• What is the writing process?

     

    Collecting Entries in our Writer's Notebooks

     

    • Students choose their own topics that are related to the mini-lessons taught in class.

     

    Selecting an Idea

    • Students choose one entry or idea from their notebooks that they would like to become their topic for the next publishing cycle.
    • The entry that is chosen must be on a topic about which the students feel they can write a lot.

    Developing the Seed

     

    • This step involves collecting more entries in their Writer’s Notebooks on the topic. 
    • Many mini-lessons are given to help students find new ways to develop their idea.

     

    EXAMPLES:

     

      • Creating a snapshot
      • Slowing down time
      • Changing perspective
      • Changing genres
      • Etc…

     

    Drafting

     

    • This is when students begin to come out of the notebook and begin writing for an audience. 
    • Students must decide on a focus for their piece. For example, they cannot simply write about their summer camp. They could, however, focus on why their summer camp is so great or what their favorite moment at camp was. 
    • After deciding on a focus, students combine their entries or entry ideas to create one cohesive rough draft.

     

    Revising

     

    • This is one of the most important parts of the writing cycle. Students learn more about the actual craft of writing.
    • They also work on sentence structure and paragraphing

     

    Editing

     

    • Students will focus on the mechanics of writing:

     

    EXAMPLES:

     

      • Punctuation
      • Spelling
      • Capitalization

     

    Publishing 

     

    • We will publish in a number of different ways this year. Often you will see published work in the Student Work section of our class website.