Chapter 4

Writing: Composing text

Alana Cross

What do you think??

70-75% of students K-12 – low achieving writers

College instructors say – 50% of high school grads are unprepared for college level writing

2/3 of students say – weekly writing assignments add up to less than 1 hr., actual teaching of writing -15 min./day

81% of employers – recent high school grads. deficient in written communication

The nation’s private companies now spend an estimated $3.1 billion per year—and state governments spend an additional $200 million—teaching their employees to write

Students average 3 minutes. of prewriting

• Some Interesting Stats….

What Writing Is……??? Words

Purposeful

Risky

Assessment

Thinking

An art

Linear, process

Self-expressive

Reading

Communicative

Meaning

Grammar based

Self-taught

Quick

A springboard

Our Learning

The writing process Considered a big step forward in writing

Prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, publishing

Always intended to be optional and recursive

Allowed for writing to be “messy”

Not useful for every kind of writing

Not a recipe or “magic formula”

Not neat and simple

“Writing is both an art and a craft. Writing consists of recursive, discrete, tasks, including planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.” (NWP)

“Some would argue that you aren’t really writing until you are revising.”

Videos

Revision – Janet Angellilo

Revision – Linda Rief

Peer Review – writing Instruction

Scholastic Videos

The four Lenses Meaning Centered – “We want

students to mean what they say.”

Social – Writing should be surrounded by talk!! Problem with this?????

Language Based – the way we learn to write – related to how we learn to speak

Human – Finding your voice;

“Writing with voice is writing into which someone has breathed…writing with real voice has the power to make you pay attention and understand.” (Peter

Elbow)

Writing from different points of view can broaden your VOICE as a writer!

Tend to ask kids to write in first person POV – can be stifling!!

How many points of view could we ask kids to write from here?

Literacy Stages1. Early Literacy Stage –

preschool/kindergarten o Written language reflects speaking vocabulary

2. Expanding literacy Stage – grades 1-3o Begin to master print/sound code/ can write about what

they have learned/different types of writing

3. Enhancing Literacy Stage – upper elementary/ middle grades

o More awareness of what they like and want to write about

4. Lifelong Literacy Stage – high school levelo Functional writing is important!

What writers need Rich environment

of varied literature

opportunity to write/discuss

Instruction – good readers/writers/ strategies

Choice

Direction

Learn at own pace

Clear expectations

Opportunity to write about what they know best

Use writing to learn new material

What do you see missing in today’s classrooms???

True then and now…

• “Most of us write in multiple genres and formats determined by our needs, purposes and interests,. Our students’ writing can and should reflect the same authenticity, even within the bounds of required curriculum and standards.” (Routman, 1996)

Technology and writing

Not much to be said in this chapter…..

Can’t make anything required until there is equal access by all to computers

Articles:

Davis, A. (2009). “Proof-revising” with podcasting: Keeping readers in mind as students listen to and rethink their writing. Reading Teacher, 66(6) 522-529.

Sweeney, S. (2010). Writing for the instant messaging and text messaging generations: Using new literacies to support writing instruction. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 54(2) 121-131.

Additional ResourcesArticles:

Baroudy, I. (2008). Process writing: Successful and unsuccessful writing behaviors. International Journal of English Studies, 8(2), 43-63.

Gibson, S. (2008). An effective framework for primary-grade guided writing instruction. The Reading Teacher, 62(4), 324-334.

Kaplan, J. (2008). The national writing project: Creating a professional learning community that supports the teaching of writing. Theory in Practice, 47(4), 336-344.

Read, S. (2010). A model for scaffolding writing instruction: IMSCI. The Reading Teacher, 64(1), 47-52.

Wall, H. (2008). Interactive writing beyond the primary grades. The reading Teacher, 62(2), 149-152.

Websites:

Alliance for Excellent Education Policy Briefhttp://www.all4ed/org/files/WritPrior.pdf

KidPubhttp://www.proteacher.com/cgi-bin/outsidesite.cgi?id=1179&external=http://www.kidpub.com/kidpub/&original=http://www.proteacher.com/070046.shtml&title=KidPub

Kid Writinghttp://kidwriting.homestead.com/Index.html

OWL Purdue Online Writing Labhttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/587/01/

Penn State Online Pro Teacher Directory http://www.proteacher.com/070037.shtml

Sue LeuBeau: The Writing Processhttp://www.suelebeau.com/writingprocess.htm

Survey Report: Problems With Writing Instructionhttp://www.physorg.com/news193475433.html

Websites

The ABC’s of Writinghttp://www.angelfire.com/wi/writingprocess/

The Writing Process: An Overview of Research on Teaching Writing as a Process (Research and Evaluation Report)

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/index_authors.htm

The Writing Process: The Most Important Things to Knowhttp://www.arcanum-butler.k12.oh.us/writing_process.html

Writing with Writershttp://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/index_authors.htm

VideosScholastic (Includes revision videos)http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3749217

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/media.jsp?id=178

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/scholasticprofessional/authors/ta_rief_motivation.htmPeer Reviewhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWPK6lgcsl0

Books