writing process

by Steve Peha

TheWritingProcess

Notebook

“FULL”

Version

For MoreinForMation

VisitttMs.org

The best way to teachis the way that makes sense

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© 1995-2002 by Steve Peha. For more information, or for additional teaching materials, please contact: Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • E-mail [email protected] • Web www.ttms.org

NotebookA Practical Way to Get Kids Organized For Writer’s Workshop

The

What is the Notebook? The notebook is a way for kids to keep track of allthe work they generate in Writer’s Workshop. One of the first problems

teachers encounter when they begin using Writer’s Workshop everyday is that their kids create enormous amounts of writing. Kidscan turn out 20-30 pages or more in just a few weeks. Andbefore you know it, desks are bulging with loose papers that noone wants to throw away, but at the same time no one knowswhat to do with them either. If you don’t have a way of helping thekids organize their own work, you end up doing it for them. Andthat’s just not practical.

How Do I Use the Notebook? Each section of the notebookis tied to a particular section of the Writing Process. As students

move pieces from one stage to the next, have them store the thingsthey are working on in the appropriate section. All their pre-writing work

will be in the Pre-writing section, all their drafts in Drafting, and so on.When a piece is finished, it can be saved in the Publishing section. From

time to time, ask the kids to clean out their notebooks. You may want to setup some kind of permanent “archive” or classroom library to allow kids to save thingsthroughout the year (ideally for portfolios), or you can just have kids take things home.Once a piece has gone through publishing, kids should feel free to throw out most ofthe preliminary materials they created, but try to encourage them not to throw awayanything from Section 3: Responding or Section 7: Assessing. This is extremely valu-able information that is well worth reviewing from time to time throughout the year. Inaddition to helping kids stay organized, this type of notebook format is ideal for show-ing to parents at conference time because it illustrates in one place all the activitiesyou are doing in your writing program, and how each student is handling those activ-ities. Remember, too, that students can use this notebook to organize all the writingyou do in class, not just writing from Writer’s Workshop.

Do I Have to Use This Notebook? Absolutely not. In fact, I would encourageteachers to introduce their own notebook format that is ideally suited to their studentsand their style of teaching. This is the notebook I would hand out to my kids. It is verymuch in my style. But if you think it would work for you, please use it. Among otherthings, it has a lot of useful information about the Writing Process built into it. And thismaterial can easily be used as the basis for mini-lessons. To help you get started withcreating your own notebook, I have also included a set of “blank” section covers withjust the names of the stages of the Writing Process. In general, this type of notebookformat can be used for kids of all ages, except possibly very small children. My feelingis that 2nd graders and perhaps even some 1st graders should be able to managesomething like this. However, for many primary students, a simpler folder arrangementmay be more effective. For the most part, these very young students are not goingthrough the full Writing Process. They don’t need seven sections in a three-ring binderto stay organized. Last but not least, you may want to consider the addition of aneighth section at the back that students can use to save handouts, keep log or journalentries, and store other miscellaneous materials that don’t fit neatly into one of theseven main sections.

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

gPr

ocess

with

Sonja

Butl

er


What is Pre-Writing? As its name implies,pre-writing is any writing you do before you start writing.Sound confusing? It’s not. We all do a little bit of thinking beforewe write (yes, even you). So why not write some of that thinking down?Maybe you don’t know exactly what you’re going to write about. Maybeyou don’t know what you’re going to write about at all. The fun of pre-writing is that it really doesn’t matter. Pre-writing is a time that you canuse to experiment, to jot down a few quick ideas, to try out somethingnew without having to try very hard, to take a little time to gather yourthoughts and choose a direction before you start drafting.

What Can I Do During Pre-Writing? You can do just about anythingyou want. You can draw. You can read (just like Alex down there in thepicture). You can make notes. You can scribble random thoughts. Youcan make a web or a story map. You can do anything that will help youcome up with good ideas for writing. It doesn’t really matter what youdo, as long as it involves turning on your brain and thinking about yourtopic. Then, just write down whatever pops into your noggin. As youbegin to put ideas down on the page, see if you can organize them insome way. Take your time. There’s no rush. Time spent pre-writing istime well spent.

Why is Pre-Writing Important? If you play sports or a musicalinstrument you know that it’s always a good idea to warm upbefore you start to play. (Actually, if you’re like most kids,you probably just ignore advice like this when silly adultslike me start yackin’ away like we think we’re handingdown some big secret that if you don’t know all about itsomething awful will happen. But anyway…) That’s kind of what pre-writing is. It’s warm-up. It gets your mind loose and limber so that bythe time you’re ready to start drafting, you can push the pencilaround the page without straining your brain too hard. Youknow the feeling: you sit there with that lazy look onyour face thinking, “I don’t know what to write.”You’re just not warmed up. That’s all. And ev-erybody knows you can’t play your best whenyou’re not warmed up. So do a little pre-writ-ing before you take the field. Chances are, yourgame will be much better for it.

Make Some Notes2

Pick a Topic1

A MESSAGE FROM MR. PEHA

“When I was your age, we didn’t get to

do pre-writing. We just started with

drafting, and boy was that a mess. We’d

all be writing away, not having any idea

what we were doing, and then…

BLAMMO! Writer’s block. Pencils froze

up mid-sentence. Sweat star ted

streaming from our brows. The air be-

came thick with the palpable anxiety of

young writers who knew they were in

for it. (I think some kids even had to

go to the nurse.) All I can say is you

don’t know how lucky you are to have

teachers who let you do pre-writing.”

1The Writing ProcessStage One

Pre-Writing

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

1 01

Thr

u th

e WP

(Pre

-Writ

ing)

.doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Choo

se S

omet

hing

to

Writ

e Ab

out

he fi

rst s

tage

of T

he W

ritin

g Pr

oces

s is c

alle

d Pr

e-W

ritin

g. “

Pre”

mea

ns “

be-

fore

”, a

nd y

ou a

lread

y kn

ow w

hat w

ritin

g m

eans

. But

wha

t doe

s “pr

e-w

ritin

g”

mea

n? S

ound

s kin

da w

eird

doe

sn’t

it? H

ow c

ould

you

do

any

writ

ing

befo

re y

ou

did

any

writ

ing?

Her

e yo

u ar

e, sh

arpe

ned

penc

il at

the

read

y, e

ager

to c

rank

out

an

othe

r 500

0 w

ords

bef

ore

lunc

h, a

nd so

meb

ody

says

you

’ve

got t

o do

this

“pr

e” w

rit-

ing

stuf

f bef

ore

you

can

even

get

star

ted.

(As i

f you

did

n’t h

ave

enou

gh to

do

alre

ady!

) W

ell,

you

don’

t abs

olut

ely

have

to d

o an

y pr

e-w

ritin

g, b

ut m

any

writ

ers f

ind

that

thei

r w

ork

com

es m

uch

easi

er, a

nd tu

rns o

ut m

uch

bette

r, w

hen

they

giv

e it

a try

. O

ne o

f the

thin

gs th

at p

re-w

ritin

g is

par

ticul

arly

goo

d fo

r is h

elpi

ng y

ou fi

nd so

me-

thin

g go

od to

writ

e ab

out.

Let’s

face

it: i

f you

don

’t ha

ve so

met

hing

goo

d to

writ

e ab

out,

som

ethi

ng y

ou re

ally

wan

t to

writ

e ab

out,

som

ethi

ng y

ou h

ave

stro

ng fe

elin

gs a

bout

, th

en y

ou m

ight

as w

ell p

ut d

own

your

pen

cil r

ight

now

and

go

to re

cess

. O

K, c

ome

back

her

e. I

didn

’t m

ean

that

lite

rally

. B

ut I

gues

s in

a w

ay, I

did

. Peo

ple

do th

eir b

est w

ritin

g w

hen

they

’re

writ

ing

abou

t thi

ngs t

hey

care

abo

ut a

nd th

ings

they

kn

ow v

ery

wel

l. Th

ings

we

know

ver

y w

ell o

ften

com

e fr

om o

ur li

fe, t

he ty

pica

l and

un

usua

l thi

ngs t

hat h

appe

n to

us.

Thin

gs w

e ca

re a

bout

are

ofte

n th

ose

thin

gs w

e re

ally

lik

e an

d th

ose

thin

gs w

e re

ally

hat

e.

For h

er fi

rst p

re-w

ritin

g ac

tivity

, Son

ja m

ade

four

list

s: a

list

of t

hing

s she

like

d, a

list

of

thin

gs sh

e ha

ted,

a li

st o

f som

e un

usua

l thi

ngs t

hat h

ave

happ

ened

to h

er in

her

life

, an

d a

list o

f typ

ical

life

exp

erie

nces

. The

n sh

e th

ough

t for

a m

inut

e ab

out w

hich

one

to

choo

se. F

inal

ly, s

he c

hose

“he

ter b

urn”

from

her

“un

usua

l” li

st, b

ut a

s we’

ll so

on fi

nd

out,

it w

asn’

t rea

lly th

e he

ater

that

cau

sed

the

prob

lem

.

Teac

hing

Tips

Cho

osin

g so

met

hing

to w

ritin

g ab

out i

s the

mos

t im

porta

nt

pre-

writ

ing

activ

ity, s

o do

n’t t

ake

it lig

htly

. In

fact

, the

you

nger

or

less

acc

ompl

ishe

d th

e w

riter

, the

mor

e im

porta

nt to

pic

sele

c-tio

n be

com

es. T

radi

tiona

lly, t

each

ers a

ssig

ned

topi

cs. A

t the

ot

her e

nd o

f the

spec

trum

is th

e id

ea th

at st

uden

ts sh

ould

writ

e ab

out a

nyth

ing

they

wan

t. I’

ve h

ad th

e m

ost s

ucce

ss w

ith a

m

iddl

e w

ay: s

tude

nts s

elec

t the

ir ow

n to

pics

from

with

in c

er-

tain

bro

ad a

reas

that

I su

gges

t. H

ere

are

two

basi

c pr

inci

ples

abo

ut to

pic

sele

ctio

n th

at I

al-

way

s giv

e ou

t to

the

stud

ents

I w

ork

with

:

G

ood

writ

ing

com

es fr

om st

rong

feel

ings

. Writ

e ab

out

the

thin

gs y

ou re

ally

car

e ab

out.

G

ood

writ

ing

com

es fr

om li

fe e

xper

ienc

e. W

rite

abou

t w

hat y

ou k

now

. To

this

end

, I h

ave

a lis

t of l

ists

I us

e to

hel

p ki

ds o

n th

eir

way

. The

y al

l tak

e m

ore

or le

ss th

e sa

me

form

as t

he li

sts p

re-

sent

ed in

this

less

on. H

ere

are

som

e ot

her l

ists

that

will

enc

our-

age

kids

to p

ick

topi

cs th

at w

ill h

elp

them

gro

w a

s writ

ers:

Th

ings

you

regr

et, a

nd th

ings

you

are

pro

ud o

f. Th

ings

that

are

eas

y an

d th

ings

that

are

har

d.

Th

ings

you

are

goo

d at

and

thin

gs y

ou a

re n

ot.

Th

ings

that

are

silly

and

thin

gs th

at a

re se

rious

. Th

ings

you

are

an

expe

rt in

and

thin

gs y

ou w

ould

like

to

know

mor

e ab

out.

Th

e fir

st ti

me

you

ever

did

som

ethi

ng a

nd th

e la

st ti

me

you

ever

did

som

ethi

ng.

Of c

ours

e, th

e be

st to

pics

are

thos

e th

at sh

ow u

p on

bot

h si

des o

f one

of t

hese

list

s—th

e co

mpl

icat

ed id

eas t

hat h

ave

both

pos

itive

and

neg

ativ

e as

pect

s. H

elp

your

stud

ents

kee

p pu

rpos

e an

d au

dien

ce in

min

d, fo

r th

ese

are

the

prim

ary

mot

ivat

ors t

hat l

ead

to th

e be

st a

nd m

ost

valu

able

writ

ing

expe

rienc

es. W

hat d

o yo

ur k

ids w

ant t

o sa

y?

And

who

do

they

wan

t to

say

it to

? St

uden

ts sh

ould

sele

ct to

pics

from

the

area

s and

gen

res w

hich

ar

e m

ost l

ikel

y to

hel

p th

em im

prov

e as

writ

ers.

Don

’t w

orry

to

o m

uch

if st

uden

ts w

rite

for w

eeks

or e

ven

mon

ths a

bout

the

sam

e to

pics

. The

y’ll

mov

e on

whe

n th

ey’r

e re

ady.

Kid

s sho

uld

have

cho

ice

but t

hey

may

not

yet

kno

w e

noug

h ab

out t

hem

-se

lves

as w

riter

s and

hum

an b

eing

s to

mak

e go

od c

hoic

es a

ll th

e tim

e. S

o gu

ide

them

thou

ghtfu

lly a

nd “

with

a li

ght t

ouch

.”

T 1 PR

E-W

RITI

NG

Mak

ing

lists

of t

hing

s to

wri

te a

bout

is o

ne

of th

e be

st p

re-w

ritin

g ac

tiviti

es y

ou c

an d

o.

N

ot o

nly

did

Sonj

a fin

d so

met

hing

goo

d to

w

rite

abo

ut, s

he h

as

plen

ty o

f goo

d to

pics

fo

r nex

t tim

e.

Y

ou c

an m

ake

othe

r lis

ts, t

oo. A

ny li

st is

be

tter t

han

none

at a

ll.

Wri

ting

a fic

tion

stor

y? M

ake

a lis

t of

the

best

title

s you

can

th

ink

of, a

nd g

o fr

om

ther

e!

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

2 01

Thr

u th

e WP

(Pre

-Writ

ing)

.doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Make

Som

e No

tes

noth

er g

ood

thin

g to

do

befo

re y

ou a

ctua

lly g

et st

arte

d w

ritin

g is

to m

ake

a fe

w

note

s abo

ut y

our t

opic

. If y

ou c

hose

to w

rite

abou

t som

ethi

ng y

ou li

ke o

r hat

e,

jot d

own

a fe

w th

ough

ts a

bout

why

you

feel

the

way

you

do.

If y

ou’r

e w

ritin

g ab

out s

omet

hing

from

you

r life

, put

dow

n a

few

thin

gs a

bout

how

it a

ll go

t st

arte

d, w

hat h

appe

ned

in th

e m

iddl

e, a

nd h

ow it

end

ed u

p. W

ho w

as th

ere?

How

old

w

ere

you?

How

did

you

feel

? Th

is is

ver

y ca

sual

writ

ing.

You

don

’t ha

ve to

writ

e in

sent

ence

s or e

ven

in p

hras

es,

sing

le w

ords

her

e an

d th

ere

will

wor

k ju

st fi

ne. T

he p

oint

of d

oing

this

is to

jog

your

m

emor

y a

little

bit,

to h

elp

you

put d

own

a fe

w o

f the

big

idea

s you

wan

t to

be su

re to

ta

lk a

bout

.

So

nja

deci

ded

to w

rite

dow

n a

few

sim

ple

thou

ghts

abo

ut w

hat h

appe

ned

to h

er. S

he

quic

kly

wro

te d

own

ever

ythi

ng th

at to

ok p

lace

from

beg

inni

ng to

end

. Thi

s gav

e he

r a

gene

ral p

lan

for h

ow sh

e w

as g

oing

to te

ll he

r sto

ry. T

his m

akes

writ

ing

your

firs

t dra

ft a

lot e

asie

r. Sh

e pr

obab

ly w

on’t

be c

opyi

ng th

ese

wor

ds d

own

exac

tly, s

he’s

just

usi

ng th

is p

re-

writ

ing

activ

ity li

ke “

scra

tch

pape

r,” so

met

hing

roug

h an

d in

form

al th

at sh

e’s p

roba

bly

goin

g to

thro

w a

way

afte

r she

get

s her

firs

t dra

ft fin

ishe

d. B

ut th

ese

thou

ghts

will

giv

e he

r som

ethi

ng to

fall

back

on

if sh

e ge

ts st

uck

and

can’

t fig

ure

out w

hat t

o w

rite.

N

otic

e th

at S

onja

als

o dr

ew a

littl

e pi

ctur

e at

the

end

of th

e se

cond

pag

e. T

hat’s

OK

, to

o. A

nyth

ing

you

wan

t to

do th

at w

ill h

elp

you

get s

tarte

d on

you

r pie

ce is

just

fine

.

Teac

hing

Tips

I hat

ed ta

king

not

es w

hen

I was

in sc

hool

bec

ause

no

one

ever

show

ed m

e ho

w to

use

them

. As s

uch,

not

es w

ere

just

one

m

ore

thin

g I h

ad to

do

that

did

n’t h

ave

any

valu

e to

me.

The

ke

y to

get

ting

kids

to ta

ke n

otes

lies

not

in th

eir t

akin

g bu

t in

thei

r use

. Tha

t’s w

hat I

like

abo

ut th

is li

ttle

exer

cise

. All

kids

ar

e do

ing

is w

ritin

g do

wn,

in se

nten

ces o

r nea

r-se

nten

ces,

wha

t th

ey’r

e go

ing

to w

rite

abou

t. La

ter,

they

’ll si

mpl

y ta

ke th

ese

initi

al a

ttem

pts,

orde

r the

m, a

nd p

ut th

em in

to a

dra

ft.

A re

late

d id

ea th

at w

orks

wel

l for

chi

ldre

n w

ho a

re n

ot p

ara-

grap

hing

eff

ectiv

ely

is c

alle

d “S

ente

nce

Strip

s.” H

ave

your

ki

ds w

rite

out s

ente

nces

on

indi

vidu

al st

rips o

f pap

er. T

hen,

ha

ve th

em so

rt th

e st

rips i

nto

grou

ps o

f rel

ated

idea

s. Fi

nally

, ha

ve th

em p

ut th

e st

rips i

n or

der w

ithin

eac

h gr

oup.

Enc

oura

ge

them

to c

reat

e ne

w st

rips a

s nee

ded

to fi

ll in

the

blan

ks. T

hen

put t

he p

iles i

nto

an o

rder

that

mak

es se

nse.

I d

on’t

use

web

bing

, map

ping

, or o

ther

type

s of m

ore

com

-pl

icat

ed g

raph

ic o

rgan

izer

s. H

ere’

s why

: Fe

w, i

f any

, pro

fess

iona

l writ

ers u

se th

em o

r exp

licitl

y re

com

men

d th

em.

I h

ave

seen

no

sign

ifica

nt re

sear

ch in

dica

ting

that

thes

e to

ols h

elp

kids

writ

e m

ore

effe

ctiv

ely

than

sim

ply

mak

-in

g lis

ts a

s I a

dvoc

ate

here

. Fo

r man

y ki

ds, t

he o

rgan

izer

bec

omes

an

end

in it

self.

Th

e or

gani

zer o

ften

dete

rmin

es w

hat k

ids d

o, n

ot th

e ot

her w

ay a

roun

d.

I h

ave

neve

r see

n an

exp

licit

reco

mm

enda

tion

for t

heir

use

by a

ny o

f the

lead

ing

teac

her/r

esea

rche

rs (G

rave

s, A

twel

l, C

alki

ns, E

mig

, Mur

ray,

Elb

ow, e

tc.).

I d

on’t

mea

n to

be

dogm

atic

abo

ut th

is a

t all.

I w

ould

nev

er

tell

a ch

ild th

ey c

ould

n’t u

se a

n or

gani

zer.

Just

mak

e su

re y

ou

show

them

how

to tr

ansl

ate

thei

r “or

gani

zed”

wor

k in

to a

ctua

l w

ritin

g. M

odel

this

pro

cess

as o

ften

as p

ossi

ble.

A

nd la

st b

ut n

ot le

ast…

avo

id o

utlin

ing.

Onc

e ag

ain,

few

pr

ofes

sion

al w

riter

s use

out

linin

g, a

nd p

rom

inen

t res

earc

hers

ra

rely

reco

mm

end

it. L

ike

grap

hic

orga

nize

rs, o

utlin

ing

is y

et

anot

her p

re-w

ritin

g to

ol, b

ut it

’s p

opul

arity

is m

ore

the

resu

lt of

ac

adem

ic tr

aditi

on th

an re

al w

orld

eff

ectiv

enes

s. G

ive

min

i-les

sons

on

all t

hese

tech

niqu

es. B

ut m

ake

sure

ea

ch le

sson

focu

ses n

ot o

n th

e te

chni

que

itsel

f, bu

t how

the

tech

niqu

e he

lps w

riter

s har

vest

the

frui

t of t

heir

pre-

writ

ing

la-

bors

, pac

kage

it u

p, a

nd sh

ip it

off

to m

arke

t for

hun

gry

read

-er

s.

