A Step-by-Step Guide to the Writing ProcessAuthor(s): Corinne J. DreyfussSource: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Jan., 1987), pp. 485-486Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20199509 .

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came a problem. In order to preserve the lesson plan yet not ignore the ques tions, the teacher and students devised a system for the classroom.

They partitioned a section of the bul letin board and labeled it "What we

want to know." As students raised ques tions that were not related to the cur

rent lesson, they were encouraged to write the questions down, sign their

names, and hang the questions on the "What we want to know" board. In this

way, students' questions were recog

nized as valid and important, yet, if

they were off the topic, they were not allowed to distract from the subject of the lesson at hand.

During free time, students in the class were encouraged to go to the "What we want to know" board, select a question, and try to find an answer.

Thus, students learned to use a variety of resources in the classroom and in the learning center in pursuing the an swers to meaningful questions. Occa

sionally, students continued their quest for answers outside of school by using additional resource materials at home.

Truly exciting moments occurred in the classroom when an answer to one

of the questions was found. A child

might dash in the door before school

shouting, "I found the answer to John's

question about tornadoes!" Some children became experts in

finding and providing answers about certain topics. When a question arose about dinosaurs, for example, every one looked to Jamie, the undisputed dinosaur expert, to solve it. Michael became the resident expert about snakes and reptiles. Heidrun could an swer practically any question about

language, and so on.

Sometimes a few difficult questions would remain on the board for a week or more. When this occurred, the teacher designated a special research time when everyone in the class would concentrate on finding the answers to those especially perplexing problems.

Resources other than textbooks and reference books were frequently con sulted. These included filmstrips, the school's science teacher, newspapers,

parents, and other community mem

bers. Occasionally, children posed sci entific questions to which answers

have not yet been found or about which clear, concise answers were im

possible to determine. This demon strated to students that there is still

much to be learned and examined in our world, that they should never feel that "everything has been discovered," and that the answers to some questions reside in the area of opinion rather than fact.

The "What we want to know" board

provided a continuous and meaningful way for students to learn that all ques tions, if asked sincerely, deserve an at

tempted answer. Students also learned about sources of authority, other than the teacher, and learned the value of

addressing questions in a collabora

tive, supportive manner.

A Step-By-Step Guide To The Writing Process

Corinne J. Dreyfuss, Tredyffrin/Easttown School District, Berwyn, Pennsylvania

Writing is best approached as a proc ess. Step by step, the child author pro ceeds from a mental picture to the actual finished draft. Illustration is an

especially important step for the pri mary aged child. Publication occurs

upon revision of the original composi tion.

Visualization is step 1 of the writing process. Have students close their

eyes. As you verbally motivate (with poem, story, or other chosen method), ask them to "form a picture" in their

minds of what you are saying. Encour

age richness of detail, creativity, even

3

The CLASSROOM Reading Teacher 485

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color. "Let your mind's eye see" is an

important phrase here. Give lots of suggestions, and en

courage children to add their own

ideas. For example: "See the snowy

day. Is it calm or blustery? Shiny, clear, and frosty or dark and gray? Feel

the wind. Hear it blow. Look at the

sky, the trees, and all around you. Are

you at your house? At school? Who is with you? What are you thinking? Hear, see, feel, even smell the picture in your mind as you use all of your senses. Seal it in and then open your

eyes." In this way, the step of visualiza

tion is the churning of ideas and the

weaving of thoughts into a rich, coher ent "picture."

Steps 2 and 3 (illustration and com

position) are interchangeable, al

though with primary aged children or

those not comfortable with writing, il lustration may come first. Here the

child transfers the mental scene to pa per, so that it "comes alive" with the

brightness and color of crayon, paint, or pastel. Again, richness of detail is the key and coherency is the goal. If the artist's scene "tells a story," how

much easier the author's task will be! With step 3 (composition), the proc

ess is the same. Here, visual detail be comes written detail. (I'd like your story to tell me all that happens in your scene. Tell what you are seeing, hear

ing, even smelling. Tie your story to

gether at the end with your feelings.) The child's written product reflects current writing skills and experience and comfort with the writing process.

Expectations will differ with each stu

dent, class, and teacher. Such expecta tions need to be made clear at the start.

Revision, rewriting, and publication (step 4) again follow individual teacher and class expectations. However, whether a composition is two senten

ces, two paragraphs, or two pages

long, the process and goal remain the same?the author follows a sequence of steps promoting originality, creativ

ity, and fun with the writing task!

Are lst-grade reading books easier than 20 years ago? Judith A. Morris and Jerry L. Johns,

DeKalb, Illinois

We hear a lot these days about school books being "dumbed down"; the crit ics say that children can't learn to read

well if they aren't given challenging material.

But are basal reading series less de

manding now than they were 20 years

ago? Apparently not, if you look at

both the cumulative vocabulary lists and the reading levels for the books used in 1st grade (preprimers, primers, and first readers).

We checked three popular basal se

ries published by Ginn & Company, Houghton-Mifflin, and Scott, Fores man in the 1960s and early 1980s. In

the later editions, there was a sizeable

increase in the vocabulary load. The

Scott, Foresman total for 1st grade, counting mastery and nonmastery words, more than doubled; the Ginn 1st year vocabulary, including basic

and decodable words, nearly tripled; there was a 50% increase in the

Houghton-Mifflin vocabulary load. Has the increased vocabulary load

pushed up the reading levels? Yes, somewhat. We applied the Spache

Readability Formula.(see Elementary School Journal, March 1953, pp. 410

13), which is appropriate for primary level materials, to passages from the

preprimers, primers, and first readers of the three series, taking 5 samples from each level in the beginning, mid

dle, and end and at one quarter and three quarters of the way through the books. The average readability levels of the 1980s basais were somewhat

higher than their 1960s counterparts.

486 The Reading Teacher January 1987

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