Writing to Communicate

Chapter 7

What does writing do for students?

• Benefits of writing– strengthen student’s self image– creates learning

• enables students to permanently apply what they have learned about language

– enhances life’s experiences– help think on a higher level

Principles of writing instruction

• Must be satisfying

• write with students to model strategies– writer’s block– writer’s good and bad days– demonstrate expert strategies– if write for long enough and think hard can

express important ideas

• writings must be shared and appreciated– framed writings– make books for library or gifts– student publications– solve problems

• need support and instruction

Writing through the grades

• Preschool-writings are unintelligible

• Grade 1- talk as they write

• Grade 2-begin to understand audience

• Grade 3-can learn strategies to help their writing

• Grade 4-6-can learn revising strategies that move beyond word level

The Writing Process

• This process must remain flexible!

• The amount of time spent in each stage varies

• The number of times that students revisits each stage varies

Prewriting

• 1st stage of the authoring cycle

• Need to envision an audience

• Decide if persuading, entertaining, informing, or reflect

• Conversing is critical

• Help with need for an idea or having writer’s block

Drafting• involves writing a first draft• need to make pictures in their mind• overcome writer’s block

– do unfocused and focused freewriting

– Ask students questions as they write

– prompt with a starter sentence

– Be the secretary for students so they can concentrate on organization

– Use concept spin

– Start to write

– Think of audience

Minilessons in drafting

• Collect lots of information

• Use a factline

• ten-minute write

• conduct a poll

• free to select a space to write

Revising

• Reworking their drafts to craft their art– Questions to ask

• change a word so idea becomes clearer

• does paragraph contain vivid details and a main idea

• can ideas be more concise and powerful by rewriting or shortening a sentence

• make stronger connections between ideas, sentences, and paragraphs

• write an example so readers understand exactly what I mean

Minilessons on drafting

• 2 levels of revision– total text revision– microrevision

• reaction guide for peer

• editorial board

Editing

• Eliminate errors in spelling, punctuation, paragraph indention, capitalization, and other writing conventions.– peer editing– class experts– minimal-mark editing– sentence or paragraph of the week– computer editors

Sharing-Publishing

• Writing is meant to be shared

• Need an audience

• Submit to publications

• Voluntary sharing

• Author’s chair

Activities that build writing abilities

• Writing workshop– conference station. research station, illustration station,

and creative sharing station– learning centers

• Progressive writing centers– Send through 5 steps

• prewriting• writing• revising• editing• creating the final copy

Writing Modern Fantasy

• Modern fantasy is very powerful

• Must create worlds in which unusual circumstances are believable, or they may combine reality and fantasy as characters go back and forth between two worlds.

• Myths, legends, and fables are special types of fantasy.

Recognizing and Reporting Progress

• Rubrics are being used to measure students writing process

• It is a standard and criteria for ranking writing samples

Technology

• When computers are used in paired writings, students collaborate more and the amount and quality of student’s revisions increases.

• Computers can help with:– gathering ideas quickly– create multiple outlines– produce a first draft, save it and rework it

– Revise and maintain their focus on the content– edit with aid of specialized software– gain more time for thinking and organizing

Discovery Discussions

• One of best opportunities for student’s to tell their stories

• Provide opportunities to– scaffold intensively in student’s zone of

proximal development– interact with child to monitor experiences,

difficulties, offer guidance, and set practice– check the reading-writing journals and logs

Buddy Journals

• Trade journals with another student in which they write an entry and then the other student responds.

Bookmaking

• First book would be eight or sixteen pages

• Write an outline of the beginning, setting, conflict or problem, and end of story

• Illustrate their story

• Rewrite sections to grab attention

• Lay out the book

• Design front cover

• Complete the backs, flaps, and spines of the book

• Unveil the book, display the book, and share the book– After they have learned the process, they can do

it on their own.– Parents can co-author with their children