A

1 PR

E-W

RITI

NG

M

akin

g no

tes i

s a g

reat

way

to p

lan

out y

our p

iece

, Try

it!


What is Drafting? When countries fight wars, sometimes they startdrafting people to fight them. They send you a letter in the mail, andoff you go. (If you don’t go they send you to jail, so either way you’regoing somewhere.) If you’re a college sports star the same thing canhappen. The pro teams start drafting people, they pick you, and you’reoff to a new city to play ball. (Same idea as being drafted for a war butyou make a lot more money, people don’t try to shoot you, and youcan wear your hair any way you want.) When race car drivers driveright up behind the cars in front of them, they do it to take advantageof the reduced air pressure that follows in the wake of the car ahead.This helps them go faster without pushing their engines quite ashard. It’s almost as if the car in front is helping to pull them along.This is called drafting. What’s my point? Well, the conventional mean-ing of the word “drafting” is, and I quote: “A preliminary version of aplan, document, or picture.” But all that tells you is that a draft issomething that isn’t finished. Big deal. You probably already knewthat. But what you may not have known is that drafting is all aboutbeing pulled into your topic and letting it carry you along right behind.You’ve thought about it during pre-writing, you may have even writtena few notes, now just let yourself go. Let yourself be drawn in by thepower of your own ideas. Get up close to them, put your pencil on thepaper, open up the throttle of your imagination, and don’t stop untilyou cross the finish line.

What Makes Drafting Hard? Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not.You see, a lot of us don’t like to drive fast. We putz around the trackat 10 miles an hour, and then we wonder why we never get anywhere.But hey, going fast is scary, right? And then there’s folks who spendmost of their lives with their foot on the break pedal. That’s self-consciousness—the feeling that what you’re writing is stupid, or thatit doesn’t make any sense, or that it will somehow embarrass you. So,drafting isn’t really about doing something, it’s about not doing some-thing else. It’s about not psyching yourself out, not making yourselfafraid, not worrying about spinning out in the third turn and losingthe race, because here’s the deal: you can’t crash. That’s right. Draft-ing is like playing a race car video game with an endless supply ofquarters. If you end up in a ditch with nothing to write about, just popin another coin, pick up your pencil, and start driving again on someother part of your topic.

What Should I Do? Just keep going. If you feel your self-conscious-ness catching up with you, hit the gas pedal and outrun it. If you thinkyou’re running out of gas, come in for a pitstop: take a look at whatyou wrote during pre-writing, fuel up on some of the notes you madebefore the race began, and then just get back out there on the track.Try to remember this: it’s a long, long race from beginning to end,and part of the trick to finishing in good form is keeping that in mind.Every idea is 500 miles long, and every writer has to drive aroundthat oil-soaked oval again and again, one mile at a time. Sometimesyou’re inspired and the driving is a blast, but sometimes you’re notand the driving is no fun at all. That’s what being a writer is all about;it’s about writing even when you don’t want to, even when it’s hard,even when it looks like you’re the last car on the track struggling tofinish the race long after all the other drivers have seen the check-ered flag and all the fans have gone home.

Drafting2

Start Writing1

Don’t Stop2


“Writing is hard. Anybody who tells you

it isn’t is lying. But lots of things in life

are hard, and we do them all the time

because they’re important; they make

a difference in our lives and in the lives

of others. Writing is one of those

things. People will tell you that if it isn’t

going well, take a break. But I say stick

it out. If you can learn how to work

through the rough spots, they won’t

be so rough in the future. Day by day,

little by little, sentence by sentence,

word by word… writing will get easi-

er—but only if you learn to do it when

it’s hard.”

The Writing ProcessStage Two

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

3 02

Thr

u th

e WP

(Dra

fting

).doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Star

t Dr

afti

ng

s soo

n as

you

’ve

deci

ded

wha

t to

writ

e ab

out,

and

sket

ched

out

a fe

w th

ough

ts,

just

gra

b a

penc

il an

d go

to it

. Jus

t sta

rt w

ritin

g. A

nd d

on’t

stop

unt

il yo

u ge

t to

the

end.

Use

the

note

s you

cre

ated

dur

ing

pre-

writ

ing

for i

nspi

ratio

n, b

ut fe

el

free

to c

hang

e th

ings

her

e an

d th

ere

if yo

u’re

so in

clin

ed. Y

our p

re-w

ritin

g m

a-te

rials

are

mer

ely

mea

nt to

gui

de y

ou a

s you

wen

d yo

ur w

ay th

roug

h th

is v

ery

early

st

age

of c

reat

ing

a pi

ece

of w

ritin

g.

That

’s a

n im

porta

nt th

ing

to k

eep

in m

ind:

it’s

ear

ly. Y

ou’r

e on

ly d

rafti

ng. Y

ou’v

e st

ill g

ot a

long

way

to g

o—m

any

oppo

rtuni

ties t

o ch

ange

wha

t you

’ve

writ

ten,

to re

view

an

d re

vise

, to

add

and

subt

ract

, to

mod

ify a

nd m

ake

corr

ectio

ns. D

o yo

ur b

est,

but d

on’t

get d

istre

ssed

. Thi

s is n

ot y

our f

inal

cop

y, it

’s m

erel

y th

e fir

st o

f wha

t will

pro

babl

y be

m

any

atte

mpt

s to

get t

hing

s “ju

st ri

ght.”

And

with

eac

h at

tem

pt y

ou m

ake,

you

’ll g

et a

lit

tle c

lose

r to

you

goal

of c

reat

ing

a pi

ece

of w

ritin

g th

at sa

ys e

xact

ly w

hat y

ou w

ant i

t to

say

exac

tly th

e w

ay y

ou w

ant t

o sa

y it.

Y

ou c

an se

e th

at S

onja

’s g

otte

n of

f to

a go

od st

art.

In fa

ct, s

he’s

writ

ten

dow

n he

r en-

tire

stor

y fr

om b

egin

ning

to e

nd. S

he’s

com

plet

ed h

er fi

rst d

raft.

Not

ice,

too,

that

she

didn

’t ju

st c

opy

dow

n he

r pre

-writ

ing

note

s. So

me

of h

er p

re-w

ritin

g is

in h

er d

raft,

but

sh

e’s a

dded

som

e ne

w th

ings

, too

. O

ne th

ing

you

mig

ht th

ink

abou

t tha

t Son

ja d

id n

ot d

o is

this

: whe

n yo

u ar

e dr

aftin

g,

inst

ead

of w

ritin

g on

eve

ry li

ne, t

ry to

writ

e on

eve

ry o

ther

line

. Thi

s will

mak

e it

easi

er

for y

ou to

mod

ify y

our w

ork

late

r on.

(And

bes

ides

, it m

akes

you

feel

like

you

’re

writ

-in

g tw

ice

as m

uch!

)

Teac

hing

Tips

Can

you

real

ly te

ach

draf

ting?

Is th

ere

anyt

hing

to te

ach?

Pr

obab

ly n

ot in

the

tech

nica

l sen

se th

at w

e us

ually

thin

k of

, but

th

ere

is m

uch

we

can

do, i

t see

ms t

o m

e, to

hel

p ki

ds a

t thi

s st

age—

and

muc

h w

e sh

ould

be

doin

g, to

o.

If y

ou th

ink

abou

t it,

writ

ers a

re a

lmos

t alw

ays d

rafti

ng. A

ny

time

you

writ

e a

sent

ence

or a

phr

ase

for t

he fi

rst t

ime,

you

’re

draf

ting.

Eve

n w

hen

you’

re re

visi

ng, y

ou’r

e of

ten

draf

ting.

I h

ave

com

e to

thin

k of

dra

fting

as t

he c

opyi

ng o

f wor

ds in

th

e w

riter

’s h

ead

onto

the

page

. So,

one

way

we

mig

ht h

elp

kids

get

star

ted

is to

val

idat

e th

is id

ea o

f jus

t writ

ing

wha

t’s o

n yo

ur m

ind.

So-

calle

d “f

ree

writ

ing,

” if

done

for s

hort

perio

ds

of ti

me

and

on a

regu

lar b

asis

, is p

roba

bly

the

best

way

to g

et

kids

to b

ecom

e fa

mili

ar w

ith th

is si

mpl

e bu

t elu

sive

tran

sac-

tion.

W

hat s

urpr

ises

me

is n

ot th

at so

man

y ki

ds c

an’t

do th

is, b

ut

that

so m

any

don’

t thi

nk it

’s O

K. T

o ge

t kid

s com

forta

ble

with

th

is, I

do

a fo

rmal

min

i-les

son

in w

hich

I si

mpl

y w

rite

as fa

st a

s I c

an in

fron

t of t

hem

whi

le a

t the

sam

e tim

e sp

eaki

ng e

ach

wor

d as

I w

rite

it. It

’s v

ery

funn

y: I

mak

e a

lot o

f mis

take

s, m

y ha

ndw

ritin

g is

bad

, and

rare

ly d

oes w

hat I

writ

e m

ake

muc

h se

nse.

But

I do

get

som

e pe

arls

her

e an

d th

ere,

and

I al

way

s sh

ow k

ids h

ow I

can

go b

ack

to e

dit a

nd re

vise

the

roug

h re

-m

arks

I’ve

scrib

bled

dow

n du

ring

draf

ting.

I th

ink

mod

elin

g is

th

e ke

y he

re b

ecau

se it

is se

lf-co

nsci

ousn

ess,

mor

e th

an a

ny

lack

of a

bilit

y or

kno

wle

dge,

that

mak

es d

rafti

ng p

robl

emat

ic.

The

abili

ty o

f a g

roup

of s

tude

nts t

o dr

aft i

s ofte

n in

dica

tive

of th

eir p

ast e

xpos

ure

to w

ritin

g as

a th

inki

ng to

ol. C

hild

ren

shou

ld b

e w

ritin

g al

l day

long

, man

y tim

es e

ach

day,

ofte

n fo

r ju

st a

few

min

utes

her

e an

d th

ere.

It is

the

regu

larit

y of

thes

e “q

uick

writ

e” se

ssio

ns (a

not

e in

a re

adin

g lo

g, a

jour

nal e

ntry

, a

note

to th

e te

ache

r, a

“to

do”

list,

a si

gn, a

resp

onse

, a q

ues-

tion,

a m

emor

y, a

rem

inde

r, a

desc

riptio

n, e

tc.)

that

hel

ps k

ids

loos

en u

p. T

he b

est w

ay to

impr

ove

draf

ting

is to

mak

e su

re

your

kid

s are

eng

aged

in c

asua

l writ

ing

thro

ugho

ut th

e da

y.

Fina

lly, a

noth

er th

ing

we

can

do is

to w

atch

our

use

of t

radi

-tio

nal t

erm

inol

ogy

like

“rou

gh d

raft”

or “

first

dra

ft” o

r “fin

al

draf

t” w

hich

can

mak

e th

e pr

oces

s of d

rafti

ng se

em m

uch

mor

e fo

rmal

than

it re

ally

is, a

nd h

ence

mor

e in

timid

atin

g. In

fact

, if

I had

my

way

, I’d

pro

babl

y ju

st a

bolis

h th

e te

rm “

draf

ting”

al-

toge

ther

in fa

vor o

f a le

ss sp

ecifi

c te

rm: “

writ

ing.

” B

ut it

is a

us

eful

term

as l

ong

as w

e ar

e ca

refu

l not

to a

ttach

to it

any

ex-

tra fo

rmal

ity, o

r the

sens

e th

at c

hild

ren

ofte

n ge

t tha

t som

ehow

dr

aftin

g is

a p

erfo

rman

ce th

at h

as to

be

exec

uted

in a

cer

tain

w

ay a

nd to

a c

erta

in a

rbitr

ary

stan

dard

.

A

2 DR

AFTI

NG

J

ust s

tart

wri

ting,

and

don

’t st

op u

ntil

you

get t

o th

e en

d!


Think it Over3

The Writing ProcessStage Three

What is Sharing? Sharingmeans just what it says: shar-ing your work with other peo-ple and getting some feedback-about how you’re doing. Mostwriters in a writer’s workshop getresponse from other writers whenthey share their work in front of thewhole group. Your piece doesn’t haveto be finished for you to share it. Infact, it’s probably better for you to shareit several times long before it’s done, soyou have a chance to make changesbased on the comments you receive. Onething that helps is to focus your audienceon something in particular that you wouldlike them to respond to. Try this: “My piece iscalled…. I’d like you to listen for…, and tellme what you think about it.”

What Makes This Stage Hard? There are two troublesome thingsabout the sharing stage: getting responses and giving them. Standingup in front of the group and sharing your writing takes guts. You’reafraid people will laugh at you or that they won’t like your writing. Maybe

you don’t read very well. Or maybe you just don’t likewhat you’ve written. The only way to conquer yourfears is get up there in front of everyone and facethem. Each time you do it, you’ll begin to feel morecomfortable. After a while, sharing will be fun and you’llwant to do it all the time. On the other hand, com-menting on someone else’s writing can also be diffi-cult. Telling another writer that you like or hate theirpiece, while possibly an honest reaction, really isn’tvery helpful. The writer needs to know why you feelthe way you do and what specific parts of the writingmake you feel that way. It’s important to be both hon-est and respectful of other writer’s feelings. And thisis a balancing act that takes time to perfect and a

great deal of maturity. One tip for making insightful and appropriatecomments is to rely on the language of the Six Traits criteria. Phrasingyour reactions in these terms virtually guarantees that any commentsyou make will always be positive and constructive.

What Should I Do? Start by sharing your work with other people. Ifyou don’t feel comfortable sharing in front of the group, share with afriend or a parent or your teacher. Just share.

And see what happens. Most writersare pleasantly surprised by how muchfun it is to present their work to oth-ers. When it comes to responding to

others, try this: as you listen to thewriting being read make a mental noteof what you like and what you don’t. Then,before you make a comment, jot down anote or two. Try to answer these two ques-

Use Your Criteria1

Get Other Opinions2Hmm…


“Writing is a lonely business. You think

up something to write about: alone.

You make notes: alone. You draft:

alone. But in the end, the experience

you’ve created on the page begs to

be shared with others. So why not

share your work along the way? Ask

your teacher, your parents, your

friends, your enemies—ask anyone

to read your work and tell you what

they think. You don’t have to take their

advice, but it can’t hur t to consider it.

And do the same for other writers

when you can.”

Sharing3

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

4 03

Thr

u th

e WP

(Res

pond

ing)

.doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Get

Some

Fee

dbac

k ou

’ve

cran

ked

out a

dra

ft, n

ow w

hat?

Are

you

fini

shed

? Y

our p

iece

pro

babl

y do

esn’

t loo

k ve

ry fi

nish

ed. I

t pro

babl

y lo

oks a

bit

like

Sonj

a’s—

a lit

tle m

essy

w

ith a

few

cro

ssou

ts h

ere

and

ther

e, a

few

fals

e st

arts

per

haps

, a fe

w te

ntat

ive

ram

blin

gs, m

aybe

eve

n so

me

dood

ling

in th

e m

argi

ns. S

o w

here

do

you

go fr

om

here

? H

ow d

o yo

u fig

ure

out w

hat t

o do

nex

t? H

ow c

an y

ou d

eter

min

e w

hich

pat

h to

ta

ke to

mak

e yo

ur p

iece

the

very

bes

t it c

an b

e?

Whe

n yo

u do

n’t k

now

whi

ch w

ay to

go,

it’s

alw

ays a

goo

d id

ea to

ask

for d

irect

ions

. A

nd th

e fir

st p

erso

n to

ask

is y

ours

elf.

Star

t by

read

ing

wha

t you

’ve

writ

ten

from

beg

in-

ning

to e

nd w

ithou

t sto

ppin

g, a

nd th

en a

sk y

ours

elf…

Hm

mm

… W

hat s

houl

d yo

u as

k yo

urse

lf?

This

is w

here

the

Six

Trai

ts c

riter

ia c

ome

in h

andy

. Loo

king

at t

he c

riter

ia is

a li

ttle

like

read

ing

the

answ

ers t

o a

test

bef

ore

you

take

it. T

hese

are

the

thin

gs y

our w

ritin

g ne

eds t

o be

eff

ectiv

e. D

o yo

u ha

ve th

em?

Of c

ours

e, it

’s a

lso

a go

od id

ea to

talk

to o

ther

peo

ple,

too,

esp

ecia

lly p

eopl

e w

ho

mig

ht b

e pa

rt of

you

r aud

ienc

e. A

sk y

our f

riend

s wha

t the

y th

ink.

Get

som

e co

mm

ents

fr

om y

our t

each

er o

r ano

ther

adu

lt at

scho

ol. A

sk y

our p

aren

ts to

read

it a

nd g

ive

you

thei

r opi

nion

.

Teac

hing

Tips

Res

pons

e ca

n ta

ke m

any

form

s. I h

ave

feat

ured

in th

is le

sson

th

e id

ea o

f usi

ng th

e Si

x Tr

aits

crit

eria

as a

mea

ns se

lf-as

sess

men

t and

revi

sion

pla

nnin

g, b

ut th

at’s

har

dly

the

only

so

urce

of i

nspi

ratio

n w

riter

s sho

uld

seek

. Y

our r

egul

ar d

aily

shar

ing

is th

e fir

st p

lace

writ

ers w

ill g

et

feed

back

. Don

’t un

dere

stim

ate

the

pow

er o

f pee

r res

pons

e. W

e ar

e al

l inf

luen

ced

mor

e by

our

pee

rs th

an o

ur su

perio

rs, a

nd

youn

g w

riter

s are

no

exce

ptio

n. If

you

wan

t you

r stu

dent

s to

star

t sol

ving

cer

tain

pro

blem

s, us

e yo

ur sh

arin

g tim

e fo

r thi

s pu

rpos

e. M

ove

the

disc

ussi

on g

ently

tow

ard

your

are

as o

f con

-ce

rn, a

nd th

en b

ack

off a

nd le

t the

kid

s tak

e it

from

ther

e.

Bey

ond

larg

e gr

oup

shar

ing,

you

hav

e yo

ur m

ini-

conf

eren

ces,

peer

con

fere

nces

, con

fere

nces

with

oth

er a

dults

, an

d es

peci

ally

with

par

ents

. Ask

par

ents

to re

spon

d fo

rmal

ly in

w

ritin

g to

thei

r chi

ldre

n’s w

ork.

Sho

w th

em th

e cr

iteria

for S

ix

Trai

ts, a

nd th

en a

sk th

em to

wor

k th

at v

ocab

ular

y in

to th

eir r

e-sp

onse

s whe

neve

r app

ropr

iate

. B

ut g

ettin

g fe

edba

ck is

onl

y pa

rt of

the

deal

. It’s

wha

t a

writ

er d

oes w

ith it

that

cou

nts.

Yes

, tha

t’s re

visi

ng, b

ut th

e se

eds o

f suc

cess

ful r

evis

ion

are

sew

n du

ring

the

resp

ondi

ng

stag

e—an

d th

at’s

why

it n

eeds

to b

e a

form

al st

age

of th

e pr

oc-

ess.

I ofte

n as

k ki

ds to

writ

e do

wn

the

mor

e im

porta

nt re

-sp

onse

s the

y ge

t. Y

ou c

an u

se a

two-

colu

mn

form

at so

kid

s can

re

cogn

ize

wha

t’s w

orki

ng a

nd w

hat s

till n

eeds

wor

k. T

hen,

as

they

revi

se, e

ncou

rage

them

to g

o ba

ck to

this

list

from

tim

e to

tim

e. I

like

to c

all i

t a “

revi

sion

pla

n,”

and

thou

gh th

at’s

rath

er

form

al, y

ou m

ay fr

om ti

me

to ti

me

wan

t to

requ

ire th

e cr

eatio

n of

such

a p

lan

befo

re st

uden

ts m

ove

ahea

d.

