Writing Prompt

1. Writing Prompt Please write a paragraph in response to the following prompt: Write a paragraph describing your absolute best or worst experience with writing. Be sure to include your reactions to the experience and reflect on why the experience was memorable.

2. The Writing Process 5 Steps to Better Writing

3. The 5 Steps of the Writing Process • Pre-Writing: Ideas, organization • Drafting: Writing it down for the first time • Revision: Making it sound “just right” • Editing: Checking the conventions • Publishing: Creating the final copy

4. An Investment of Time • Following all five steps take time • Time = A Quality End Result • Teachers should plan on facilitating students in class throughout all steps of the writing process • Check in on students’ progress throughout the assignment

5. Pre Writing • Helps get your ideas flowing • Put it in writing so you don’t forget • Organize your ideas • Makes your paper easier to write • Sets a purpose for your paper before you even start writing

6. Why Pre-Write? • Students have a chance to play around with the topic before they put pencil to paper • Student engagement increases—they can consider different topics and/or perspectives of the topics, and find one that they like • Differentiation: use organizers that fit the needs of the students

7. Drafting • Compose your ideas into sentences and paragraphs • Don’t expect it to be perfect • Expect to make changes! • It should be messy • Shows the thought process that you went through as you wrote • Write on ONE SIDE of the paper • Double space to leave room for revision

8. Why Draft? • Helps students work out the kinks in the piece of writing • Can be used as a formative assessment to evaluate the student’s understanding of your material • Helps assess if students are on track for meeting the lesson objectives • Identifies areas where student may need additional support (possible differentiation point)

9. Revision • This step should be done constantly throughout the drafting process • Focus on the traits of organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and voice when you’re revising • Read the piece of writing out loud to “hear” any mistakes or awkward passages

10. Why Revise? • Students make changes based on the assessments made during the drafting stage • Students evaluate their writing and thought process to determine what is working and what isn’t • Opportunity for students to collaborate with peers during revision stage

11. Editing • Editing focuses on conventions like capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and spelling • Have a partner help edit

12. Why Edit? • Makes writing audience-friendly and publication-ready • Focusing on conventions is a main responsibility of writing teachers, however, give students time to complete this step

13. Publishing • Create a final copy of your writing • Make your paper look like you are proud of your work • If you can’t type your final copy, write it neatly in ink • No crumples, rips, or “spiral fuzz” to make your final copy look sloppy • Make sure to check the rubric or checklist from your teacher before you hand in your final copy

14. Why Publish? • Students can show off pride in the work they’ve done • Opportunity to reach an audience • Publishing writing can influence readers • This is where students meet teacher’s expectations for an assignment

15. When to Use the Writing Process • Use these steps EVERY TIME you write anything • Even if it is a short piece of writing, you should still think (pre-write), draft, revise and edit (check it over) and publish (make it look the way the teacher expects) • This is not just for writing class—it’s for every class • Use it now, in high school, and beyond