The benefits of mastering prewriting skills for elementary and middle school students are profound. By learning effective prewriting techniques, students can develop the skill of seeing the big picture before they start assignments or projects.
When students have truly mastered prewriting, they will have developed the habits and the skills of being able to think ahead, as well as being able to find the beginning, middle, and ending of all their assignments. This dramatically improves their writing and their class work across all subjects. That is powerful!
Prewriting Is a Map for Students: It Is a Map that They Create
Prewriting is an excellent map! It helps keep students from getting lost. It also helps students to get back on track quickly if they get lost. It is a map that will significantly improve your students’ writing.
However, looking at a map is not the same thing as being there. Your students’ writing may be somewhat different than what their prewriting shows.
Once students begin the actual writing:
1. They may not use their prewriting as much as you thought they would.
2. They may use their prewriting in a way that is different than you thought they would
Students may use their prewriting to:
1. Check-in with and monitor their ideas. They may do this to verify and validate that they like the direction in which they are headed.
2. Check and see which important ideas they have not used. Their prewriting is like their personal bank account of good ideas.
3. Monitor the direction they are headed and monitor how their entire essay will connect.
Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay contains a unique and powerful prewriting system that teaches students how to improve their writing before they start writing.
What this means for students is:
1. Less editing, and students like that idea!
2. Finishing work faster, and students like that idea!
3. Creating first drafts that are so good that not even their teacher can believe it is a first draft, and everyone likes that idea!
Check out the Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay on the homepage! Also, create academic and professional success with Academic Vocabulary for Critical Thinking, Logical Arguments, and Effective Communication! It’s for absolutely everyone!