Usi

ng th

e Si

x Tr

aits

crit

eria

, in

a fo

rmal

way

as I

hav

e de

m-

onst

rate

d in

this

less

on, i

s pro

babl

y th

e be

st w

ay to

intro

duce

st

uden

ts to

inde

pend

ent s

elf-

asse

ssm

ent.

I hav

e ki

ds fi

ll ou

t a

lot o

f the

se. I

n fa

ct, I

hav

e th

em lo

ok a

t the

crit

eria

eac

h tim

e th

ey th

ink

they

are

fini

shed

. I d

on’t

mak

e th

em a

ddre

ss e

very

is

sue,

just

the

one’

s the

y th

ink

are

impo

rtant

. But

I ha

ve n

o-tic

ed th

at th

e m

ere

repe

titio

n of

this

ritu

al h

as th

e ef

fect

of

mak

ing

stud

ents

muc

h m

ore

awar

e of

thei

r ow

n w

ritin

g. A

s D

onal

d G

rave

s has

poi

nted

out

, we

spen

d a

lot o

f tim

e te

achi

ng

kids

to re

ad th

e w

ritin

g of

oth

ers,

but v

irtua

lly n

o tim

e te

achi

ng

them

to re

ad th

eir o

wn.

Tha

t’s w

hat r

espo

nse

is a

ll ab

out.

It’s

like

getti

ng d

iffer

ent “

read

s” o

n yo

ur o

wn

mat

eria

l so

you

can

com

e to

read

it b

ette

r you

rsel

f. Th

e Si

x Tr

aits

crit

eria

act

like

a

guid

e. T

hey

don’

t tel

l the

writ

er w

hat t

o th

ink,

they

tell

the

writ

er h

ow to

thin

k ab

out t

he w

ritin

g th

ey a

re re

adin

g.

Y 3 SE

LF-A

SSES

S

Use

the

Six

Trai

ts c

rite

ria

to fi

nd o

ut h

ow to

impr

ove

your

pie

ce.


4The Writing Process

Stage Four

RevisingA MESSAGE FROM MR. PEHA

“Finally, after writing professionally for

almost 10 years, I am coming to un-

derstand the value of revision. I used

to hate it. I would crank out a maga-

zine article or a book chapter in a day

or two and never look back. But now,

when I do look back, I see things I

could have improved had I taken the

time to consider my writing from my

reader’s point of view. I now spend

weeks or even months on single piec-

es, revising my writing again and

again—and because of this I feel I

am finally learning to write well.”

Produce a New Revision3

Plan Your Changes1Make Your Changes2

What is Revising? The word “revision” literally means“to see again.” This is what revising is all about. Havingreceived comments about your piece during the Respond-ing stage, you can better see your writing now from thereader’s point of view. That’s the key. Up to this point,you’ve probably been more concerned about yourself—what you wanted to say, how you felt about it, things youwant to include. But now it’s time to shift your thinking justa bit and really start considering your audience. It’s timeto start asking yourself, “How can I say what I want to sayin a way that will make my readers understand how I feeland maybe make them feel that way, too?”

What Makes Revising Hard? Revising is hard becauseit involves four distinctly different things you often have todo all at the same time: [1] Adding things; [2] Movingthings; [3] Cutting things; and [4] Leaving things alone.You may read over a sentence, decide to add a few wordshere and there, realize that you need to move thingsaround, then cut some words that don’t belong, and allthe while you’re thinking about what you can leave alonejust the way it was. And you have to do all this as bothwriter and reader. As a writer, you have to make the changesyou think your readers will appreciate, but then you haveto switch over to the other side and try to experiencethose changes as your readers will. This is an impossibletask. You can’t get it right, you can only come close. This iswhy writers revise their work so much. Revision isn’t some-thing you do just once. Some writers revise parts of theirwork 5, 10, 15 times or more; they revise until they thinkthey’ve gotten it just right.

What Should I Do? Hmm… that’s a very good ques-tion. There’s no one right answer because there’s no oneright way to revise. The important thing to recognize is

how important revising is. It isthe most important stage inthe Writing Process. It is whereyou should be spending mostof your time because it will helpyou more than anything elseto improve. Revising is also themost difficult stage in the Writ-ing Process, so be patient withyourself. Don’t expect to suc-ceed right away. Nothing willtest your patience and cour-age as a writer more than fac-ing up to the task of revisingyour own writing, but there re-ally is no other part of writingthat is more rewarding.

Repeat Until It’s Just Right4

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

5 04

Thr

u th

e WP

(Rev

ising

).doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Plan

You

r Re

vision

s rm

ed w

ith a

mpl

e in

form

atio

n ab

out h

ow to

impr

ove

your

pie

ce, y

ou’r

e re

ady

to

revi

se. T

here

are

man

y di

ffer

ent w

ays t

o re

vise

you

r writ

ing.

Eve

ry w

riter

has

a

diff

eren

t app

roac

h. T

ake

a lo

ok a

t how

Son

ja d

id it

. Afte

r get

ting

som

e fe

edba

ck

on h

er d

raft,

she

deci

ded

to a

dd a

few

thin

gs. S

he m

arke

d th

e pl

aces

whe

re sh

e w

ante

d to

add

new

mat

eria

l by

putti

ng a

num

ber i

n th

e m

argi

n to

the

left

of th

e lin

e w

here

the

new

info

rmat

ion

wou

ld g

o. T

hen,

on

a se

para

te sh

eet o

f pap

er, s

he w

rote

out

th

e se

nten

ces s

he w

ante

d to

add

, and

num

bere

d th

em a

ccor

ding

ly.

Teac

hing

Tips

Rev

isio

n is

the

hard

est p

art o

f writ

ing,

but

that

is ju

st a

s it

shou

ld b

e be

caus

e re

visi

on is

als

o th

e m

ost i

mpo

rtant

par

t. R

e-vi

sion

is w

here

writ

ers i

mpr

ove

thei

r writ

ing,

so if

you

r stu

-de

nts d

on’t

spen

d si

gnifi

cant

tim

e re

visi

ng, i

t is u

nlik

ely

they

w

ill m

ake

sign

ifica

nt im

prov

emen

t. R

evis

ion

is to

ugh

beca

use

it is

real

ly tw

o ta

sks i

n on

e. T

he

first

task

is th

e on

e w

e us

ually

thin

k ab

out,

it’s t

he a

esth

etic

ta

sk: w

hat n

eeds

revi

sing

, wha

t wor

ds n

eed

to b

e ad

ded,

m

oved

, or c

ut to

mak

e th

e pi

ece

bette

r. Th

e se

cond

task

is th

e m

echa

nica

l tas

k: g

iven

the

chan

ges t

hat n

eed

to b

e m

ade,

how

do

es a

writ

er a

ctua

lly e

nter

thos

e ch

ange

s int

o th

e pi

ece?

I’ll

star

t with

aes

thet

ic is

sues

firs

t, si

nce

with

out t

hose

ther

e w

ould

n’t b

e an

y m

echa

nics

to w

orry

abo

ut.

Writ

ers h

ave

four

cho

ices

whe

n re

visi

ng: [

1] a

dd so

met

hing

ne

w; [

2] m

ove

som

ethi

ng a

roun

d; [3

] cut

som

ethi

ng o

ut; a

nd [4

] le

ave

som

ethi

ng a

lone

. I th

row

the

four

th o

ne in

bec

ause

I th

ink

it’s i

mpo

rtant

to h

elp

kids

real

ize

that

dec

idin

g no

t to

re-

vise

som

ethi

ng is

a si

gnifi

cant

act

frau

ght w

ith im

plic

atio

ns

that

nee

ds to

be

cons

ider

ed ju

st a

s car

eful

ly a

s any

thin

g el

se.

Now

, her

e’s t

he to

ugh

part:

the

typi

cal t

ype

of re

visi

on a

w

riter

doe

s inv

olve

s all

four

of t

hese

act

iviti

es si

mul

tane

ousl

y.

You

see

som

ethi

ng y

ou w

ant t

o ch

ange

, you

cut

som

e of

it o

ut,

you

leav

e so

me

of it

beh

ind,

you

add

som

ethi

ng n

ew, a

nd th

en

you

push

thin

gs a

roun

d to

mak

e it

all f

it—to

ugh

wor

k fo

r an

8-ye

ar o

ld. S

o w

hat d

o yo

u do

? St

art w

ith a

ddin

g. T

hat’s

the

easi

est.

Show

kid

s how

to a

dd

sim

ple

thin

gs (t

ypic

ally

det

ails

) tha

t will

impr

ove

thei

r pie

ce.

Intro

duce

them

to si

mpl

e ad

ditio

ns o

f an

entir

e se

nten

ce, p

ara-

grap

h, o

r sec

tion.

Tre

at th

ese

“rev

isio

ns”

esse

ntia

lly a

s min

i-dr

afts

to b

e in

serte

d in

to a

n ex

istin

g pi

ece.

Ne

xt, t

hink

abo

ut m

ovin

g. A

re th

ings

in th

e be

st o

rder

? W

hat

if th

is p

art c

ame

first

and

that

par

t nex

t? M

ovin

g is

eas

y.

Ther

e’s r

eally

no

writ

ing

invo

lved

. It’s

mor

e an

exe

rcis

e in

re

adin

g, a

nd in

thin

king

abo

ut h

ow a

pie

ce w

ill b

e re

ad a

nd e

n-jo

yed

by it

s aud

ienc

e.

Then

cut

. Tre

ad li

ghtly

on

this

act

ivity

at f

irst.

Cut

ting

is

hard

. Hav

ing

stru

ggle

d to

sque

eze

seve

ral s

ente

nces

out

of

thei

r pen

cils

and

ont

o th

e pa

ge, f

ew w

riter

s of a

ny a

ge o

r lev

el

of e

xper

ienc

e, re

lish

the

thou

ght o

f thr

owin

g an

y of

it a

way

. Th

e m

ost i

mpo

rtant

thin

g to

rem

embe

r is t

hat a

ll ch

ange

s sh

ould

be

mot

ivat

ed b

y th

e ne

eds o

f the

aud

ienc

e an

d th

e pu

r-po

se o

f the

pie

ce. W

ithou

t aud

ienc

e or

pur

pose

, rev

isio

n ha

s lit

tle m

eani

ng.

A 4 RE

VISI

NG

The

re a

re m

any

way

s to

revi

se y

our w

ritin

g.

Try

a fe

w d

iffer

ent

thin

gs a

nd th

en p

ick

the

ones

that

wor

k be

st fo

r you

. Dev

elop

yo

ur o

wn

revi

sing

sy

stem

, som

ethi

ng y

ou

can

coun

t on

to p

ro-

duce

the

resu

lts y

ou

wan

t.

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

6 04

Thr

u th

e WP

(Rev

ising

).doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Writ

e Ou

t Yo

ur R

evision

s fte

r mak

ing

a fe

w re

visi

ons,

writ

e th

em o

ut a

nd re

ad e

very

thin

g ov

er a

gain

so

you

can

see

how

you

r cha

nges

fit i

n w

ith w

hat y

ou a

lread

y ha

d. S

omet

imes

, id

eas t

hat l

ook

good

on

a se

para

te p

age

or sc

raw

led

into

the

mar

gins

and

in b

e-tw

een

the

lines

, don

’t so

und

so g

ood

in th

e co

ntex

t of t

he e

ntire

pie

ce.

The

key

here

is p

atie

nce.

The

firs

t tim

e yo

u m

ake

chan

ges m

ay n

ot b

e th

e la

st. I

n fa

ct,

mos

t writ

ers f

ind

them

selv

es re

visi

ng c

onst

antly

. Why

? B

ecau

se re

visi

on is

the

mos

t im

porta

nt th

ing

a w

riter

can

do.

Tim

e sp

ent i

n re

visi

on tu

rns b

ad w

ritin

g in

to g

ood

writ

-in

g, a

nd g

ood

writ

ing

into

gre

at w

ritin

g.

How

man

y tim

es sh

ould

you

revi

se a

pie

ce o

f writ

ing?

As m

any

as y

ou w

ant t

o. Y

ou

can

keep

mak

ing

chan

ges f

orev

er (o

r unt

il yo

ur te

ache

r tel

ls y

ou to

turn

it in

, whi

chev

er

com

es fi

rst).

Eve

ry ti

me

you

finis

h a

revi

sion

, get

som

e fe

edba

ck. L

ook

at y

our S

ix

Trai

ts c

riter

ia a

gain

, tal

k to

you

r frie

nds,

teac

hers

, and

par

ents

. You

don

’t ha

ve to

take

th

e ad

vice

you

r aud

ienc

e gi

ves y

ou, b

ut it

nev

er h

urts

to li

sten

to it

.

Y

ou c

an se

e th

at S

onja

mad

e th

e re

visi

ons s

he h

ad p

lann

ed o

n. S

he a

dded

the

new

se

nten

ces s

he h

ad w

ritte

n, a

nd c

opie

d th

e w

hole

pie

ce o

ut a

gain

. But

wai

t a m

inut

e. H

er

piec

e lo

oks l

ike

it’s j

ust a

bout

as l

ong

as it

was

bef

ore.

How

cou

ld sh

e ha

ve a

dded

so

muc

h ne

w m

ater

ial—

abou

t 10

or 1

2 lin

es—

and

not m

ade

her p

iece

any

long

er?

She

mus

t hav

e ta

ken

som

ethi

ng o

ut?

She

mus

t hav

e de

cide

d, a

fter r

eadi

ng it

ove

r one

mor

e tim

e, th

at so

me

part

didn

’t fit

any

mor

e. A

ppar

ently

, afte

r her

firs

t rev

isio

n, sh

e st

ill h

ad

mor

e re

visi

ng to

do.

Can

you

tell

wha

t she

took

out

? W

hy d

o yo

u th

ink

she

deci

ded

to

mak

e th

is p

artic

ular

revi

sion

?

Teac

hing

Tips

Now

, let

’s lo

ok a

t the

mec

hani

cal i

ssue

s. D

on’t

take

this

lig

htly

. It’s

act

ually

just

as h

ard

or h

arde

r for

you

ng w

riter

s to

man

age

the

mec

hani

cs o

f rev

isio

n as

it is

to d

ecid

e w

hat a

nd

how

to re

vise

. M

anag

ing

addi

tions

. Man

y of

the

little

thin

gs w

riter

s nee

d to

ad

d ca

n ju

st b

e w

ritte

n in

the

blan

k lin

es st

uden

ts le

ave

be-

twee

n ea

ch li

ne w

hen

they

dra

ft. B

ut w

ait a

min

ute.

Ski

ppin

g ev

ery

othe

r lin

e is

not

som

ethi

ng a

ll of

us d

o. In

fact

, mos

t kid

s do

n’t d

o it

unle

ss th

ey a

re e

xplic

itly

told

to d

o so

. Her

e’s h

ow I

hand

le it

. I d

on’t

tell

kids

to sk

ip li

nes w

hen

they

writ

e. I

wai

t un

til th

ey n

eed

to re

vise

and

then

I m

ake

them

aw

are

of h

ow

muc

h ea

sier

it w

ould

be

if th

ey h

ad so

me

spac

e to

wor

k w

ith.

With

all

aspe

cts o

f ins

truct

ion,

it’s

the

ratio

nale

that

’s m

ost i

m-

porta

nt, s

o I t

hink

kid

s sho

uld

com

e to

the

ratio

nale

in a

nat

ural

w

ay, r

athe

r tha

n ha

ving

it im

pose

d fr

om o

utsi

de. Y

es, i

t wou

ld

be g

reat

if a

ll of

us s

kipp

ed a

line

whe

n w

e dr

afte

d, b

ut v

ery

few

of u

s do.

It si

mpl

y is

n’t n

atur

al. S

o if

we

wan

t kid

s to

lear

n ho

w to

do

it, w

e ne

ed to

mak

e su

re th

ey u

nder

stan

d w

hy fi

rst.

For l

arge

r add

ition

s, ha

ve th

e ki

ds m

ark

whe

re th

ey th

ink

they

wan

t the

m to

go

with

a n

umbe

r or a

sym

bol,

and

then

just

w

rite

the

new

mat

eria

l on

a se

para

te p

iece

of p

aper

. The

re’s

no

best

way

to d

o th

is, a

nd u

ltim

atel

y ea

ch k

id w

ill h

ave

to c

ome

up w

ith th

eir o

wn

proc

ess.

So m

ake

it fu

n. A

sk th

e ki

ds to

in-

vent

way

s of d

oing

it. T

ry th

em o

ut a

s a c

lass

and

see

whi

ch

ones

wor

k be

st. A

nd d

on’t

forg

et: m

odel

eve

ryth

ing!

M

anag

ing

mov

es. M

ovin

g te

xt w

ithou

t a c

ompu

ter i

s har

d w

ork.

Onc

e ag

ain,

any

thin

g th

at h

elps

is ju

st fi

ne. I

’ve

had

kids

cu

t the

ir pa

pers

into

pie

ces a

nd re

-ass

embl

e th

em w

hen

nece

s-sa

ry. A

s with

add

ing,

enc

oura

ge k

ids t

o de

velo

p th

eir o

wn

ap-

proa

ches

and

syst

ems.

Shar

e id

eas w

ith th

e cl

ass.

Mod

el.

Man

agin

g cu

ts. F

ortu

nate

ly, t

he m

echa

nics

of c

uttin

g is

as

easy

as t

he a

esth

etic

s of c

uttin

g is

har

d. A

fter a

ll, h

ow m

any

kids

do

you

have

who

can

’t sl

ash

thei

r pen

cil t

hrou

gh a

line

of

text

? H

ere’

s a b

it of

cau

tion,

how

ever

: dis

cour

age

kids

from

er

asin

g te

xt o

r bla

ckin

g it

out s

o th

orou

ghly

that

it c

anno

t be

read

or—

and

this

is th

e im

porta

nt p

art—

retri

eved

whe

n th

e au

-th

or w

ants

it b

ack

late

r. A

ligh

t, th

in h

oriz

onta

l lin

e th

roug

h th

e ve

rtica

l cen

ter o

f a w

ord

wor

ks ju

st fi

ne.

The

way

to g

et k

ids d

oing

thes

e th

ings

is to

mod

el th

em in

yo

ur o

wn

writ

ing

durin

g m

ini-l

esso

ns. H

ave

at le

ast o

ne m

ini-

less

on e

arly

in th

e ye

ar o

n th

e m

echa

nica

l ope

ratio

ns a

ssoc

i-at

ed w

ith e

ach

type

of r

evis

ion.

The

n, p

erio

dica

lly, a

sk k

ids t

o ex

plai

n th

e te

chni

ques

they

use

whe

n re

visi

ng.

A

4 RE

VISI

NG

E

ach

time

you

mak

e su

bsta

ntia

l rev

isio

ns, w

rite

them

out

.

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

7 04

Thr

u th

e WP

(Rev

ising

).doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Make

a C

lean

Cop

y f y

ou’r

e lik

e m

e, y

our h

andw

ritin

g pr

obab

ly is

n’t a

s nea

t as i

t cou

ld b

e. O

K,

I’ll

adm

it it:

my

hand

writ

ing

is a

wfu

l. So

, you

’re

prob

ably

not

like

me.

You

’re

prob

ably

a lo

t nea

ter.

Even

so, r

evis

ing

can

be a

ver

y m

essy

bus

ines

s. So

be-

fore

you

hea

d of

f to

the

editi

ng st

age,

you

may

wan

t to

mak

e a

clea

n co

py th

at

incl

udes

all

the

revi

sion

s you

hav

e m

ade.

D

o yo

u ha

ve to

use

a c

ompu

ter f

or th

is?

Not

at a

ll. C

ompu

ters

can

be

help

ful,

espe

-ci

ally

at t

his s

tage

of t

he w

ritin

g pr

oces

s, bu

t the

y ar

e no

t nec

essa

ry. T

he g

oal h

ere

is

just

to g

et a

nic

e cl

ean

copy

of y

our w

ork,

so y

ou c

an b

egin

to m

ake

the

tiny

corr

ectio

ns

mos

t writ

ers n

eed

to m

ake

befo

re th

ey p

ublis

h th

eir w

ork.

And

mos

t writ

ers—

even

w

riter

s with

abo

min

able

han

dwrit

ing

like

me—

can

copy

out

thei

r ow

n w

ork

quic

kly

and

clea

nly

with

out m

uch

effo

rt.

