The modern models on teaching writing (e.g., Six Traits, Writer’s Workshop, rubrics and checklists, Reading-Writing Connection, Writing Across the Curriculum, etc.) encourage teachers to take charge and take ownership of teaching writing. They promote this because teaching writing is an active and interactive activity.
We are going to examine the real writing process. You will see that the real writing process is not something that fits on a poster. You are going to see how to take action with the writing process to teach writing and get results.
The Real Writing Process is Recursive
The modern research shows what we should have always known: The writing process is recursive. As the graphic above illustrates, it’s round and round until the writer gets it right. Writers abandon a stage and return to a stage if it helps them produce an effective piece of writing. Writers do whatever they need to do to create an effective piece of writing. The real writing process is a result of a writer who wants to create and communicate something of value.
Leonardo da Vinci’s (1452-1519) put it this way: “Art is never finished, only abandoned.”
Here is how I see the writing process across the curriculum:
1. Prewriting: Prewriting is any time a writer is getting or organizing ideas that he or she will use in writing. This includes reading, researching, note-taking, planning, brainstorming, mind mapping, organizing, and choosing a topic. Furthermore, various types of low-stakes writing (journals, learning logs, freewriting, etc.) can be prewriting.
2. Writing: Writing is any time a writer writes new content for the first time. This includes adding substantial new chunks of text when revising. We often move from rewriting back into writing; hence, the term recursive.
3. Rewriting: Rewriting is any time a writer attempts to improve something he or she has already written. This includes fixing errors, editing, proofreading, reading one’s writing back to oneself, receiving teacher or peer feedback, using rubrics and checklists, and of course—revision.
4. Publishing: Publishing is any time a writer shares his or her writing with another person. This includes reading a piece of writing to another person, turning it in for a grade, pinning it to the bulletin board, sending it home to be read by and signed by a parent, placing it in a portfolio to be shared with others, and discussing it as a class.
Writing Process Activities: 1) Prewriting, 2) Writing, 3) Rewriting, and 4) Publishing
Most of what follows is from an appendix in Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay. There is no hype in this section because everyone who reads this in the program already has the program. If you look around my website, you will see that I provide many free resources that help teachers do what the research says works and take charge of teaching writing.
Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay is a supplementary curriculum, just like a grammar book is a supplementary curriculum. Although this program and a grammar book are both a piece of the puzzle, only this program is a system, a methodology, a foundation, and a framework for teaching writing. It’s the missing piece of the puzzle that makes everything else teachers do work. The goal is to create the kind of foundation that leaves everyone in a much better place.
Over the course of this section, you will gleam various aspects of Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay. To be clear, you probably won’t understand those references. However, all of these writing-process activities focus on helping teachers to take action. In fact, it’s non-stop action. As you will see, you can apply most of the action across the curriculum.
Let’s get started!
1. Prewriting in “Section 2: Writing a Complete Essay”
We have already discussed how to choose topics to write about, so I won’t cover that here. Also, Prewriting (Brainstorming and MIL) is built into the Section 2 system and methodology, so I’m not going to repeat that system and methodology here.
Creating prewriting is half the battle. With this program, when you teach your students how to break down topics, multi-paragraph success is sure to follow. Here are three more prewriting ideas for teachers:
a. Scaffolding: Guided Prewriting or Whole-Class Prewriting: Teachers may want to generate some Main Idea Lists (MILs) (Pattern 15) and/or Main Question Lists (MQLs) on the front board with their students to get them started. This is easy to do across the curriculum.
b. Two Birds with One Stone: Prewriting for Writing Assessments: Teachers may want to target writing assessments. Teachers can bring Pattern 13 and Pattern 14 into the mix, and they can use Released Writing Assessment Prompts. Breaking down released writing prompts and creating prewriting is invaluable. Students don’t need to write every time they break down a prompt and create prewriting.
c. Two Birds with One Stone: Prewriting Across the Curriculum: Eventually, teachers will want to make use of students’ writing across the curriculum. If you are not sure how to do this, have your students help you create a MIL on the front board. You can even use your end-of-chapter comprehension questions directly or as inspiration. It’s not that difficult to use Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay across the curriculum.
2. Writing in “Section 2: Writing a Complete Essay”
As with Prewriting, Writing is built into the Section 2 system and methodology, so I won’t repeat all that here. My goal here is to reinforce what I said about using repetition and variety. Teachers may want to use the program to have students write in many different ways. Here are a few ideas:
1. Timed Writing: The Real System
2. Timed Writing: Practice and Time Management
3. Untimed Writing
4. Homework
5. Writing Across the Curriculum
6. Writing Assessment Practice
7. Apply to Various Patterns of Organization: See the “Purpose in Writing” section and The Definitive List of Writing and Grammar Skills for ideas.
