Why I Don't Post a Step-By-Step Writing Process Chart: Writing is a Recursive Process


Why I DON'T post a step-by-step writing process chart in my classroom!  This blog post describes in detail the recursive nature of the writing process.  We don't get students' best thinking when we force them through a lock-step process.  Rethink the nature of how writers write!
Hello again!
     Always happy to write about writing.  As I've been trying to pin more on Pinterest and post more on Instagram and Facebook to extend the reach of my blog, I keep noticing posts and pictures about the charts teachers make that show the "Steps of the Writing Process."  You know the ones.  They have something like:  Step 1: "Brainstorm" or "Prewrite" at the top, followed by Step 2: "Draft," then Step 3: "Revise," Step 4: "Edit," and Step 5: "Publish."  Heck, twenty-seven years ago I did something similar, but not quite as fancy as what's out there today.  Within my second year of teaching writing though, and as I became more of a writer myself, I learned this step-by-step characterization was a sham.  It's simply not how writers write.   Sure, we can force students to move through the steps one at a time artificially, but that's not how we get their best thinking and writing. 
3

Stella: A Peer Writing Mentor Your Students Don't Want to Miss! Part I in a Series: Stella Writes An Opinion


    
Meet Stella: A Peer Writing Mentor Your Students Don't Want to Miss (and neither do you!).  This blog post highlights some of the kid-relatable features of this opinion mentor text including illustrations and Stella's endearing language.  It also links to a Periscope broadcast about the book as well as other related posts.. 

“What do you love?  What do you not-so-love?  What bugs you at school or at home?  What would you change if you were in charge of the world, or your class, or your bedroom?”  Here are the words of Stella, the peer writing mentor your students don’t want to miss.  Why?  Because she is real.  Because she is just like your K-4 writers.  And, because she works through writing by explaining, reflecting, problem solving, and celebrating while sharing her thinking all along the way
0

Honoring Student Work with Purpose


Honor student work with purpose!  The best literacy instruction is grounded in real reasons to read and write.  This blog post has some ideas and resources for engaging students with purposeful, integrated literacy!
Student-authored newspaper articles are offered to our student body 
Honor the work of students.  Make the work purposeful.  Have students write much more than you could ever read, respond to, or grade.  I’ve shared these mantras for years at my school, in my district, at workshops nationwide, and in my writing.  Thus, I was delighted to see this short post and video from Hienemann yesterday featuring Harvey Daniels and Nancy Steineke.   In the clip, Daniels talks about using the quick writing students do across the curriculum in class to start discussions or to stimulate other interactions with peers.  Additionally, he speaks to how these informal pieces are evidence of student thinking over time, and, as such, are much more informative than a letter grade or a percentage.  Using students’ work is a way of honoring their voices beyond just having them complete an assignment and turn it in for a grade.  Classrooms are places to cultivate desirous, energetic readers and writers.  The way to do this is to make the work purposeful, just as Daniels proposes.  We don’t just read and write to get a grade.  We read and write for real purposes.  
1

Inspiring Writing by Innovating on Text Models

Hello!  I've joined "The Reading Crew" for a link up of mentor text lessons for this post.


Over the years,  I have had great fun and positive results using texts as models for innovations with young writers.  The idea is to  “borrow” language from texts as a scaffold for students.  If you’ve not tried this before, I know you’ll be pleased with the simplicity of the technique and your students’ success.  

I've created a product on Teachers Pay Teachers that details how to innovate on text models (See more about this below.  I am happy to send you a copy of the pdf).  I used the book 
"Summer is Here" by Heidi Pross Gray as an example.  
Click here to see the book on Amazon.com
 
As you’ll see, the book has beautiful lyrical language and simple, bright watercolors that may inspire the poet or scientist within to reflect on his or her own observations about signs of summer. Students can quite easily borrow Gray’s language to craft their observations or musings into their own texts.  They might also be influenced to experiment with watercolor illustration(s).



The book uses repetitive language as it explores different signs of summer.  Each two-page spread begins with "When..." followed by a noun, verb, and a phrase containing a detail.  On the second page, we see the refrain:  "Summer is here!"  Here's an example:




 It's a simple task to work with students to study and utilize Gray's language structure to brainstorm and record their own signs of summer.  For example, with very young students, you might ask them to simply follow the word “When” with an observation about something that happens in the summer. 

 

 Kindergarten sample:  “When the days get long…  Summer is here!”

 

With older students, you might do some explicit teaching about parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs), examining more deeply the language patterns Gray uses in the text and trying some on for size.



Third grade sample:  “When cool deep pools of water beckon swimmers to come out…  Summer is here!”

 

This gem of a technique dates back to the 1980s to Don Holdaway's work with shared reading.  It's a delightful way to scaffold young writers and inspire writing.  Students' writing can be used to create a class book, to publish their own individual books, or simply shared.  My TPT product includes more details about how to pick appropriate text models, additional tips on using innovations on texts,  and a list of suggested book titles.


If you'd like a copy of the product pdf, you can visit my TPT store, or email me and I'll send you it with my compliments! 
 


 Thank you for visiting my blog!  This post is brief as it is 3:30 AM and our last day of school begins in just a few hours!  I hope you enjoy the other posts on using mentor texts in this summer link-up.  There's also a raffle for some TPT gift certificates.  Here's wishing you good luck! 

Happy reading/writing/thinking!  -Janiel





 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
7
Back to Top