Writing Prompt Please write a paragraph in response to the following prompt: Write a paragraph describing your absolute best or worst experience with writing. Be sure to include your reactions to the experience and reflect on why the experience was memorable.
5 Steps to Better Writing The Writing Process 5 Steps to Better Writing
The 5 Steps of the Writing Process Pre-Writing: Ideas, organization Drafting: Writing it down for the first time Revision: Making it sound “just right” Editing: Checking the conventions Publishing: Creating the final copy
An Investment of Time Following all five steps take time Time = A Quality End Result Teachers should plan on facilitating students in class throughout all steps of the writing process Check in on students’ progress throughout the assignment
Pre Writing Helps get your ideas flowing Put it in writing so you don’t forget Organize your ideas Makes your paper easier to write Sets a purpose for your paper before you even start writing
Why Pre-Write? Students have a chance to play around with the topic before they put pencil to paper Student engagement increases—they can consider different topics and/or perspectives of the topics, and find one that they like Differentiation: use organizers that fit the needs of the students
Drafting Compose your ideas into sentences and paragraphs Don’t expect it to be perfect Expect to make changes! It should be messy Shows the thought process that you went through as you wrote Write on ONE SIDE of the paper Double space to leave room for revision
Why Draft? Helps students work out the kinks in the piece of writing Can be used as a formative assessment to evaluate the student’s understanding of your material Helps assess if students are on track for meeting the lesson objectives Identifies areas where student may need additional support (possible differentiation point)
Revision This step should be done constantly throughout the drafting process Focus on the traits of organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and voice when you’re revising Read the piece of writing out loud to “hear” any mistakes or awkward passages
Why Revise? Students make changes based on the assessments made during the drafting stage Students evaluate their writing and thought process to determine what is working and what isn’t Opportunity for students to collaborate with peers during revision stage
Editing Editing focuses on conventions like capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and spelling Have a partner help edit
Why Edit? Makes writing audience-friendly and publication-ready Focusing on conventions is a main responsibility of writing teachers, however, give students time to complete this step
Publishing Create a final copy of your writing Make your paper look like you are proud of your work If you can’t type your final copy, write it neatly in ink No crumples, rips, or “spiral fuzz” to make your final copy look sloppy Make sure to check the rubric or checklist from your teacher before you hand in your final copy
Why Publish? Students can show off pride in the work they’ve done Opportunity to reach an audience Publishing writing can influence readers This is where students meet teacher’s expectations for an assignment
When to Use the Writing Process Use these steps EVERY TIME you write anything Even if it is a short piece of writing, you should still think (pre-write), draft, revise and edit (check it over) and publish (make it look the way the teacher expects) This is not just for writing class—it’s for every class Use it now, in high school, and beyond