3. Rewriting in “Section 2: Writing a Complete Essay”
One of the more mentally taxing (and amazing) books I can recall reading was on self-editing. Point being: Editing and revision require a special kind of mental acuity. Just reading about self-editing at a serious level is challenging. And have you ever heard this popular coffee-mug quote? “I do my best proofreading after I hit send.” It points out what we all know: There is a psychological component to editing and revision.
I use four categories in teaching rewriting:
1. Editing: Errors and Problems
2. Editing: Improvements and Alternatives
3. Revision: Errors and Problems
4. Revision: Improvements and Alternatives
Please consider these four categories as you think about what you want to accomplish in rewriting. For the most part, editing and revision are beyond the scope of this program. But I will answer this one question: How and when should teachers integrate rewriting with Section 2?
As I discuss in Nine Strategies for Teaching Writing Across the Curriculum, I work hard to hold students accountable for using proper writing skills across the curriculum. Although this does require basic editing skills, it is just the tip of the iceberg when one thinks deeply about rewriting.
As I explain elsewhere, the beginning of Section 2 can be an awkward stage. Is this the place you want to address rewriting? I know that some teachers do because I have had teachers ask me about things like adding strong verbs, improving sentence structure, word choice, grammar, mechanics, and more.
Let’s look at two ways to think about rewriting. Of course, you may end up somewhere in the middle.
Rewriting Method 1: Focus on Quality, Editing, and Revision Right From the Start in Section 2
Some teachers (often experienced teachers or small-group teachers) have the time, the skills, and the tenacity to successfully address quality, editing, and revision issues right from the start in Section 2. Furthermore, with more advanced or older students, it may make sense. Also, if teachers spent a substantial amount of time on quality, editing, and revision in the Perfect Paragraph section, they may want to continue in the same vein here. I’ve heard from some teachers who do exactly this and get great results. However, keep in mind that everything is a trade-off in time. Combining things can create synergy, or it can confuse students and bring the program to a standstill. Whatever you do, don’t confuse your students or overwhelm them.
Rewriting Method 2: The Read-Aloud-to-One-Other-Person Method
Since time immemorial, teachers have had two methods of teaching rewriting without actually teaching rewriting:
1. Read Aloud to Self or Another Person
2. Edit/Proofread Backwards Sentence-by-Sentence or Paragraph-by-Paragraph (Not Word-by-Word)
Although I have always taught both techniques, I wasn’t a huge fan of either until I created Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay. The latter of the two has become a core technique I use at the beginning of Section 2 and after.
I write more about “Reading Aloud” in “Publishing” because I consider it a publishing technique. But since I require that students bring a pencil and erasure with them, it soon becomes a student-generated rewriting activity.
I don’t find that the beginning of Section 2 is the time or the place for a rigid focus on quality, editing, and revision. Although I never encourage or accept gross negligence in writing, I don’t want to overwhelm or discourage my students at the beginning of Section 2. More important, I don’t want to invest a great deal of time on these issues in this “awkward stage,” as I don’t think it pays off. Although I hold students accountable for using well-known and explicitly taught skills, I don’t invest a great deal of time on quality, editing, and revision just yet.
In a sense, I want writing to take on a life of its own; I want students to show me that they care about their writing as much as I do; I want them to show me that they want to edit their writing. Having said that, please don’t read this and think that I sit around waiting for this to happen. I’m always moving forward in teaching writing. Be sure to read Nine Strategies for Teaching Writing Across the Curriculum.
4. Publishing in “Section 2: Writing a Complete Essay”: Five Ways to Publish Student Writing
Publishing is any time a piece of writing is shared. Although publishing is always an extremely important and motivating activity for writers, I find that it far more effective inside of the Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay. I use five different methods of publishing in the program:
1. Reading to At Least One Other Person
2. The Student Mentor System
3. Timed Writing System: The Real System
4. Teacher-Led Class Discussions and Comparisons
5. Grading
Publish 1: Reading to At Least One Other Person with Pencil and Erasure in Hand
I wish I could make this sound like it was some sort of complicated, profound exercise. But it’s not. What do I do? After students finish a timed writing, I have them read it to one other person? And then they switch readers? After that, I may have them read it to another person.
