
Tha
y w
ere
stan
ding
righ
t
next
to th
e ch
angi
ng ta
ble.
Tha
t’s th
e w
eird
par
t. I w
as b
eing
cut
e an
d
wag
ging
my
little
cut
e bo
ttom
. My
pare
nts w
ere
adm
ierin
g ho
w c
ute
I was
and
smili
ng. T
hen
I did
a su
din
frog
lep
witc
h re
aly
scar
ed m
y pa
rent
s. I
boun
sed
like
a ba
ll on
to th
e he
ter w
itch
had
skin
y lit
tle ri
bbs.
The
hete
r was
in b
etw
een
the
chan
ging
tabl
e an
d m
y dr
esse
r. Lu
ckel
y th
e he
ter w
as n
ot o
n
but I
did
get
hur
t. W
hen
I was
fini
shed
bou
nsin
g I j
ust s
at th
ere
cove
red
in
brus
es. M
y M
om a
nd D
ad a
nd I
star
ed a
t eac
h ot
her a
nd th
en w
e al
l
scre
med
. My
Mom
pic
ked
me
up a
nd w
e al
l wen
t ove
r to
the
couc
h fo
r a
Sonj
a sa
mw
itch
hug.
The
End
Cau
tions
abo
ut c
ompu
ter u
se a
side
, you
can
see
that
Son
ja h
as ty
ped
up h
er p
iece
. So
nja
is n
ow in
the
4th g
rade
and
has
had
som
e go
od ty
ping
less
ons.
She
also
has
a
com
pute
r at h
ome
and
has b
een
putti
ng in
lots
of p
ract
ice.
She
pro
babl
y co
uld
have
w
ritte
n it
out f
aste
r by
hand
, but
she’
s bee
n w
orki
ng a
t the
com
pute
r for
seve
ral m
onth
s no
w a
nd is
fairl
y co
mfo
rtabl
e w
ith it
.
Teac
hing
Tips
Ever
stay
at a
hot
el w
here
they
hav
e th
ose
cute
littl
e bo
ttles
of
sham
poo?
The
y al
way
s hav
e th
e sa
me
silly
inst
ruct
ions
on
them
: “La
ther
. Rin
se. R
epea
t.” E
ver w
onde
r why
peo
ple
don’
t ju
st st
and
in th
e sh
ower
all
day
in a
nev
er-e
ndin
g cy
cle
of
min
dles
s hai
r was
hing
? H
ow d
o yo
u kn
ow w
hen
revi
sion
is o
ver?
How
do
you
know
w
hen
your
hai
r is c
lean
? W
ell,
it ju
st fe
els c
lean
. It’s
the
sam
e th
ing
with
revi
sion
. Whe
n it
feel
s don
e, it
’s d
one.
For
ver
y yo
ung
or le
ss m
otiv
ated
writ
ers,
revi
sion
is o
ver w
hen
they
say
it is
. For
trul
y m
atur
e w
riter
s, re
visi
on is
a p
roce
ss th
at n
ever
en
ds. M
ost o
f us a
re so
mew
here
in th
e m
iddl
e. D
on’t
push
too
hard
, esp
ecia
lly a
t firs
t. I w
ould
nev
er fo
rce
any
writ
er to
re-
vise
. Rev
isio
n is
too
impo
rtant
to ri
sk m
akin
g w
riter
s hat
e it.
B
ring
kids
gra
dual
ly in
to re
gula
r rev
isio
n by
usi
ng y
our s
har-
ing
time,
the
Six
Trai
ts c
riter
ia, g
entle
coa
chin
g, a
nd th
e na
tu-
ral f
eelin
gs a
ll ki
ds h
ave
to w
ant t
o m
ake
thin
gs b
ette
r. A
nd
don’
t for
get a
bout
aud
ienc
e an
d pu
rpos
e—it
is o
nly
thro
ugh
thes
e tw
o fu
ndam
enta
l iss
ues t
hat k
ids d
evel
op a
sens
e of
why
re
visi
ng is
impo
rtant
. So
, how
shou
ld re
visi
on e
nd?
I thi
nk re
visi
on sh
ould
end
at a
po
int t
hat l
eave
s you
in th
e be
st sh
ape
to e
dit.
Idea
lly th
at
mea
ns w
riter
s sho
uld
have
a c
lean
cop
y to
wor
k fr
om—
pref
erab
ly d
oubl
e sp
aced
. For
man
y w
riter
s, es
peci
ally
the
little
on
es, t
his m
ay p
rese
nt a
pro
blem
. Cop
ying
is ti
me
cons
umin
g an
d la
borio
us. T
rue
enou
gh. B
ut th
e tim
e it
take
s is o
ften
time
wel
l spe
nt a
nd th
e la
bor i
nvol
ved
is a
lso
quite
wor
thw
hile
. If,
for e
xam
ple,
you
’re
a te
ache
r who
teac
hes h
andw
ritin
g fo
r-m
ally
, wha
t bet
ter o
ppor
tuni
ty c
ould
ther
e be
for e
ffec
tive
prac
tice?
And
eve
n if
you
don’
t tea
ch h
andw
ritin
g as
an
iso-
late
d sk
ill, c
opyi
ng w
ork
over
is st
ill a
gre
at w
ay to
pra
ctic
e.
Idea
lly, y
ou’d
like
eac
h st
uden
t to
com
e ou
t of t
he re
visi
ng
stag
e w
ith a
cle
an c
opy
of th
eir p
iece
. Is a
com
pute
r nec
essa
ry
for t
his?
Not
at a
ll. Is
it h
elpf
ul?
Som
etim
es y
es, s
omet
imes
no.
W
hen
shou
ld k
ids b
e us
ing
it? P
roba
bly
not u
ntil
3rd o
r 4th
gr
ade,
and
cer
tain
ly n
ot u
ntil
they
’ve
lear
ned
to to
uch
type
a
little
. Doe
s usi
ng a
com
pute
r mak
e ed
iting
eas
ier?
Yes
, but
on
ly to
the
exte
nt th
at th
e st
uden
t can
type
. If a
stud
ent c
an’t
touc
h ty
pe 1
5-20
wor
ds p
er m
inut
e w
ith re
ason
able
acc
urac
y,
wor
king
at a
com
pute
r will
be
slow
er th
an w
orki
ng b
y ha
nd.
And
the
stud
ent w
ill b
e lik
ely
to in
trodu
ce m
ore
erro
rs th
an
they
cor
rect
. Is i
t unw
ise
to a
sk st
uden
ts to
re-c
opy
thei
r wor
k fr
om ti
me
to ti
me
durin
g th
e W
ritin
g Pr
oces
s? N
o. R
epet
ition
is
the
esse
nce
of c
raft.
I
4 RE
VISI
NG
Whe
ther
you
type
it
up o
r jus
t wri
te it
out
ne
atly
, hav
ing
a cl
ean
copy
with
all
your
re-
visi
ons m
akes
edi
ting
a lo
t eas
ier.
© 1995-2002 by Steve Peha. For more information, or for additional teaching materials, please contact: Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • E-mail [email protected] • Web www.ttms.org
Editing ForFun
and Profit
What is Editing? Editing means many things to manypeople. But here it means only one thing: taking care ofany problems you have with writing conventions like spell-ing, punctuation, grammar, and usage. You can make mi-nor changes to the content of your piece—a word here,a phrase there—but if you want to make bigger chang-es, go back to the Revising stage.
What Makes Editing Hard? Editing is hard becausethere a lot of things you need to know in order todo it well—more things than you can learnin any one year of school. To edit for spell-ing you have to know many words and beable to use a dictionary. To edit for punc-tuation you have to understand how to useevery type of punctuation your writing needs.
What Should I Do? Edit the things you know howto edit. Then, ask someone else to help youwith the rest. Watch what they doso you can do it on your ownnext time. Ask questions if youdon’t understand something.That’s the only way to learn.
Produce Clean Copy3
Cool!
Editing
A MESSAGE FROM MR. PEHA
“I don’t like editing one bit. It is te-
dious, it is boring, and worst of all
I’m not very good at it. But I do it be-
cause I want people to know that I care
enough about what I write to be as
sure as I can be that it is correct. I
know that if I don’t spell correctly, or
use proper punctuation, or write leg-
ibly, or use words in ways that my
readers understand, my writing may
not be very effective. Editing is hard.
I am sure that I will never master it
completely. But over time, and with
much effort, I am getting better at it.”
Find Errors1
Make Corrections2
The Writing ProcessStage Five5
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
8 05
Thr
u th
e WP
(Edi
ting)
.doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Edit
for
Con
vent
ions
don’
t lik
e ed
iting
. I d
on’t
like
it on
e bi
t. It
is b
orin
g, te
diou
s, an
d w
orst
of a
ll it’
s har
d. T
here
are
a lo
t of t
hing
s you
hav
e to
kno
w, a
nd so
met
imes
ther
e’s
not e
ven
an e
asy
way
of f
indi
ng th
em o
ut. B
ut w
e al
l hav
e to
do
it. If
we
don’
t sp
ell c
orre
ctly
, or u
se p
rope
r pun
ctua
tion,
writ
e le
gibl
y, o
r use
wor
ds in
way
s th
at o
ur re
ader
s und
erst
and
and
rely
on,
no
one
will
be
able
to re
ad o
ur w
ritin
g. S
o, ta
ke
editi
ng se
rious
ly, a
nd d
o yo
ur b
est.
That
hav
ing
been
said
, it’s
impo
rtant
to m
entio
n th
at w
e do
n’t “
form
ally
” ed
it ev
ery-
thin
g w
e w
rite.
Whe
n w
e w
rite
a no
te fo
r som
eone
or g
ive
som
eone
dire
ctio
ns, w
e do
n’t
take
our
“w
ork”
all
the
way
thro
ugh
the
writ
ing
proc
ess.
But
, if w
e’re
con
cern
ed a
bout
be
ing
unde
rsto
od (w
ho is
n’t c
once
rned
abo
ut th
is?)
, we’
ll pr
obab
ly ta
ke th
e tim
e to
read
th
ings
ove
r qui
ckly
just
to m
ake
sure
eve
ryth
ing
mak
es se
nse.
How
ever
, whe
n w
e’re
pr
oduc
ing
long
er, m
ore
com
plic
ated
, mor
e fo
rmal
pie
ces o
f writ
ing,
edi
ting
is v
ery
im-
porta
nt, a
nd it
’s so
met
hing
we
need
to ta
ke se
rious
ly.
Edit
your
ow
n w
ritin
g on
ly fo
r the
thin
gs y
ou k
now
how
to e
dit.
Whe
n it
com
es to
th
ings
you
don
’t un
ders
tand
, sta
rt by
ask
ing
som
eone
els
e to
hel
p yo
u. T
hen,
stud
y th
e co
rrec
tions
they
mak
e to
you
r wor
k so
you
can
do
it ne
xt ti
me.
Son
ja’s
edi
ting
is a
goo
d ex
ampl
e of
this
stra
tegy
. Son
ja fe
els t
hat s
he c
an e
dit f
or sp
ellin
g, a
nd fo
r cap
itals
and
pe
riods
, and
she’
s goi
ng to
try
editi
ng fo
r com
mas
, too
, eve
n th
ough
she’
s not
com
-pl
etel
y su
re y
et h
ow to
do
that
. So,
she
circ
les t
he w
ords
she’
s uns
ure
of a
nd th
en c
heck
s th
eir s
pelli
ngs i
n a
dict
iona
ry. A
ll he
r per
iods
and
cap
itals
seem
righ
t to
her,
but s
he
does
put
in a
com
ma
here
and
ther
e. T
hen,
she
asks
me
to lo
ok th
ings
ove
r.
Teac
hing
Tips
Pare
nts,
soci
ety
at la
rge,
and
eve
n m
any
teac
hers
are
ex-
trem
ely
nerv
ous a
bout
chi
ldre
n’s m
aste
ry o
f writ
ing
conv
en-
tions
. The
bes
t way
to te
ach
conv
entio
ns is
in th
e co
ntex
t of
stud
ent w
ritin
g as
that
writ
ing
goes
thro
ugh
the
editi
ng st
age
en
rout
e to
pub
lishi
ng. S
o co
nsid
er th
is in
tere
stin
g im
plic
atio
n: if
yo
u do
n’t t
ake
your
kid
s thr
ough
edi
ting
and
on to
pub
lishi
ng
(man
y tim
es a
yea
r), t
hey
won
’t m
aste
r con
vent
ions
. Th
e ke
y to
hel
ping
kid
s with
con
vent
ions
doe
s not
lie
in
teac
hing
them
a b
unch
of r
ules
and
then
hop
ing
they
can
app
ly
thos
e ru
les i
n th
eir w
ork.
