Teaching Writers
Pam Petty
Western Kentucky University
Division of Literacy

The following quotes and ideas are taken from:

Frank, M.  (1995).  If you're trying to teach kids how to write . . . you've gotta have this book.  Nashville:  Incentive Publications.  

The focus should not be on teaching writing, 
it should be on teaching people to be writers.

"Literature is the best stimulator for writing that I know.  
Make it a point to saturate your students with literature - 
all kinds - all the time" (p. 76).

Writing ISN'T taught by saying, "Write ...," and then scoring what people already know how to do.  It IS taught by offering challenging directions, presenting patterns, and providing endless examples that open doors to original expression (p. 74).

"Writing" is not synonymous with "stories" or "essays" or "themes."  There are dozens of kinds of literature and writing forms - some long, some very short, some simple, some complex - which people should hear, read, and which they CAN write.

Writers (of any age) must be able to connect their writing to their real lives, real concerns, and real feelings.  Writing is about COMMUNICATING.  The writing process becomes relevant when people are allowed the choice to write about things in their own lives and experiential backgrounds.  They need the freedom to let their voices be heard.

There is NO real rivalry between skills and creativity:  Good writing is based on a healthy friendship between imagination and technique.  It can and must be taught without slighting either (p. 123).

Fluent, effective communication flourishes in an environment where persons can RISK exposing their REAL lives . . . where the act of telling what they are really thinking is treated with utmost respect.  There must be acceptance, open communication, freedom to try, to risk, to question, to explore, to think, to fantasize, to be honest.  This is an environment are free from criticism, from comparison, and from competition.  

Young writers learn best in the company of an adult who willingly guides and eagerly joins them in the process of writing.  You should share your love of language and excitement about writing.  You should "romance" students into writing.  Teachers must BE THERE for the whole writing process - not leaving students to grade papers while they write.  Teachers must roam the room - provide praise, ask questions, and allow PLENTY of time.  

The writing classroom must be a stimulating, comfortable place that combines sprightly ideas with serious instruction in technical skills.

A writing classroom has:

• lots and lots of literature shared and read

• lots of talking and sharing of ideas and beliefs

• planned instruction in the writing process

• much practice in using the writing process

• people writing individually, with a partner, in a small group

• lots of reflecting on writing - whole class, small group

• selecting and organizing writing portfolios

• teacher-led mini-lessons on specific writing skills (p. 24)            

Start with short, fun, non-threatening bits of writing.

Something "romantic" needs to precede the writing assignment:  some happening that jars loose the words inside their heads and sets free a flow of ideas (p. 68).

WORD PLAY is not just for people.  Word play should never end.  ALL writers - young, old, new, experienced, enthusiastic, lazy, struggling, gifted - need to go back and romp with words to:

• appreciate language

• freshen expression

• expand vocabularies

• stretch thinking

• strengthen the foundation of writing

The WRITING PROCESS

ROMANCE STAGES

1. Motivation

2. Collecting Impressions

DRAFT STAGES

    3.  Organizing 
   4.  The Rough Draft

RESPONSE-REVISION STAGES    

    5.  Author's Review
   6.  Sharing for Response
   7.  Editing and Revising
   8.  The Mechanics Check

BACK-TO-ROMANCE STAGES

    9.  Polishing
  10.  Presenting

NOTE:  Don't expect that writers will always go straight from stage one through stage nine.  The process is fluid, and this means that there might be a lot of movement backwards as well as forwards.  Stages 5-8 may be repeated one or more times before the writer chooses to begin the final copy (p. 102).

GOOD WRITERS spend:

85% of their time on prewriting
2 % on drafting
13 % on revision

AVERAGE/LESSER ABILITY writers spend:

almost NO time on prewriting
98% on drafting
2 % on revision

Things to REMEMBER:

1.  Don't always go through all 10 steps of the writing process with EVERY piece of writing.

2.  Do all 10 steps at least SOME of the time.

3.  The PROCESS is more important than the PRODUCT.  The real purpose of the plan is to help people internalize the process.  The process will become natural to them more quickly if you keep them aware of which part of the process they are doing.

4.  Don't skip the romance.

5.  If YOU improve your use of the process of writing, so will your students.  "Nothing transforms the writing atmosphere quite like this act - the teacher writing with the students" (p. 109).

Students must be taught to respond and revise for themselves.  This is not something teachers should do for them.  Writers of all levels can learn it (p. 137).

Making a piece of writing public advertises the importance of the writer and the writing.  People should have an opportunity to share EVERY finished draft, if they choose.  The teacher must provide time, treat student writing with respect, use their own writing as examples, and introduce students to many modes of presenting writing (p. 150).

A writing portfolio is an organized and purposefully-selected collection of work that shows the student's writing achievement, efforts, growth, and attitudes (p. 163).

Succeeding with People who Can't, Won't, or Don't:

1. More time on "romance."

2. Give time off away from from writing.

3. Don't announce writing ahead of time.

4. Go back to word play.

5. Return to oral language (telling, retellings, etc).

6. Keep writing assignments short.

7. Use high interest topics in a non-threatening way.

8. Pause the revisions phase for a while.

9. Write in class - together, in pairs, in small groups.

10. Provide more direction.

11. Use technology (pp. 196-199)

Grammar

Source:  Weaver, C.  (1996).  Teaching grammar in content.  Portsmouth:  Boynton/Cook.  

People do not learn the basic structures of their native language through direct instruction, but through their own discovery and by formulating increasingly sophisticated hypotheses (p. 58).

People may learn many conventions through observations (both incidental and deliberate) and then generalizations, more than through direct instruction.

Our efforts at teaching grammar should probably focus on helping students revise and edit their writing (p. 104).

What Should Teachers do in Regard to the RESEARCH in Teaching Grammar:

1.  Restrict the teaching of grammar as a system to units - for the pleasure and challenge of studying the language.  Inquiry is emphasized.

2.  Promote the acquisition and use of grammatical constructions through reading.

3.  When explaining various aspects of grammar, usage, and punctuation to help students with their writing, minimize the use of grammatical terminology and maximize the use of examples.

4.  Emphasize the production of effective sentences rather than their analysis.

5.  Teach not only "correct" punctuation, according to the handbooks, but effective punctuation, perhaps based upon classroom examination of published texts.

6.  Lead students in discussing and investigating questions of usage, not in doing usage exercises from a grammar book.

Alternatives to the "ERROR HUNT": 

The major way of avoiding the error hunt is to help students revise and edit their writing while it is still in process.

1.  Make sure that students have plenty of time to read during school.  Students who read widely absorb a great deal about the writer's craft from their reading:  a sense of structure of different genres, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and other aspects of mechanics.

2.  Make sure students have plenty of time for all phases of the writing process.

3.  Develop and collect resources that are useful in editing (thesaurus, grammar handbooks, editing checklists).

4.  Model how to do something.

5.  Use editing workshops.

6.  Teach mini-lessons to the entire class.

7.  Hold mini-conferences with individual students.

8.  Respond to only certain kinds of errors (announced ahead of time).

9.  Put a check mark in the margin of lines where there is an error, and invite the writer to find and correct the error(s).

10.  Serve as a copy editor.  Correct errors for the writer. 

07/25/2004 08:43:37 AM   

© 2002, Pam Petty.  All Rights Reserved.