Teaching Writing as a ProcessBy Alicia SmithStacey Wilson

This presentation was created by Alicia Smith and Stacey Wilson, Teacher Consultants, for the National Writing Project, as part of the 2014 Santee Wateree Writing Project.

The 5 Tenets

Teachers of writing should, themselves, write so that they are in touch with their own writing abilities.

Students should experience audiences other than the teacher as assessor. Other audiences include self, peer, and teacher as a partner in learning

Peer response groups can lessen the load of correcting papers and yet ensure that the students get ample writing experiences and constant feedback.

Students should be involved in the evaluation process. Teachers should stress the written product less and

emphasize writing as a process more.

The Writing Process

Prewriting: brainstorming Writing: ideas take shape by putting words on

paper. Sharing: students gain a sense of audience Responding: writers gain an understanding of

what distinguishes effective from ineffective writing.

Revising: reworking Editing: correctness Evaluating: Feedback for the student writers

Clustering

Clustering is a nonlinear brainstorming process that generates ideas, images, and feelings around a stimulus word until a pattern becomes discernible

Cooperative WritingKindergarten-2nd Grade

Interpersonal skills

Students need many opportunities to listen and speak before they can become fluent readers and writers.

Cooperative-Writing Lesson

Talking Trees

Objective: Students will develop interpersonal skills and language arts skill.

Writing

Who are they writing to (audience)

Write for teacher

Writing for self

Short Exercise

Select a place where, right now you would rather be. (3 minutes)

Skip a line and write a letter to your Mom, or some other loved one, in which you tell the person about this place (3 minutes)

Write a letter to your principal or superintendent in which you request funds to subsidize you being in this place and which justifies the released time necessary for you to be there.(3 minutes)

Sharing/Responding

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jeo79

Revising

There is no one correct way to revise

Rearranging, adding, rewording, removing

Some things to focus onFletcher states that we cannot force students to revise but here some things to look at:

Change the beginning Change the ending Add a section Delete a part Change the order (re-sequencing) Change the tone Change the point of view Change the genre (65)

Strategies for Revision

Building communities of writers

Inviting drafting and redrafting

Authorship

Publishing

Editing

Grammar

Punctuation

Spelling

Usage

Choose an Editing Routine

Share the responsibility of editing

Create a checklist (3 or 4 skills) for students to check off the skill and also the teacher (Fletcher, 94)

Can also be done in small groups or individual conferences

Evaluation

Rubrics- don’t always have to use them as long as students know what you are looking for

Don’t focus on everything, narrow it down

Help students evaluate themselves whenever possible

Evaluative Questions

Can you tell me about something you did well in this piece of writing?

How does this piece compare to others you have written?

Is there something you are proud of about doing here?

Is there any place you are less that fully pleased with? (Fletcher, 106)

Possible Areas of Focus for Evaluating

Quality of writing

Correctness of Conventions

Use a variety of composing and revising strategies

Participation in the workshop

Overlap between workshop and testing Writing

Workshop

-Choice of topic-No length requirement-Conference with peers or teacher

Both

-Generate ideas on topic-Use supporting details-Reread for meaning-Stay focused on topic-Proofread for errors

PASS Test

-Assigned prompt-Length requirement- No input from teacher or peers

Fletcher, 110

Works Cited Fletcher, Ralph and JoAnn Portalupi. Writing

Workshop: The Essential Guide. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2001. Print.