And

that

’s th

e ke

y: e

ffor

t. W

ritin

g is

har

d en

ough

as i

t is,

you

certa

inly

don

’t w

ant t

o m

ake

it an

y ha

rder

on

your

self.

If y

ou h

aven

’t le

arne

d to

type

—an

d I

mea

n “t

ouch

ty

pe”

with

han

ds o

n th

e ho

me

row

(no

peak

ing)

at l

east

15-

20 w

ords

per

min

ute—

don’

t m

ess w

ith a

com

pute

r. Y

ou’ll

take

muc

h to

o m

uch

time,

and

you

’ll p

roba

bly

crea

te

man

y ty

ping

err

ors t

hat w

ill o

nly

mak

e ed

iting

har

der.

The

Frog

Lep

This

is a

true

stor

y ab

out m

y ba

byho

od. I

t was

the

year

198

7 an

d I w

as te

n

mon

ths o

ld. I

was

in m

y ol

d ho

use

the

one

I was

bor

n in

. I w

as o

n m

y

chan

ging

tabl

e. M

y M

om a

nd D

ad w

ere

with

me.

Tha

y w

ere

stan

ding

righ

t

next

to th

e ch

angi

ng ta

ble.

Tha

t’s th

e w

eird

par

t. I w

as b

eing

cut

e an

d

wag

ging

my

little

cut

e bo

ttom

. My

pare

nts w

ere

adm

ierin

g ho

w c

ute

I was

and

smili

ng. T

hen

I did

a su

din

frog

lep

witc

h re

aly

scar

ed m

y pa

rent

s. I

boun

sed

like

a ba

ll on

to th

e he

ter w

itch

had

skin

y lit

tle ri

bbs.

The

hete

r was

in b

etw

een

the

chan

ging

tabl

e an

d m

y dr

esse

r. Lu

ckel

y th

e he

ter w

as n

ot o

n

but I

did

get

hur

t. W

hen

I was

fini

shed

bou

nsin

g I j

ust s

at th

ere

cove

red

in

brus

es. M

y M

om a

nd D

ad a

nd I

star

ed a

t eac

h ot

her a

nd th

en w

e al

l

scre

med

. My

Mom

pic

ked

me

up a

nd w

e al

l wen

t ove

r to

the

couc

h fo

r a

Sonj

a sa

mw

itch

hug.

The

End

Cau

tions

abo

ut c

ompu

ter u

se a

side

, you

can

see

that

Son

ja h

as ty

ped

up h

er p

iece

. So

nja

is n

ow in

the

4th g

rade

and

has

had

som

e go

od ty

ping

less

ons.

She

also

has

a

com

pute

r at h

ome

and

has b

een

putti

ng in

lots

of p

ract

ice.

She

pro

babl

y co

uld

have

w

ritte

n it

out f

aste

r by

hand

, but

she’

s bee

n w

orki

ng a

t the

com

pute

r for

seve

ral m

onth

s no

w a

nd is

fairl

y co

mfo

rtabl

e w

ith it

.

Teac

hing

Tips

Ever

stay

at a

hot

el w

here

they

hav

e th

ose

cute

littl

e bo

ttles

of

sham

poo?

The

y al

way

s hav

e th

e sa

me

silly

inst

ruct

ions

on

them

: “La

ther

. Rin

se. R

epea

t.” E

ver w

onde

r why

peo

ple

don’

t ju

st st

and

in th

e sh

ower

all

day

in a

nev

er-e

ndin

g cy

cle

of

min

dles

s hai

r was

hing

? H

ow d

o yo

u kn

ow w

hen

revi

sion

is o

ver?

How

do

you

know

w

hen

your

hai

r is c

lean

? W

ell,

it ju

st fe

els c

lean

. It’s

the

sam

e th

ing

with

revi

sion

. Whe

n it

feel

s don

e, it

’s d

one.

For

ver

y yo

ung

or le

ss m

otiv

ated

writ

ers,

revi

sion

is o

ver w

hen

they

say

it is

. For

trul

y m

atur

e w

riter

s, re

visi

on is

a p

roce

ss th

at n

ever

en

ds. M

ost o

f us a

re so

mew

here

in th

e m

iddl

e. D

on’t

push

too

hard

, esp

ecia

lly a

t firs

t. I w

ould

nev

er fo

rce

any

writ

er to

re-

vise

. Rev

isio

n is

too

impo

rtant

to ri

sk m

akin

g w

riter

s hat

e it.

B

ring

kids

gra

dual

ly in

to re

gula

r rev

isio

n by

usi

ng y

our s

har-

ing

time,

the

Six

Trai

ts c

riter

ia, g

entle

coa

chin

g, a

nd th

e na

tu-

ral f

eelin

gs a

ll ki

ds h

ave

to w

ant t

o m

ake

thin

gs b

ette

r. A

nd

don’

t for

get a

bout

aud

ienc

e an

d pu

rpos

e—it

is o

nly

thro

ugh

thes

e tw

o fu

ndam

enta

l iss

ues t

hat k

ids d

evel

op a

sens

e of

why

re

visi

ng is

impo

rtant

. So

, how

shou

ld re

visi

on e

nd?

I thi

nk re

visi

on sh

ould

end

at a

po

int t

hat l

eave

s you

in th

e be

st sh

ape

to e

dit.

Idea

lly th

at

mea

ns w

riter

s sho

uld

have

a c

lean

cop

y to

wor

k fr

om—

pref

erab

ly d

oubl

e sp

aced

. For

man

y w

riter

s, es

peci

ally

the

little

on

es, t

his m

ay p

rese

nt a

pro

blem

. Cop

ying

is ti

me

cons

umin

g an

d la

borio

us. T

rue

enou

gh. B

ut th

e tim

e it

take

s is o

ften

time

wel

l spe

nt a

nd th

e la

bor i

nvol

ved

is a

lso

quite

wor

thw

hile

. If,

for e

xam

ple,

you

’re

a te

ache

r who

teac

hes h

andw

ritin

g fo

r-m

ally

, wha

t bet

ter o

ppor

tuni

ty c

ould

ther

e be

for e

ffec

tive

prac

tice?

And

eve

n if

you

don’

t tea

ch h

andw

ritin

g as

an

iso-

late

d sk

ill, c

opyi

ng w

ork

over

is st

ill a

gre

at w

ay to

pra

ctic

e.

Idea

lly, y

ou’d

like

eac

h st

uden

t to

com

e ou

t of t

he re

visi

ng

stag

e w

ith a

cle

an c

opy

of th

eir p

iece

. Is a

com

pute

r nec

essa

ry

for t

his?

Not

at a

ll. Is

it h

elpf

ul?

Som

etim

es y

es, s

omet

imes

no.

W

hen

shou

ld k

ids b

e us

ing

it? P

roba

bly

not u

ntil

3rd o

r 4th

gr

ade,

and

cer

tain

ly n

ot u

ntil

they

’ve

lear

ned

to to

uch

type

a

little

. Doe

s usi

ng a

com

pute

r mak

e ed

iting

eas

ier?

Yes

, but

on

ly to

the

exte

nt th

at th

e st

uden

t can

type

. If a

stud

ent c

an’t

touc

h ty

pe 1

5-20

wor

ds p

er m

inut

e w

ith re

ason

able

acc

urac

y,

wor

king

at a

com

pute

r will

be

slow

er th

an w

orki

ng b

y ha

nd.

And

the

stud

ent w

ill b

e lik

ely

to in

trodu

ce m

ore

erro

rs th

an

they

cor

rect

. Is i

t unw

ise

to a

sk st

uden

ts to

re-c

opy

thei

r wor

k fr

om ti

me

to ti

me

durin

g th

e W

ritin

g Pr

oces

s? N

o. R

epet

ition

is

the

esse

nce

of c

raft.

I

4 RE

VISI

NG

Whe

ther

you

type

it

up o

r jus

t wri

te it

out

ne

atly

, hav

ing

a cl

ean

copy

with

all

your

re-

visi

ons m

akes

edi

ting

a lo

t eas

ier.


Editing ForFun

and Profit

What is Editing? Editing means many things to manypeople. But here it means only one thing: taking care ofany problems you have with writing conventions like spell-ing, punctuation, grammar, and usage. You can make mi-nor changes to the content of your piece—a word here,a phrase there—but if you want to make bigger chang-es, go back to the Revising stage.

What Makes Editing Hard? Editing is hard becausethere a lot of things you need to know in order todo it well—more things than you can learnin any one year of school. To edit for spell-ing you have to know many words and beable to use a dictionary. To edit for punc-tuation you have to understand how to useevery type of punctuation your writing needs.

What Should I Do? Edit the things you know howto edit. Then, ask someone else to help youwith the rest. Watch what they doso you can do it on your ownnext time. Ask questions if youdon’t understand something.That’s the only way to learn.

Produce Clean Copy3

Cool!

Editing


“I don’t like editing one bit. It is te-

dious, it is boring, and worst of all

I’m not very good at it. But I do it be-

cause I want people to know that I care

enough about what I write to be as

sure as I can be that it is correct. I

know that if I don’t spell correctly, or

use proper punctuation, or write leg-

ibly, or use words in ways that my

readers understand, my writing may

not be very effective. Editing is hard.

I am sure that I will never master it

completely. But over time, and with

much effort, I am getting better at it.”

Find Errors1

Make Corrections2

The Writing ProcessStage Five5

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

8 05

Thr

u th

e WP

(Edi

ting)

.doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Edit

for

Con

vent

ions

don’

t lik

e ed

iting

. I d

on’t

like

it on

e bi

t. It

is b

orin

g, te

diou

s, an

d w

orst

of a

ll it’

s har

d. T

here

are

a lo

t of t

hing

s you

hav

e to

kno

w, a

nd so

met

imes

ther

e’s

not e

ven

an e

asy

way

of f

indi

ng th

em o

ut. B

ut w

e al

l hav

e to

do

it. If

we

don’

t sp

ell c

orre

ctly

, or u

se p

rope

r pun

ctua

tion,

writ

e le

gibl

y, o

r use

wor

ds in

way

s th

at o

ur re

ader

s und

erst

and

and

rely

on,

no

one

will

be

able

to re

ad o

ur w

ritin

g. S

o, ta

ke

editi

ng se

rious

ly, a

nd d

o yo

ur b

est.

That

hav

ing

been

said

, it’s

impo

rtant

to m

entio

n th

at w

e do

n’t “

form

ally

” ed

it ev

ery-

thin

g w

e w

rite.

Whe

n w

e w

rite

a no

te fo

r som

eone

or g

ive

som

eone

dire

ctio

ns, w

e do

n’t

take

our

“w

ork”

all

the

way

thro

ugh

the

writ

ing

proc

ess.

But

, if w

e’re

con

cern

ed a

bout

be

ing

unde

rsto

od (w

ho is

n’t c

once

rned

abo

ut th

is?)

, we’

ll pr

obab

ly ta

ke th

e tim

e to

read

th

ings

ove

r qui

ckly

just

to m

ake

sure

eve

ryth

ing

mak

es se

nse.

How

ever

, whe

n w

e’re

pr

oduc

ing

long

er, m

ore

com

plic

ated

, mor

e fo

rmal

pie

ces o

f writ

ing,

edi

ting

is v

ery

im-

porta

nt, a

nd it

’s so

met

hing

we

need

to ta

ke se

rious

ly.

Edit

your

ow

n w

ritin

g on

ly fo

r the

thin

gs y

ou k

now

how

to e

dit.

Whe

n it

com

es to

th

ings

you

don

’t un

ders

tand

, sta

rt by

ask

ing

som

eone

els

e to

hel

p yo

u. T

hen,

stud

y th

e co

rrec

tions

they

mak

e to

you

r wor

k so

you

can

do

it ne

xt ti

me.

Son

ja’s

edi

ting

is a

goo

d ex

ampl

e of

this

stra

tegy

. Son

ja fe

els t

hat s

he c

an e

dit f

or sp

ellin

g, a

nd fo

r cap

itals

and

pe

riods

, and

she’

s goi

ng to

try

editi

ng fo

r com

mas

, too

, eve

n th

ough

she’

s not

com

-pl

etel

y su

re y

et h

ow to

do

that

. So,

she

circ

les t

he w

ords

she’

s uns

ure

of a

nd th

en c

heck

s th

eir s

pelli

ngs i

n a

dict

iona

ry. A

ll he

r per

iods

and

cap

itals

seem

righ

t to

her,

but s

he

does

put

in a

com

ma

here

and

ther

e. T

hen,

she

asks

me

to lo

ok th

ings

ove

r.

Teac

hing

Tips

Pare

nts,

soci

ety

at la

rge,

and

eve

n m

any

teac

hers

are

ex-

trem

ely

nerv

ous a

bout

chi

ldre

n’s m

aste

ry o

f writ

ing

conv

en-

tions

. The

bes

t way

to te

ach

conv

entio

ns is

in th

e co

ntex

t of

stud

ent w

ritin

g as

that

writ

ing

goes

thro

ugh

the

editi

ng st

age

en

rout

e to

pub

lishi

ng. S

o co

nsid

er th

is in

tere

stin

g im

plic

atio

n: if

yo

u do

n’t t

ake

your

kid

s thr

ough

edi

ting

and

on to

pub

lishi

ng

(man

y tim

es a

yea

r), t

hey

won

’t m

aste

r con

vent

ions

. Th

e ke

y to

hel

ping

kid

s with

con

vent

ions

doe

s not

lie

in

teac

hing

them

a b

unch

of r

ules

and

then

hop

ing

they

can

app

ly

thos

e ru

les i

n th

eir w

ork.

It li

es in

teac

hing

them

a p

roce

ss o

f pr

oduc

ing

conv

entio

nally

cor

rect

writ

ing

and

then

taki

ng th

em

thro

ugh

that

pro

cess

ove

r and

ove

r and

ove

r aga

in. T

hat p

roc-

ess i

s one

of e

ncou

ragi

ng st

uden

ts to

iden

tify

erro

rs, a

nd to

de-

velo

p a

wid

e ra

nge

of a

ppro

pria

te st

rate

gies

for h

andl

ing

them

. W

e em

phas

ize

corr

ectn

ess s

o m

uch

in o

ur so

ciet

y th

at n

o-bo

dy w

ants

to e

ven

cons

ider

the

fact

that

they

mig

ht h

ave

mad

e a

mis

take

. So,

it’s

up

to u

s to

chan

ge th

at. W

e ha

ve to

mak

e ch

ildre

n aw

are

of th

e si

mpl

e re

ality

that

all

writ

ers m

ake

mis

-ta

kes.

No

writ

er w

rites

err

or fr

ee a

ll th

e tim

e. S

o, c

lear

ly,

teac

hing

con

vent

ions

is n

ot a

bout

teac

hing

chi

ldre

n to

writ

e co

rrec

tly, i

t’s a

bout

teac

hing

them

to id

entif

y pr

oble

ms w

hen

they

aris

e an

d to

cor

rect

thos

e pr

oble

ms u

sing

a v

arie

ty o

f dif-

fere

nt te

chni

ques

and

reso

urce

s. It’

s mor

e im

porta

nt to

be

able

to

reco

gniz

e a

prob

lem

than

it is

to k

now

how

to fi

x it.

W

e’re

so h

ung

up in

this

cou

ntry

on

fact

ual k

now

ledg

e as

an

end

in it

self

that

we

forg

et th

is a

bsol

utel

y vi

tal p

rinci

ple.

So,

yo

ur fi

rst g

oal s

houl

d be

get

to g

et k

ids t

o re

cogn

ize

prob

lem

s an

d po

int t

hem

out

. But

how

can

they

do

that

? H

ow c

an th

ey

reco

gniz

e m

issp

ellin

gs if

they

don

’t kn

ow h

ow to

spel

l? H

ow

can

they

put

in p

erio

ds a

nd c

apita

ls if

they

don

’t kn

ow w

hat a

co

mpl

ete

sent

ence

is?

Easy

. The

y ca

n as

k. H

ave

them

circ

le a

ll th

e th

ings

they

’re

not s

ure

of. S

tart

with

spel

ling

first

. The

n m

ove

on to

ext

erna

l pun

ctua

tion

(per

iods

, cap

itals

, que

stio

n m

arks

). Th

en lo

ok a

t int

erna

l pun

ctua

tion

(com

mas

, etc

.). A

nd

final

ly, c

onsi

der p

arag

raph

ing

and

othe

r glo

bal i

ssue

s. A

ren’

t you

eve

r uns

ure

of y

ours

elf?

Hav

en’t

you

ever

writ

ten

a w

ord

dow

n an

d th

en th

ough

t it d

idn’

t loo

k rig

ht?

Hav

en’t

you

ever

read

ove

r a se

nten

ce a

nd g

otte

n a

funn

y fe

elin

g ab

out

it? W

hat d

o yo

u do

? Th

ink

abou

t it a

nd th

en sh

are

your

stra

te-

gies

with

you

r kid

s. Sh

ould

n’t a

ll th

e op

tions

ava

ilabl

e to

com

-pe

tent

adu

lt w

riter

s be

avai

labl

e to

stru

gglin

g ch

ildre

n as

wel

l?

Try

not t

o m

ake

thin

gs h

arde

r for

you

r kid

s tha

n th

ey a

re fo

r yo

urse

lf.

I

5 ED

ITIN

G

M

ark

the

thin

gs y

ou’r

e un

sure

of a

nd th

en tr

y to

cor

rect

them

.

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

9 05

Thr

u th

e WP

(Edi

ting)

.doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Make

Cor

rect

ions; H

ave

Some

one

Proo

frea

d nc

e yo

u’ve

figu

red

out w

hat n

eeds

to b

e fix

ed y

ou’v

e go

t to

do it

. Thi

s is o

ne

task

whe

re a

com

pute

r can

be

help

ful.

If y

ou’r

e no

t wor

king

on

a co

mpu

ter,

you

may

hav

e to

reco

py y

our p

iece

in o

rder

to fi

x th

e pr

oble

ms y

ou h

ave

disc

over

ed.

But

eve

n if

you’

re w

orki

ng b

y ha

nd, y

ou c

an st

ill c

ome

up w

ith e

ffic

ient

way

s to

get y

our w

ritin

g ed

ited.

B

ut th

ere’

s a fu

nny

thin

g ab

out e

ditin

g th

at m

ost p

eopl

e do

n’t l

ike

to m

entio

n to

stu-

dent

s. Y

our t

each

ers w

ill te

ll yo

u (a

nd I

will

, too

) tha

t you

shou

ld le

arn

how

to e

dit y

our

own

writ

ing.

Afte

r all,

mos

t of t

he ti

me

ther

e is

n’t g

oing

to b

e an

yone

els

e ar

ound

to d

o it.

But

the

truth

is, a

utho

rs m

ake

the

wor

st e

dito

rs o

f the

ir ow

n w

ork.

Tha

t’s w

hy p

rofe

s-si

onal

writ

ers h

ave

othe

r peo

ple

to d

o a

lot o

f the

ir ed

iting

for t

hem

. You

see,

edi

ting

is

all a

bout

fixi

ng p

robl

ems s

o pe

ople

can

und

erst

and

wha

t you

writ

e. B

ut y

ou a

lread

y un

-de

rsta

nd w

hat y

ou’v

e w

ritte

n—yo

u’re

not

like

ly to

hav

e pr

oble

ms r

eadi

ng it

—so

you

’re

not a

s lik

ely

com

e ac

ross

pro

blem

s tha

t nee

d to

be

fixed

. W

ell,

if th

e be

st p

rofe

ssio

nal w

riter

s in

the

wor

ld h

ave

edito

rs, w

hy sh

ould

n’t y

ou g

et

one

or tw

o? A

s soo

n as

you

’ve

done

as m

uch

editi

ng a

s you

can

, ask

som

eone

els

e to

pr

oofr

ead

your

wor

k to

see

if th

ey c

an fi

nd a

ny p

robl

ems t

hat n

eed

corr

ectin

g. Y

ou c

an

ask

othe

r writ

ers i

n yo

ur c

lass

, you

r tea

cher

, or o

ther

adu

lts in

the

room

, or e

ven

your

pa

rent

s. Ju

st a

sk th

em to

ple

ase

proo

frea

d yo

ur p

iece

for c

orre

ct c

onve

ntio

ns.

