Abell & Atherton Educational Consulting, Inc. The Writing Process Abell & Atherton Educational Consulting, Inc. Abell & Atherton
Prewriting Talking (sharing ideas, discussion of topic and their views, role-playing, persuasion, etc.) Reading and analyzing models (backmapping, analysis of format and development, etc.) Brainstorming Mapping Planning Webbing Story boarding, etc. Creating a writer’s plan, which considers audience, purpose, format, and ideas Researching Abell & Atherton
Drafting Modeling Use Other students’ writing Professional writing Your writing Provide ample time and space to write Provide tools to make drafting more fun and easier (post it notes, gel pens, tape, scissors, etc.) Conference with students throughout Remind students of the importance of treating drafting as a step separate from editing Abell & Atherton
Revising Help students to learn to try a new approach if the one they’ve tried isn’t working. Make sure all the anticipated needs of the audience are met for the particular purpose/ text. Model each revision strategy using your own work; then send students back to revise their own. Have revision conferences in which students come to you with a question Use sentence combining to build complex sentences Use ARMS to help writers understand what “revision” means Abell & Atherton
ARMS Add – (details, snapshots, dialogue, examples, etc.) Remove – (distractors, unnecessary dialogue, details that don’t fit, weak ideas) Move – (words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs) Substitute – (more powerful words, stronger verbs for adverbs)
Editing Model and practice editing together Use students’ own work as good models or as drill for sentence error correction Teach editing skills throughout the year Give students self-editing checklists Set up editing groups, with an “expert” in charge of each main focus (Capitalization, punctuation, etc.) Use sentence combining exercises for editing as well as revising skills. Have editing conferences, focusing on only one correctness issue at a time Use CUPS Abell & Atherton
CUPS Capitalization Usage Punctuation Spelling
Publishing Technology and the internet (Blogs, webcasts, web pages, etc.) Exchange writing with other classes and students Read to principal Display on community or school bulletin board Author’s chair Mail or e-mail Newsletters Media center Pop-up or blank books for the school library Pen pals Gifts “If you give writers only one thing, give them an audience.” Peter Elbow Abell & Atherton