We looked at 2 examples of writing in the classroom. The fictional Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech (2002) and the case study of Page by Mara Casey and Stephen Hemenway (2002). Both examples can be used as examples of the writing process and of having a language-rich classroom. The Writing Process consists of 5 steps: Pre-Writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing.
Pre-writing involves generating ideas and identifying the audience and purpose. This step can include brainstorming, drawing, discussing, reading, and any other strategy that provides seeds for writing ideas. In Love That Dog, Jack reacts to poems in a writing journal. His teacher provides examples of poetry which encourage him to think about that particular form of writing. I would imagine there is some class discussion involved as well. Jack begins to build his own poems from his responses to the examples made available by his teacher.
Drafting is the next step. Here, pre-writing becomes more focussed but also elaborated upon. Writing a first draft means writing as much as you can without worrying about the mechanics of writing. Drafting is about content; write everything down. In the Third Grade Interview, we find out Page wrote multiple drafts: “Page continued, leafing through the six drafts she had written about her cat, Tigger, for the class book.” There is no maximum number of drafts and each revision leads to a new draft. Which brings me to…
Revision. First, the writer takes a break from their piece for a few days and then re-reads it and makes changes. Revising is also interactive; it involves sharing work with peers or teachers, getting feedback, and incorporating new ideas and suggestions. This can be done by peer conferencing, writers groups, or teacher conferences. Page said: “I like being in my writing group, because you get more attention on your story.” Page has shared her work with a small group of her peers and received feedback about it. On October 10th, in Love That Dog, Jack writes: “You didn’t say before that I had to tell why.” This is clearly in response to a comment his teacher made about his poem. He builds on his poem because of the questions posed by his teacher.
Editing is the 4th step of the writing process. This is where a piece gets “polished.” A student can edit their own work, have a peer editing session, or get their work edited by the teacher. This is where mechanical errors are searched out and corrected. This step can involve proofreading and an editing checklist. It is important that all the other steps have happened before editing because the first three steps ensure that a writer has reflected on their piece. Editing should happen when a piece has been developed to where a writer is satisfied with it. Page illustrates what occurs when the process is not fulfilled. “She has a lot of grammar. I can’t stand grammar,” Page asserted, grumbling that the teacher only corrected her spelling, punctuation and grammar, but didn’t write any comments on her essays.” Page’s teacher is only looking at the mechanics of her writing, not the ideas within it. While mechanics make writing more lucid, they can’t be the only emphasized aspect of writing because the content is what the writer is communicating and expressing.
The final stage of the writing process is Publishing, where writers are able to share their work with an appropriate audience. There are many ways to fulfill the publishing stage. In Page’s case, the class published a book of all the stories in the class. “In January, the book was finally published, immediately read aloud to the principal, placed in the school library, and sent home to every family.” Here, the involved manner of publishing speaks to the time and effort that went into the project.
Encouraging students to be writers necessitates a classroom that is engaging and well-organized. Establishing a consistent routine is one way to provide support to students. In the case study of Page’s class, the program directors planned how they would work with the students every week on Tuesdays and Fridays. Sharing examples of good writing is a way to engage students. The reader is told about 8 poems Jack is exposed to in his class. On May 28th, he writes about the bookcase “sprouting books” by Walter Dean Myers. Examples of writing are inspiring and provide a model for children to build from. An emergent writer needs to be aware of and provided with an audience. Jack’s audience includes his teacher, his classmates, and his favourite poet. At first he is not comfortable with sharing his work and insists that his name is not printed, but as he gains confidence he lets his teacher publish his poems with his name on them. Reading improves ones writing. Being a reader is being an audience. Being aware of ones audience also engages writers and readers to be better audiences.
As the case study indicates, there are “some important steps all teachers must take to achieve a balance between structure and freedom.” I think there are a lot of important aspects in an effective and balanced writing classroom. First of all, time is important. There must be time for each step of the writing process to be thoroughly explored and completed. Sometimes the steps will overlap, but there needs to be time for students to understand and think about what they are doing and to produce their best efforts. Secondly, exposure to different forms of writing is crucial. An example of good writing provides both a model and inspiration for a student; it can be a way to introduce particular concepts and help build a students repertoire of resources.
As Jack wrote:
Inside this envelope
is a poem
using some of your words.
I wrote it.
It was
inspired by
you
Mr. Walter Dean Myers.
From your number one fan,
Jack
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