It li
es in
teac
hing
them
a p
roce
ss o
f pr
oduc
ing
conv
entio
nally
cor
rect
writ
ing
and
then
taki
ng th
em
thro
ugh
that
pro
cess
ove
r and
ove
r and
ove
r aga
in. T
hat p
roc-
ess i
s one
of e
ncou
ragi
ng st
uden
ts to
iden
tify
erro
rs, a
nd to
de-
velo
p a
wid
e ra
nge
of a
ppro
pria
te st
rate
gies
for h
andl
ing
them
. W
e em
phas
ize
corr
ectn
ess s
o m
uch
in o
ur so
ciet
y th
at n
o-bo
dy w
ants
to e
ven
cons
ider
the
fact
that
they
mig
ht h
ave
mad
e a
mis
take
. So,
it’s
up
to u
s to
chan
ge th
at. W
e ha
ve to
mak
e ch
ildre
n aw
are
of th
e si
mpl
e re
ality
that
all
writ
ers m
ake
mis
-ta
kes.
No
writ
er w
rites
err
or fr
ee a
ll th
e tim
e. S
o, c
lear
ly,
teac
hing
con
vent
ions
is n
ot a
bout
teac
hing
chi
ldre
n to
writ
e co
rrec
tly, i
t’s a
bout
teac
hing
them
to id
entif
y pr
oble
ms w
hen
they
aris
e an
d to
cor
rect
thos
e pr
oble
ms u
sing
a v
arie
ty o
f dif-
fere
nt te
chni
ques
and
reso
urce
s. It’
s mor
e im
porta
nt to
be
able
to
reco
gniz
e a
prob
lem
than
it is
to k
now
how
to fi
x it.
W
e’re
so h
ung
up in
this
cou
ntry
on
fact
ual k
now
ledg
e as
an
end
in it
self
that
we
forg
et th
is a
bsol
utel
y vi
tal p
rinci
ple.
So,
yo
ur fi
rst g
oal s
houl
d be
get
to g
et k
ids t
o re
cogn
ize
prob
lem
s an
d po
int t
hem
out
. But
how
can
they
do
that
? H
ow c
an th
ey
reco
gniz
e m
issp
ellin
gs if
they
don
’t kn
ow h
ow to
spel
l? H
ow
can
they
put
in p
erio
ds a
nd c
apita
ls if
they
don
’t kn
ow w
hat a
co
mpl
ete
sent
ence
is?
Easy
. The
y ca
n as
k. H
ave
them
circ
le a
ll th
e th
ings
they
’re
not s
ure
of. S
tart
with
spel
ling
first
. The
n m
ove
on to
ext
erna
l pun
ctua
tion
(per
iods
, cap
itals
, que
stio
n m
arks
). Th
en lo
ok a
t int
erna
l pun
ctua
tion
(com
mas
, etc
.). A
nd
final
ly, c
onsi
der p
arag
raph
ing
and
othe
r glo
bal i
ssue
s. A
ren’
t you
eve
r uns
ure
of y
ours
elf?
Hav
en’t
you
ever
writ
ten
a w
ord
dow
n an
d th
en th
ough
t it d
idn’
t loo
k rig
ht?
Hav
en’t
you
ever
read
ove
r a se
nten
ce a
nd g
otte
n a
funn
y fe
elin
g ab
out
it? W
hat d
o yo
u do
? Th
ink
abou
t it a
nd th
en sh
are
your
stra
te-
gies
with
you
r kid
s. Sh
ould
n’t a
ll th
e op
tions
ava
ilabl
e to
com
-pe
tent
adu
lt w
riter
s be
avai
labl
e to
stru
gglin
g ch
ildre
n as
wel
l?
Try
not t
o m
ake
thin
gs h
arde
r for
you
r kid
s tha
n th
ey a
re fo
r yo
urse
lf.
I
5 ED
ITIN
G
M
ark
the
thin
gs y
ou’r
e un
sure
of a
nd th
en tr
y to
cor
rect
them
.
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
9 05
Thr
u th
e WP
(Edi
ting)
.doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Make
Cor
rect
ions; H
ave
Some
one
Proo
frea
d nc
e yo
u’ve
figu
red
out w
hat n
eeds
to b
e fix
ed y
ou’v
e go
t to
do it
. Thi
s is o
ne
task
whe
re a
com
pute
r can
be
help
ful.
If y
ou’r
e no
t wor
king
on
a co
mpu
ter,
you
may
hav
e to
reco
py y
our p
iece
in o
rder
to fi
x th
e pr
oble
ms y
ou h
ave
disc
over
ed.
But
eve
n if
you’
re w
orki
ng b
y ha
nd, y
ou c
an st
ill c
ome
up w
ith e
ffic
ient
way
s to
get y
our w
ritin
g ed
ited.
B
ut th
ere’
s a fu
nny
thin
g ab
out e
ditin
g th
at m
ost p
eopl
e do
n’t l
ike
to m
entio
n to
stu-
dent
s. Y
our t
each
ers w
ill te
ll yo
u (a
nd I
will
, too
) tha
t you
shou
ld le
arn
how
to e
dit y
our
own
writ
ing.
Afte
r all,
mos
t of t
he ti
me
ther
e is
n’t g
oing
to b
e an
yone
els
e ar
ound
to d
o it.
But
the
truth
is, a
utho
rs m
ake
the
wor
st e
dito
rs o
f the
ir ow
n w
ork.
Tha
t’s w
hy p
rofe
s-si
onal
writ
ers h
ave
othe
r peo
ple
to d
o a
lot o
f the
ir ed
iting
for t
hem
. You
see,
edi
ting
is
all a
bout
fixi
ng p
robl
ems s
o pe
ople
can
und
erst
and
wha
t you
writ
e. B
ut y
ou a
lread
y un
-de
rsta
nd w
hat y
ou’v
e w
ritte
n—yo
u’re
not
like
ly to
hav
e pr
oble
ms r
eadi
ng it
—so
you
’re
not a
s lik
ely
com
e ac
ross
pro
blem
s tha
t nee
d to
be
fixed
. W
ell,
if th
e be
st p
rofe
ssio
nal w
riter
s in
the
wor
ld h
ave
edito
rs, w
hy sh
ould
n’t y
ou g
et
one
or tw
o? A
s soo
n as
you
’ve
done
as m
uch
editi
ng a
s you
can
, ask
som
eone
els
e to
pr
oofr
ead
your
wor
k to
see
if th
ey c
an fi
nd a
ny p
robl
ems t
hat n
eed
corr
ectin
g. Y
ou c
an
ask
othe
r writ
ers i
n yo
ur c
lass
, you
r tea
cher
, or o
ther
adu
lts in
the
room
, or e
ven
your
pa
rent
s. Ju
st a
sk th
em to
ple
ase
proo
frea
d yo
ur p
iece
for c
orre
ct c
onve
ntio
ns.
O
f cou
rse,
som
e pe
ople
mig
ht h
ave
sugg
estio
ns th
at y
ou d
on’t
agre
e w
ith. A
s with
an
y ot
her t
ype
of a
dvic
e, y
ou a
re fr
ee to
acc
ept o
r to
igno
re it
. You
alo
ne, a
s the
aut
hor
of th
e pi
ece,
bar
e th
e ul
timat
e re
spon
sibi
lity
for i
ts c
onte
nt a
nd it
s cor
rect
ness
.
Teac
hing
Tips
“Whe
n sh
ould
I co
rrec
t a st
uden
t’s w
ritin
g?”
Si
nce
corr
ectio
n is
the
tradi
tiona
l fou
ndat
ion
of o
ur e
duca
-tio
nal s
yste
m, i
t’s o
nly
natu
ral t
hat t
his q
uest
ion
com
es u
p as
m
uch
as it
doe
s. M
any
peop
le fe
el th
at if
stud
ents
are
not
cor
-re
cted
, the
y w
ill n
ot le
arn.
On
the
othe
r han
d, m
ost a
dults
are
aw
are
of th
e da
nger
s of c
onst
ant c
orre
ctio
n. T
o so
rt th
is o
ut, i
t is
impo
rtant
to re
mem
ber t
hat t
he so
urce
of o
ur q
uand
ary
is a
n em
otio
nal r
eact
ion—
on th
e pa
rt of
wel
l-mea
ning
adu
lts w
ho
care
dee
ply
abou
t kid
s —an
d no
t a lo
gica
l one
. One
has
onl
y to
co
nsid
er h
ow c
hild
ren
lear
n to
wal
k an
d to
talk
to re
aliz
e th
at
corr
ectio
n is
not
a re
quis
ite fo
r mas
terin
g co
mpl
ex sk
ills (
mod
-el
ing,
crit
eria
, sca
ffol
ding
, and
enc
oura
gem
ent a
re th
e ke
ys).
Bes
t the
n to
sepa
rate
pas
t pro
blem
s fro
m c
urre
nt p
ract
ice
and
brea
k th
e ba
d ha
bits
we
have
acq
uire
d.
“So
whe
n sh
ould
I co
rrec
t a st
uden
t’s w
ritin
g?”
Whe
neve
r a
stud
ent a
sks y
ou fo
r app
ropr
iate
hel
p in
an
appr
opria
te w
ay.
Wha
t’s a
ppro
pria
te?
Her
e ar
e so
me
help
ful g
uide
lines
. He
lp k
ids
whe
n:
th
ey h
ave
alre
ady
tried
to fi
x so
met
hing
but
can
’t.
th
ey h
ave
not y
et b
een
intro
duce
d to
som
ethi
ng o
r hav
e ob
viou
sly
forg
otte
n it.
so
met
hing
rela
tivel
y in
cide
ntal
is k
eepi
ng th
em fr
om
mak
ing
mor
e im
porta
nt p
rogr
ess i
n an
othe
r are
a.
Whe
neve
r pos
sibl
e:
as
k th
e ch
ild w
hat t
ype
of e
rror
they
wou
ld li
ke y
ou to
lo
ok fo
r, an
d on
ly c
orre
ct th
at ty
pe o
f err
or.
co
rrec
t the
wor
k in
the
child
’s p
rese
nce.
of
fer r
atio
nale
for y
our c
orre
ctio
ns.
em
phas
ize
the
conn
ectio
n be
twee
n co
rrec
tion
and
com
-m
unic
atio
n—th
at y
ou a
re m
akin
g co
rrec
tions
to m
ake
the
child
’s w
ritin
g ea
sier
to re
ad.
Cer
tain
trad
ition
al p
ract
ices
hav
e lim
ited
valu
e an
d ar
e pr
obab
ly n
ot a
goo
d us
e of
you
r tim
e:
D
O N
OT
take
pap
ers h
ome
to c
orre
ct th
em.
D
O N
OT
mak
e m
arks
on
final
pub
lishe
d pi
eces
. Use
po
st-it
not
es o
r a c
over
shee
t. D
O N
OT
corr
ect k
ids p
ublic
ly in
fron
t of t
he c
lass
. D
O N
OT
set u
p a
grad
ing
sche
me
for a
ny a
spec
t of y
our
teac
hing
that
trac
ks th
e nu
mbe
r of e
rror
s stu
dent
s mak
e (o
r the
num
ber o
f ite
ms t
hey
get r
ight
) and
equ
ates
that
nu
mbe
r with
ach
ieve
men
t.
O
5 ED
ITIN
G
D
o as
muc
h ed
iting
as y
ou c
an, t
hen
ask
som
eone
els
e fo
r hel
p.
© 1995-2002 by Steve Peha. For more information, or for additional teaching materials, please contact: Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • E-mail [email protected] • Web www.ttms.org
Create the Final Copy1
Add Artwork if You Want2
A MESSAGE FROM MR. PEHA
“Publishing is cool. There’s so much
you can do to make your piece invit-
ing to a reader. I have learned about
publishing from looking closely at the
published writing I enjoy. Look at your
favorite books. Don’t just read them,
look at them. Take a look at newspa-
pers, magazines, TV commercials, the
Internet—every kind of print. And
don’t worry too much about whether
you’re using a computer or not. You
don’t need a computer to make things
look cool. In fact, most times, things
done by hand look better.”
What is Publishing? The word “publish” might remindyou of another word you know. That would is “public” be-
cause that’s what publishing is all about: preparing apiece of writing so that it can be read, understood, andenjoyed by the public. Who’s the public? Well, technically,it’s anybody. But practically, it’s the people in your class,
your teacher, and anybody else you decide to show yourwriting to. Of course, if you send off a piece to a newspaper
or magazine, things are a little different. But the main idea is thatthe Publishing stage is your chance to prepare your writing in a way thatwill best reach your audience.
Do I Have to Publish My Piece? Absolutely not. No writer ever has topublish something they don’t want to. However, there are many timesthat people ask us to write things, and when they do, unless we feel thatthey are asking us to do something that is wrong or unfair, we need to doour best to honor their request. Publishing can be a very satisfying partof writing. It’s fun to see your work all dressed up in a cool book with asnazzy cover. But sometimes you don’t feel like publishing a certain piece,and that’s just fine.