O

f cou

rse,

som

e pe

ople

mig

ht h

ave

sugg

estio

ns th

at y

ou d

on’t

agre

e w

ith. A

s with

an

y ot

her t

ype

of a

dvic

e, y

ou a

re fr

ee to

acc

ept o

r to

igno

re it

. You

alo

ne, a

s the

aut

hor

of th

e pi

ece,

bar

e th

e ul

timat

e re

spon

sibi

lity

for i

ts c

onte

nt a

nd it

s cor

rect

ness

.

Teac

hing

Tips

“Whe

n sh

ould

I co

rrec

t a st

uden

t’s w

ritin

g?”

Si

nce

corr

ectio

n is

the

tradi

tiona

l fou

ndat

ion

of o

ur e

duca

-tio

nal s

yste

m, i

t’s o

nly

natu

ral t

hat t

his q

uest

ion

com

es u

p as

m

uch

as it

doe

s. M

any

peop

le fe

el th

at if

stud

ents

are

not

cor

-re

cted

, the

y w

ill n

ot le

arn.

On

the

othe

r han

d, m

ost a

dults

are

aw

are

of th

e da

nger

s of c

onst

ant c

orre

ctio

n. T

o so

rt th

is o

ut, i

t is

impo

rtant

to re

mem

ber t

hat t

he so

urce

of o

ur q

uand

ary

is a

n em

otio

nal r

eact

ion—

on th

e pa

rt of

wel

l-mea

ning

adu

lts w

ho

care

dee

ply

abou

t kid

s —an

d no

t a lo

gica

l one

. One

has

onl

y to

co

nsid

er h

ow c

hild

ren

lear

n to

wal

k an

d to

talk

to re

aliz

e th

at

corr

ectio

n is

not

a re

quis

ite fo

r mas

terin

g co

mpl

ex sk

ills (

mod

-el

ing,

crit

eria

, sca

ffol

ding

, and

enc

oura

gem

ent a

re th

e ke

ys).

Bes

t the

n to

sepa

rate

pas

t pro

blem

s fro

m c

urre

nt p

ract

ice

and

brea

k th

e ba

d ha

bits

we

have

acq

uire

d.

“So

whe

n sh

ould

I co

rrec

t a st

uden

t’s w

ritin

g?”

Whe

neve

r a

stud

ent a

sks y

ou fo

r app

ropr

iate

hel

p in

an

appr

opria

te w

ay.

Wha

t’s a

ppro

pria

te?

Her

e ar

e so

me

help

ful g

uide

lines

. He

lp k

ids

whe

n:

th

ey h

ave

alre

ady

tried

to fi

x so

met

hing

but

can

’t.

th

ey h

ave

not y

et b

een

intro

duce

d to

som

ethi

ng o

r hav

e ob

viou

sly

forg

otte

n it.

so

met

hing

rela

tivel

y in

cide

ntal

is k

eepi

ng th

em fr

om

mak

ing

mor

e im

porta

nt p

rogr

ess i

n an

othe

r are

a.

Whe

neve

r pos

sibl

e:

as

k th

e ch

ild w

hat t

ype

of e

rror

they

wou

ld li

ke y

ou to

lo

ok fo

r, an

d on

ly c

orre

ct th

at ty

pe o

f err

or.

co

rrec

t the

wor

k in

the

child

’s p

rese

nce.

of

fer r

atio

nale

for y

our c

orre

ctio

ns.

em

phas

ize

the

conn

ectio

n be

twee

n co

rrec

tion

and

com

-m

unic

atio

n—th

at y

ou a

re m

akin

g co

rrec

tions

to m

ake

the

child

’s w

ritin

g ea

sier

to re

ad.

Cer

tain

trad

ition

al p

ract

ices

hav

e lim

ited

valu

e an

d ar

e pr

obab

ly n

ot a

goo

d us

e of

you

r tim

e:

D

O N

OT

take

pap

ers h

ome

to c

orre

ct th

em.

D

O N

OT

mak

e m

arks

on

final

pub

lishe

d pi

eces

. Use

po

st-it

not

es o

r a c

over

shee

t. D

O N

OT

corr

ect k

ids p

ublic

ly in

fron

t of t

he c

lass

. D

O N

OT

set u

p a

grad

ing

sche

me

for a

ny a

spec

t of y

our

teac

hing

that

trac

ks th

e nu

mbe

r of e

rror

s stu

dent

s mak

e (o

r the

num

ber o

f ite

ms t

hey

get r

ight

) and

equ

ates

that

nu

mbe

r with

ach

ieve

men

t.

O

5 ED

ITIN

G

D

o as

muc

h ed

iting

as y

ou c

an, t

hen

ask

som

eone

els

e fo

r hel

p.


Create the Final Copy1

Add Artwork if You Want2


“Publishing is cool. There’s so much

you can do to make your piece invit-

ing to a reader. I have learned about

publishing from looking closely at the

published writing I enjoy. Look at your

favorite books. Don’t just read them,

look at them. Take a look at newspa-

pers, magazines, TV commercials, the

Internet—every kind of print. And

don’t worry too much about whether

you’re using a computer or not. You

don’t need a computer to make things

look cool. In fact, most times, things

done by hand look better.”

What is Publishing? The word “publish” might remindyou of another word you know. That would is “public” be-

cause that’s what publishing is all about: preparing apiece of writing so that it can be read, understood, andenjoyed by the public. Who’s the public? Well, technically,it’s anybody. But practically, it’s the people in your class,

your teacher, and anybody else you decide to show yourwriting to. Of course, if you send off a piece to a newspaper

or magazine, things are a little different. But the main idea is thatthe Publishing stage is your chance to prepare your writing in a way thatwill best reach your audience.

Do I Have to Publish My Piece? Absolutely not. No writer ever has topublish something they don’t want to. However, there are many timesthat people ask us to write things, and when they do, unless we feel thatthey are asking us to do something that is wrong or unfair, we need to doour best to honor their request. Publishing can be a very satisfying partof writing. It’s fun to see your work all dressed up in a cool book with asnazzy cover. But sometimes you don’t feel like publishing a certain piece,and that’s just fine.

What Should I Do? Just about anything goes as long as it helps bringyour writing to more people. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to write sopoorly that people couldn’t read it, or print your piece out of a computerin some weird kind of type. On the other hand, artwork, a nice cover, oran introduction that explains who you are, what your piece is about, orwhy you wrote it, can be very nice. Look at some published books thatyou like and take ideas from those. Just remember, the point of publish-ing is to make your writing as readable and as attractive to your audienceas possible.


Stage Six

Publishing

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

10

06 T

hru

the

WP (P

ublis

hing

).doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Publ

ish

Your

Wor

k!

ou’v

e w

orke

d lik

e a

dog

to g

et y

our p

iece

dra

fted,

revi

sed,

and

edi

ted.

Now

it’s

tim

e to

mak

e it

look

goo

d. D

urin

g th

e pu

blis

hing

stag

e, y

ou c

an d

o w

hate

ver y

ou

wan

t to

mak

e yo

ur w

ritin

g ap

peal

ing

to th

e ey

e. F

or e

xam

ple,

Son

ja w

ante

d to

dr

aw so

me

pict

ures

, and

she

wan

ted

to fo

rmat

her

writ

ing

in a

spec

ial f

ont t

hat

look

s lik

e ha

ndw

ritin

g. G

o ah

ead,

try

a fe

w w

ild id

eas,

but r

emem

ber t

hat w

hate

ver y

ou

do, p

eopl

e ha

ve to

be

able

to re

ad a

nd u

nder

stan

d it

whe

n yo

u’re

don

e.

The

Frog

Lea

pby

Sonja

Butl

er

This

is a

true

story

abou

t my

babyh

ood.

It w

as t

he y

ear

1987

and

I wa

s ten

month

s old. I

was

in m

y old

hous

e, th

e one

I w

as bo

rn in.

I wa

s on m

y ch

angin

g

table

. My

Mom

and

Dad

were

with

me,

they

wer

e sta

nding

righ

t nex

t to

the

chan

ging

table

. Tha

t’s t

he w

eird

part

. I w

as be

ing c

ute a

nd wa

gging

my

little

cute

botto

m. M

y pa

rents

wer

e ad

miring

how

cute

I w

as a

nd sm

iling.

Then

I did

a

sudde

n fro

g lea

p wh

ich r

eally

scar

ed m

y pa

rents

! I bo

unced

like

a ba

ll ont

o th

e

heat

er w

hich

had

skinny

little

ribs

. The

hea

ter

was i

n bet

ween

the

chang

ing t

able

and

my d

resse

r. Lu

ckily

the

heat

er w

as no

t on

but I

did

get

hurt

. Whe

n I w

as

finish

ed bo

uncing

I ju

st sa

t th

ere

cove

red

in bruis

es. M

y M

om a

nd Da

d and

I

stare

d at

eac

h ot

her

and t

hen w

e all

scre

amed

. My

Mom

pick

ed m

e up

and

we a

ll

went

over

to

the

couch

for

a So

nja sa

ndwich

hug

.

The

End

Teac

hing

Tips

Whe

n I f

irst b

egan

teac

hing

writ

ing,

I ga

ve p

ublis

hing

shor

t sh

rift.

All

the

lear

ning

was

ove

r, I t

houg

ht; p

ublis

hing

is ju

st

play

time.

But

I w

as w

rong

. Whi

le p

ublis

hing

is p

roba

bly

not a

s im

porta

nt a

s rev

isin

g, it

is c

ruci

al to

real

ize

that

, whe

n ta

ught

ef

fect

ivel

y, it

can

driv

e th

e en

tire

writ

ing

proc

ess.

The

reas

on fo

r thi

s is s

o si

mpl

e th

at I

just

did

n’t s

top

to th

ink

abou

t it:

the

publ

ishi

ng st

age

focu

ses t

he w

riter

’s a

ttent

ion

di-

rect

ly o

n pu

rpos

e an

d au

dien

ce. A

fter a

ll, p

ublis

hing

pre

-su

ppos

es th

at th

e w

riter

’s w

ork

will

be

mad

e av

aila

ble

to so

me

audi

ence

for s

ome

purp

ose.

And

for s

ome

stud

ents

, thi

s may

be

the

first

tim

e in

thei

r liv

es th

at th

ey’v

e ev

er th

ough

t abo

ut th

eir

writ

ing

in th

is c

onte

xt.

To g

uide

stud

ents

in th

eir p

ublis

hing

eff

orts

, ask

them

to

thin

k ab

out t

hese

que

stio

ns:

W

ho a

re y

ou p

ublis

hing

this

pie

ce fo

r? W

ho w

ould

you

lik

e to

hav

e re

ad th

is p

iece

? W

hy a

re y

ou p

ublis

hing

this

pie

ce fo

r tha

t aud

ienc

e?

Wha

t wou

ld y

ou li

ke th

is g

roup

of p

eopl

e to

kno

w?

W

hat f

orm

shou

ld y

our w

ritin

g ta

ke to

bes

t rea

ch y

our

audi

ence

and

hel

p th

em u

nder

stan

d yo

ur p

urpo

se?

Of c

ours

e, y

ou’d

like

you

r stu

dent

s to

know

the

answ

ers t

o th

ese

ques

tions

by

the

time

they

fini

sh p

re-w

ritin

g. B

ut b

ecau

se

so fe

w st

uden

ts h

ave

been

exp

osed

to th

e id

ea o

f writ

ing

with

a

spec

ific

purp

ose

and

for a

spec

ific

audi

ence

, the

y m

ay o

nly

star

t to

get t

he h

ang

of it

by

publ

ishi

ng th

eir w

ork.

H

ere

are

som

e so

lid id

eas y

ou c

an u

se to

dev

elop

a re

perto

ire

of p

ublis

hing

act

iviti

es:

Fo

rmal

ly “

inst

all”

pub

lishe

d pi

eces

in th

e cl

assr

oom

“li-

brar

y” a

nd m

ake

them

ava

ilabl

e fo

r kid

s to

read

dur

ing

read

ing

time.

Sh

are

publ

ishe

d w

ritin

g re

gula

rly in

a fo

rmal

way

. En

cour

age

stud

ents

to a

dd a

rtwor

k an

d to

bin

d th

eir

book

s as w

ell.

En

cour

age

stud

ents

to re

ad th

e pu

blis

hed

wor

ks o

f oth

er

auth

ors i

n th

e cl

ass a

nd to

mak

e co

nstru

ctiv

e co

mm

ents

ab

out t

he p

iece

s the

y re

ad.

Pu

blis

h cl

ass a

ntho

logi

es.

H

elp

stud

ents

subm

it th

eir w

ork

to m

agaz

ines

and

to th

e lo

cal n

ewsp

aper

s. M

ake

stud

ents

aw

are

of In

tern

et p

ublis

hing

opp

ortu

ni-

ties.

Y 6 PU

BLIS

HING

At t

his p

oint

you

are

on

ly fo

cusi

ng o

n th

e vi

sual

pre

sent

atio

n of

yo

ur w

ritin

g.

Y

our g

oal i

n th

e pu

b-lis

hing

stag

e is

to

mak

e yo

ur w

ritin

g lo

ok a

s goo

d as

it

soun

ds (o

r eve

n be

t-te

r!).

Just

rem

embe

r, if

peop

le c

an’t

read

it,

they

ain

’t go

nna

need

it.

Mak

e su

re y

our

wor

k is

eas

y to

read

w

hen

you’

re d

one.

The Frog Leap by

Sonja Butler

This is a true story about my babyhood. It was the year 1987 and I was ten

months old. I was in my old house, the one I was born in. I was on my changing

table. My Mom and Dad were with me, they were standing right next to the

changing table. That’s the weird part. I was being cute and wagging my little

cute bottom. My parents were admiring how cute I was and smiling. Then I did a

sudden frog leap which really scared my parents! I bounced like a ball onto the

heater which had skinny little ribs. The heater was in between the changing table

and my dresser. Luckily the heater was not on but I did get hurt. When I was

finished bouncing I just sat there covered in bruises. My Mom and Dad and I

stared at each other and then we all screamed. My Mom picked me up and we all

went over to the couch for a Sonja sandwich hug.

The End


???

What is Assessing? The word “assess” comes fromthe Latin word “assidere” meaning “to sit beside.” (Thisdoes not have anything to do with who sits next to you inclass.) The idea here is to pull up a chair right alongsideyourself and peak over your own shoulder to see whatyou’ve done. Here’s how it works: after you’ve published apiece and let it sit for a while, take it out again and re-readit. Then, jot down a few thoughts about what you did. Arethere parts you like more than others? Did you learn some-thing new? What does this piece say about you as a writer?Use the Six Traits criteria to help you analyze your workmore closely. Take a look at comments you might havegotten from your teacher or other writers in your class.

What Makes Assessing Hard? Have your teachers beenasking you to write down a lot of things about the workyou’ve been doing? Are they always wanting you to tellthem what you did and why you did it? Do you ever gettired of it? I think one of the things that makes assessmenthard is that we have to do it all the time. Just when we thinkwe’re all done, there’s this other part we have to deal with.The reason your teachers ask you to assess your own workso often is because it’s really important. Assessing yourown work helps you learn about how you learn so you canrepeat those things that work best for you the next time

you have something to do. Learning how to learnis more important than any single skill or pieceof information you can acquire because onceyou learn how to learn, you can learn anythingyou want.

Do You Really Have to Do This? You don’treally have to do anything. But if you don’t doanything you won’t learn anything. Assessing isvery important. Without it, we would have noeasy way of charting our own progress, or ofdetermining what we needed to learn next. I’lladmit, as a teacher, that part of why we ask youto do this is to help us. The more we learn aboutwhat you learn, the better we can help you learnmore. But you’ll get a lot of out this, too. Afteryou’ve done it two or three times, you’ll start tosee some very interesting patterns. You’ll start

to notice things you usually do well, and things you proba-bly haven’t mastered yet. You’ll develop a better sense ofyourself as a writer, and that will help you develop a bettersense for writing.


“Back when I was your age (Don’t you

just hate it when adults say that?) the

only person who assessed our work

was the teacher. We just got a grade

and most of the time we didn’t even

know why. But guess what? We grew

up, and got smarter. Now, we let you

do some of the assessing. We still put

our two cents in, but at least we can

explain with the Six Traits criteria why

we feel the way we do. When every-

body uses the Six Traits criteria to

assess their work, everybody under-

stands the assessment.”

Reflect on Your Work1

Review Comments2

Assessing

Think About Your Next Piece!3


Stage Seven

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

11

07 T

hru

the

WP (A

sses

sing)

.doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Refl

ect

on Y

our

Acco

mplis

hmen

t ho

ught

you

wer

e fin

ishe

d, d

idn’

t you

? N

ot q

uite

. Act

ually

, in

som

e w

ays,

this

la

st st

age

mig

ht b

e th

e m

ost i

mpo

rtant

one

of a

ll. Y

ou se

e, e

very

body

wan

ts to

be

a b

ette

r writ

er. (

Yes

, eve

n yo

u!) A

nd p

roba

bly

the

best

way

to g

et b

ette

r is t

o fin

d ou

t wha

t you

’re

doin

g w

ell a

nd w

hat y

ou n

eed

to d

o be

tter.

It’s e

spec

ially

im

porta

nt to

kno

w w

hat y

ou’r

e go

od a

t alre

ady

beca

use

it’s a

lway

s eas

ier t

o le

arn

thro

ugh

your

stre

ngth

s tha

n to

con

cent

rate

on

your

wea

knes

ses.

Ther

e ar

e m

any

way

s to

asse

ss y

our p

erfo

rman

ce. E

very

sour

ce y

ou u

sed

durin

g th

e re

spon

ding

stag

e is

a g

ood

sour

ce fo

r fee

dbac

k no

w. H

ere’

s one

app

roac

h us

ing

the

Six

Trai

ts:

You

can

see

that

Son

ja fe

els p

retty

goo

d ab

out t

his p

iece

; the

re a

re o

nly

a fe

w a

reas

w

here

she

thin

ks sh

e co

uld

have

don

e be

tter.

For h

er n

ext p

iece

, she

may

wan

t to

mak

e so

me

spec

ific

impr

ovem

ents

like

wor

king

on

her c

onve

ntio

ns, f

or e

xam

ple.

She

will

al

so w

ant t

o m

ake

sure

she

cont

inue

s to

wor

k on

her

stre

ngth

s of w

ritin

g tru

e st

orie

s ab

out h

er li

fe th

at h

ave

mom

ents

of e

xcite

men

t in

them

.

Teac

hing

Tips

Whe

re d

oes t

he le

arni

ng h

appe

n? M

ore

and

mor

e, a

s I fi

nd

mys

elf g

ettin

g ca

ught

up

in th

e th

eory

and

impl

emen

tatio

n of

w

ritin

g in

stru

ctio

n, th

at’s

the

ques

tion

I foc

us o

n. C

lear

ly, t

here

ar

e op

portu

nitie

s for

gro

wth

at a

ny st

age

of th

e w

ritin

g pr

oces

s, bu

t are

ther

e ke

y po

ints

whe

re w

e ca

n he

lp k

ids h

ave

thos

e w

onde

rful

“A

ha!”

exp

erie

nces

, whe

n re

al le

arni

ng is

mor

e lik

ely

to h

appe

n? I

thin

k th

ere

are.

It’

s log

ical

to th

ink

that

kid

s are

“ge

tting

it”

whe

n w

e gi

ve a

le

sson

, but

mos

t of t

hem

are

n’t,

and

the

ones

who

seem

like

th

ey a

re a

re u

sual

ly ju

st a

ping

bac

k th

ose

lear

ned

beha

vior

s th

at w

e’ve

com

e to

mis

take

nly

inte

rpre

t as u

nder

stan

ding

and

in

telli

genc

e.

It’s a

lso

logi

cal t

o th

ink

that

the

lear

ning

is ta

king

pla

ce w

hen

the

kids

are

act

ually

writ

ing.

And

to a

gre

at e

xten

t thi

s is t

rue;

ce

rtain

ly th

ere

is n

o re

al le

arni

ng w

ithou

t it.

