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The
Writing Process: Helping Students Make Decisions
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Once
the student has decided what to write about, he or she must usually
narrow down the topic. Impossibly broad topics are not necessarily
good subjects for students’ writing. Novelists have written
volumes about the events of a particular season, yet teachers often
expect their students to tell in 100 words or less "what they
did on their summer vacation."
One
way to select and focus a topic is to suggest titles or topic
sentences. Writing prompts can be excellent ways to begin the
writing process, but one must be very careful, as they may not
reach everyone’s interests, cultures, and strengths. Writer
and teacher David LeCount (2002) warns that one must "give
creative questions in order to get creative responses." Rather
thanWhat I Did on My Summer Vacation try offering one
of the following: The Day I Pitched for the Dodgers, Attila:
The Worst Camp Counselor Ever, Vacation on the Moon, orThe Most Side-Splitting Moment of My Summer.
Another
way to choose and develop a topic is through brainstorming. With
the use of a story web or other graphic organizer, students can
generate details related to their topic. Often the goal of brainstorming
is for the writer to produce as many details about a topic as
he or she can, then to choose the most vivid, lively, and important
ones to include in one’s composition.
Journaling
is also an excellent vehicle for brainstorming. It allows students
to explore their thoughts, experiences, and ideas through private
and unedited writing. First, in keeping an ongoing record of their
thoughts, students "gather the seeds" for topics of
special interest. Second, they "nourish the seeds" by
writing expressively. Finally, by revisiting their journals regularly,
they "harvest" ideas, potential topics, and interests
that they may not have known they had (Craig, 1993).
Deciding
on form is yet another part of the prewriting stage of the writing
process. Some forms of writing (haiku, sonnets, or limericks,
for example) demand strict adherence to a prescribed form, but
the options for writing are usually wide open. If asked to write
about an object like a tree, one child might be inspired to compose
song lyrics, others might write an adventure story, a persuasive
essay about conservation, a research report on the species, or
an imaginary first-person account of what it’s like to be
a tree. One simple topic can produce as many works in different
forms as there are students in the classroom.
One
often overlooked decision involves the writer’s audience.
Will the writing be for the child’s own use—a diary
or journal? Will it be a shared personal experience—a letter
to a pen pal? Will it be written for parents—a Valentine
greeting or invitation to a school event? Or will it be written
or posted for the public—a newspaper article or campaign
speech? Writing is a form of communication, and communication
requires that language be both produced and consumed. Research
shows that even very young writers can demonstrate audience awareness
(Ryder et al., 1999) and should be encouraged to consider their
audiences’ needs. Even minimal cueing is sufficient. If
your students are writing an invitation to Grandparents Day, remind
them to "Make sure you tell your grandparents everything
they need to know." If they are writing a persuasive essay
about preserving the environment, ask them "How can you convince
your classmates to recycle?" (Wollman-Bonilla, 2001).
Once
students understand their audience, those with whom the writing
is to be shared, they are faced with still more decisions, such
as elements of style, tone, and voice. Educational consultant
and young-adult author Ralph Fletcher says, "Your writing
voice is like your handshake; it makes the connection with the
reader." As teachers, we can help each child develop that
handshake in order to make the connections between writer and
reader strong, personal, and real.
The
prewriting stage also involves some incubation time for student’s
ideas to take shape. While some students will be ready to plunge
right into their writing, most need time to talk, share ideas
with others, seek help from the teacher, and reflect about what
they want to say and how they want to say it.
Writing
As students compose their ideas on paper, there are sometimes overwhelmed
with the choices they must make. They must decide on what they want
to say, what words to use, and how to construct and convey their
ideas in meaningful sentences. In the writing phase of the process,
the focus should be on the higher-level aspects of writing (content
and cohesion rather than spelling, handwriting, and mechanics).
At this phase, writers at all levels need the freedom to get their
thoughts down on paper without worrying about mechanical accuracy.
This
is especially true for students with language-based learning differences,
who tend to focus intently on these lower-level aspects of writing.