What Should I Do? Just about anything goes as long as it helps bringyour writing to more people. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to write sopoorly that people couldn’t read it, or print your piece out of a computerin some weird kind of type. On the other hand, artwork, a nice cover, oran introduction that explains who you are, what your piece is about, orwhy you wrote it, can be very nice. Look at some published books thatyou like and take ideas from those. Just remember, the point of publish-ing is to make your writing as readable and as attractive to your audienceas possible.
6The Writing Process
Stage Six
Publishing
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
10
06 T
hru
the
WP (P
ublis
hing
).doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Publ
ish
Your
Wor
k!
ou’v
e w
orke
d lik
e a
dog
to g
et y
our p
iece
dra
fted,
revi
sed,
and
edi
ted.
Now
it’s
tim
e to
mak
e it
look
goo
d. D
urin
g th
e pu
blis
hing
stag
e, y
ou c
an d
o w
hate
ver y
ou
wan
t to
mak
e yo
ur w
ritin
g ap
peal
ing
to th
e ey
e. F
or e
xam
ple,
Son
ja w
ante
d to
dr
aw so
me
pict
ures
, and
she
wan
ted
to fo
rmat
her
writ
ing
in a
spec
ial f
ont t
hat
look
s lik
e ha
ndw
ritin
g. G
o ah
ead,
try
a fe
w w
ild id
eas,
but r
emem
ber t
hat w
hate
ver y
ou
do, p
eopl
e ha
ve to
be
able
to re
ad a
nd u
nder
stan
d it
whe
n yo
u’re
don
e.
The
Frog
Lea
pby
Sonja
Butl
er
This
is a
true
story
abou
t my
babyh
ood.
It w
as t
he y
ear
1987
and
I wa
s ten
month
s old. I
was
in m
y old
hous
e, th
e one
I w
as bo
rn in.
I wa
s on m
y ch
angin
g
table
. My
Mom
and
Dad
were
with
me,
they
wer
e sta
nding
righ
t nex
t to
the
chan
ging
table
. Tha
t’s t
he w
eird
part
. I w
as be
ing c
ute a
nd wa
gging
my
little
cute
botto
m. M
y pa
rents
wer
e ad
miring
how
cute
I w
as a
nd sm
iling.
Then
I did
a
sudde
n fro
g lea
p wh
ich r
eally
scar
ed m
y pa
rents
! I bo
unced
like
a ba
ll ont
o th
e
heat
er w
hich
had
skinny
little
ribs
. The
hea
ter
was i
n bet
ween
the
chang
ing t
able
and
my d
resse
r. Lu
ckily
the
heat
er w
as no
t on
but I
did
get
hurt
. Whe
n I w
as
finish
ed bo
uncing
I ju
st sa
t th
ere
cove
red
in bruis
es. M
y M
om a
nd Da
d and
I
stare
d at
eac
h ot
her
and t
hen w
e all
scre
amed
. My
Mom
pick
ed m
e up
and
we a
ll
went
over
to
the
couch
for
a So
nja sa
ndwich
hug
.
The
End
Teac
hing
Tips
Whe
n I f
irst b
egan
teac
hing
writ
ing,
I ga
ve p
ublis
hing
shor
t sh
rift.
All
the
lear
ning
was
ove
r, I t
houg
ht; p
ublis
hing
is ju
st
play
time.
But
I w
as w
rong
. Whi
le p
ublis
hing
is p
roba
bly
not a
s im
porta
nt a
s rev
isin
g, it
is c
ruci
al to
real
ize
that
, whe
n ta
ught
ef
fect
ivel
y, it
can
driv
e th
e en
tire
writ
ing
proc
ess.
The
reas
on fo
r thi
s is s
o si
mpl
e th
at I
just
did
n’t s
top
to th
ink
abou
t it:
the
publ
ishi
ng st
age
focu
ses t
he w
riter
’s a
ttent
ion
di-
rect
ly o
n pu
rpos
e an
d au
dien
ce. A
fter a
ll, p
ublis
hing
pre
-su
ppos
es th
at th
e w
riter
’s w
ork
will
be
mad
e av
aila
ble
to so
me
audi
ence
for s
ome
purp
ose.
And
for s
ome
stud
ents
, thi
s may
be
the
first
tim
e in
thei
r liv
es th
at th
ey’v
e ev
er th
ough
t abo
ut th
eir
writ
ing
in th
is c
onte
xt.
To g
uide
stud
ents
in th
eir p
ublis
hing
eff
orts
, ask
them
to
thin
k ab
out t
hese
que
stio
ns:
W
ho a
re y
ou p
ublis
hing
this
pie
ce fo
r? W
ho w
ould
you
lik
e to
hav
e re
ad th
is p
iece
? W
hy a
re y
ou p
ublis
hing
this
pie
ce fo
r tha
t aud
ienc
e?
Wha
t wou
ld y
ou li
ke th
is g
roup
of p
eopl
e to
kno
w?
W
hat f
orm
shou
ld y
our w
ritin
g ta
ke to
bes
t rea
ch y
our
audi
ence
and
hel
p th
em u
nder
stan
d yo
ur p
urpo
se?
Of c
ours
e, y
ou’d
like
you
r stu
dent
s to
know
the
answ
ers t
o th
ese
ques
tions
by
the
time
they
fini
sh p
re-w
ritin
g. B
ut b
ecau
se
so fe
w st
uden
ts h
ave
been
exp
osed
to th
e id
ea o
f writ
ing
with
a
spec
ific
purp
ose
and
for a
spec
ific
audi
ence
, the
y m
ay o
nly
star
t to
get t
he h
ang
of it
by
publ
ishi
ng th
eir w
ork.
H
ere
are
som
e so
lid id
eas y
ou c
an u
se to
dev
elop
a re
perto
ire
of p
ublis
hing
act
iviti
es:
Fo
rmal
ly “
inst
all”
pub
lishe
d pi
eces
in th
e cl
assr
oom
“li-
brar
y” a
nd m
ake
them
ava
ilabl
e fo
r kid
s to
read
dur
ing
read
ing
time.
Sh
are
publ
ishe
d w
ritin
g re
gula
rly in
a fo
rmal
way
. En
cour
age
stud
ents
to a
dd a
rtwor
k an
d to
bin
d th
eir
book
s as w
ell.
En
cour
age
stud
ents
to re
ad th
e pu
blis
hed
wor
ks o
f oth
er
auth
ors i
n th
e cl
ass a
nd to
mak
e co
nstru
ctiv
e co
mm
ents
ab
out t
he p
iece
s the
y re
ad.
Pu
blis
h cl
ass a
ntho
logi
es.
H
elp
stud
ents
subm
it th
eir w
ork
to m
agaz
ines
and
to th
e lo
cal n
ewsp
aper
s. M
ake
stud
ents
aw
are
of In
tern
et p
ublis
hing
opp
ortu
ni-
ties.
Y 6 PU
BLIS
HING
At t
his p
oint
you
are
on
ly fo
cusi
ng o
n th
e vi
sual
pre
sent
atio
n of
yo
ur w
ritin
g.
Y
our g
oal i
n th
e pu
b-lis
hing
stag
e is
to
mak
e yo
ur w
ritin
g lo
ok a
s goo
d as
it
soun
ds (o
r eve
n be
t-te
r!).
Just
rem
embe
r, if
peop
le c
an’t
read
it,
they
ain
’t go
nna
need
it.
Mak
e su
re y
our
wor
k is
eas
y to
read
w
hen
you’
re d
one.
The Frog Leap by
Sonja Butler
This is a true story about my babyhood. It was the year 1987 and I was ten
months old. I was in my old house, the one I was born in. I was on my changing
table. My Mom and Dad were with me, they were standing right next to the
changing table. That’s the weird part. I was being cute and wagging my little
cute bottom. My parents were admiring how cute I was and smiling. Then I did a
sudden frog leap which really scared my parents! I bounced like a ball onto the
heater which had skinny little ribs. The heater was in between the changing table
and my dresser. Luckily the heater was not on but I did get hurt. When I was
finished bouncing I just sat there covered in bruises. My Mom and Dad and I
stared at each other and then we all screamed. My Mom picked me up and we all
went over to the couch for a Sonja sandwich hug.
The End
© 1995-2002 by Steve Peha. For more information, or for additional teaching materials, please contact: Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • E-mail [email protected] • Web www.ttms.org
???
What is Assessing? The word “assess” comes fromthe Latin word “assidere” meaning “to sit beside.” (Thisdoes not have anything to do with who sits next to you inclass.) The idea here is to pull up a chair right alongsideyourself and peak over your own shoulder to see whatyou’ve done. Here’s how it works: after you’ve published apiece and let it sit for a while, take it out again and re-readit. Then, jot down a few thoughts about what you did. Arethere parts you like more than others? Did you learn some-thing new? What does this piece say about you as a writer?Use the Six Traits criteria to help you analyze your workmore closely. Take a look at comments you might havegotten from your teacher or other writers in your class.
What Makes Assessing Hard? Have your teachers beenasking you to write down a lot of things about the workyou’ve been doing? Are they always wanting you to tellthem what you did and why you did it? Do you ever gettired of it? I think one of the things that makes assessmenthard is that we have to do it all the time. Just when we thinkwe’re all done, there’s this other part we have to deal with.The reason your teachers ask you to assess your own workso often is because it’s really important. Assessing yourown work helps you learn about how you learn so you canrepeat those things that work best for you the next time
you have something to do. Learning how to learnis more important than any single skill or pieceof information you can acquire because onceyou learn how to learn, you can learn anythingyou want.
Do You Really Have to Do This? You don’treally have to do anything. But if you don’t doanything you won’t learn anything. Assessing isvery important. Without it, we would have noeasy way of charting our own progress, or ofdetermining what we needed to learn next. I’lladmit, as a teacher, that part of why we ask youto do this is to help us. The more we learn aboutwhat you learn, the better we can help you learnmore. But you’ll get a lot of out this, too. Afteryou’ve done it two or three times, you’ll start tosee some very interesting patterns. You’ll start
to notice things you usually do well, and things you proba-bly haven’t mastered yet. You’ll develop a better sense ofyourself as a writer, and that will help you develop a bettersense for writing.
A MESSAGE FROM MR. PEHA
“Back when I was your age (Don’t you
just hate it when adults say that?) the
only person who assessed our work
was the teacher. We just got a grade
and most of the time we didn’t even
know why. But guess what? We grew
up, and got smarter. Now, we let you
do some of the assessing. We still put
our two cents in, but at least we can
explain with the Six Traits criteria why
we feel the way we do. When every-
body uses the Six Traits criteria to
assess their work, everybody under-
stands the assessment.”
Reflect on Your Work1
Review Comments2
Assessing
Think About Your Next Piece!3
7The Writing Process
Stage Seven
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
11
07 T
hru
the
WP (A
sses
sing)
.doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Refl
ect
on Y
our
Acco
mplis
hmen
t ho
ught
you
wer
e fin
ishe
d, d
idn’
t you
? N
ot q
uite
. Act
ually
, in
som
e w
ays,
this
la
st st
age
mig
ht b
e th
e m
ost i
mpo
rtant
one
of a
ll. Y
ou se
e, e
very
body
wan
ts to
be
a b
ette
r writ
er. (
Yes
, eve
n yo
u!) A
nd p
roba
bly
the
best
way
to g
et b
ette
r is t
o fin
d ou
t wha
t you
’re
doin
g w
ell a
nd w
hat y
ou n
eed
to d
o be
tter.
It’s e
spec
ially
im
porta
nt to
kno
w w
hat y
ou’r
e go
od a
t alre
ady
beca
use
it’s a
lway
s eas
ier t
o le
arn
thro
ugh
your
stre
ngth
s tha
n to
con
cent
rate
on
your
wea
knes
ses.
Ther
e ar
e m
any
way
s to
asse
ss y
our p
erfo
rman
ce. E
very
sour
ce y
ou u
sed
durin
g th
e re
spon
ding
stag
e is
a g
ood
sour
ce fo
r fee
dbac
k no
w. H
ere’
s one
app
roac
h us
ing
the
Six
Trai
ts:
You
can
see
that
Son
ja fe
els p
retty
goo
d ab
out t
his p
iece
; the
re a
re o
nly
a fe
w a
reas
w
here
she
thin
ks sh
e co
uld
have
don
e be
tter.
For h
er n
ext p
iece
, she
may
wan
t to
mak
e so
me
spec
ific
impr
ovem
ents
like
wor
king
on
her c
onve
ntio
ns, f
or e
xam
ple.
She
will
al
so w
ant t
o m
ake
sure
she
cont
inue
s to
wor
k on
her
stre
ngth
s of w
ritin
g tru
e st
orie
s ab
out h
er li
fe th
at h
ave
mom
ents
of e
xcite
men
t in
them
.