Although I did this activity before Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay, it is far more effective with the program. The concreteness of A, B, C makes a difference. Students don’t just read and listen; they analyze and think about what’s going on in the piece of writing. Because students are truly focused on their writing, they start to catch many of their grammar and mechanics errors.
As I have discussed elsewhere, the beginning of Section 2 can be an awkward stage, so I don’t attach the early timed writings to the Timed Writing System. So what should I do with these early pieces of writing? Do I want to tell students what I think? No. I want them to tell me what they think. I want them to reflect:
1. I want them to reflect on their writing.
2. I want them to reflect on others’ writing.
3. In the process of reflecting, I want them to analyze and make comparisons.
Pencil and Erasure Required: Reading ones writing aloud is an extremely effective rewriting technique. In fact, it’s so effective that it’s a wonder that everyone doesn’t read everything that they write aloud at least once.
It’s difficult to read a piece of writing aloud and not make changes. For this reason, when my students read their writing to other students, they must have a pencil and eraser in hand. After a while, students are doing lots of editing. What begins as a fast process soon begins to take lots of time because students are editing so much. Some students want to make their papers perfect. When that happens, I must limit the amount of editing.
In this early stage of Section 2, I believe it is more important that students write more and read more papers to more people than it is to fix every single error. Although I do want them to want to fix their mistakes, it’s okay to leave them wanting to fix more. They will get to fix more mistakes the next time they write. Furthermore, the next time they write, they will try to make it perfect right from the beginning.
When I first created Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay, I liked what I saw so much in these read alouds that I adapted the activity and created “The Student Mentor System.”
Publish 2: The Student Mentor System
Once again, this is a system that I like inside of Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay.
Because the program and the A, B, and C are concrete, the students who get it can truly and effectively teach the students who don’t get it. I organize the stations like the diagram below. Student teachers use their papers to teach students who don’t get it. Then I have the student teachers rotate. Students who don’t get it see three (or more) different papers that are all unique and that are all written using the structure they have learned. They get to see both uniqueness and structure, and they become convinced.
Publish 3: The Timed Writing System: The Real System
Before we begin Section 2, I remind students of our Timed Writing System. I show them the stack of papers that we wrote way back when and explain to them we will soon be adding papers to them once again. I explain to them that we will probably do a few practice attempts before we make it real.
Popsicle Sticks and The Timed Writing System: To illustrate how I use the Timed Writing System, let me tell you about Popsicle sticks. I’ve always kept a container of Popsicle sticks on my desk. Every student has his or her name written on three Popsicle sticks, and I use these sticks to call on students. Popsicle sticks create a system of intermittent rewards, anticipation, uncertainty, and motivation. Like all of my systems, I use it strategically and try not to wear out its novelty. That’s how I use the Timed Writing System.
To be clear, I look forward to adding a new timed writing to our Timed Writing System, but I’m not going to do it until it shows that students are starting to internalize beginning, middle, ending—indent. As I have mentioned before, the beginning of Section 2 is an awkward stage, and those first timed writings are not a fair representation of what is just around the corner.
Once I have started adding timed writings to the system, I add them strategically and to make points clear. When I use 25-minutes of valuable class time, I have a goal in mind. I add a timed writing to the Timed Writing System for at least one of these reasons and probably several of them at the same time:
1. To mark a certain amount of time or instruction.
2. To remind students that we are still focused on improving our writing.
3. To show students how their writing is improving.
4. To show students that we are not progressing as needed.
Publish 4: Teacher-Led Class Discussions and Comparisons
For me, teacher-led class discussions and comparisons are a gradual thing. In the beginning, it’s really just a matter of “yes” or “no.” Did you follow the program, or did you not follow the program? Either way, we will try again shortly.
At the beginning of Section 2, I try to save most of my teacher talk for reviewing everything right before my students write. After my students write, I want them to spend time reflecting on their writing and others’ writing in relation to the program.
As we move forward, two things will start to become very noticeable: 1) excellence, and 2) problem areas. I will feel a strong need to discuss these things with the class. When I do start doing discussions and comparisons, I’m usually speaking with an enthusiastic class of writing students.
As I pass through this stage, I start to bring in topics related to these PDFs:
1. PDF: The Definitive List of Writing and Grammar Skills
2. PDF: How to Use Rubrics, Checklists, and Assessment Sheets to Teach Writing Across the Curriculum
Publish 5: Grades
The final way to have students publish papers in Section 2 is by assigning grades. Be sure to download the PDFs above, along with this one: PDF: How to Grade Writing and Classroom Work Fast and Fairly Across the Curriculum Using the Pile Method.
