02 One Writer&#039;s Process

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Writing Process Prewriting

English Language Arts:

Page 013 from Write Ahead

Writing the First Draft

Have a student volunteer read the first page of Latrisha's sample draft. Turn each side note into a discussion question:

How does the writer set the scene for the experience? (She names the place, tells what is happening, and gives the time.)
How does the dialogue move the story along? (The first dialogue draws attention to Helah, Latrisha's friend. As they speak to each other, you find out about their friendship.)

Ask what else they notice about this first draft. Among other observations, help students see that the writing has a lot of interesting details, but it also has quite a few errors. At this stage (writing a first draft), the important thing is to tell an interesting story instead of worrying about making everything perfect.

If you are having students write a practice assignment, tell them to review their prewriting and then quickly write a first draft, focusing on telling an interesting story about their experience.

Also share other models of high school narrative writing.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

110.36.c.9, 110.36.c.10.A, 110.37.c.9, 110.37.c.10.A

NE ELA Standard:

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Writing Process Writing

Page 014 from Write Ahead

Revising: Improving Your Writing

Tell your students that the word "revise" means literally "look at again." For that reason, taking a short break between writing and revising can help them see their work with new eyes.

Use the side notes to lead a discussion:

Read the first side note aloud and ask students why they think Latrisha added each detail. (Each detail gives readers new information they need to understand the narrative.)
Read the second side note and ask why Latrisha moved the paragraph up. (The paragraph helps set the scene, so it belongs with the opening material.)

Note how all of the revisions make the writing clearer and more interesting for readers. First revisions should focus on big changes to ideas and organization. Also note that even in revising her work, Latrisha makes an error or two. She will fix those issues when she edits.

If students are working on practice essays, have them revise, thinking about what the reader needs to know and focusing on changes to ideas and organization. They can use the first two parts of the revising checklist to guide them.

Downloads:

Revising Checklist

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

110.36.c.9, 110.36.c.10.A, 110.37.c.9, 110.37.c.10.A

NE ELA Standard:

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Writing Process Revising

Page 015 from Write Ahead

Revising: Using a Peer Response

Point out to your students that getting a reader's perspective during revision helps them make the big changes that improve their drafts. In this case, Helah, who knew all about the Islamic Center and Ramadan, could . . .

provide some details that Latrisha was missing (the name of the silk robe she wore) and
ask important questions about Latrisha's assumptions (what details she meant from old movies, and what ways the center was like the high school).

Also, help students see that once they have done a first revision of their own drafts, they can use the same thinking process to help classmates improve their writing.

If students are working on practice essays, have them trade papers with a classmate, review each others' work, and provide comments on sticky notes or a separate piece of paper. Provide the reviewers with a response sheet to guide them. Then have the writers revise their work to address the comments and questions.

Downloads:

Response Sheet

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

110.36.c.9, 110.36.c.10.A, 110.37.c.9, 110.37.c.10.A

NE ELA Standard:

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Writing Process Revising

Page 016 from Write Ahead

Revising: Checking for Style

Help your students see that in their last two rounds of revision, they focused on the first two traits of writing: ideas and organization. Now that the big issues are worked out, they can tighten their focus a bit and work on the next three traits: voice, words, and sentences. These traits deal with the style of writing. Also, point out that thorough revision involves a number of rounds, with improvements each time.

Have a volunteer read aloud each paragraph without changes, and then re-read the paragraph with the changes in place. Then focus students' attention on each change and ask how it improves the style of the writing. Point out that Latrisha uses specific strategies to improve style:

Combining short, choppy sentences into longer, smoother sentences
Replacing general nouns, verbs, and adjectives with specific ones
Correcting any confusing or incorrect sentence constructions

If students are working on practice essays, have them revise their work using these same strategies. Then ask them to use a revising checklist to make sure they have improved ideas, organization, voice, words, and sentences.

Downloads:

Revising Checklist.docx

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

110.36.c.9, 110.36.c.10.A, 110.37.c.9, 110.37.c.10.A

NE ELA Standard:

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Writing Process Revising

Page 017 from Write Ahead

Editing: Checking for Correctness

At last, Latrisha works to correct the errors in her writing. Help your students understand that editing focuses on the conventions of writing: punctuation, mechanics, grammar, usage, and spelling.

Some students might have found it hard to look past these errors in the previous drafts, but that's the whole problem. If students worry too much about making mistakes when they write a first draft, they will get writer's block and give up. If they focus on fixing errors when they revise, they won't improve their ideas, organization, voice, words, and sentences.

Help students understand that the process of writing helps them focus on only what's important when it is important.

Use the side notes to guide students through each change that Latrisha makes. For each change, show students where they can find the rule in the Write Ahead "Proofreader's Guide."

Spelling (pages 494–500)
End punctuation (pages 465–466)
Other punctuation (pages 467–482)
Capitalization (pages 483–487)

If students are writing their own practice essays, have them use the "Proofreader's Guide" to check their work. They can also use an editing checklist to remind them what to look for and to find the rules and examples.

Downloads:

Editing and Proofreading Checklist

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

110.36.c.9, 110.36.c.10.A, 110.37.c.9, 110.37.c.10.A

NE ELA Standard:

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Writing Process Editing

Page 018 from Write Ahead

Publishing: Sharing Your Writing

Help your students understand that publishing takes many different forms, from posting online to sharing with family to submitting to a magazine. The main point is to make the writing public—to share it with others.

Point out the design choices that Latrisha has applied to her final document:

1 inch margins on all sides
12-point type in a readable font
a heading with her name, the teacher's name, the class, and the date
a title

Help students remember all of the changes, big and small, that Latrisha made from her first draft to this final draft.

If students have been working on their own practice essays, have them create and share final drafts Ask them to make similar design choices.

Then review the "Points to Remember" at the bottom of the page. Help students think about the purpose of each stage of the process: prewriting, writing, revising, and editing. Have them write a reflection on their experience with each part.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

TEKS Standard:

110.36.c.9, 110.36.c.10.A, 110.37.c.9, 110.37.c.10.A

NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

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