Teac
hing
Tips
Whe
re d
oes t
he le
arni
ng h
appe
n? M
ore
and
mor
e, a
s I fi
nd
mys
elf g
ettin
g ca
ught
up
in th
e th
eory
and
impl
emen
tatio
n of
w
ritin
g in
stru
ctio
n, th
at’s
the
ques
tion
I foc
us o
n. C
lear
ly, t
here
ar
e op
portu
nitie
s for
gro
wth
at a
ny st
age
of th
e w
ritin
g pr
oces
s, bu
t are
ther
e ke
y po
ints
whe
re w
e ca
n he
lp k
ids h
ave
thos
e w
onde
rful
“A
ha!”
exp
erie
nces
, whe
n re
al le
arni
ng is
mor
e lik
ely
to h
appe
n? I
thin
k th
ere
are.
It’
s log
ical
to th
ink
that
kid
s are
“ge
tting
it”
whe
n w
e gi
ve a
le
sson
, but
mos
t of t
hem
are
n’t,
and
the
ones
who
seem
like
th
ey a
re a
re u
sual
ly ju
st a
ping
bac
k th
ose
lear
ned
beha
vior
s th
at w
e’ve
com
e to
mis
take
nly
inte
rpre
t as u
nder
stan
ding
and
in
telli
genc
e.
It’s a
lso
logi
cal t
o th
ink
that
the
lear
ning
is ta
king
pla
ce w
hen
the
kids
are
act
ually
writ
ing.
And
to a
gre
at e
xten
t thi
s is t
rue;
ce
rtain
ly th
ere
is n
o re
al le
arni
ng w
ithou
t it.
But
I th
ink
it’s f
air
to w
onde
r jus
t how
muc
h le
arni
ng c
ould
be
taki
ng p
lace
whe
n so
muc
h of
a st
uden
t’s m
enta
l ban
dwid
th is
bei
ng u
sed
to so
lve
the
prob
lem
s of t
he m
omen
t. Si
nce
star
ting
to u
se S
ix T
raits
, I h
ave
com
e to
bel
ieve
that
th
e le
arni
ng h
appe
ns p
rimar
ily in
two
plac
es: d
urin
g th
e re
-sp
ondi
ng st
age
and
durin
g as
sess
ing
stag
e. A
nd th
e m
echa
nism
th
at m
akes
eve
ryth
ing
go is
the
Six
Trai
ts c
riter
ia—
both
the
writ
ten
crite
ria st
uden
ts u
se fo
r sel
f-as
sess
men
t, an
d th
e la
n-gu
age
of th
e cr
iteria
that
oth
er st
uden
ts w
ill u
se to
com
men
t on
an a
utho
r’s w
ork.
Tr
ue le
arni
ng is
ofte
n th
e re
sult
of c
onsc
ious
refle
ctio
n. A
nd
refle
ctin
g on
the
Six
Trai
ts c
riter
ia—
asse
ssin
g a
piec
e of
writ
-in
g in
ligh
t of t
hat s
tand
ard—
is a
pow
erfu
l ref
lect
ive
expe
ri-en
ce th
at I
belie
ve h
as a
pro
foun
dly
posi
tive
effe
ct.
With
out t
his k
ind
of fo
rmal
refle
ctio
n, k
ey in
sigh
ts m
ay b
e lo
st. T
his i
s not
to sa
y th
at th
ey w
on’t
resu
rfac
e, b
ut c
atch
ing
them
righ
t her
e, w
hen
the
piec
e is
fini
shed
and
the
min
d is
full
of th
e pr
oces
s tha
t has
just
occ
urre
d, m
ay a
llow
stud
ents
to
take
mor
e of
thei
r ach
ieve
men
ts w
ith th
em w
hen
they
mov
e on
to
tack
le th
eir n
ext p
iece
. Th
is is
als
o th
e be
st ti
me
for y
ou a
s a te
ache
r to
unde
rsta
nd
how
you
r stu
dent
s are
doi
ng. Y
es, y
ou c
an in
tuit
thin
gs fr
om
the
wor
k its
elf—
the
Six
Trai
ts c
riter
ia a
nd D
irect
Writ
ing
As-
sess
men
t are
exc
elle
nt to
ols.
But
an
asse
ssm
ent m
erel
y in
di-
cate
s wha
t a c
hild
can
do
at p
rese
nt; a
form
al w
ritte
n re
flect
ion
can
tell
you
how
like
ly a
chi
ld is
to im
prov
e in
the
futu
re. I
t ca
n al
so h
elp
to c
larif
y ce
rtain
thin
gs fo
r you
with
rega
rd to
ar-
eas o
f you
r ass
essm
ent t
hat m
ay n
ot b
e co
nclu
sive
.
T 7 AS
SESS
ING
Use
the
Six
Trai
ts to
find
out
wha
t wor
ks fo
r you
and
wha
t doe
sn’t.
Sonj
a's
Nar
rativ
e Se
lf-As
sess
men
t (Fr
og L
eap)
.doc
✓ 1
2/4/
96 ✓
Nar
rativ
e Se
lf-As
sess
men
t #1
Stev
e Pe
ha ✓
206
-363
-478
0 ✓
ste
vepe
ha@
aol.c
om
IDE
AS
Inte
rest
ing
Thin
gs to
Say
✍ W
hat’s
you
r fav
orite
par
t of t
his
pape
r?
Why
?
When
I did
a su
dden
frog
leap
.
Beca
use it
sound
ed so
act
ive.
✍ W
hat p
art c
ould
you
tell
the
read
er m
ore
abou
t so
they
wou
ld u
nder
stan
d it
bette
r?
Not
any
part
.
OR
GA
NIZ
AT
ION
Th
e W
ay it
Goe
s To
geth
er
✍ W
hat’s
the
best
thin
g ab
out t
he w
ay y
our
pape
r is
orga
nize
d? W
hy?
It g
oes f
rom
how
old I
was
to
what
I
was d
oing
and
it ha
s a h
appy
endi
ng.
It d
oesn’
t giv
e aw
ay t
he fu
n par
t till t
he
middle
.
✍ H
ow c
ould
you
impr
ove
the
orga
niza
tion
of
your
pap
er?
VO
ICE
So
unds
Lik
e Yo
u Ta
lkin
g
✍ W
hat p
art o
f thi
s pa
per s
ound
s m
ost l
ike
you?
Why
?
The
frog
leap
.
Beca
use I
’m jum
py.
✍ H
ow c
ould
you
mak
e ot
her p
arts
sou
nd
like
that
?
WO
RD
CH
OIC
E
The
Best
Wor
ds F
or Y
our I
deas
✍ W
hat a
re y
our f
avor
ite w
ords
in th
is p
aper
? W
hy?
Cute
, sudd
en and
frog
leap
.
Beca
use t
hey
sound
like
ME!
✍ Ar
e th
ere
any
wor
ds y
ou w
ould
like
to
chan
ge to
mak
e th
e pa
per m
ore
inte
rest
-in
g? W
hich
one
s?
SEN
TE
NC
E F
LU
EN
CY
Th
e W
ay it
Sou
nds
Whe
n Yo
u R
ead
it O
ut L
oud
✍ W
hat a
re y
our f
avor
ite s
ente
nces
in th
is
pape
r? W
hy?
This
is a
true
story
about
my ba
byhoo
d.
Beca
use I
like
babys
and
true
story
s.
✍ Ar
e th
ere
any
sent
ence
s yo
u w
ould
like
to
chan
ge to
mak
e th
em s
ound
bet
ter?
Whi
ch
ones
?
CO
NV
EN
TIO
NS
Spel
ling,
Pun
ctua
tion,
Gra
mm
ar, C
apita
ls, E
tc.
✍ D
o yo
u th
ink
you
did
a go
od jo
b w
ith s
pell-
ing,
gra
mm
ar, p
unct
uatio
n, c
apita
ls, a
nd
othe
r con
vent
ions
? W
hy?
Yes!
Beca
use I
got
help
.
✍ Ar
e th
ere
any
parts
of y
our p
aper
that
you
th
ink
som
eone
mig
ht h
ave
troub
le re
ad-
ing?
Whi
ch p
arts
?
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
12
07 T
hru
the
WP (A
sses
sing)
.doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Seek
a W
ider
Aud
ienc
e no
ther
coo
l thi
ng to
do
afte
r you
’ve
publ
ishe
d a
piec
e of
writ
ing
is to
send
it o
ff
to a
noth
er p
ublis
her.
Sonj
a de
cide
d to
send
her
pie
ce to
a m
agaz
ine
calle
d St
one
Soup
. But
to d
o th
at, s
he h
ad to
writ
e a
subm
issi
on le
tter t
o th
e ed
itor t
ellin
g he
r w
hy sh
e th
ough
t her
pie
ce w
ould
be
of in
tere
st to
the
read
ers o
f her
mag
azin
e.
She
wro
te a
roug
h dr
aft o
f the
lette
r firs
t and
then
type
d it
up.
Nove
mber
25,
1996
Stone
Soup
Child
ren’s
Art
Foun
datio
nP.O
. Box
83
Santa
Cruz
, CA
950
83
Dear
Edit
or,
I like
my
story
beca
use it
sound
s like
me.
I’m
alway
s hyp
er. I
get
reall
y sill
y. I
love
to r
ead
and
write
. I t
hink o
ther
peo
ple sh
ould
read
my
story
beca
use it
is no
t som
e fid
dle-fa
ddle
fictio
n it
is tr
ue!
I or
ganiz
ed m
y pa
per
from
wha
t ye
ar it
was
and
wher
e I
was a
nd
in th
e mid
dle y
ou ca
n tell
my
pare
nts w
ere
surpr
ised
when
I did
the
frog
leap
and
it is
not o
nly t
alking
to
kids i
t is
also
talkin
g to
adult
s.
Since
rely,
Sonja
Teac
hing
Tips
If it
is th
roug
h pu
blis
hing
that
chi
ldre
n be
gin
to re
aliz
e th
e im
porta
nce
of th
eir a
udie
nce,
why
is th
is a
ctiv
ity h
ere?
Be-
caus
e I b
elie
ve th
ere
is a
ver
y im
porta
nt k
ind
of a
sses
smen
t go-
ing
on in
a w
riter
’s m
ind
whe
n th
ey se
ek a
type
of o
utle
t for
th
eir w
ork
outs
ide
of th
e us
ual v
enue
s of t
he c
lass
room
and
sc
hool
com
mun
ities
. Whe
n w
riter
’s b
egin
to c
onsi
der w
iden
ing
thei
r aud
ienc
e, th
ey a
re fo
rced
to e
ngag
e in
a b
asic
but
pow
er-
ful f
orm
of s
elf-
asse
ssm
ent.
They
hav
e to
ask
them
selv
es,
“Will
the
peop
le I
am su
bmitt
ing
my
wor
k to
und
erst
and
and
enjo
y it?
” To
this
end
, I w
ould
enc
oura
ge e
very
writ
er, y
oung
or o
ld, t
o m
ake
a ca
se fo
r the
ir ef
fort,
to ro
ot st
rong
ly it
s stre
ngth
s, to
hi
ghlig
ht it
s hig
hlig
hts,
to p
oint
out
for a
nyon
e w
ho m
ight
not
ha
ve n
otic
ed ju
st h
ow m
uch
ther
e is
in th
e pi
ece
that
mig
ht b
e w
orth
y of
not
e. T
o do
this
eff
ectiv
ely,
a w
riter
nee
ds a
n an
a-ly
tic v
ocab
ular
y, a
nd th
e on
ly p
lace
a w
riter
can
get
such
a v
o-ca
bula
ry is
from
the
crite
ria h
e or
she
has i
nter
naliz
ed th
at, i
n th
eir o
pini
on, d
efin
e hi
gh q
ualit
y w
ork.
W
hat i
ntrig
ues m
e ab
out t
his p
artic
ular
act
ivity
is it
s aut
hen-
ticity
. Yes
, the
nar
rativ
e re
flect
ion
base
d on
spec
ific
prom
pts
draw
n fr
om th
e Si
x Tr
aits
is v
alua
ble
and
inte
rest
ing,
but
this
is
real
. In
a se
nse
it is
true
lite
ratu
re re
spon
se, b
ut in
this
cas
e re
ader
and
writ
er a
re o
ne a
nd th
e sa
me.
So
met
hing
like
this
als
o re
pres
ents
a q
uick
turn
arou
nd p
ub-
lishi
ng o
ppor
tuni
ty w
hich
, am
ong
othe
r thi
ngs,
will
aff
ord
stu-
dent
s yet
ano
ther
cha
nce
to d
evel
op th
eir k
now
ledg
e of
writ
ing
conv
entio
ns. T
he v
alue
of s
uch
inci
dent
al a
ctiv
ities
shou
ld n
ot
be d
oubt
ed. S
hort,
aut
hent
ic p
ublis
hing
opp
ortu
nitie
s lik
e th
is
are
criti
cal t
o a
youn
g w
riter
’s d
evel
opm
ent.