But

I th

ink

it’s f

air

to w

onde

r jus

t how

muc

h le

arni

ng c

ould

be

taki

ng p

lace

whe

n so

muc

h of

a st

uden

t’s m

enta

l ban

dwid

th is

bei

ng u

sed

to so

lve

the

prob

lem

s of t

he m

omen

t. Si

nce

star

ting

to u

se S

ix T

raits

, I h

ave

com

e to

bel

ieve

that

th

e le

arni

ng h

appe

ns p

rimar

ily in

two

plac

es: d

urin

g th

e re

-sp

ondi

ng st

age

and

durin

g as

sess

ing

stag

e. A

nd th

e m

echa

nism

th

at m

akes

eve

ryth

ing

go is

the

Six

Trai

ts c

riter

ia—

both

the

writ

ten

crite

ria st

uden

ts u

se fo

r sel

f-as

sess

men

t, an

d th

e la

n-gu

age

of th

e cr

iteria

that

oth

er st

uden

ts w

ill u

se to

com

men

t on

an a

utho

r’s w

ork.

Tr

ue le

arni

ng is

ofte

n th

e re

sult

of c

onsc

ious

refle

ctio

n. A

nd

refle

ctin

g on

the

Six

Trai

ts c

riter

ia—

asse

ssin

g a

piec

e of

writ

-in

g in

ligh

t of t

hat s

tand

ard—

is a

pow

erfu

l ref

lect

ive

expe

ri-en

ce th

at I

belie

ve h

as a

pro

foun

dly

posi

tive

effe

ct.

With

out t

his k

ind

of fo

rmal

refle

ctio

n, k

ey in

sigh

ts m

ay b

e lo

st. T

his i

s not

to sa

y th

at th

ey w

on’t

resu

rfac

e, b

ut c

atch

ing

them

righ

t her

e, w

hen

the

piec

e is

fini

shed

and

the

min

d is

full

of th

e pr

oces

s tha

t has

just

occ

urre

d, m

ay a

llow

stud

ents

to

take

mor

e of

thei

r ach

ieve

men

ts w

ith th

em w

hen

they

mov

e on

to

tack

le th

eir n

ext p

iece

. Th

is is

als

o th

e be

st ti

me

for y

ou a

s a te

ache

r to

unde

rsta

nd

how

you

r stu

dent

s are

doi

ng. Y

es, y

ou c

an in

tuit

thin

gs fr

om

the

wor

k its

elf—

the

Six

Trai

ts c

riter

ia a

nd D

irect

Writ

ing

As-

sess

men

t are

exc

elle

nt to

ols.

But

an

asse

ssm

ent m

erel

y in

di-

cate

s wha

t a c

hild

can

do

at p

rese

nt; a

form

al w

ritte

n re

flect

ion

can

tell

you

how

like

ly a

chi

ld is

to im

prov

e in

the

futu

re. I

t ca

n al

so h

elp

to c

larif

y ce

rtain

thin

gs fo

r you

with

rega

rd to

ar-

eas o

f you

r ass

essm

ent t

hat m

ay n

ot b

e co

nclu

sive

.

T 7 AS

SESS

ING

Use

the

Six

Trai

ts to

find

out

wha

t wor

ks fo

r you

and

wha

t doe

sn’t.

Sonj

a's

Nar

rativ

e Se

lf-As

sess

men

t (Fr

og L

eap)

.doc

✓ 1

2/4/

96 ✓

Nar

rativ

e Se

lf-As

sess

men

t #1

Stev

e Pe

ha ✓

206

-363

-478

0 ✓

ste

vepe

ha@

aol.c

om

IDE

AS

Inte

rest

ing

Thin

gs to

Say

✍ W

hat’s

you

r fav

orite

par

t of t

his

pape

r?

Why

?

When

I did

a su

dden

frog

leap

.

Beca

use it

sound

ed so

act

ive.

✍ W

hat p

art c

ould

you

tell

the

read

er m

ore

abou

t so

they

wou

ld u

nder

stan

d it

bette

r?

Not

any

part

.

OR

GA

NIZ

AT

ION

Th

e W

ay it

Goe

s To

geth

er

✍ W

hat’s

the

best

thin

g ab

out t

he w

ay y

our

pape

r is

orga

nize

d? W

hy?

It g

oes f

rom

how

old I

was

to

what

I

was d

oing

and

it ha

s a h

appy

endi

ng.

It d

oesn’

t giv

e aw

ay t

he fu

n par

t till t

he

middle

.

✍ H

ow c

ould

you

impr

ove

the

orga

niza

tion

of

your

pap

er?

VO

ICE

So

unds

Lik

e Yo

u Ta

lkin

g

✍ W

hat p

art o

f thi

s pa

per s

ound

s m

ost l

ike

you?

Why

?

The

frog

leap

.

Beca

use I

’m jum

py.

✍ H

ow c

ould

you

mak

e ot

her p

arts

sou

nd

like

that

?

WO

RD

CH

OIC

E

The

Best

Wor

ds F

or Y

our I

deas

✍ W

hat a

re y

our f

avor

ite w

ords

in th

is p

aper

? W

hy?

Cute

, sudd

en and

frog

leap

.

Beca

use t

hey

sound

like

ME!

✍ Ar

e th

ere

any

wor

ds y

ou w

ould

like

to

chan

ge to

mak

e th

e pa

per m

ore

inte

rest

-in

g? W

hich

one

s?

SEN

TE

NC

E F

LU

EN

CY

Th

e W

ay it

Sou

nds

Whe

n Yo

u R

ead

it O

ut L

oud

✍ W

hat a

re y

our f

avor

ite s

ente

nces

in th

is

pape

r? W

hy?

This

is a

true

story

about

my ba

byhoo

d.

Beca

use I

like

babys

and

true

story

s.

✍ Ar

e th

ere

any

sent

ence

s yo

u w

ould

like

to

chan

ge to

mak

e th

em s

ound

bet

ter?

Whi

ch

ones

?

CO

NV

EN

TIO

NS

Spel

ling,

Pun

ctua

tion,

Gra

mm

ar, C

apita

ls, E

tc.

✍ D

o yo

u th

ink

you

did

a go

od jo

b w

ith s

pell-

ing,

gra

mm

ar, p

unct

uatio

n, c

apita

ls, a

nd

othe

r con

vent

ions

? W

hy?

Yes!

Beca

use I

got

help

.

✍ Ar

e th

ere

any

parts

of y

our p

aper

that

you

th

ink

som

eone

mig

ht h

ave

troub

le re

ad-

ing?

Whi

ch p

arts

?

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

12

07 T

hru

the

WP (A

sses

sing)

.doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Seek

a W

ider

Aud

ienc

e no

ther

coo

l thi

ng to

do

afte

r you

’ve

publ

ishe

d a

piec

e of

writ

ing

is to

send

it o

ff

to a

noth

er p

ublis

her.

Sonj

a de

cide

d to

send

her

pie

ce to

a m

agaz

ine

calle

d St

one

Soup

. But

to d

o th

at, s

he h

ad to

writ

e a

subm

issi

on le

tter t

o th

e ed

itor t

ellin

g he

r w

hy sh

e th

ough

t her

pie

ce w

ould

be

of in

tere

st to

the

read

ers o

f her

mag

azin

e.

She

wro

te a

roug

h dr

aft o

f the

lette

r firs

t and

then

type

d it

up.

Nove

mber

25,

1996

Stone

Soup

Child

ren’s

Art

Foun

datio

nP.O

. Box

83

Santa

Cruz

, CA

950

83

Dear

Edit

or,

I like

my

story

beca

use it

sound

s like

me.

I’m

alway

s hyp

er. I

get

reall

y sill

y. I

love

to r

ead

and

write

. I t

hink o

ther

peo

ple sh

ould

read

my

story

beca

use it

is no

t som

e fid

dle-fa

ddle

fictio

n it

is tr

ue!

I or

ganiz

ed m

y pa

per

from

wha

t ye

ar it

was

and

wher

e I

was a

nd

in th

e mid

dle y

ou ca

n tell

my

pare

nts w

ere

surpr

ised

when

I did

the

frog

leap

and

it is

not o

nly t

alking

to

kids i

t is

also

talkin

g to

adult

s.

Since

rely,

Sonja

Teac

hing

Tips

If it

is th

roug

h pu

blis

hing

that

chi

ldre

n be

gin

to re

aliz

e th

e im

porta

nce

of th

eir a

udie

nce,

why

is th

is a

ctiv

ity h

ere?

Be-

caus

e I b

elie

ve th

ere

is a

ver

y im

porta

nt k

ind

of a

sses

smen

t go-

ing

on in

a w

riter

’s m

ind

whe

n th

ey se

ek a

type

of o

utle

t for

th

eir w

ork

outs

ide

of th

e us

ual v

enue

s of t

he c

lass

room

and

sc

hool

com

mun

ities

. Whe

n w

riter

’s b

egin

to c

onsi

der w

iden

ing

thei

r aud

ienc

e, th

ey a

re fo

rced

to e

ngag

e in

a b

asic

but

pow

er-

ful f

orm

of s

elf-

asse

ssm

ent.

They

hav

e to

ask

them

selv

es,

“Will

the

peop

le I

am su

bmitt

ing

my

wor

k to

und

erst

and

and

enjo

y it?

” To

this

end

, I w

ould

enc

oura

ge e

very

writ

er, y

oung

or o

ld, t

o m

ake

a ca

se fo

r the

ir ef

fort,

to ro

ot st

rong

ly it

s stre

ngth

s, to

hi

ghlig

ht it

s hig

hlig

hts,

to p

oint

out

for a

nyon

e w

ho m

ight

not

ha

ve n

otic

ed ju

st h

ow m

uch

ther

e is

in th

e pi

ece

that

mig

ht b

e w

orth

y of

not

e. T

o do

this

eff

ectiv

ely,

a w

riter

nee

ds a

n an

a-ly

tic v

ocab

ular

y, a

nd th

e on

ly p

lace

a w

riter

can

get

such

a v

o-ca

bula

ry is

from

the

crite

ria h

e or

she

has i

nter

naliz

ed th

at, i

n th

eir o

pini

on, d

efin

e hi

gh q

ualit

y w

ork.

W

hat i

ntrig

ues m

e ab

out t

his p

artic

ular

act

ivity

is it

s aut

hen-

ticity

. Yes

, the

nar

rativ

e re

flect

ion

base

d on

spec

ific

prom

pts

draw

n fr

om th

e Si

x Tr

aits

is v

alua

ble

and

inte

rest

ing,

but

this

is

real

. In

a se

nse

it is

true

lite

ratu

re re

spon

se, b

ut in

this

cas

e re

ader

and

writ

er a

re o

ne a

nd th

e sa

me.

So

met

hing

like

this

als

o re

pres

ents

a q

uick

turn

arou

nd p

ub-

lishi

ng o

ppor

tuni

ty w

hich

, am

ong

othe

r thi

ngs,

will

aff

ord

stu-

dent

s yet

ano

ther

cha

nce

to d

evel

op th

eir k

now

ledg

e of

writ

ing

conv

entio

ns. T

he v

alue

of s

uch

inci

dent

al a

ctiv

ities

shou

ld n

ot

be d

oubt

ed. S

hort,

aut

hent

ic p

ublis

hing

opp

ortu

nitie

s lik

e th

is

are

criti

cal t

o a

youn

g w

riter

’s d

evel

opm

ent.

In m

any

clas

s-ro

oms a

cros

s the

cou

ntry

, stu

dent

s tur

n ou

t 20

or 3

0 su

ch p

ub-

lishe

d pi

eces

per

yea

r. B

eyon

d w

ritin

g le

tters

, stu

dent

s can

writ

e pi

eces

that

ap-

prox

imat

e th

e fo

rew

ord

one

mig

ht fi

nd in

a b

ook

by a

pro

fes-

sion

al w

riter

. The

se p

iece

s ser

ve to

intro

duce

and

inte

rpre

t the

w

ritin

g fo

r the

read

er. T

hey

also

serv

e to

cla

rify

the

auth

or’s

in

tent

ion

and,

like

the

wor

k do

ne d

urin

g re

visi

on, t

hey

enco

ur-

age

child

ren

to re

-rea

d th

eir o

wn

wor

k th

ereb

y ga

inin

g ad

di-

tiona

l ins

ight

. It’

s int

eres

ting

to n

ote

exac

tly w

hat y

oung

writ

ers a

re w

illin

g to

say

abou

t the

mse

lves

and

thei

r ow

n w

ork.

You

may

not

ice,

fo

r exa

mpl

e, th

at a

stud

ent w

ill w

rite

one

thin

g fo

r rea

ders

who

kn

ow h

er, a

nd q

uite

ano

ther

for r

eade

rs w

ho d

on’t.

Thi

s is a

w

onde

rful

win

dow

into

the

deve

lopm

ent o

f the

writ

er’s

voi

ce,

som

ethi

ng th

at c

an b

e di

ffic

ult a

t tim

es to

pin

dow

n.

A 7 AS

SESS

ING

If y

ou’v

e as

sess

ed y

our o

wn

wor

k, y

ou c

an te

ll so

meo

ne e

lse

why

they

mig

ht li

ke it

.

November 25, 1996 Stone Soup Children’s Art Foundation P.O. Box 83 Santa Cruz, CA 95083 Dear Editor, I like my story because it sounds like me. I’m always hyper. I get

really silly. I love to read and write. I think other people should

read my story because it is not just some fiddle-faddle fiction, it is

true! I organized my paper from what year it was and where I

was, and in the middle you can tell my parents were surprised when

I did the frog leap, and it is not only talking to kids it is also

talking to adults.

Sincerely, Sonja

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

13

07 T

hru

the

WP (A

sses

sing)

.doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Comp

are

With

You

r Pr

eviou

s Pie

ce

noth

er g

reat

way

to le

arn

abou

t you

r ow

n w

ritin

g is

to c

ompa

re y

our c

urre

nt

wor

k w

ith w

ork

you

did

befo

re. T

he p

iece

cal

led

“gro

wn

up”

was

the

last

pie

ce

Sonj

a w

rote

bef

ore

“The

Fro

g Le

ap.”

Whe

n sh

e w

rote

“gr

own

up”

she

didn

’t kn

ow h

ow to

use

Six

Tra

its o

r the

Writ

ing

Proc

ess.

Wha

t diff

eren

ces d

o yo

u no

-tic

e in

the

two

piec

es?

Do

you

thin

k So

nja’

s writ

ing

has i

mpr

oved

?

grow

n up

Win I

gro

w up.

I w

ill ha

ve a

nice

rela

xing

life. A

goo

d ca

reer

. A ni

ce d

oss. A

husba

nd wh

o is

nice.

Lots

of p

ets.

A fa

rm is

wha

t I

want.

I w

ill live

in a

cott

age

with

my h

ussba

nd an

d a

child

. I w

ill ha

ve a

hap

py lif

e. I

will l

ive in

Norw

ay. I

will

be a

cham

pion h

orse

rider

. I w

ill live

in a

vall

ey. M

y job

will

be

some

thing

tha

t fit

s in w

ith m

e. I

will b

e sm

art.

The

Frog

Lea

pby

Sonja

Butl

er

This

is a

true

story

abou

t my

babyh

ood.

It w

as t

he y

ear

1987

and

I wa

s ten

month

s old. I

was

in m

y old

hous

e, th

e one

I w

as bo

rn in.

I wa

s on m

y ch

angin

g

table

. My

Mom

and

Dad

were

with

me,

they

wer

e sta

nding

righ

t nex

t to

the

chan

ging

table

. Tha

t’s t

he w

eird

part

. I w

as be

ing c

ute a

nd wa

gging

my

little

cute

botto

m. M

y pa

rents

wer

e ad

miring

how

cute

I w

as a

nd sm

iling.

Then

I did

a

sudde

n fro

g lea

p wh

ich r

eally

scar

ed m

y pa

rents

! I bo

unced

like

a ba

ll ont

o th

e

heat

er w

hich

had

skinny

little

ribs

. The

hea

ter

was i

n bet

ween

the

chang

ing t

able

and

my d

resse

r. Lu

ckily

the

heat

er w

as no

t on

but I

did

get

hurt

. Whe

n I w

as

finish

ed bo

uncing

I ju

st sa

t th

ere

cove

red

in bruis

es. M

y M

om a

nd Da

d and

I

stare

d at

eac

h ot

her

and t

hen w

e all

scre

amed

. My

Mom

pick

ed m

e up

and

we a

ll

went

over

to

the

couch

for

a So

nja sa

ndwich

hug

.

The

End

Teac

hing

Tips

Whe

n w

e w

ere

in sc

hool

, eac

h w

ritin

g as

sign

men

t was

a

wor

ld u

nto

itsel

f. A

nd if

you

wer

e lik

e m

e (a

nd I

susp

ect m

ost

othe

r kid

s, to

o) th

at w

orld

cam

e to

an

abru

pt e

nd w

hen

it w

as

hand

ed b

ack

cove

red

with

red

ink

and

a gr

ade

you

didn

’t un

-de

rsta

nd, s

tuff

ed in

a fo

lder

, tak

en h

ome,

and

shor

tly th

erea

fter

thro

wn

away

. Bac

k th

en a

pie

ce o

f writ

ing

was

just

an

assi

gn-

men

t, an

d w

ritin

g st

uden

ts w

ere

just

kid

s who

cou

ldn’

t spe

ll w

ell,

prin

t leg

ibly

, or w

rite

gram

mat

ical

ly.

But

thin

gs a

re a

littl

e di

ffer

ent t

oday

as m

ost o

f us n

ow re

al-

ize

that

whe

n w

e en

cour

age

child

ren

to ta

ke a

mor

e fo

rmal

atti

-tu

de to

war

d th

eir a

ccom

plis

hmen

ts, b

y gi

ving

them

pow

erfu

l to

ols t

o do

so, w

e ar

e ca

pita

lizin

g on

val

uabl

e le

arni

ng o

ppor

-tu

nitie

s. To

this

end

, I th

ink

it is

hel

pful

—to

bot

h te

ache

r and

st

uden

t—to

thin

k of

the

child

as a

writ

er (n

ot a

stud

ent o

f writ

-in

g) a

nd th

e w

ork

that

writ

er d

oes a

s som

ehow

com

pris

ing

a ca

reer

. Afte

r all,

we

now

ask

chi

ldre

n to

com

pose

real

pie

ces

for r

eal p

eopl

e an

d re

al p

urpo

ses,

why

not

thin

k of

them

as r

eal

writ

ers?

Po

rtfol

ios a

re p

roba

bly

the

mos

t for

mal

hin

t tha

t thi

s shi

ft ha

s ta

ken

plac

e. B

ut m

ost t

each

ers o

nly

do p

ortfo

lios o

nce

or tw

ice

a ye

ar. I

wou

ld li

ke to

see

stud

ents

refle

ctin

g on

thei

r pro

gres

s m

ore

ofte

n an

d in

a le

ss ti

me

cons

umin

g w

ay.

Can

you

ng c

hild

ren

deve

lop

a se

nse

of th

eir o

wn

deve

lop-

men

t? I

thin

k th

ey c

an. I

n fa

ct, w

hene

ver I

’ve

aske

d ki

ds to

re-

flect

in w

ritin

g on

the

prev

ious

yea

r in

thei

r dev

elop

men

t, th

ey

can

alm

ost a

lway

s poi

nt to

sign

ifica

nt c

hang

es in

thei

r abi

litie

s an

d at

titud

es. A

nd e

ven

if th

eir a

sses

smen

ts a

ren’

t stri

ctly

acc

u-ra

te I

thin

k th

ey a

ct a

lmos

t lik

e a

self-

fulfi

lling

pro

phec

y. T

hat

is to

say

that

I be

lieve

man

y ch

ildre

n, si

mpl

y by

arti

cula

ting

spec

ific

impr

ovem

ents

in th

eir w

ritin

g, m

ay in

fact

be

help

ing

to p

sych

them

selv

es u

p, to

see

into

thei

r wor

k an

d its

pot

entia

l in

as h

opef

ul a

way

as p

ossi

ble.

Th

is is

one

of t

hose

act

iviti

es I

truly

enj

oy b

ecau

se e

ven

whe

n it

does

n’t w

ork

it do

es. E

ven

if st

uden

ts c

an’t

artic

ulat

e an

y im

prov

emen

ts, o

r the

diff

eren

ces t

hey

notic

e ar

e so

mew

hat

supe

rfic

ial,

they

are

still

lear

ning

a p

roce

ss th

at w

ill se

rve

them

w

ell w

hen

they

mat

ure

enou

gh to

take

adv

anta

ge o

f it.

