Help students learn about and practice their process…both the strategies and the thinking behind those strategies.
- Discuss and ask questions about their process during writing conferences: How are you approaching today’s writing? Why are you doing it that way? Is it working? What could you do differently?
- Specifically give time and prompts to help them reflect on the effectiveness of their process.
- Let them share their process with small groups or with the class. As a class, keep a process chart of the various strategies that are discussed.
Ways I Use My Writing Journals (fiction)
- Capture life moments
- Think about/problem solve/reflect on my current writing project
- Look back through my journal for ideas
- Develop a new idea
- Revisit an old story
- Experiment with a piece of writing:
Ways I use My Writing Journal (nonfiction)
- All notetaking goes in my journal
- Questions I have about the topic: I don’t understand this? What other information do I need?
- Responses to/thinking about my notes and new information.
- Consolidating information from several sources in my own words
- Thinking about the focus/point of the piece
- Experimenting with composing when I get an idea of what I want to say
- Writing about getting stuck and how I can get unstuck
- List of tasks to do next
Journal writing that encourages students’ process thinking
- Quick writes about their process
- Reflections on how their writing went at the end of the writing session:
- What is one question that you want answered with your writing/research?
- What did you struggle with in your writing today? How did you handle it?
- What did you do well today? Explain why you thought you did well.
- List Writing:
- 10 things that surprised you when writing today
- Three things you did well today
- Three new strategies you can use tomorrow
Double Triangle for Selecting and Growing an Idea
Could do this brainstorming strategy with essays, stories, nonfiction pieces. The point is to generate multiple ideas not to just go with the first thing that pops into your head.
Tips for conferencing with students on drafts:
- ALWAYS respond first to their idea. If you don’t understand it, don’t tell them what’s wrong, get them to tell you more about what they are trying to say.
- You can also ask questions:
- What do you like best about this piece so far? Why?
- What do you think you should do next?
- How will you know when you are ready to move to revision?
One way to increase quantity without increasing grading when introducing and working with a new writing genre:
- Over the course of a week or two give students time to generate several rough drafts in that genre
- As you teach craft minilessons, have them apply/practice their learning to several of those drafts.
- Near to the end of the unit, have them choose one piece and take it all the way to completion.
- In the end, you will grade the one piece that they finished, but they must turn in all of their drafts for a completion grade
One Way to practice using a mentor text
- Identify the problem you are having with your own writing or what specific skill you want to learn
- Turn the above into a question
- Go to the chosen mentor text with the question and see how the problem was handled
- Try applying it to your own writing
Questions to think about when deciding on the So What or Take Away of your writing:
- Why did I write this piece in the first place? What emotion or thought was I exploring or trying to capture when I started writing this?
- Who is going to be reading this? Who is the audience?
- What universal truths or emotions or themes does this piece touch on?
- So What? What is the point or message I want readers to take away from reading this piece?
- What do I want the reader to know/think/feel after reading this piece? (try writing it in one sentence)