In m
any
clas
s-ro
oms a
cros
s the
cou
ntry
, stu
dent
s tur
n ou
t 20
or 3
0 su
ch p
ub-
lishe
d pi
eces
per
yea
r. B
eyon
d w
ritin
g le
tters
, stu
dent
s can
writ
e pi
eces
that
ap-
prox
imat
e th
e fo
rew
ord
one
mig
ht fi
nd in
a b
ook
by a
pro
fes-
sion
al w
riter
. The
se p
iece
s ser
ve to
intro
duce
and
inte
rpre
t the
w
ritin
g fo
r the
read
er. T
hey
also
serv
e to
cla
rify
the
auth
or’s
in
tent
ion
and,
like
the
wor
k do
ne d
urin
g re
visi
on, t
hey
enco
ur-
age
child
ren
to re
-rea
d th
eir o
wn
wor
k th
ereb
y ga
inin
g ad
di-
tiona
l ins
ight
. It’
s int
eres
ting
to n
ote
exac
tly w
hat y
oung
writ
ers a
re w
illin
g to
say
abou
t the
mse
lves
and
thei
r ow
n w
ork.
You
may
not
ice,
fo
r exa
mpl
e, th
at a
stud
ent w
ill w
rite
one
thin
g fo
r rea
ders
who
kn
ow h
er, a
nd q
uite
ano
ther
for r
eade
rs w
ho d
on’t.
Thi
s is a
w
onde
rful
win
dow
into
the
deve
lopm
ent o
f the
writ
er’s
voi
ce,
som
ethi
ng th
at c
an b
e di
ffic
ult a
t tim
es to
pin
dow
n.
A 7 AS
SESS
ING
If y
ou’v
e as
sess
ed y
our o
wn
wor
k, y
ou c
an te
ll so
meo
ne e
lse
why
they
mig
ht li
ke it
.
November 25, 1996 Stone Soup Children’s Art Foundation P.O. Box 83 Santa Cruz, CA 95083 Dear Editor, I like my story because it sounds like me. I’m always hyper. I get
really silly. I love to read and write. I think other people should
read my story because it is not just some fiddle-faddle fiction, it is
true! I organized my paper from what year it was and where I
was, and in the middle you can tell my parents were surprised when
I did the frog leap, and it is not only talking to kids it is also
talking to adults.
Sincerely, Sonja
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
13
07 T
hru
the
WP (A
sses
sing)
.doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Comp
are
With
You
r Pr
eviou
s Pie
ce
noth
er g
reat
way
to le
arn
abou
t you
r ow
n w
ritin
g is
to c
ompa
re y
our c
urre
nt
wor
k w
ith w
ork
you
did
befo
re. T
he p
iece
cal
led
“gro
wn
up”
was
the
last
pie
ce
Sonj
a w
rote
bef
ore
“The
Fro
g Le
ap.”
Whe
n sh
e w
rote
“gr
own
up”
she
didn
’t kn
ow h
ow to
use
Six
Tra
its o
r the
Writ
ing
Proc
ess.
Wha
t diff
eren
ces d
o yo
u no
-tic
e in
the
two
piec
es?
Do
you
thin
k So
nja’
s writ
ing
has i
mpr
oved
?
grow
n up
Win I
gro
w up.
I w
ill ha
ve a
nice
rela
life. A
goo
d ca
reer
. A ni
ce d
oss. A
husba
nd wh
o is
nice.
Lots
of p
ets.
A fa
rm is
wha
t I
want.
I w
ill live
in a
cott
age
with
my h
ussba
nd an
d a
child
. I w
ill ha
ve a
hap
py lif
e. I
will l
ive in
Norw
ay. I
will
be a
cham
pion h
orse
rider
. I w
ill live
in a
vall
ey. M
y job
will
be
some
thing
tha
t fit
s in w
ith m
e. I
will b
e sm
art.
The
Frog
Lea
pby
Sonja
Butl
er
This
is a
true
story
abou
t my
babyh
ood.
It w
as t
he y
ear
1987
and
I wa
s ten
month
s old. I
was
in m
y old
hous
e, th
e one
I w
as bo
rn in.
I wa
s on m
y ch
angin
g
table
. My
Mom
and
Dad
were
with
me,
they
wer
e sta
nding
righ
t nex
t to
the
chan
ging
table
. Tha
t’s t
he w
eird
part
. I w
as be
ing c
ute a
nd wa
gging
my
little
cute
botto
m. M
y pa
rents
wer
e ad
miring
how
cute
I w
as a
nd sm
iling.
Then
I did
a
sudde
n fro
g lea
p wh
ich r
eally
scar
ed m
y pa
rents
! I bo
unced
like
a ba
ll ont
o th
e
heat
er w
hich
had
skinny
little
ribs
. The
hea
ter
was i
n bet
ween
the
chang
ing t
able
and
my d
resse
r. Lu
ckily
the
heat
er w
as no
t on
but I
did
get
hurt
. Whe
n I w
as
finish
ed bo
uncing
I ju
st sa
t th
ere
cove
red
in bruis
es. M
y M
om a
nd Da
d and
I
stare
d at
eac
h ot
her
and t
hen w
e all
scre
amed
. My
Mom
pick
ed m
e up
and
we a
ll
went
over
to
the
couch
for
a So
nja sa
ndwich
hug
.
The
End
Teac
hing
Tips
Whe
n w
e w
ere
in sc
hool
, eac
h w
ritin
g as
sign
men
t was
a
wor
ld u
nto
itsel
f. A
nd if
you
wer
e lik
e m
e (a
nd I
susp
ect m
ost
othe
r kid
s, to
o) th
at w
orld
cam
e to
an
abru
pt e
nd w
hen
it w
as
hand
ed b
ack
cove
red
with
red
ink
and
a gr
ade
you
didn
’t un
-de
rsta
nd, s
tuff
ed in
a fo
lder
, tak
en h
ome,
and
shor
tly th
erea
fter
thro
wn
away
. Bac
k th
en a
pie
ce o
f writ
ing
was
just
an
assi
gn-
men
t, an
d w
ritin
g st
uden
ts w
ere
just
kid
s who
cou
ldn’
t spe
ll w
ell,
prin
t leg
ibly
, or w
rite
gram
mat
ical
ly.
But
thin
gs a
re a
littl
e di
ffer
ent t
oday
as m
ost o
f us n
ow re
al-
ize
that
whe
n w
e en
cour
age
child
ren
to ta
ke a
mor
e fo
rmal
atti
-tu
de to
war
d th
eir a
ccom
plis
hmen
ts, b
y gi
ving
them
pow
erfu
l to
ols t
o do
so, w
e ar
e ca
pita
lizin
g on
val
uabl
e le
arni
ng o
ppor
-tu
nitie
s. To
this
end
, I th
ink
it is
hel
pful
—to
bot
h te
ache
r and
st
uden
t—to
thin
k of
the
child
as a
writ
er (n
ot a
stud
ent o
f writ
-in
g) a
nd th
e w
ork
that
writ
er d
oes a
s som
ehow
com
pris
ing
a ca
reer
. Afte
r all,
we
now
ask
chi
ldre
n to
com
pose
real
pie
ces
for r
eal p
eopl
e an
d re
al p
urpo
ses,
why
not
thin
k of
them
as r
eal
writ
ers?
Po
rtfol
ios a
re p
roba
bly
the
mos
t for
mal
hin
t tha
t thi
s shi
ft ha
s ta
ken
plac
e. B
ut m
ost t
each
ers o
nly
do p
ortfo
lios o
nce
or tw
ice
a ye
ar. I
wou
ld li
ke to
see
stud
ents
refle
ctin
g on
thei
r pro
gres
s m
ore
ofte
n an
d in
a le
ss ti
me
cons
umin
g w
ay.
Can
you
ng c
hild
ren
deve
lop
a se
nse
of th
eir o
wn
deve
lop-
men
t? I
thin
k th
ey c
an. I
n fa
ct, w
hene
ver I
’ve
aske
d ki
ds to
re-
flect
in w
ritin
g on
the
prev
ious
yea
r in
thei
r dev
elop
men
t, th
ey
can
alm
ost a
lway
s poi
nt to
sign
ifica
nt c
hang
es in
thei
r abi
litie
s an
d at
titud
es. A
nd e
ven
if th
eir a
sses
smen
ts a
ren’
t stri
ctly
acc
u-ra
te I
thin
k th
ey a
ct a
lmos
t lik
e a
self-
fulfi
lling
pro
phec
y. T
hat
is to
say
that
I be
lieve
man
y ch
ildre
n, si
mpl
y by
arti
cula
ting
spec
ific
impr
ovem
ents
in th
eir w
ritin
g, m
ay in
fact
be
help
ing
to p
sych
them
selv
es u
p, to
see
into
thei
r wor
k an
d its
pot
entia
l in
as h
opef
ul a
way
as p
ossi
ble.
Th
is is
one
of t
hose
act
iviti
es I
truly
enj
oy b
ecau
se e
ven
whe
n it
does
n’t w
ork
it do
es. E
ven
if st
uden
ts c
an’t
artic
ulat
e an
y im
prov
emen
ts, o
r the
diff
eren
ces t
hey
notic
e ar
e so
mew
hat
supe
rfic
ial,
they
are
still
lear
ning
a p
roce
ss th
at w
ill se
rve
them
w
ell w
hen
they
mat
ure
enou
gh to
take
adv
anta
ge o
f it.
By
enco
urag
ing
child
ren
to c
ompa
re c
urre
nt w
ork
with
pas
t w
ork,
we
invi
te th
em to
rega
rd a
ll of
thei
r eff
orts
as o
ne b
ig
piec
e of
writ
ing,
an
unbr
oken
cha
in o
f exp
ress
ion
stre
tchi
ng
back
to k
inde
rgar
ten
and
perh
aps e
ven
befo
re. T
his c
an b
e a
very
pro
foun
d ex
perie
nce
for a
chi
ld, s
omet
hing
that
can
giv
e ris
e to
that
spec
ial f
eelin
g w
e w
ant a
ll ch
ildre
n to
hav
e, th
at
feel
ing
that
says
: “H
ey, I
’m a
writ
er.”
A 7 AS
SESS
ING
Com
pari
ng c
urre
nt
wor
k w
ith o
ld w
ork
is
the
best
way
to se
e ho
w fa
r you
’ve
com
e.
Thro
ugh
the
Writin
g Pr
oces
s wi
th S
onja
Butle
r P
age
14
07 T
hru
the
WP (A
sses
sing)
.doc
7
/30/
97
© 1
995-
2002
by
Stev
e Pe
ha. F
or m
ore
info
rmat
ion,
or f
or a
dditio
nal t
each
ing
mat
erial
s, pl
ease
con
tact
: Tea
chin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
teve
peha
@ao
l.com
• W
eb w
ww.tt
ms.o
rg
Revie
w An
y Co
mmen
ts Y
ou R
ecei
ve
ust a
s you
did
dur
ing
the
resp
ondi
ng st
age,
you
may
get
writ
ten
com
men
ts
now
. For
exa
mpl
e, if
you
shar
e yo
ur w
ritin
g w
ith th
e cl
ass o
r pub
lish
it fo
r the
cl
ass l
ibra
ry, s
ome
of y
our r
eade
rs m
ay w
ant t
o te
ll yo
u th
ings
abo
ut it
. In
ad-
ditio
n, y
our t
each
er m
ay w
ant t
o gi
ve y
ou so
me
deta
iled
feed
back
usi
ng th
e Si
x Tr
aits
crit
eria
to h
elp
you
unde
rsta
nd w
hat y
ou d
id w
ell a
nd w
hat y
ou m
ight
thin
k ab
out i
mpr
ovin
g th
e ne
xt ti
me
you
wor
k on
ano
ther
pie
ce.
Teac
hing
Tips
All
writ
ers,
no m
atte
r how
smal
l, w
ant t
o kn
ow w
hat o
ther
s th
ink
of th
eir w
ork.
No
writ
er’s
ass
essm
ent o
f her
ow
n ac
hiev
emen
t wou
ld b
e co
mpl
ete
if th
e as
sess
men
t of o
ther
s w
eren
’t fa
ctor
ed in
to so
me
degr
ee.