By

enco

urag

ing

child

ren

to c

ompa

re c

urre

nt w

ork

with

pas

t w

ork,

we

invi

te th

em to

rega

rd a

ll of

thei

r eff

orts

as o

ne b

ig

piec

e of

writ

ing,

an

unbr

oken

cha

in o

f exp

ress

ion

stre

tchi

ng

back

to k

inde

rgar

ten

and

perh

aps e

ven

befo

re. T

his c

an b

e a

very

pro

foun

d ex

perie

nce

for a

chi

ld, s

omet

hing

that

can

giv

e ris

e to

that

spec

ial f

eelin

g w

e w

ant a

ll ch

ildre

n to

hav

e, th

at

feel

ing

that

says

: “H

ey, I

’m a

writ

er.”

A 7 AS

SESS

ING

Com

pari

ng c

urre

nt

wor

k w

ith o

ld w

ork

is

the

best

way

to se

e ho

w fa

r you

’ve

com

e.

Thro

ugh

the

Writin

g Pr

oces

s wi

th S

onja

Butle

r P

age

14

07 T

hru

the

WP (A

sses

sing)

.doc

7

/30/

97

© 1

995-

2002

by

Stev

e Pe

ha. F

or m

ore

info

rmat

ion,

or f

or a

dditio

nal t

each

ing

mat

erial

s, pl

ease

con

tact

: Tea

chin

g Th

at M

akes

Sen

se, I

nc. •

E-m

ail s

teve

peha

@ao

l.com

• W

eb w

ww.tt

ms.o

rg

Revie

w An

y Co

mmen

ts Y

ou R

ecei

ve

ust a

s you

did

dur

ing

the

resp

ondi

ng st

age,

you

may

get

writ

ten

com

men

ts

now

. For

exa

mpl

e, if

you

shar

e yo

ur w

ritin

g w

ith th

e cl

ass o

r pub

lish

it fo

r the

cl

ass l

ibra

ry, s

ome

of y

our r

eade

rs m

ay w

ant t

o te

ll yo

u th

ings

abo

ut it

. In

ad-

ditio

n, y

our t

each

er m

ay w

ant t

o gi

ve y

ou so

me

deta

iled

feed

back

usi

ng th

e Si

x Tr

aits

crit

eria

to h

elp

you

unde

rsta

nd w

hat y

ou d

id w

ell a

nd w

hat y

ou m

ight

thin

k ab

out i

mpr

ovin

g th

e ne

xt ti

me

you

wor

k on

ano

ther

pie

ce.

Teac

hing

Tips

All

writ

ers,

no m

atte

r how

smal

l, w

ant t

o kn

ow w

hat o

ther

s th

ink

of th

eir w

ork.

No

writ

er’s

ass

essm

ent o

f her

ow

n ac

hiev

emen

t wou

ld b

e co

mpl

ete

if th

e as

sess

men

t of o

ther

s w

eren

’t fa

ctor

ed in

to so

me

degr

ee.

All

too

ofte

n I t

hink

we’

re in

clin

ed to

soft-

peda

l thi

s iss

ue o

f re

spon

se. I

t’s fu

nny

real

ly. I

n ou

r rea

ding

pro

gram

s we

ask

our

child

ren

to g

ive

us th

ick,

mea

ty re

spon

ses t

o th

e bo

oks t

hey

read

. But

then

we

turn

aro

und

as th

eir t

each

ers a

nd se

rve

up

mar

shm

allo

w fl

uff:

“I re

ally

enj

oyed

you

r pap

er. Y

ou h

ave

a w

ay w

ith w

ords

. A w

onde

rful

eff

ort!

You

are

a v

ery

tale

nted

w

riter

. I c

an’t

wai

t to

read

you

r nex

t pie

ce.”

O

f cou

rse,

as c

arin

g ad

ults

eve

r min

dful

of t

he fr

agile

ego

s in

our c

harg

e, w

e pu

ll ou

r pun

ches

so a

s not

to h

urt t

heir

feel

ings

. B

ut I

thin

k, so

met

imes

, the

chi

ldre

n ar

e aw

are

of o

ur d

uplic

ity,

and

even

if th

ey a

ren’

t, th

ey g

et v

ery

tired

of h

earin

g w

hat t

al-

ente

d lit

tle p

eopl

e th

ey a

re (I

cer

tain

ly d

id),

espe

cial

ly w

hen

they

kno

w th

ey a

re n

ot a

lway

s so

tale

nted

. Th

e cr

ux o

f the

pro

blem

is th

at, t

radi

tiona

lly, w

e ha

ve re

lied

upon

a v

ery

pers

onal

voc

abul

ary

to d

escr

ibe

a st

uden

t’s w

ork.

B

ecau

se w

e ha

d no

wor

ds to

act

ually

talk

abo

ut th

e w

ritin

g, w

e ta

lked

abo

ut th

e w

riter

inst

ead.

And

the

cons

eque

nces

wer

e, in

m

any

case

s, qu

ite d

evas

tatin

g as

man

y yo

ung

peop

le b

egan

to

equa

te id

eas l

ike

“I’m

not

a g

ood

spel

ler,”

with

“I’

m n

ot a

go

od w

riter

,” w

ith “

I’m

not

a g

ood

pers

on.”

B

ut th

e an

alyt

ic v

ocab

ular

y of

Six

Tra

its g

ives

us b

ette

r lev

-er

age.

It a

llow

s us t

o co

mm

ent i

n an

in-d

epth

fash

ion

on th

e w

ritin

g its

elf i

n a

way

that

chi

ldre

n w

ho h

ave

been

intro

duce

d to

the

crite

ria c

an u

nder

stan

d an

d de

al w

ith e

ffec

tivel

y. B

y gi

v-in

g th

em th

e sa

me

com

men

ts y

ou e

xpec

t the

m to

han

d ou

t to

othe

rs—

the

sam

e co

mm

ents

you

exp

ect t

hem

to m

ake

abou

t th

e bo

oks t

hey

read

—yo

u ta

ke th

e st

ing

out o

f crit

icis

m, a

nd

give

legi

timac

y to

pra

ise.

W

hen

stud

ents

com

men

t to

each

oth

er, w

e ar

e of

ten

afra

id

that

they

won

’t ad

equa

tely

con

side

r the

ir cl

assm

ates

feel

ings

. To

a c

erta

in e

xten

t thi

s is t

rue.

Con

side

ratio

n fo

r oth

ers t

akes

m

any

year

s to

deve

lop.

(So

why

not

pra

ctic

e it

regu

larly

?) T

o m

itiga

te th

is p

oten

tial p

robl

em I

tell

stud

ents

they

shou

ld u

se

the

voca

bula

ry o

f the

trai

ts a

nd a

ny re

late

d vo

cabu

lary

we

have

de

velo

ped

in c

lass

whe

n sp

eaki

ng to

stud

ents

abo

ut th

eir w

rit-

ing.

Whe

n a

stud

ent f

eels

like

sayi

ng, “

That

was

stup

id,”

I di

-re

ct th

em to

thei

r Six

Tra

its c

riter

ia a

nd a

sk th

em if

they

can

fin

d th

is c

omm

ent a

nyw

here

on

the

shee

t. I d

on’t

wan

t to

re-

stric

t dis

cuss

ion,

I ju

st w

ant t

o en

cour

age

a he

alth

y ex

chan

ge.

J

7 AS

SESS

ING

Whe

n yo

u ge

t det

aile

d co

mm

ents

like

this

, be

sure

to h

ang

onto

them

.

Scoring Guide: 1-Beginning 2-Emerging 3-Developing 4-Maturing 5-Strong

Student: Sonja Butler Paper: The Frog Leap Date: 12/3/96

score 4

Ideas The heart of the message, the content of the piece, the main theme and supporting details. What a great thing to write about! It reminds me of when I was a little baby and I swallowed a safety pin. My parents were scared, too. I like the part where you said: “I bounced like a ball onto the heater which had skinny little ribs.” That’s a great detail. I could really see it happening. I would have enjoyed more details like that.

score 3/4

Organization The internal structure, the thread of central meaning, the logical pattern of ideas. Pretty well organized. I like the order you told things in. Each idea lead to the next and I never felt lost. I liked the ending, too. I’m glad you were all right. I was worried there for a minute. If you had included more details then splitting the story up into paragraphs would have made it even better.

score 4

Voice The heart and soul, the magic, the wit; the writer’s unique personal expression emerging through words. This sounds just like you, full of energy and enthusiasm. I especially liked it when you wrote “I was being cute and wagging my little cute bottom.” And I like the phrase “a Sonja sandwich hug.” That’s a great expression. When you put in details like this it helps your audience feel what you felt.

score 3/4

Word Choice Rich, colorful, precise language that moves and enlightens; a love of language, a passion for words. Nice job. How did you decide to call what you did a “frog leap”? That’s a really good descriptive phrase. I like the word “babyhood,” too; it’s so much more original than “childhood.”

score 3

Sentence Fluency The rhythm and flow of the language; the way the writing plays to the ear, not just to the eye.

Your paper reads very easily, but a lot of your sentences start with “I”. To make it a little more in-teresting you might try starting some of your sentences in other ways. You’re very good with allit-eration (that’s when you use several words that have the same starting sound). I especially like the sound of: “I bounced like a ball…” and “…a Sonja sandwich hug.”

score 3

Conventions The mechanical correctness of the writing and its contribution to meaning and readability. You did a good job on your spelling. I liked the way you circled the words you weren’t sure of and then looked them up in the dictionary. You used periods and capitals well, too. Did you know that there are two kinds of “witch”? There’s “witch” as in Halloween and “which” as in “which one.” Words that sound the same but are spelled differently are called homophones. We’ll have a lesson on that soon. I’ll also show you how to break your stories up into paragraphs.

You did a wonderful job on this paper, Sonja. I really appreciate how hard you worked from the very first pre-writing session through all your drafting, revision, editing, and publishing. You put in a lot of effort and it really shows. You have a wonderful voice that just pops right off the page. I can’t wait to read your next piece.

Copyright 1995-2003 by Steve Peha. 4 - 1 Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. • Web www.ttms.org • E-mail [email protected]

An Introduction to Writing Process

s a formal method for teaching writing, Writing Process goes back to the early 1970’s when dozens of academic articles1 inquiring into the nature of the compo-sitional process began to appear. But writing as a process goes back even further than that—way, way back. Indeed, all writers have used one “process” or another

to render their ideas in print, it’s the nature of the beast; words just don’t magically mate-rialize on a page or a computer screen every time we want them to. So writing as a proc-ess is as old as writing itself. It’s just that in the last 30 years or so, we’ve thought to in-quire about exactly what processes might best be shown to students to help them grow as writers.

Been There, Done That At one time or another, we’ve all been there: first draft, final draft, done. And for

many of us, the final draft probably consisted of little more than recopying our teacher’s red pen corrections. Here’s what one class was like for me:

7th grade. Hell hath no fury like Mr. Hackworth. A most mercurial man. Tall, dark hair

and beard, piercing stare, earth-shattering voice, ego-crushing demeanor. He had no trou-ble getting our attention and keeping it. His class was a series of rituals: weekly news quiz, worksheets, and the research paper. The quizzes and worksheets I could handle, but I was completely unprepared for the paper. The longest thing I think I had written up to that point was about five pages. Suddenly, there were rumors in circulation about stu-dents from the previous year’s class topping 50; someone even said that one paper was over 100 pages long.

To get us started off on the right foot, Mr. Hackworth introduced us to his version of the writing process: [1] Choose a country; [2] Make sure you cover history, economics, climate, geography, government, etc.; [3] Write in pen; [4] Hand in the paper before Christmas break. That was it. We received no additional instruction whatsoever on how such a report was to be researched or written.

Sound familiar? No wonder so many of us struggled to get our work done—or even

to get started. As much as I love writing now, I hated it during school. And I think part of my frustration came from not knowing anything about how to write, that is, how to go about the business of carefully crafting a piece of prose from beginning to end.

Writing is a Process, Isn’t it? Like any academic theory, Writing Process has evolved considerably over the years,

but two beliefs have remained constant: [1] Methods of teaching writing should be struc-tured to account for the fact that the creation of a piece of writing is a developmental process that occurs over time; and [2] Writers engage in different activities depending on which stage of development a piece of writing is in.

1 The most important of these articles have been conveniently collected into a book called Landmark Essays on Writing Process, edited by Sondra Perl and published by Hermagoras Press. This is a wonderful book which not only includes essays by academics but also by professional writers like Annie Dillard and William Stafford. It really goes far beyond Writing Process to more general discussions of writing itself. I highly recommend it.

A


Writing Process as a method of helping student writers has always, to my knowledge, been conceived of as a set of discrete stages wherein a writer engages in certain activities designed to solve particular problems unique to that stage. And it is this practical prob-lem-solving approach that I think makes Writing Process and other contemporary ap-proaches more effective than traditional methods which often attempted to teach writing in a manner that ran counter to the ways in which writers naturally go about their work.

As it was initially conceived, the process had only two stages: drafting and revising; the writer was said to cycle back and forth between them until a piece was finished. While this is probably the most accurate reflection of how writers work, it isn’t very use-ful in the classroom; student writers seem to benefit from a bit more structure. In the 1980’s, Writing Process theories crystallized into something most of us are now familiar with: a five stage process that includes Pre-Writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Pub-lishing.

But now in the 1990’s, we have further refinements that, at least in my experience, have truly made Writing Process valuable to student writers working in the classroom, and to teachers trying to help them. There are now three distinct ways of looking at Writ-ing Process:

Traditional Contemporary Primary

No Assessment Stages Criteria-Based Modified for K-2 Writers

Pre-Writing Pre-Writing Pre-Writing Drafting Drafting Drafting

Sharing Sharing Revising Revising Optional or Limited Editing Editing Optional of Limited

Publishing Publishing Publishing Assessing Optional or Limited

With the incredible popularity nationwide of criteria-based assessment, and the rec-

ognition of the power of criteria-based instruction in all subject areas, the traditional process has been expanded to accommodate the use of criteria like those in the Six Traits approach. This only makes good sense. According to research the use of criteria by stu-dent writers as a tool for focused revision is the single most important and most valuable technique we can employ2, so having two distinct stages (Sharing and Assessing) for this activity is well warranted. Without formal recourse to criteria, students cannot effectively shape their writing in the Revising stage, nor can they assess their own progress after Publishing. I recommend that teachers take students through the contemporary seven-stage process making appropriate changes for writers in grades K-2 who are not yet revis-ing.3

2 See Research in Written Composition by Robert Hillocks, Jr. published by NCTE. 3 Some very young writers can and do revise. But many just aren’t interested. I recommend introducing all writers to the full process, but making all stages after Drafting optional for K-2 writers. I don’t absolutely require kids to go through the whole process until mid-year 3rd grade, and even I will let some “slide by” until they feel more comfort-able. By 4th grade, all students should be mature enough to deal with the demands of working on the same piece of writing over a long period of time in a more detailed and more technical way.


Why is it Important to Teach Writing Process? Writing Process is the “how” of writing. Think about it for a minute. How do you

write? There’s much more to it than just putting pen to paper or dangling your fingers over a keyboard. Consciously or not, most writers go through a predictable set of stages as their work evolves. Those stages—our own individual writing process—evolve slowly over time as we develop, and as the nature of our writing changes. As competent adult writers, we all have a writing process. But when you’re young, just starting out, you really have no idea what to do first, where to go next, or how to finish up. Small children reach for a pencil before they have any idea what they want to write. Older students may sit in class for days complaining that they can’t get started. The Writing Process gives in-experienced writers a simple, dependable structure they can follow, a foolproof plan of attack that will always yield results. By helping students with the process of writing, we free them up to put more effort into the execution of their ideas.

From a teacher’s perspective, Writing Process is extremely helpful because it solves some very basic, but all too common, problems:

Common Problems Solved by Using Writing Process

Students don’t know how to get started: No problem, just introduce them to Pre-Writing activities like brainstorming, webbing, mapping, freewriting, or listing.

Students don’t write because they are afraid of making errors: Tell students they will have a chance to make corrections during the Editing stage.

Low productivity; students don’t write very much: Pre-Writing activities like free writing increase fluidity of expression; the knowledge that things can be changed during Revising frees students up to experiment.

No effort in Revision; no ability to rethink earlier drafts: By teaching focused les-sons in specific writing skills, and showing students how to use the Six Traits criteria, young writers become interested in and committed to serious revision.

Sloppy work; no attention to detail in final drafts: By reserving a special stage for Publishing, and creating authentic publishing opportunities for your students to publish their work, you can show them how important this aspect of writing really is, and you can give them specific lessons in how to go about it.

Last but not least, Writing Process is a required component of the Washington State

Essential Academic Learnings for Writing. Like it or not, Writing Process is the law in this state. Students are expected to know it inside and out.

But is the Writing Process Real? Yes and no. No professional writer that I’ve ever heard of goes through seven distinct

stages with each piece (or any number of distinct stages for that matter). I know I cer-tainly don’t. Competent adult writers tend to pursue all of the stages more or less simul-taneously. We cycle: we think of an idea, write it down, read it over, change it a little, fix a typo, format it… and then we start the cycle all over again. Students will cycle, too, though probably not as dynamically or as purposefully when they’re just starting out. So, rather than a fixed set of stages each writer goes through, like this:


Pre-Writing Drafting Sharing Revising Editing Publishing Assessing

It’s better to conceive of the process as less of a one-shot assembly line affair and

more like a flexible, dynamic system that will vary to some extent with the individual needs of the writer and the type of writing he or she is trying to do:

Pre-Writing Drafting Sharing Revising Editing Publishing Assessing

Of course all of this speculation about the creative inner life of writers begs the obvi-

ous question: if nobody really uses the Writing Process, why do we teach it at all? Here’s how I look at it:

The most important contribution of the process writing movement has not been the

revelation of a single most productive, most perfect, and most proper way of writing. It is merely the idea that there are ways of writing: predictable paths good writers follow that lead them step-by-step to the successful rendering of their ideas in print. There is no sin-gle writing process, no “secret formula” known only to a select cadre of award-winning educators, elite researchers, and literary mavens. Writing is a process in and of itself. And it is the recognition of this simple fact that has so significantly influenced the way our best teachers teach writing today. Once we acknowledge that writing is not a sponta-neous act, but rather a series of discrete events scattered through stages that unfold over time, we can begin to guide young authors through those stages, so that ultimately they can guide themselves.

I teach students the contemporary seven stage process (even if I don’t require writers

in grades K-2 to use it, I still tell them about all the stages and invite them to try it out), and I take them through it until they know it cold. As they experience more success and begin to develop a sense of what works best for them, I give my students more latitude to find their own ways of getting things done. But when they get stuck, I send them right back to the seven stages again. Eventually, they develop a way of writing that works best for them that incorporates all of the components I have introduced. I use Writing Process more as a problem-solving mechanism than as a way of monitoring student progress or long term development. You see, whether or not writers pursue the stages deliberately, it is a simple reality of the task that anyone who attempts any kind of formal composition must eventually draw from each of the seven “wells” in order to nourish their work from beginning to end. What I like to say to teachers is this: Writing Process is a tool, not a rule. And it usually works best when it’s used in that context. Instead of telling students: “Here’s something you have to do.”, tell them “Here’s something that will help you out. Give it a try and then take a little bit of time to assess how well it works for you.

Use Six Traits criteria here








The

“Writ

ing

Proc

ess”

Org

anize

r

« P

RE-W

RITI

NG

Explo

re Yo

ur To

pic

Pre-

writin

g is

any a

ctivit

y tha

t help

s wr

iters

figur

e ou

t wha

t to

write

ab

out.

Many

thing

s qua

lify a

s pre

-wr

iting

activ

ities.

The

strat

egies

that

I h

ave

had

succ

ess w

ith a

re:

« T

-Cha

rt T

opics

. (Lo

ve/H

ate,

Typic

al/Un

usua

l, Fun

/Not

Fun

, et

c.)

« T

opic

Equa

tions

. (in

Math

, Sc

ience

, and

Soc

ial S

tudie

s.)