The nontransient and malleable features of written texts often
appeal to these kinds of students, who require repetition or extra
processing time. Encourage students to record thoroughly every
idea, even the ones that are initially unclear or underdeveloped.
Remember, it is the process, not the product, that is important
at this stage (Sturm, 2000).
Postwriting
Improving, correcting, and polishing are the goals of the
postwriting stage, and editing and revising are integral parts
of this process. Decisions abound as students edit and revise
their work. Donald Murray (2000) says that "writing is
rewriting" and most adults—let alone children—are
not trained to revise. Students must receive guidelines during
the revision process; merely requiring that they revise—or
spend time revising—their work will not necessarily produce
better writing (Adams, 1991). Direct intervention focusing on
specific goals and skills is often needed to ensure positive results
(Hillsocks, 1982; Robinson, 1985).
Collaborative
efforts play an important part in the revision process. Peer-conferencing
helps students gain important perspectives about clarity, sequence,
word choice, and voice of their works—and can lead students
toward "more thoughtful, sophisticated writing habits"
(Dale, 1994). Encourage students to respond honestly to one another
without judgement or criticism. Ask them to ask one another questions
like What kind of person is the main character? Do you like
him or her? Could you visualize the setting in your mind? If not,
how can I help you see it? Writer and teacher Tom Romano says,
"By revising, [we] construct meaning that [we] are unaware
of . . . . [we] create scenes and characters, support and extend
ideas that [we] didn’t do in just a draft or two or three."
Many
teachers encourage students to revise their work on the computer.
Richard Jester describes the computer as a hammer, a tool with
unique qualities that allow students to read, manipulate, and
reconstruct texts in ways that the pencil and paper does not.
Teachers also encourage students to use spellcheck and grammarcheck
features of word-processing software. But be careful of encouraging
dependence on the computer as well—it should not be a substitute
for a final proofreading. Encourage students to read their almost
final drafts aloud in their natural voices, to pay attention to
each word. Here, one hopes, they will notice if they have not
punctuated their dialogue correctly, inserted a comma in the wrong
place, or have used an incorrect homonym (Romano, 2000). They
will also notice as they hear their own words aloud that they
have written a piece that they can be proud of.
The
final decision involves what to do with a piece once it is written.
It is important to save students’ work in a writing folder
or portfolio to record their progress over time. A piece of writing
should be made available to its intended audience, however, whether
it is a private correspondence or written for all to read. High
school writing instructor Susanne Rubenstein tells her students
"You are not writing for me. You are writing for the world."
And slowly, with encouragement, they start to see that their voices
and opinions matter. Rubenstein (2000) asks teachers to expand
their definitions of publishing and recognize the many opportunities
that exist for student writers. Certainly, students can publish
their work on the classroom wall or bulletin board, but they can
also publish their work school-wide by arranging an event including
other classes, teachers, and administrators. Many schools publish
literary magazines or maintain Web sites that display student
work. Communities often offer places to publish student writing,
such as the public library, town hall, or youth center. Letter
writing—to a legislator, a newspaper editor, or a corporation—is
also an excellent way to introduce students to publishing. If
your students are ready for other types of publication, many print
and online magazines accept student writing—from movie reviews
to comic strips. Publishing student writing, in any form, is often
a powerful incentive for revising, perfecting, and taking pride
in one’s work.
Teaching
students how to write cannot be reduced to a simple formula or
recipe—a cup of motivation, a pound of ideas, a pinch of
brainstorming, and ten minutes of writing to be served to the
teacher as a vehicle for correction. The practice of writing—and
of teaching writing—is not easy, but helping students make
the crucial decisions that define the process always pays rich
rewards.
About
the Author
John F. Savage is Professor Emeritus in the Lynch
School of Education at Boston College and is author of Sound
It Out! Phonics in a Balanced Reading Program, For the
Love of Literature: Children and Books in the Elementary Years,
and Teaching Reading and Writing: Combined Skills, Strategies,
and Literature.
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