All
too
ofte
n I t
hink
we’
re in
clin
ed to
soft-
peda
l thi
s iss
ue o
f re
spon
se. I
t’s fu
nny
real
ly. I
n ou
r rea
ding
pro
gram
s we
ask
our
child
ren
to g
ive
us th
ick,
mea
ty re
spon
ses t
o th
e bo
oks t
hey
read
. But
then
we
turn
aro
und
as th
eir t
each
ers a
nd se
rve
up
mar
shm
allo
w fl
uff:
“I re
ally
enj
oyed
you
r pap
er. Y
ou h
ave
a w
ay w
ith w
ords
. A w
onde
rful
eff
ort!
You
are
a v
ery
tale
nted
w
riter
. I c
an’t
wai
t to
read
you
r nex
t pie
ce.”
O
f cou
rse,
as c
arin
g ad
ults
eve
r min
dful
of t
he fr
agile
ego
s in
our c
harg
e, w
e pu
ll ou
r pun
ches
so a
s not
to h
urt t
heir
feel
ings
. B
ut I
thin
k, so
met
imes
, the
chi
ldre
n ar
e aw
are
of o
ur d
uplic
ity,
and
even
if th
ey a
ren’
t, th
ey g
et v
ery
tired
of h
earin
g w
hat t
al-
ente
d lit
tle p
eopl
e th
ey a
re (I
cer
tain
ly d
id),
espe
cial
ly w
hen
they
kno
w th
ey a
re n
ot a
lway
s so
tale
nted
. Th
e cr
ux o
f the
pro
blem
is th
at, t
radi
tiona
lly, w
e ha
ve re
lied
upon
a v
ery
pers
onal
voc
abul
ary
to d
escr
ibe
a st
uden
t’s w
ork.
B
ecau
se w
e ha
d no
wor
ds to
act
ually
talk
abo
ut th
e w
ritin
g, w
e ta
lked
abo
ut th
e w
riter
inst
ead.
And
the
cons
eque
nces
wer
e, in
m
any
case
s, qu
ite d
evas
tatin
g as
man
y yo
ung
peop
le b
egan
to
equa
te id
eas l
ike
“I’m
not
a g
ood
spel
ler,”
with
“I’
m n
ot a
go
od w
riter
,” w
ith “
I’m
not
a g
ood
pers
on.”
B
ut th
e an
alyt
ic v
ocab
ular
y of
Six
Tra
its g
ives
us b
ette
r lev
-er
age.
It a
llow
s us t
o co
mm
ent i
n an
in-d
epth
fash
ion
on th
e w
ritin
g its
elf i
n a
way
that
chi
ldre
n w
ho h
ave
been
intro
duce
d to
the
crite
ria c
an u
nder
stan
d an
d de
al w
ith e
ffec
tivel
y. B
y gi
v-in
g th
em th
e sa
me
com
men
ts y
ou e
xpec
t the
m to
han
d ou
t to
othe
rs—
the
sam
e co
mm
ents
you
exp
ect t
hem
to m
ake
abou
t th
e bo
oks t
hey
read
—yo
u ta
ke th
e st
ing
out o
f crit
icis
m, a
nd
give
legi
timac
y to
pra
ise.
W
hen
stud
ents
com
men
t to
each
oth
er, w
e ar
e of
ten
afra
id
that
they
won
’t ad
equa
tely
con
side
r the
ir cl
assm
ates
feel
ings
. To
a c
erta
in e
xten
t thi
s is t
rue.
Con
side
ratio
n fo
r oth
ers t
akes
m
any
year
s to
deve
lop.
(So
why
not
pra
ctic
e it
regu
larly
?) T
o m
itiga
te th
is p
oten
tial p
robl
em I
tell
stud
ents
they
shou
ld u
se
the
voca
bula
ry o
f the
trai
ts a
nd a
ny re
late
d vo
cabu
lary
we
have
de
velo
ped
in c
lass
whe
n sp
eaki
ng to
stud
ents
abo
ut th
eir w
rit-
ing.
Whe
n a
stud
ent f
eels
like
sayi
ng, “
That
was
stup
id,”
I di
-re
ct th
em to
thei
r Six
Tra
its c
riter
ia a
nd a
sk th
em if
they
can
fin
d th
is c
omm
ent a
nyw
here
on
the
shee
t. I d
on’t
wan
t to
re-
stric
t dis
cuss
ion,
I ju
st w
ant t
o en
cour
age
a he
alth
y ex
chan
ge.
J
7 AS
SESS
ING
Whe
n yo
u ge
t det
aile
d co
mm
ents
like
this
, be
sure
to h
ang
onto
them
.
Scoring Guide: 1-Beginning 2-Emerging 3-Developing 4-Maturing 5-Strong
Student: Sonja Butler Paper: The Frog Leap Date: 12/3/96
score 4
Ideas The heart of the message, the content of the piece, the main theme and supporting details. What a great thing to write about! It reminds me of when I was a little baby and I swallowed a safety pin. My parents were scared, too. I like the part where you said: “I bounced like a ball onto the heater which had skinny little ribs.” That’s a great detail. I could really see it happening. I would have enjoyed more details like that.
score 3/4
Organization The internal structure, the thread of central meaning, the logical pattern of ideas. Pretty well organized. I like the order you told things in. Each idea lead to the next and I never felt lost. I liked the ending, too. I’m glad you were all right. I was worried there for a minute. If you had included more details then splitting the story up into paragraphs would have made it even better.
score 4
Voice The heart and soul, the magic, the wit; the writer’s unique personal expression emerging through words. This sounds just like you, full of energy and enthusiasm. I especially liked it when you wrote “I was being cute and wagging my little cute bottom.” And I like the phrase “a Sonja sandwich hug.” That’s a great expression. When you put in details like this it helps your audience feel what you felt.
score 3/4
Word Choice Rich, colorful, precise language that moves and enlightens; a love of language, a passion for words. Nice job. How did you decide to call what you did a “frog leap”? That’s a really good descriptive phrase. I like the word “babyhood,” too; it’s so much more original than “childhood.”
score 3
Sentence Fluency The rhythm and flow of the language; the way the writing plays to the ear, not just to the eye.
Your paper reads very easily, but a lot of your sentences start with “I”. To make it a little more in-teresting you might try starting some of your sentences in other ways. You’re very good with allit-eration (that’s when you use several words that have the same starting sound). I especially like the sound of: “I bounced like a ball…” and “…a Sonja sandwich hug.”
score 3
Conventions The mechanical correctness of the writing and its contribution to meaning and readability. You did a good job on your spelling. I liked the way you circled the words you weren’t sure of and then looked them up in the dictionary. You used periods and capitals well, too. Did you know that there are two kinds of “witch”? There’s “witch” as in Halloween and “which” as in “which one.” Words that sound the same but are spelled differently are called homophones. We’ll have a lesson on that soon. I’ll also show you how to break your stories up into paragraphs.
You did a wonderful job on this paper, Sonja. I really appreciate how hard you worked from the very first pre-writing session through all your drafting, revision, editing, and publishing. You put in a lot of effort and it really shows. You have a wonderful voice that just pops right off the page. I can’t wait to read your next piece.
Copyright 1995-2003 by Steve Peha. 4 - 1 Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • Web www.ttms.org • E-mail [email protected]
An Introduction to Writing Process
s a formal method for teaching writing, Writing Process goes back to the early 1970’s when dozens of academic articles1 inquiring into the nature of the compo-sitional process began to appear. But writing as a process goes back even further than that—way, way back. Indeed, all writers have used one “process” or another
to render their ideas in print, it’s the nature of the beast; words just don’t magically mate-rialize on a page or a computer screen every time we want them to. So writing as a proc-ess is as old as writing itself. It’s just that in the last 30 years or so, we’ve thought to in-quire about exactly what processes might best be shown to students to help them grow as writers.
Been There, Done That At one time or another, we’ve all been there: first draft, final draft, done. And for
many of us, the final draft probably consisted of little more than recopying our teacher’s red pen corrections. Here’s what one class was like for me:
7th grade. Hell hath no fury like Mr. Hackworth. A most mercurial man. Tall, dark hair
and beard, piercing stare, earth-shattering voice, ego-crushing demeanor. He had no trou-ble getting our attention and keeping it. His class was a series of rituals: weekly news quiz, worksheets, and the research paper. The quizzes and worksheets I could handle, but I was completely unprepared for the paper. The longest thing I think I had written up to that point was about five pages. Suddenly, there were rumors in circulation about stu-dents from the previous year’s class topping 50; someone even said that one paper was over 100 pages long.
To get us started off on the right foot, Mr. Hackworth introduced us to his version of the writing process: [1] Choose a country; [2] Make sure you cover history, economics, climate, geography, government, etc.; [3] Write in pen; [4] Hand in the paper before Christmas break. That was it. We received no additional instruction whatsoever on how such a report was to be researched or written.
Sound familiar? No wonder so many of us struggled to get our work done—or even
to get started. As much as I love writing now, I hated it during school. And I think part of my frustration came from not knowing anything about how to write, that is, how to go about the business of carefully crafting a piece of prose from beginning to end.
Writing is a Process, Isn’t it? Like any academic theory, Writing Process has evolved considerably over the years,
but two beliefs have remained constant: [1] Methods of teaching writing should be struc-tured to account for the fact that the creation of a piece of writing is a developmental process that occurs over time; and [2] Writers engage in different activities depending on which stage of development a piece of writing is in.
1 The most important of these articles have been conveniently collected into a book called Landmark Essays on Writing Process, edited by Sondra Perl and published by Hermagoras Press. This is a wonderful book which not only includes essays by academics but also by professional writers like Annie Dillard and William Stafford. It really goes far beyond Writing Process to more general discussions of writing itself. I highly recommend it.
A
Copyright 1995-2003 by Steve Peha. 4 - 2 Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • Web www.ttms.org • E-mail [email protected]
Writing Process as a method of helping student writers has always, to my knowledge, been conceived of as a set of discrete stages wherein a writer engages in certain activities designed to solve particular problems unique to that stage. And it is this practical prob-lem-solving approach that I think makes Writing Process and other contemporary ap-proaches more effective than traditional methods which often attempted to teach writing in a manner that ran counter to the ways in which writers naturally go about their work.
As it was initially conceived, the process had only two stages: drafting and revising; the writer was said to cycle back and forth between them until a piece was finished. While this is probably the most accurate reflection of how writers work, it isn’t very use-ful in the classroom; student writers seem to benefit from a bit more structure. In the 1980’s, Writing Process theories crystallized into something most of us are now familiar with: a five stage process that includes Pre-Writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Pub-lishing.
But now in the 1990’s, we have further refinements that, at least in my experience, have truly made Writing Process valuable to student writers working in the classroom, and to teachers trying to help them. There are now three distinct ways of looking at Writ-ing Process:
Traditional Contemporary Primary
No Assessment Stages Criteria-Based Modified for K-2 Writers
Pre-Writing Pre-Writing Pre-Writing Drafting Drafting Drafting
Sharing Sharing Revising Revising Optional or Limited Editing Editing Optional of Limited
Publishing Publishing Publishing Assessing Optional or Limited
With the incredible popularity nationwide of criteria-based assessment, and the rec-
ognition of the power of criteria-based instruction in all subject areas, the traditional process has been expanded to accommodate the use of criteria like those in the Six Traits approach. This only makes good sense. According to research the use of criteria by stu-dent writers as a tool for focused revision is the single most important and most valuable technique we can employ2, so having two distinct stages (Sharing and Assessing) for this activity is well warranted. Without formal recourse to criteria, students cannot effectively shape their writing in the Revising stage, nor can they assess their own progress after Publishing. I recommend that teachers take students through the contemporary seven-stage process making appropriate changes for writers in grades K-2 who are not yet revis-ing.3
2 See Research in Written Composition by Robert Hillocks, Jr. published by NCTE. 3 Some very young writers can and do revise. But many just aren’t interested. I recommend introducing all writers to the full process, but making all stages after Drafting optional for K-2 writers. I don’t absolutely require kids to go through the whole process until mid-year 3rd grade, and even I will let some “slide by” until they feel more comfort-able. By 4th grade, all students should be mature enough to deal with the demands of working on the same piece of writing over a long period of time in a more detailed and more technical way.
Copyright 1995-2003 by Steve Peha. 4 - 3 Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • Web www.ttms.org • E-mail [email protected]
Why is it Important to Teach Writing Process? Writing Process is the “how” of writing. Think about it for a minute. How do you
write? There’s much more to it than just putting pen to paper or dangling your fingers over a keyboard. Consciously or not, most writers go through a predictable set of stages as their work evolves. Those stages—our own individual writing process—evolve slowly over time as we develop, and as the nature of our writing changes. As competent adult writers, we all have a writing process. But when you’re young, just starting out, you really have no idea what to do first, where to go next, or how to finish up. Small children reach for a pencil before they have any idea what they want to write. Older students may sit in class for days complaining that they can’t get started. The Writing Process gives in-experienced writers a simple, dependable structure they can follow, a foolproof plan of attack that will always yield results. By helping students with the process of writing, we free them up to put more effort into the execution of their ideas.