« W

hat-

Why

-How

.

« I

dea-

Deta

ils a

nd T

ell-S

how.

« D

raw

-Lab

el-C

aptio

n.

« A

ctio

n-Fe

elin

gs-S

ettin

g.

« T

rans

ition

-Act

ion-

Deta

ils.

« C

onte

nt-P

urpo

se-A

udie

nce.

(C

PA)

« W

hat’s

a G

ood

Idea

?

« T

he 5

Fac

ts o

f Fict

ion.

The

best

appr

oach

for m

e ha

s bee

n to

intro

duce

kids

to a

ll of t

hese

str

ateg

ies a

nd th

en to

enc

oura

ge

them

to p

ick th

e on

es th

at w

ork

best

for w

hate

ver t

hey’r

e try

ing to

do

. Iro

nicall

y, th

e wa

y I kn

ow I’

ve

been

succ

essfu

l is w

hen

kids s

top

using

them

—bu

t are

still

able

to

choo

se g

ood

topic

s and

dev

elop

them

logic

ally a

nd co

mplet

ely. T

o me

, this

sign

ifies t

heir

trans

ition

from

begin

ning

write

rs, w

ho d

idn’t

know

how

to g

et st

arte

d, int

o ma

-tu

re w

riter

s who

can

succ

essfu

lly

selec

t and

dev

elop

an id

ea w

ithou

t ha

ving

to p

re-w

rite—

just l

ike

adult

s. Mo

st ad

ults d

on’t

do a

ny

pre-

writin

g. Ins

tead

they

do

a lot

of

“pre

-think

ing.”

For e

xamp

le, I

often

sp

end

week

s thin

king

abou

t som

e-th

ing b

efore

I wr

ite a

sing

le wo

rd.

Each

year

that

I wo

rk w

ith st

uden

t wr

iters

, pre

-writ

ing b

ecom

es m

ore

impo

rtant

to m

e. I n

ow e

ncou

rage

stu

dent

s at a

ll gra

de le

vels

to sp

end

a lot

of t

ime

on p

re-w

riting

. Inc

reas

-ing

the

amou

nt o

f tim

e sp

ent o

n pr

e-wr

iting,

and

using

goo

d pr

e-wr

iting

strat

egies

such

as t

hose

lis

ted

abov

e, ha

s don

e mo

re to

im-

prov

e th

e qu

ality

of th

e wr

iting

I see

th

an a

lmos

t any

thing

else

.

« D

RAFT

ING

Put i

t Dow

n on

Pap

er

Draft

ing is

whe

re fo

rmal

writin

g be

-gin

s. Us

ing p

re-w

riting

mat

erial

s as

inspir

ation

, the

writ

er w

rites

. And

wr

ites.

And

write

s som

e mo

re. T

he

goal

is to

get

eve

rythin

g do

wn o

n pa

per a

s quic

kly a

nd a

s eas

ily a

s po

ssibl

e.

The

bigge

st pr

oblem

kids

enc

oun-

ter,

of co

urse

, is w

riter

’s blo

ck. I

tre

at w

riter

’s blo

ck ju

st lik

e an

y ot

her p

roble

m wr

iters

hav

e. I in

tro-

duce

kids

to a

varie

ty of

strat

egies

an

d as

k the

m to

pick

the

ones

that

wo

rk b

est f

or th

em. H

ere’s

wha

t I

tell t

hem

to tr

y:

« U

se y

our p

re-w

ritin

g. G

o ba

ck to

your

pre

-writ

ing an

d loo

k for

new

mat

erial

. Or,

do

some

new

pre

-writ

ing.

« S

hare

. Sha

re yo

ur w

riting

and

as

k you

r aud

ience

if th

ey h

ave

any q

uesti

ons o

r any

thou

ghts

abou

t wha

t you

could

do

next.

« R

e-re

ad. R

ead

your

piec

e fro

m th

e be

ginnin

g. Ne

w ide

as o

ften

occu

r to

write

rs w

hen

they

read

ov

er th

eir e

ntire

piec

e.

« R

eque

st a

conf

eren

ce. B

ut

only

if the

teac

her i

s ava

ilable

.

« W

ork

on s

omet

hing

els

e. P

ut

the

piece

asid

e an

d wo

rk o

n an

-ot

her p

iece

for a

whil

e.

It’s a

lso h

elpful

to g

et th

e kid

s in

the

habit

of “

setti

ng u

p” th

eir p

aper

be

fore

they

beg

in to

dra

ft. I

usua

lly

ask k

ids to

keep

all o

f the

ir dr

afts,

so e

ach

time

they

writ

e I w

ant t

hem

to d

o th

e fo

llowi

ng:

« W

rite

on e

very

oth

er li

ne.

This

make

s rev

ising

and

edit

ing

easie

r. Pu

t a ti

ny “x

” on

ever

y ot

her l

ine a

t the

far l

eft e

dge

of th

e pa

per t

o re

mind

your

self.

« W

rite

on o

ne s

ide

of th

e pa

per o

nly.

This

make

s rea

d-ing

eas

ier.

« N

umbe

r all

your

pag

es. T

his

make

s find

ing p

ages

eas

ier.

« D

ate

each

pag

e. T

his m

akes

it

easie

r to

keep

trac

k of m

any d

if-fer

ent r

evisi

ons.

« S

HARI

NG

Get S

ome A

dvice

Fo

r stu

dent

writ

ers,

shar

ing is

usu

-all

y the

mos

t valu

able

and

enjoy

able

stage

in th

e wr

iting

proc

ess.

Ther

e ar

e th

ree

differ

ent w

ays t

o or

ganiz

e sh

aring

, and

eac

h ap

proa

ch h

as it

s ad

vant

ages

and

disa

dvan

tage

s:

« W

hole

clas

s sh

arin

g. T

his is

th

e mo

st va

luable

app

roac

h for

th

e wr

iter,

but i

t’s a

lso th

e mo

st tim

e co

nsum

ing fo

r the

clas

s.

« S

mal

l gro

up s

harin

g. M

ore

time

effici

ent,

and

each

writ

er

still g

ets a

larg

e en

ough

aud

i-en

ce to

get

goo

d fee

dbac

k, bu

t it

can

be h

ard

to m

anag

e.

« P

artn

er s

harin

g. V

ery e

ffi-cie

nt, b

ut th

e fee

dbac

k fro

m a

single

aud

ience

mem

ber i

s ofte

n no

t ver

y use

ful.

Thou

gh th

e be

nefits

of s

harin

g ar

e ma

ny, I

focu

s on

one

parti

cular

go

al. W

hene

ver w

riter

s sha

re th

eir

work

, I w

ant t

o ma

ke su

re th

ey g

et

usefu

l, con

struc

tive

feedb

ack s

o th

ey kn

ow w

hat t

hey’r

e go

ing to

do

next.

Whe

n I f

acilit

ate

whole

clas

s sh

aring

, for

exa

mple,

I wi

ll ofte

n en

d ea

ch w

riter

’s tu

rn b

y ask

ing th

em if

they

know

wha

t the

y’re

going

to d

o wh

en th

ey g

o ba

ck to

their

seat

. If

they

don

’t kn

ow, I

keep

them

up

in fro

nt u

ntil t

hey f

igure

some

thing

ou

t. In

this

way,

kids l

earn

quic

kly

that

the

purp

ose

of sh

aring

a d

raft

is to

get

idea

s for

revis

ion.

Here

are

thre

e sim

ple th

ings I

tell

kids t

hat h

ave

made

a h

uge

differ

-en

ce in

my s

harin

g:

« U

se th

e cr

iteria

. Res

pond

us-

ing th

e lan

guag

e of

the

class

-ro

om cr

iteria

whe

n po

ssibl

e.

« Q

uest

ions

onl

y, p

leas

e. If

th

e wr

iter i

s still

wor

king

on a

n ea

rly d

raft,

ask

que

stion

s only

.

« A

sk “

why”

and

“ho

w”

ques

tions

. This

help

s aut

hors

by

chall

engin

g th

em to

resp

ond

in mo

re co

mplex

and

inte

resti

ng

ways

.

I find

that

shar

ing is

also

very

use

ful

for f

igurin

g ou

t whic

h les

sons

I ne

ed

to te

ach.

« R

EVIS

ING

Take

Ano

ther

Look

Fo

r me,

the

key t

o re

vision

has

bee

n eff

ectiv

e sh

aring

. Whe

n kid

s get

reg-

ular f

eedb

ack f

rom

their

pee

rs, r

evi-

sion

come

s mor

e ea

sily.

For a

dult

write

rs, a

sens

e of

pur-

pose

and

aud

ience

pro

vide

the

nec-

essa

ry mo

tivat

ion fo

r rev

ision

, and

I fin

d th

at ki

ds a

ren’t

muc

h dif

feren

t. Ch

oice

is als

o a

signif

icant

facto

r: stu

dent

s are

muc

h mo

re lik

ely to

re-

vise

piece

s bas

ed o

n th

ings t

hey’v

e ch

osen

to w

rite

abou

t tha

n on

te

ache

r-sele

cted

prom

pts o

r oth

er

assig

nmen

ts. T

each

er m

odeli

ng

helps

also

. Whe

n kid

s can

see m

e up

ther

e str

uggli

ng w

ith m

y own

wr

iting

right

in fr

ont o

f the

m, it

ma

kes t

hem

feel li

ke g

iving

it a

try

them

selve

s.

Revis

ion is

the

point

in th

e wr

iting

proc

ess w

here

writ

ers b

enefi

t mos

t fro

m go

od m

ini-le

sson

s. As

a g

uide

for w

hich

lesso

ns to

teac

h, I u

se th

e cla

ssro

om cr

iteria

. The

se a

re th

e ar

eas I

focu

s on:

« I

deas

. Main

idea

, sup

porti

ng

deta

ils, “

show

ing” d

etail

s, pu

r-po

se, t

he u

nexp

ecte

d.

« O

rgan

izat

ion.

Beg

inning

s, en

dings

, seq

uenc

ing, p

acing

, tra

nsitio

ns.

« V

oice

. Aud

ience

emo

tions

, au-

dienc

e ne

eds,

hone

sty, p

erso

n-ali

ty, co

ntro

l.

« W

ord

Choi

ce. A

ppro

priat

e lan

-gu

age,

stron

g ve

rbs,

prec

ise

modif

iers,

memo

rable

phr

ases

, us

age.

« S

ente

nce

Flue

ncy.

Sen

tenc

e be

ginnin

gs, s

ente

nce

lengt

hs,

expr

essiv

enes

s, so

und,

con-

struc

tion.

Some

times

, writ

er’s

will g

et in

the

habit

of ig

norin

g th

e fee

dbac

k the

y ge

t fro

m yo

u or

from

their

aud

ience

. Wh

en th

is ha

ppen

s rep

eate

dly, I

ask

stu

dent

s to

make

a b

rief “

revis

ion

plan”

stat

ing in

writ

ing th

e th

ings

they

are

plan

ning

to w

ork o

n. I t

hen

ask t

hem

to co

nfere

nce

with

me

on

thos

e th

ings b

efore

goin

g on

to th

e ed

iting

stage

.

« E

DITI

NG

Make

Cor

recti

ons

Editin

g is

such

a co

mplex

and

de-

mand

ing ta

sk th

at I

have

foun

d I

need

to ta

ckle

it fro

m se

vera

l van

-ta

ge p

oints.

I lay

the

found

ation

wi

th a

varie

ty of

whole

clas

s acti

vi-tie

s inc

luding

:

« C

onve

ntio

ns re

adin

g. A

dail

y ch

oral

read

ing a

ctivit

y whe

re

kids r

ead

not o

nly th

e te

xt bu

t ev

ery c

onve

ntion

as w

ell.

« C

onve

ntio

ns in

quiry

. Inv

esti-

gatio

ns in

a va

riety

of te

xts th

at

help

kids m

ake

usefu

l gen

erali

-za

tions

.

« E

xpre

ssiv

e re

adin

g. S

olo o

ral

read

ing w

here

stud

ents

use

conv

entio

ns to

guid

e th

em in

th

eir in

terp

retat

ions.

« S

elec

ted

min

i-les

sons

. I

cove

r bas

ic co

ncep

ts lik

e se

n-te

nces

, com

mas,

dialog

, and

pa

ragr

aphs

.

I bas

e my

teac

hing

on re

sear

ch-

base

d pr

incipl

es: 1

) Pub

lish

more

sh

orte

r piec

es; 2

) Foc

us o

n on

e co

nven

tion

at a

time

; 3) W

ork i

n th

e co

ntex

t of a

uthe

ntic

stude

nt w

riting

.

The

bulk

of m

y dire

ct ins

tructi

on is

do

ne o

ne-o

n-on

e du

ring

editin

g co

nfere

nces

. As t

ime

cons

uming

as

this

can

be, t

he p

rogr

ess k

ids h

ave

made

has

bee

n mo

re th

an w

orth

it.

I hold

child

ren

to th

e sa

me st

anda

rd

of co

rrectn

ess t

hat I

hold

adu

lts: a

ll wr

iters

mus

t do

their

bes

t to

make

th

eir w

riting

as c

orre

ct as

it ca

n be

. I d

o no

t beli

eve

that

a ch

ild’s

writin

g mu

st be

per

fect i

n or

der f

or it

to b

e pu

blish

ed—

mine

isn’t

.

Shou

ld te

ache

rs co

rrect

stude

nt

work

? I c

an’t

tell y

ou w

hat t

o do

, bu

t I ca

n te

ll you

wha

t I va

lue: s

tu-

dent

initia

tive,

indep

ende

nce,

and

my ti

me. W

hen

I wor

k with

kids

, the

y ho

ld th

e re

d pe

n an

d do

the

editin

g. I m

ake

sugg

estio

ns, I

poin

t out

tro

uble

spot

s, I a

nswe

r que

stion

s, I

offer

adv

ice, b

ut in

gen

eral

I do

not

corre

ct stu

dent

wor

k. An

d on

thos

e oc

casio

ns w

hen

I do,

I’m

sittin

g in

front

of t

he st

uden

t wor

king

in th

e co

ntex

t of a

uthe

ntic

writin

g.

« P

UBLI

SHIN

G Po

lish

for P

rese

ntati

on

Prep

aring

a p

iece

of wr

iting

for p

ub-

licat

ion p

re-su

ppos

es th

at it

will

be

publi

shed

in so

me fo

rm. H

elping

kid

s find

aut

hent

ic pu

blish

ing o

p-po

rtunit

ies ca

n be

chall

engin

g, b

ut

it re

ally m

akes

a d

iffere

nce

in th

e qu

ality

of th

eir w

ork.

Here

are

some

of

the

best

ideas

I’ve

come

acro

ss:

« C

lass

room

new

spap

ers.

I ha

ve n

ever

seen

kids

wor

k ha

rder

to p

olish

their

pro

se

than

they

do

when

they

’re p

ub-

lishin

g th

eir o

wn n

ewsp

aper

.

« A

utho

r poc

kets

. Out

side

the

class

room

, kids

pos

t a “p

ocke

t,”

comp

lete

with

“Abo

ut th

e Au

-th

or” i

nform

ation

, whe

re th

ey

can

displa

y the

ir pu

blish

ed

piece

s for

any

one

to re

ad.

« W

eb si

te. C

lassr

oom

web

sites

ar

e hu

ge m

otiva

tors

, as a

re

vario

us o

ther

onli

ne ve

nues

like

Amaz

on.co

m wh

ere

kids c

an

post

their

own

boo

k rev

iews.

« O

utsi

de s

choo

l. Le

tters

sent

to

real

peop

le—so

me o

f who

m ev

en w

rite

back

—se

em to

be

the

best

motiv

ator

s. Co

ntes

ts ar

e fun

, too

.

« P

ortfo

lio. I

n cla

ssro

oms w

here

po

rtfoli

os a

re va

lued,

kids s

eem

to lo

ve g

ettin

g pie

ces r

eady

for

them

.

I don

’t wo

rry a

bout

whe

ther

kids

pu

blish

in m

anus

cript

or i

n cu

rsive

. I

just t

ell th

em th

at th

e po

int o

f pub

-lis

hing

is ha

ving

some

one

read

your

wo

rk, s

o us

e th

e typ

e of

hand

writin

g in

which

you

write

mos

t nea

tly.

I don

’t ha

ve ki

ds p

ublis

h on

the

comp

uter

unt

il the

y can

touc

h typ

e at

leas

t 15-

20 w

ords

per

minu

te.

Until

that

poin

t, kid

s typ

e so

slow

ly an

d wi

th so

man

y erro

rs th

at th

eir

time

on th

e co

mput

er is

not

time

we

ll spe

nt. K

ids w

ho ca

n’t to

uch

type

have

to u

se th

e “h

unt a

nd

peck

” app

roac

h wh

ich re

infor

ces

bad

habit

s tha

t hav

e to

be

un-

learn

ed la

ter.

I sta

rt te

achin

g kid

s to

type

at th

e be

ginnin

g of

3rd

grad

e. By

mid-

year

, man

y are

pub

lishin

g on

the

comp

uter

.

« A

SSES

SING

Re

flect

on th

e Wo

rk En

cour

aging

writ

ers t

o ta

ke so

me

time

to re

flect

on th

eir w

ork p

ays

huge

divi

dend

s to

teac

her a

nd st

u-de

nt a

like.

I use

infor

matio

n ga

ined

from

forma

l and

infor

mal a

sses

s-me

nts f

or st

uden

t-tea

cher

goa

l set

-tin

g an

d fo

r guid

ing m

y ins

tructi

on.

Here

are

some

of t

he a

sses

smen

t ap

proa

ches

I’ve

had

goo

d luc

k with

:

« F

orm

al cr

iteria

-bas

ed

teac

her a

sses

smen

t. Int

eres

ting

and

valua

ble, b

ut

very

time

cons

uming

. I w

ould

do

it on

ly on

ce o

r twi

ce a

year

.

« S

mal

l gro

up o

r who

le cl

ass

shar

e se

ssio

n. T

his is

mor

e ce

lebra

tion

than

critiq

ue. I

f a

write

r is s

harin

g pu

blish

ed w

ork,

I ask

kids

to m

ake

posit

ive

comm

ents

only—

unles

s the

au-

thor

ask

s for

critic

ism.

« S

tude

nt s

elf-

asse

ssm

ent.

This

is th

e mo

st va

luable

as-

sess

ment

acti

vity.

It’s a

lso ti

me

effici

ent.

With

a lit

tle tr

aining

, kid

s can

do

it on

their

own

us-

ing th

e cla

ssro

om cr

iteria

.

« S

tude

nt w

ritte

n re

flect

ion.

Kid

s don

’t lik

e to

do

refle

c-tio

ns—

and

I don

’t bla

me

them

—bu

t the

y can

be

very

valua

ble fo

r me

and

for th

eir

pare

nts,

so I

requ

est t

hem

from

time

to ti

me.

« F

orm

al p

eer a

sses

smen

t. Th

is ca

n be

risk

y, so

I do

n’t d

o it

until

I’ve

seen

a lo

t of e

vi-de

nce

in sh

aring

that

kids

can

treat

eac

h ot

her w

ith ki

ndne

ss

and

resp

ect.

« P

aren

t writ

ten

resp

onse

. I

love

havin

g pa

rent

s writ

e ba

ck

to th

eir ki

ds. P

aren

ts of

eleme

n-ta

ry ki

ds w

ill do

it a

ny ti

me I

ask.

Pare

nts o

f sec

onda

ry kid

s oft

en d

on’t

both

er. I

hop

e th

at

will c

hang

e so

me d

ay.

The

most

impo

rtant

thing

I’ve

lea

rned

abo

ut a

sses

smen

t is t

o ge

t th

e kid

s inv

olved

as f

ully a

s pos

si-ble

. Whe

n th

e kid

s tak

e th

e lea

d in

asse

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Web

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24

Please contact me any time!Even the best workshops and teaching materials can’t meet the needs of every teacher all the time.

That’s why we need to stay in touch. Send me an e-mail any time you have a question.I’ll do my best to get back to you quickly with answers, additional teaching materials,

or other resources.

Let’s work together tomake your teachingthe best it can be.

Please send suggestions, questions, and corrections to:[email protected]

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