The Writing ProcessEDLA 518 Language and Literacy Education 1

Suzanne Cipollone, Kimberly Colquhoun & Karina Stambouliah

Writing• Social process

• Connecting with others• Share ideas and information

Share Stories

Financial transactions

Record history

Imagine the future

To express love

…hatred

…humour

Or melancholy.

Access to knowledge

3000BCSumerians in ancient

Mesopotamia

Story transmission is a fluid process

Sociocultural DimensionDifferent experiences and interpretations influence meaning

Writing is an act of recording

Why do we write?• To learn• To share

• Express creativity• Accomplish our work

• Make connections

Your turn to write!

Writing can be a life long struggle

Why is writing so hard?Linguisti

c

Memory

CognitiveMotor

Affective systems

Writers must jugglehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmomyzSJIUo

Meeting the needs of students with special needs in our classroom

Implications for teachers

DIFFERENTIATION

Interactive writing- Group work!

Teaching struggling writers

Clear

Purposeful

Useful

Authentic

Students respond to writing

Promote and foster healthy writing

The Writing Process Learning Module

Developed by Dr Carol Hawkins

5 Stages

Recurring Cycles

THE VIBE!

Most neglected stage in the writing process

CRUCIAL!

Why?

Prewriting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJuXIq70azQ

The Vibe Clip

Understand context of culture and situation

What makes a successful writer?

Ecological Systems Theory

Urie Bronfenbrenner

1. Choose a topic 2. Consider Purpose and form (Text type) 3. Gather and Organise ideas for writing

Stage 1 Prewriting

Choosing a topic

Interested

Connect to

literature

Engaged

Connect to

content areas

To entertain?

To persuade?

To inform?

Purpose and Form

Text Types (Genres)

Graves (1983) calls this preparation for writing ‘rehearsal’ activities.

Make graphic organisers to visually display

Gather and Organise IdeasDraw

pictures

Brainstorm words

Read books

Internet Research

Talk about ideas

PRE-WRITING ACTIVITY

Building on pre writing- Students begin to turn the ideas into sentences and paragraphs

It’s important to stamp and date this writing as;

Rough Draft

Stage 2- Drafting

(Tompkins, Campbell & Green, 2012)

Using your individual prewriting exercise- Form a group of 5 students; there should be 1 of each coloured card in each group-

Blue, Yellow, Red, Green, Orange

Come up with an idea for a narrative based on the topic ‘adventure’

Activity

Narratives have: ◦Orientation◦Complication (series of events)

◦Resolution

Remember!

As a group arrange your pictures in the form of a story board to show when each piece of the narrative is portrayed to the audience.

Now write down a sentence/short paragraph to link the 5 images… keeping in mind there needs to be a beginning, middle and end – do this 1 per group.

Method

The refining stage. Revision means ‘seeing again.’

Students can be asked to look at the editor’s mantra:

What can I delete, change, re-arrange and add… in that order

(Tompkins, Campbell & Green, 2012)

Stage 3 Revising

Re-read

Feedback

Make changes

3 steps when revising

Turn to the group next to you and read to each other your ‘Rough Draft’

Each group is to give 2 positive pieces of feedback and 1 piece of constructive criticism.

Activity- Feedback

Writing has a social purpose Writing requires an audience Students shouldn’t be writing because

‘the teacher said so’ but rather writing with purpose. Armstrong, T. (2003).

What’s the point of feedback?

Students should be referred to as writers and not just partaking in ‘English class’. Make writing an experience try creating ‘writers workshops/conferences’ or publishing seminars.

Students should be able to see that their words can make a difference in the world.

Armstrong, T. (2003).

The importance of the language

Stage 4 EditingEditing and proofreading

The process of reviewing, revising and rewriting a piece of writing where changes are are made to improve all aspects.

Formats as well as elements of style are considered.

Delete (unnecessary information); Change and rearrange (to improve clarity;

meaning, style and voice) Add (for clarification). (Tompkins, Campbell

& Green, 2012)

Editing

Checking for errors in spelling, grammar and usage, punctuation, capitalisation, etc.

Concentrates on mechanics rather than reading for meaning.

Observes writing conventions or the ‘rules’ of literacy to enhance readability.

When teaching we need to notice what the student does and build on that. Nothing is automatic – even writing from left to right. (Spandel, 2012)

Proofreading

Incorrect grammar use, Americanised spelling, a small ‘i’ or a comma in the wrong place – does it really matter? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rd7j-aSqFU

Editing makes life easier for the reader and shows you care.

Failure to observe writing conventions can, in some instances, have a lasting impact, e.g. job applications or university assignments.

Why is editing important?