From a teacher’s perspective, Writing Process is extremely helpful because it solves some very basic, but all too common, problems:
Common Problems Solved by Using Writing Process
Students don’t know how to get started: No problem, just introduce them to Pre-Writing activities like brainstorming, webbing, mapping, freewriting, or listing.
Students don’t write because they are afraid of making errors: Tell students they will have a chance to make corrections during the Editing stage.
Low productivity; students don’t write very much: Pre-Writing activities like free writing increase fluidity of expression; the knowledge that things can be changed during Revising frees students up to experiment.
No effort in Revision; no ability to rethink earlier drafts: By teaching focused les-sons in specific writing skills, and showing students how to use the Six Traits criteria, young writers become interested in and committed to serious revision.
Sloppy work; no attention to detail in final drafts: By reserving a special stage for Publishing, and creating authentic publishing opportunities for your students to publish their work, you can show them how important this aspect of writing really is, and you can give them specific lessons in how to go about it.
Last but not least, Writing Process is a required component of the Washington State
Essential Academic Learnings for Writing. Like it or not, Writing Process is the law in this state. Students are expected to know it inside and out.
But is the Writing Process Real? Yes and no. No professional writer that I’ve ever heard of goes through seven distinct
stages with each piece (or any number of distinct stages for that matter). I know I cer-tainly don’t. Competent adult writers tend to pursue all of the stages more or less simul-taneously. We cycle: we think of an idea, write it down, read it over, change it a little, fix a typo, format it… and then we start the cycle all over again. Students will cycle, too, though probably not as dynamically or as purposefully when they’re just starting out. So, rather than a fixed set of stages each writer goes through, like this:
Copyright 1995-2003 by Steve Peha. 4 - 4 Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • Web www.ttms.org • E-mail [email protected]
Pre-Writing Drafting Sharing Revising Editing Publishing Assessing
It’s better to conceive of the process as less of a one-shot assembly line affair and
more like a flexible, dynamic system that will vary to some extent with the individual needs of the writer and the type of writing he or she is trying to do:
Pre-Writing Drafting Sharing Revising Editing Publishing Assessing
Of course all of this speculation about the creative inner life of writers begs the obvi-
ous question: if nobody really uses the Writing Process, why do we teach it at all? Here’s how I look at it:
The most important contribution of the process writing movement has not been the
revelation of a single most productive, most perfect, and most proper way of writing. It is merely the idea that there are ways of writing: predictable paths good writers follow that lead them step-by-step to the successful rendering of their ideas in print. There is no sin-gle writing process, no “secret formula” known only to a select cadre of award-winning educators, elite researchers, and literary mavens. Writing is a process in and of itself. And it is the recognition of this simple fact that has so significantly influenced the way our best teachers teach writing today. Once we acknowledge that writing is not a sponta-neous act, but rather a series of discrete events scattered through stages that unfold over time, we can begin to guide young authors through those stages, so that ultimately they can guide themselves.
I teach students the contemporary seven stage process (even if I don’t require writers
in grades K-2 to use it, I still tell them about all the stages and invite them to try it out), and I take them through it until they know it cold. As they experience more success and begin to develop a sense of what works best for them, I give my students more latitude to find their own ways of getting things done. But when they get stuck, I send them right back to the seven stages again. Eventually, they develop a way of writing that works best for them that incorporates all of the components I have introduced. I use Writing Process more as a problem-solving mechanism than as a way of monitoring student progress or long term development. You see, whether or not writers pursue the stages deliberately, it is a simple reality of the task that anyone who attempts any kind of formal composition must eventually draw from each of the seven “wells” in order to nourish their work from beginning to end. What I like to say to teachers is this: Writing Process is a tool, not a rule. And it usually works best when it’s used in that context. Instead of telling students: “Here’s something you have to do.”, tell them “Here’s something that will help you out. Give it a try and then take a little bit of time to assess how well it works for you.
Use Six Traits criteria here
Use Six Traits criteria here
Use Six Traits criteria here
Use Six Traits criteria here
Use Six Traits criteria here
Use Six Traits criteria here
Use Six Traits criteria here
Use Six Traits criteria here
The
“Writ
ing
Proc
ess”
Org
anize
r
« P
RE-W
RITI
NG
Explo
re Yo
ur To
pic
Pre-
writin
g is
any a
ctivit
y tha
t help
s wr
iters
figur
e ou
t wha
t to
write
ab
out.
Many
thing
s qua
lify a
s pre
-wr
iting
activ
ities.
The
strat
egies
that
I h
ave
had
succ
ess w
ith a
re:
« T
-Cha
rt T
opics
. (Lo
ve/H
ate,
Typic
al/Un
usua
l, Fun
/Not
Fun
, et
c.)
« T
opic
Equa
tions
. (in
Math
, Sc
ience
, and
Soc
ial S
tudie
s.)
« W
hat-
Why
-How
.
« I
dea-
Deta
ils a
nd T
ell-S
how.
« D
raw
-Lab
el-C
aptio
n.
« A
ctio
n-Fe
elin
gs-S
ettin
g.
« T
rans
ition
-Act
ion-
Deta
ils.
« C
onte
nt-P
urpo
se-A
udie
nce.
(C
PA)
« W
hat’s
a G
ood
Idea
?
« T
he 5
Fac
ts o
f Fict
ion.
The
best
appr
oach
for m
e ha
s bee
n to
intro
duce
kids
to a
ll of t
hese
str
ateg
ies a
nd th
en to
enc
oura
ge
them
to p
ick th
e on
es th
at w
ork
best
for w
hate
ver t
hey’r
e try
ing to
do
. Iro
nicall
y, th
e wa
y I kn
ow I’
ve
been
succ
essfu
l is w
hen
kids s
top
using
them
—bu
t are
still
able
to
choo
se g
ood
topic
s and
dev
elop
them
logic
ally a
nd co
mplet
ely. T
o me
, this
sign
ifies t
heir
trans
ition
from
begin
ning
write
rs, w
ho d
idn’t
know
how
to g
et st
arte
d, int
o ma
-tu
re w
riter
s who
can
succ
essfu
lly
selec
t and
dev
elop
an id
ea w
ithou
t ha
ving
to p
re-w
rite—
just l
ike
adult
s. Mo
st ad
ults d
on’t
do a
ny
pre-
writin
g. Ins
tead
they
do
a lot
of
“pre
-think
ing.”
For e
xamp
le, I
often
sp
end
week
s thin
king
abou
t som
e-th
ing b
efore
I wr
ite a
sing
le wo
rd.
Each
year
that
I wo
rk w
ith st
uden
t wr
iters
, pre
-writ
ing b
ecom
es m
ore
impo
rtant
to m
e. I n
ow e
ncou
rage
stu
dent
s at a
ll gra
de le
vels
to sp
end
a lot
of t
ime
on p
re-w
riting
. Inc
reas
-ing
the
amou
nt o
f tim
e sp
ent o
n pr
e-wr
iting,
and
using
goo
d pr
e-wr
iting
strat
egies
such
as t
hose
lis
ted
abov
e, ha
s don
e mo
re to
im-
prov
e th
e qu
ality
of th
e wr
iting
I see
th
an a
lmos
t any
thing
else
.
« D
RAFT
ING
Put i
t Dow
n on
Pap
er
Draft
ing is
whe
re fo
rmal
writin
g be
-gin
s. Us
ing p
re-w
riting
mat
erial
s as
inspir
ation
, the
writ
er w
rites
. And
wr
ites.
And
write
s som
e mo
re. T
he
goal
is to
get
eve
rythin
g do
wn o
n pa
per a
s quic
kly a
nd a
s eas
ily a
s po
ssibl
e.
The
bigge
st pr
oblem
kids
enc
oun-
ter,
of co
urse
, is w
riter
’s blo
ck. I
tre
at w
riter
’s blo
ck ju
st lik
e an
y ot
her p
roble
m wr
iters
hav
e. I in
tro-
duce
kids
to a
varie
ty of
strat
egies
an
d as
k the
m to
pick
the
ones
that
wo
rk b
est f
or th
em. H
ere’s
wha
t I
tell t
hem
to tr
y:
« U
se y
our p
re-w
ritin
g. G
o ba
ck to
your
pre
-writ
ing an
d loo
k for
new
mat
erial
. Or,
do
some
new
pre
-writ
ing.
« S
hare
. Sha
re yo
ur w
riting
and
as
k you
r aud
ience
if th
ey h
ave
any q
uesti
ons o
r any
thou
ghts
abou
t wha
t you
could
do
next.
« R
e-re
ad. R
ead
your
piec
e fro
m th
e be
ginnin
g. Ne
w ide
as o
ften
occu
r to
write
rs w
hen
they
read
ov
er th
eir e
ntire
piec
e.
« R
eque
st a
conf
eren
ce. B
ut
only
if the
teac
her i
s ava
ilable
.
« W
ork
on s
omet
hing
els
e. P
ut
the
piece
asid
e an
d wo
rk o
n an
-ot
her p
iece
for a
whil
e.
It’s a
lso h
elpful
to g
et th
e kid
s in
the
habit
of “
setti
ng u
p” th
eir p
aper
be
fore
they
beg
in to
dra
ft. I
usua
lly
ask k
ids to
keep
all o
f the
ir dr
afts,
so e
ach
time
they
writ
e I w
ant t
hem
to d
o th
e fo
llowi
ng:
« W
rite
on e
very
oth
er li
ne.
This
make
s rev
ising
and
edit
ing
easie
r. Pu
t a ti
ny “x
” on
ever
y ot
her l
ine a
t the
far l
eft e
dge
of th
e pa
per t
o re
mind
your
self.
« W
rite
on o
ne s
ide
of th
e pa
per o
nly.
This
make
s rea
d-ing
eas
ier.
« N
umbe
r all
your
pag
es. T
his
make
s find
ing p
ages
eas
ier.
« D
ate
each
pag
e. T
his m
akes
it
easie
r to
keep
trac
k of m
any d
if-fer
ent r
evisi
ons.
« S
HARI
NG
Get S
ome A
dvice
Fo
r stu
dent
writ
ers,
shar
ing is
usu
-all
y the
mos
t valu
able
and
enjoy
able
stage
in th
e wr
iting
proc
ess.
Ther
e ar
e th
ree
differ
ent w
ays t
o or
ganiz
e sh
aring
, and
eac
h ap
proa
ch h
as it
s ad
vant
ages
and
disa
dvan
tage
s:
« W
hole
clas
s sh
arin
g. T
his is
th
e mo
st va
luable
app
roac
h for
th
e wr
iter,
but i
t’s a
lso th
e mo
st tim
e co
nsum
ing fo
r the
clas
s.
« S
mal
l gro
up s
harin
g. M
ore
time
effici
ent,
and
each
writ
er
still g
ets a
larg
e en
ough
aud
i-en
ce to
get
goo
d fee
dbac
k, bu
t it
can
be h
ard
to m
anag
e.
« P
artn
er s
harin
g. V
ery e
ffi-cie
nt, b
ut th
e fee
dbac
k fro
m a
single
aud
ience
mem
ber i
s ofte
n no
t ver
y use
ful.
Thou
gh th
e be
nefits
of s
harin
g ar
e ma
ny, I
focu
s on
one
parti
cular
go
al. W
hene
ver w
riter
s sha
re th
eir
work
, I w
ant t
o ma
ke su
re th
ey g
et
usefu
l, con
struc
tive
feedb
ack s
o th
ey kn
ow w
hat t
hey’r
e go
ing to
do
next.
Whe
n I f
acilit
ate
whole
clas
s sh
aring
, for
exa
mple,
I wi
ll ofte
n en
d ea
ch w
riter
’s tu
rn b
y ask
ing th
em if
they
know
wha
t the
y’re
going
to d
o wh
en th
ey g
o ba
ck to
their
seat
. If
they
don
’t kn
ow, I
keep
them
up
in fro
nt u
ntil t
hey f
igure
some
thing
ou
t. In
this
way,
kids l
earn
quic
kly
that
the
purp
ose
of sh
aring
a d
raft
is to
get
idea
s for
revis
ion.
Here
are
thre
e sim
ple th
ings I
tell
kids t
hat h
ave
made
a h
uge
differ
-en
ce in
my s
harin
g:
« U
se th
e cr
iteria
. Res
pond
us-
ing th
e lan
guag
e of
the
class
-ro
om cr
iteria
whe
n po
ssibl
e.
« Q
uest
ions
onl
y, p
leas
e. If
th
e wr
iter i
s still
wor
king
on a
n ea
rly d
raft,
ask
que
stion
s only
.
« A
sk “
why”
and
“ho
w”
ques
tions
. This
help
s aut
hors
by
chall
engin
g th
em to
resp
ond
in mo
re co
mplex
and
inte
resti
ng
ways
.
