Tara Bauman
Writing
Writing Content Knowledge Summary
As students develop, so does their handwriting. Students start by scribbling, then making letters, sentences, and eventually paragraphs. Once students have had guidance with writing they begin to use the writing process. The writing process includes brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. These are a list of steps students should follow to improve their writing. Students can use this all types of genres of writing such as narrative, persuasive, etc. Writing is very important component that needs to be taught and done daily for students to improve.
Vocabulary Terms
Handwriting: The act or art of forming visible letters or characteristics
RAFT: Role, Audience, Format, Topic
Writing process
Brainstorming: Getting ideas together before writing
-Activate prior knowledge
-Single words, can use graphic organizers and webbing.
Drafting: taking ideas from brainstorming and formulate them into sentences
-Know the purpose (“why” question) and genre before they write (report, journal, paper)
-Skip lines, one side, number pages
-Make sure there is enough content-don’t stop writing
Revision: “Through the wash” –Revising for voice, sentence fluency, organization, and word choice.
-Revising questions
-Add or change thoughts/ideas
-Read to a friend or two
Editing: Looking for any grammar errors, spelling, capitalization, or paragraph
-Continuing to build paper.
-Editing symbols
-Editing strategy/procedure
Publishing: Final product for presentation- uses best handwriting or computer
6 Traits of Writing
Ideas: Determines where your writing is going to go. Ideas control writing.
Organization: The internal structure of writing. Organization is putting ideas in an order that makes sense.
Sentence Fluency: The rhythm and flow of the language- keeps us moving along when reading.
Word Choice: Makes writing more powerful when choosing interesting words
Conventions: Grammar- mechanical correctness
Voice: Helps show true self but must be appropriate for audience. Be clear, confident, convincing, consistent.
Handwriting
3 Types of Handwriting:
1. Zaner-Bloser
2. D’Nealian
3. Ball & Stick
Key Points for Instruction:
-10-15 minutes daily
-Use continuous stroke (as much as possible)
-Motor pattern comes first, then legibility and size
-Teach similar letters together
-Separate reversible letters (ex. b/d, p/q)
-Arrow cues
-Phonological and written
-Cursive-teach the connections between letters
-Speed and legibility-writing fluency
-Product: read own writing
Genre Writing
Descriptive: Students use careful observations and choose precise language that tells details and creates comparisons.
Expository: Students collect and synthesize information. This type of writing gives steps, directions, compares one thing to another, explains cause and effects, or describes problems and solutions.
Narrative: Retelling familiar stories which include beginning, middle, and end. Also includes, plot and characters.
Persuasive: Persuading someone to see your viewpoint as right using appeals to logic, oral character, or emotion. In this writing, position must clearly be stated using examples and evidence.
Journals & Letters: In this type of writing, students can write to themselves or to a known audience. Writing becomes personal and less formal. With letters and journals students are able to share ideas and other news to specific audience.
Writing With primary Students
Model Writing
-First step to show the students how to write by doing. The teacher does all the writing.
Shared Writing
-The student then contributes ideas and discusses with the teacher while the teacher scribes the words.
Guided Writing
-Teachers provide feedback, redirection, an expansion of ideas. The teacher would help the students by using prompts and with ideas and organization.
Independent Writing
-Students can write any genre on their own or an assignment from the teacher.
Writing with intermediate Students
-Students will work on their revising, and editing skills.
-They will be required to create multiple drafts of their piece.
-Students will write different types of genres.
-Work on organization of pieces more in depth
Artifact
Editing/Revision Bookmark
Retrieved From:
http://www.quill.com/fibre-craft-creative-hands-alphabet-foam-shapes/cbs/232651.html
Writing Instrucional Strategies
RAFT Writing
RAFT stands for role, audience, format, and topic. This strategy helps teach students to think creatively and look at a topic from a different perspective. Students will look at each step and determine who is writing, who is the audience, how the writing is laid out, and what the writing is about or why is it important. This will help deepen students understanding of the purpose of their writing and make their writing stronger.
Writing Prompt
Students will be presented with a writing prompt of any subject and at any level. Have students write in notebooks or journals for amount of time chosen by teacher. Teacher would continue to have students write daily or weekly.
ABC Writing
For this strategy show students a picture of any kind. Give students a worksheet with a letter of the alphabet in each box. After looking at the picture, have students come up with words that start with the letter given in the box based off what they see. After students’ finish coming up with words about the picture, have them start writing a story using some of the words they came up with from the picture. Have students’ write creativity without worrying about errors in their writing.
Writing Conference
Writing conferences allow students to hear feedback about their writing. This strategy can be used with pairs, small groups, or with the the teacher. It is used during the drafting process where immediate feedback is made to help hear positive pieces about their writing or also get constructive criticism.
Shared Writing
Shared writing is similar to journal writing but students are able to ask each other questions and then respond within the writing. This can be used as a letter for students write clear, organized, and well enough for their peers to understand.
Writing Website and Applications
Boomwriter.com is a website that allows students to write many different types of text and use their creativity. This website is designed for students to better understand key elements of literacy that will enhance their writing. I will use this in my future classroom as a tool for students to use with some writing assignments. BoomWriter is awesome website because students are able to share their work directly with the teacher and other students.
Kids in Story Book Maker
In this app students are able to personalize stories and share them with friends. This app allows for a student to use templates over a variety of topics or start from scratch with their writing. Kids in Story Book Maker is a great way for students at lower levels or who need extra help to get the help they need. Another awesome feature of this app is that students are able to use their own pictures of themselves.
Write About This
Write About This is an app that shows images or has many different text and voice prompts for students to write from. They are given a specific picture or prompt and start to write about it. This app is a great way for students to build comprehension without limiting their ideas and creativity.
Writing Challenge
While using this app, students will be writing but feel like they are playing a game. In this app students are given prompts to include in their story and then a countdown clock begins. The goal is for students to include the prompt in the story before the time is up. Once the time is up the students are given something new to put in their story. This app allows for students to be creative but also keep their writing moving along.