‘Proofreading matters because it’s what writers do when they finish a piece of writing, and we want our writers to engage in all aspects of what writers do when they write.’(Horn & Giacobbe, 2007)

Gives students an explicit awareness of how certain language features operate, thus places them in a better position to shape language discriminatingly to their own ends.(Derewianka, 1990)

We do our students a great service by teaching them to be strong editors.

‘Getting hung up on ‘proper’ English is ridiculous. The rules change, they’re constantly in flux in fact. It pains me to say but In 100 years’ time we will have done away with the apostrophe, definitely will be spelt with an ‘a’ and we won’t use capitals at all, ever. Look at Olde English compared to Middle English… Look at ‘proper’ modern English compared to txt speak. Language is fluid. Deal with it, or limit all conversations to the backwards landed aristocracy.’ Unseen Flirtations (2011, February 15)

Another view…

Observing literacy ‘rules’ and conventions but at the same time encourage students to take risks.

Focus on readability and adventurous borrowing rather than correctness alone.

We want students to try new things, not only to write within the safe parameters of those conventions of which they sure. (Spandel, 2012)

Achieving a balance

Explore what students already know: Get small groups to list conventions they

already know, can name and use in their own writing.

From this, compile a class list which can serve as a simple editing checklist, e.g. capitals to begin sentences; punctuation ‘?!.’ at the end of sentences; capital ‘I’, etc. This allows everyone to take pride in the great start they have already made as writers and editors. (Graves, 2004)

Practical classroom activities for editing – Stage 2

Reading draft aloud to a partner and asking them for feedback.

Works as a powerful editing or proofreading technique because it forces students to engage in close reading, something that they may not be used to.

Language awareness and sensitivity grow, along with knowledge of sentence boundaries, pauses, rhythm and style. (Sharp, 2011)

Reading out loud

Stage 2 (Year 3) Proofreading checklist

Use of ICT, for example the Comma Chameleon interactive game at: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/grammar/punctuation.htm

Getting students to look at some common every day signs and spot the errors, some examples at: https://writingprocessstage2.wikispaces.com/file/view/IdiotSigns.pdf

Other activities

Stage 5 Publishing

Bringing a text to life by writing a final copy and sharing it with an

appropriate audience.

Writing is a social act – writers must reach out to an audience. (Sharp, 2011)

Creates a meaningful context – students are writing for a purpose.

Encourages children to write with a specific audience in mind and how texts will vary according to whom they are addressing and how distant the audience is. (Derewianka, 1990)

Students enjoy having their efforts celebrated. When students reach out to an audience they are

more likely to fine tune and improve their work. Not necessary to publish everything!

Why is publishing important?

Making booksSimple booklets can be made by folding sheets of paper into quarters, like a greeting card. They can add features that model the way books are put together in publishing houses, e.g. Title page; an ‘about the author’ section; illustrations and other graphics; funky cover (cover cardboard with contact

paper, wallpaper samples or students’ own pictures).

Practical ways for students to share their writing– Stage 2

One of the best ways of sharing writing is to sit in a special chair – an ‘author’s chair’ and read to classmates.

After the reading, classmates ask questions, offer compliments and celebrate the completion of the writing project.

Teachers serve as a model for responding to students’ writing without dominating the sharing. (Tompkins, Campbell & Green, 2012)

Sharing writing

Place it in the class or school library. Send letters to real-life people outside of

the school environment. Post it on a class website / online magazine

such as e-zine. Use it as a basis for a stimulus to be used in

other KLAs, e.g. a drama starter, an HSIE discussion.

Submit to a children’s literary magazine, e.g. Alphabet Soup or Skipping Stones.

Other ideas for sharing writing

Summary

Writing Stage 2 Substrand Learning to Write WS2.9 Producing Texts Drafts, revises, proofreads and publishes well- structured texts

that are more demanding in terms of topic, audience and written language features.

WS2.10 Skills and Strategies Produces tests clearly, effectively and accurately, using the

sentence structure, grammatical features and punctuation conventions of the text type.

Substrand Learning About Writing WS2.13 Context and Text Discusses how own texts are adjusted to relate to different readers, how they

develop the subject matter and how they serve a wide variety of purposes.

NSW Syllabus Outcomes

Year 4 Outcomes Language strand Text structure and Organisation Understand how texts vary in complexity and technicality

depending on the approach to the topic, the purpose and the intended audience (ACELA1490)

Literature strand Creating Literature Create literacy texts that explore students’ own

experiences and imagining (ACELT1607) Create literary texts by developing storylines, characters

and settings

ACARA Australian Curriculum

https://writingprocessstage2.wikispaces.com/

Wiki! Wiki! Wiki!

Thank you!

Any questions?