I find
that
shar
ing is
also
very
use
ful
for f
igurin
g ou
t whic
h les
sons
I ne
ed
to te
ach.
« R
EVIS
ING
Take
Ano
ther
Look
Fo
r me,
the
key t
o re
vision
has
bee
n eff
ectiv
e sh
aring
. Whe
n kid
s get
reg-
ular f
eedb
ack f
rom
their
pee
rs, r
evi-
sion
come
s mor
e ea
sily.
For a
dult
write
rs, a
sens
e of
pur-
pose
and
aud
ience
pro
vide
the
nec-
essa
ry mo
tivat
ion fo
r rev
ision
, and
I fin
d th
at ki
ds a
ren’t
muc
h dif
feren
t. Ch
oice
is als
o a
signif
icant
facto
r: stu
dent
s are
muc
h mo
re lik
ely to
re-
vise
piece
s bas
ed o
n th
ings t
hey’v
e ch
osen
to w
rite
abou
t tha
n on
te
ache
r-sele
cted
prom
pts o
r oth
er
assig
nmen
ts. T
each
er m
odeli
ng
helps
also
. Whe
n kid
s can
see m
e up
ther
e str
uggli
ng w
ith m
y own
wr
iting
right
in fr
ont o
f the
m, it
ma
kes t
hem
feel li
ke g
iving
it a
try
them
selve
s.
Revis
ion is
the
point
in th
e wr
iting
proc
ess w
here
writ
ers b
enefi
t mos
t fro
m go
od m
ini-le
sson
s. As
a g
uide
for w
hich
lesso
ns to
teac
h, I u
se th
e cla
ssro
om cr
iteria
. The
se a
re th
e ar
eas I
focu
s on:
« I
deas
. Main
idea
, sup
porti
ng
deta
ils, “
show
ing” d
etail
s, pu
r-po
se, t
he u
nexp
ecte
d.
« O
rgan
izat
ion.
Beg
inning
s, en
dings
, seq
uenc
ing, p
acing
, tra
nsitio
ns.
« V
oice
. Aud
ience
emo
tions
, au-
dienc
e ne
eds,
hone
sty, p
erso
n-ali
ty, co
ntro
l.
« W
ord
Choi
ce. A
ppro
priat
e lan
-gu
age,
stron
g ve
rbs,
prec
ise
modif
iers,
memo
rable
phr
ases
, us
age.
« S
ente
nce
Flue
ncy.
Sen
tenc
e be
ginnin
gs, s
ente
nce
lengt
hs,
expr
essiv
enes
s, so
und,
con-
struc
tion.
Some
times
, writ
er’s
will g
et in
the
habit
of ig
norin
g th
e fee
dbac
k the
y ge
t fro
m yo
u or
from
their
aud
ience
. Wh
en th
is ha
ppen
s rep
eate
dly, I
ask
stu
dent
s to
make
a b
rief “
revis
ion
plan”
stat
ing in
writ
ing th
e th
ings
they
are
plan
ning
to w
ork o
n. I t
hen
ask t
hem
to co
nfere
nce
with
me
on
thos
e th
ings b
efore
goin
g on
to th
e ed
iting
stage
.
« E
DITI
NG
Make
Cor
recti
ons
Editin
g is
such
a co
mplex
and
de-
mand
ing ta
sk th
at I
have
foun
d I
need
to ta
ckle
it fro
m se
vera
l van
-ta
ge p
oints.
I lay
the
found
ation
wi
th a
varie
ty of
whole
clas
s acti
vi-tie
s inc
luding
:
« C
onve
ntio
ns re
adin
g. A
dail
y ch
oral
read
ing a
ctivit
y whe
re
kids r
ead
not o
nly th
e te
xt bu
t ev
ery c
onve
ntion
as w
ell.
« C
onve
ntio
ns in
quiry
. Inv
esti-
gatio
ns in
a va
riety
of te
xts th
at
help
kids m
ake
usefu
l gen
erali
-za
tions
.
« E
xpre
ssiv
e re
adin
g. S
olo o
ral
read
ing w
here
stud
ents
use
conv
entio
ns to
guid
e th
em in
th
eir in
terp
retat
ions.
« S
elec
ted
min
i-les
sons
. I
cove
r bas
ic co
ncep
ts lik
e se
n-te
nces
, com
mas,
dialog
, and
pa
ragr
aphs
.
I bas
e my
teac
hing
on re
sear
ch-
base
d pr
incipl
es: 1
) Pub
lish
more
sh
orte
r piec
es; 2
) Foc
us o
n on
e co
nven
tion
at a
time
; 3) W
ork i
n th
e co
ntex
t of a
uthe
ntic
stude
nt w
riting
.
The
bulk
of m
y dire
ct ins
tructi
on is
do
ne o
ne-o
n-on
e du
ring
editin
g co
nfere
nces
. As t
ime
cons
uming
as
this
can
be, t
he p
rogr
ess k
ids h
ave
made
has
bee
n mo
re th
an w
orth
it.
I hold
child
ren
to th
e sa
me st
anda
rd
of co
rrectn
ess t
hat I
hold
adu
lts: a
ll wr
iters
mus
t do
their
bes
t to
make
th
eir w
riting
as c
orre
ct as
it ca
n be
. I d
o no
t beli
eve
that
a ch
ild’s
writin
g mu
st be
per
fect i
n or
der f
or it
to b
e pu
blish
ed—
mine
isn’t
.
Shou
ld te
ache
rs co
rrect
stude
nt
work
? I c
an’t
tell y
ou w
hat t
o do
, bu
t I ca
n te
ll you
wha
t I va
lue: s
tu-
dent
initia
tive,
indep
ende
nce,
and
my ti
me. W
hen
I wor
k with
kids
, the
y ho
ld th
e re
d pe
n an
d do
the
editin
g. I m
ake
sugg
estio
ns, I
poin
t out
tro
uble
spot
s, I a
nswe
r que
stion
s, I
offer
adv
ice, b
ut in
gen
eral
I do
not
corre
ct stu
dent
wor
k. An
d on
thos
e oc
casio
ns w
hen
I do,
I’m
sittin
g in
front
of t
he st
uden
t wor
king
in th
e co
ntex
t of a
uthe
ntic
writin
g.
« P
UBLI
SHIN
G Po
lish
for P
rese
ntati
on
Prep
aring
a p
iece
of wr
iting
for p
ub-
licat
ion p
re-su
ppos
es th
at it
will
be
publi
shed
in so
me fo
rm. H
elping
kid
s find
aut
hent
ic pu
blish
ing o
p-po
rtunit
ies ca
n be
chall
engin
g, b
ut
it re
ally m
akes
a d
iffere
nce
in th
e qu
ality
of th
eir w
ork.
Here
are
some
of
the
best
ideas
I’ve
come
acro
ss:
« C
lass
room
new
spap
ers.
I ha
ve n
ever
seen
kids
wor
k ha
rder
to p
olish
their
pro
se
than
they
do
when
they
’re p
ub-
lishin
g th
eir o
wn n
ewsp
aper
.
« A
utho
r poc
kets
. Out
side
the
class
room
, kids
pos
t a “p
ocke
t,”
comp
lete
with
“Abo
ut th
e Au
-th
or” i
nform
ation
, whe
re th
ey
can
displa
y the
ir pu
blish
ed
piece
s for
any
one
to re
ad.
« W
eb si
te. C
lassr
oom
web
sites
ar
e hu
ge m
otiva
tors
, as a
re
vario
us o
ther
onli
ne ve
nues
like
Amaz
on.co
m wh
ere
kids c
an
post
their
own
boo
k rev
iews.
« O
utsi
de s
choo
l. Le
tters
sent
to
real
peop
le—so
me o
f who
m ev
en w
rite
back
—se
em to
be
the
best
motiv
ator
s. Co
ntes
ts ar
e fun
, too
.
« P
ortfo
lio. I
n cla
ssro
oms w
here
po
rtfoli
os a
re va
lued,
kids s
eem
to lo
ve g
ettin
g pie
ces r
eady
for
them
.
I don
’t wo
rry a
bout
whe
ther
kids
pu
blish
in m
anus
cript
or i
n cu
rsive
. I
just t
ell th
em th
at th
e po
int o
f pub
-lis
hing
is ha
ving
some
one
read
your
wo
rk, s
o us
e th
e typ
e of
hand
writin
g in
which
you
write
mos
t nea
tly.
I don
’t ha
ve ki
ds p
ublis
h on
the
comp
uter
unt
il the
y can
touc
h typ
e at
leas
t 15-
20 w
ords
per
minu
te.
Until
that
poin
t, kid
s typ
e so
slow
ly an
d wi
th so
man
y erro
rs th
at th
eir
time
on th
e co
mput
er is
not
time
we
ll spe
nt. K
ids w
ho ca
n’t to
uch
type
have
to u
se th
e “h
unt a
nd
peck
” app
roac
h wh
ich re
infor
ces
bad
habit
s tha
t hav
e to
be
un-
learn
ed la
ter.
I sta
rt te
achin
g kid
s to
type
at th
e be
ginnin
g of
3rd
grad
e. By
mid-
year
, man
y are
pub
lishin
g on
the
comp
uter
.
« A
SSES
SING
Re
flect
on th
e Wo
rk En
cour
aging
writ
ers t
o ta
ke so
me
time
to re
flect
on th
eir w
ork p
ays
huge
divi
dend
s to
teac
her a
nd st
u-de
nt a
like.
I use
infor
matio
n ga
ined
from
forma
l and
infor
mal a
sses
s-me
nts f
or st
uden
t-tea
cher
goa
l set
-tin
g an
d fo
r guid
ing m
y ins
tructi
on.
Here
are
some
of t
he a
sses
smen
t ap
proa
ches
I’ve
had
goo
d luc
k with
:
« F
orm
al cr
iteria
-bas
ed
teac
her a
sses
smen
t. Int
eres
ting
and
valua
ble, b
ut
very
time
cons
uming
. I w
ould
do
it on
ly on
ce o
r twi
ce a
year
.
« S
mal
l gro
up o
r who
le cl
ass
shar
e se
ssio
n. T
his is
mor
e ce
lebra
tion
than
critiq
ue. I
f a
write
r is s
harin
g pu
blish
ed w
ork,
I ask
kids
to m
ake
posit
ive
comm
ents
only—
unles
s the
au-
thor
ask
s for
critic
ism.
« S
tude
nt s
elf-
asse
ssm
ent.
This
is th
e mo
st va
luable
as-
sess
ment
acti
vity.
It’s a
lso ti
me
effici
ent.
With
a lit
tle tr
aining
, kid
s can
do
it on
their
own
us-
ing th
e cla
ssro
om cr
iteria
.
« S
tude
nt w
ritte
n re
flect
ion.
Kid
s don
’t lik
e to
do
refle
c-tio
ns—
and
I don
’t bla
me
them
—bu
t the
y can
be
very
valua
ble fo
r me
and
for th
eir
pare
nts,
so I
requ
est t
hem
from
time
to ti
me.
« F
orm
al p
eer a
sses
smen
t. Th
is ca
n be
risk
y, so
I do
n’t d
o it
until
I’ve
seen
a lo
t of e
vi-de
nce
in sh
aring
that
kids
can
treat
eac
h ot
her w
ith ki
ndne
ss
and
resp
ect.
« P
aren
t writ
ten
resp
onse
. I
love
havin
g pa
rent
s writ
e ba
ck
to th
eir ki
ds. P
aren
ts of
eleme
n-ta
ry ki
ds w
ill do
it a
ny ti
me I
ask.
Pare
nts o
f sec
onda
ry kid
s oft
en d
on’t
both
er. I
hop
e th
at
will c
hang
e so
me d
ay.
The
most
impo
rtant
thing
I’ve
lea
rned
abo
ut a
sses
smen
t is t
o ge
t th
e kid
s inv
olved
as f
ully a
s pos
si-ble
. Whe
n th
e kid
s tak
e th
e lea
d in
asse
ssing
their
own
abil
ities,
learn
-ing
incre
ases
dra
matic
ally.
For m
ore
infor
matio
n, or
for a
dditio
nal t
each
ing m
ater
ials,
plea
se co
ntac
t: Te
achin
g Th
at M
akes
Sen
se, I
nc. •
E-m
ail s
tevep
eha@
aol.c
om •
Web
www
.ttms
.org
© 1995-2002 by Steve Peha. For more information, or for additional teaching materials, please contact: Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • E-mail [email protected] • Web www.ttms.org
24
Please contact me any time!Even the best workshops and teaching materials can’t meet the needs of every teacher all the time.
That’s why we need to stay in touch. Send me an e-mail any time you have a question.I’ll do my best to get back to you quickly with answers, additional teaching materials,
or other resources.
Let’s work together tomake your teachingthe best it can be.
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