The Writing Process

Cornell Notes Date the next page of your class notebook and label it “The Writing Process”. Set up for Cornell Notes. The essential question is on the next page.

Essential Question What is the writing process and how can I use it to write an engaging narrative?

Assignment Take Cornell Notes as you move through the slides that define the Writing Process. When you get to the writing practice exercise follow those instructions as well.

WRITING AS PROCESS: AN OVERVIEW Think of writing as a process as a set of activities that you go through to produce a finished product. This process has several distinct stages: Prewrite, Draft, Revise, Edit, and Publish.

PREWRITING Find a focus that fits your purpose and audience before you start. Gather ideas: Keep a journal. Brainstorm or jot down lists of ideas. Free writing - let your mind go. Mind mapping / idea trees. 5 Ws - (Who, What, When, Where, and Why) Outlining

DRAFTING OR WRITING Getting your ideas into visible form: Prioritize your ideas. Write complete sentences. Divide text into paragraphs. Organize paragraphs into Introduction, Body and Close.

Proofreading: are there any typos? REVISING & EDITING: EVALUATING YOUR DRAFT CRITICALLY AND MAKING CHANGES Revising: adding text, cutting, replacing words/phrases, rearranging parts. Editing: checking the correctness of grammar, spelling, punctuation and mechanics. Proofreading: are there any typos? Page one took me one hour from start to save.

PUBLISHING Once you have your writing just like you want it, you share it with your audience. It helps to make sure it’s polished so many times you will need to rewrite or type it so that it is in it’s best form.

WRITING AS PROCESS: LET’S TRY IT… Stargirl was a very unusual person. Think of the most unusual or eccentric person you have ever met. In 20 minutes, and on a piece of loose leaf paper, write a paragraph describing this person to your classmates. Concentrate on getting each sentence right as you go. Do not rewrite your paragraph. Put it to the side.

THE WRITING PROCESS Now you will complete the same task but this time, you’ll use the writing process.

PREWRITE: PART I About your person, and on a separate piece of loose leaf paper, answer these questions: When/where did you meet? What does he or she look/sound like? Face/ clothing/ hair/ body/ language/ accent? What are his or her tastes in movies/ books/ music/ food/ cars? How did he or she surprise/ teach/ inspire you? Why should your classmates be interested in him or her?

PREWRITE: PART II Close your eyes and imagine “YOUR PERSON” doing something he or she typically does. Imagine every detail. Freewrite for 5 minutes about your image. Write quickly. Don’t edit as you go - just put down the words as fast as you can. If you get stuck, just write “I’m stuck, I’m stuck…” until you think of something.

DRAFTING FOCUSING: Look at your free writing paragraph. Take a new page and write down in one sentence “YOUR PERSON”’s single most striking/ unusual feature. DRAFTING: Write a paragraph developing the idea you just wrote down. Write on another piece of loose leaf paper. Use any relevant details from your list or free writing.

REVISING & EDITING REVISING: Your classmates are the audience. Will you need additional detail for them to visualize what you mean? Share your paragraph with someone and ask for advice. Use their advice to make those additions now. EDITING: Check your paragraph for correctness of sentence structure, grammar, spelling and punctuation and correct errors now. Use a red pen to edit.

Self-Reflect Get an index card and write your name, date, and period number on it. Answer the questions on the next slide on the card.

How will you use this information when you write? COMPARISON Reread the paragraph you wrote without going through the process and compare it to the “processed” one. How do they differ? Which one is better? If the “processed” paragraph is better, which phase of the process helped you most? How will you use this information when you write? 1/8/03 one hour

Organize Work Staple all of your work from this exercise together, including your index card. Make sure your name is on everything and turn it in to the class basket for credit.