Due to the awesome amount of emails I
received over my recent blog posts here and here, I decided to go into
more detail of our writing process plan. Thank you for all of the sweet
emails, it makes me so excited to know I am helping other teachers out
by sharing ideas and suggestions.
Going through the writing process does
take a lot of time and effort, but it is so rewarding for the students AND the
teacher. As a teacher, I am able to really take note of my students’ individual
needs as well as give them meaningful feedback to take their writing to the
next level. We started using writing goals a few years ago, but completely
rethought our process and made it student friendly. This year, we have put it
into action and love the results. We really hope it helps you out as well.
We just put everything mentioned in this post into a bundle. Check it out here:
We just put everything mentioned in this post into a bundle. Check it out here:
We follow the Writing Process of: Plan, Draft, Edit, Conference,
Revise, & Publish
We do not do this with every single writing piece, but maybe one per unit.
We do not do this with every single writing piece, but maybe one per unit.
Planning: While planning,
we like to design a plan for the students to use to help them organize their
thoughts as the year moves on we start to take away the plan and they learn how
to create one from memory. Having a good plan is a key necessity to having a
strong paper. They keep this plan on their desk whenever they are working on
this assignment. We constantly ask the kids to refer back to their plan and
encourage them to follow it.
Peer Editing: After the
students plan and complete their rough draft. Students partner up to proof read eachother’s papers. They
complete the check off list and give each other verbal feedback. The more you teach
into this step, the better the students will learn to peer edit.
Conferencing: At this time
the teacher meets with each student individually. I usually have a sign up list
on the board and when students are ready to conference, they sign up. After a
student meets with me, they check their name off and move on to the next step.
At this conference, the child reads their paper out loud and we edit and
discuss ideas and progress together. Together we decide on a goal for the
student.
During this meeting, I am
actively taking notes on the child’s goal sheet that I keep in my student data
binder. I always add the date, title of story, notes of progress, and highlight
the goal for the child. We designed these sheets with two to a page so we can
easily compare as the year progresses. Once a student has a goal they move
their clothes pin (with their name written on it in sharpie) on the correct goal on the bulletin
board.
This is helpful because it is a great visual for me to see who is working on what goal at the same time. Also, during our WIN time, we now take writing groups based on goals. For example, if a child’s goal is to work on having fewer grammatical errors in their writing, the group will work on punctuation, spelling patterns, and/or grammatical rules when they are pulled for a small group. We actually keep the groups organized by printing a second set of goal posters, stapling them to folders, and filling the folders with worksheets appropriate for each goal. It is a great way to prep for many weeks at a time.
This is helpful because it is a great visual for me to see who is working on what goal at the same time. Also, during our WIN time, we now take writing groups based on goals. For example, if a child’s goal is to work on having fewer grammatical errors in their writing, the group will work on punctuation, spelling patterns, and/or grammatical rules when they are pulled for a small group. We actually keep the groups organized by printing a second set of goal posters, stapling them to folders, and filling the folders with worksheets appropriate for each goal. It is a great way to prep for many weeks at a time.
Before the student leaves the conference they are also given a revising check list specified for their needs. We do not hold every child responsible for every part of this list, we make it work with the goal. If their goal is to focus on adding better vocabulary into their writing, they would probably have the first idea highlighted, which states, “Circle four words you can replace with a synonym. Cross out the words and rewrite the new word above. Use a thesaurus for help.” By the student working on this part of revising, they are also hitting their goal. We hope that by doing this multiple times, they will learn to do it automatically and/or build their vocabulary up so it comes naturally to them. Some students have one revising idea highlighted while others have three.
Writing Folder Goal Sheet:
One more way for the students to keep track of their goals is to have this
paper stapled to the front of their writing folder. Every time they conference
with the teacher and discuss a goal, they will record the date, title of assignment,
and goal. We understand that some students will stay on the same goal for more
than one assignment, but we think it is also important for the students to see
the time line and how long they have been working on their specific goal. This is also great for administration
to see when they come into the classroom. The students will be able to explain
their goals, how they are working on them, and why they have them, all from
this simple worksheet!
This interactive bulletin board is GREAT when paired with
our “Writing Process” Bulletin Board as well!
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