Michelle Gatz

Teaching of Writing

December 6, 2004

Pre-Writing Strategies
My palms are sweating, my heart is beating fast, and my mind is going a thousand places at once, but my mind is blocked; I cannot think. I am a freshman in high school who has just been given a five page writing assignment. Many students, when faced with a writing assignment, can become easily frustrated. As a teacher, there are many things that one can do to aid in the progression of the writing process. The first step is prewriting. Pre-writing is the key in the development of a "good" essay and the evolution of "good" writing skills. There are many pre-writing techniques that can be implemented in the classroom. Websters Dictionary defines pre-writing as, "The formulation and organization of ideas preparatory to writing." I believe that in becoming an English teacher, prewriting is imperative in the classroom. Many students have a misnomer about prewriting, but it is important in the writing process. In my classroom, I plan on implementing the writing process, rather than the end result. While the finished product is important, achieving the skill of an efficient writing process will help the student evolve into a better overall writer. Pre-writing will be a significant part of this process. It will show me how they reached their topic and came upon their main ideas and conclusion. Below, I have listed a few examples of pre-writing that I think will be helpful within my classroom. Pre-writing is a different process than drafting, revising, and the final draft; because it is the delineation of the initial idea of the topic they will be writing about. It will guide the writer into an organized outline of possible ideas, topics, and/or comments. Students, when asked to write a paper, must pick a topic that interests them; something which inspires them. A question that stumps most teachers is, "How do you assist students who are having trouble forming a topic?" There are various ways in which a student can be inspired to write. Depending on the lesson, the student can use a diverse amount of media, personal experiences, dreams, visual art, and research to create a topic. The student can respond to literature that they have read, or from a discussion about 1

Michelle Gatz

Teaching of Writing

December 6, 2004

specific literature in class. Music can also be an influential tool in developing a topic. There are many ways to develop a topic. These include listing and brainstorming. The following strategies are best fit with pre-writing, but they can also be helpful in the writing process. Many people make lists daily. Some make grocery lists, or "things to do," a Christmas list, and so on. During pre-writing, many students find it helpful to create lists as a way to generate topics that they might write about. Students should write down possible topics, one thought down after another. It may be easier for students to number or double space between each idea so that they can go back and revisit their ideas. This allows them to easily add to these ideas and hopefully form a coherent topic. Students can also free write; after which they can discuss their possible topics with their peers. Through this process the student can get feedback about their writing and constructive criticism that will help them in their finished work. Once the students have chosen a topic the next step of an efficient pre-writing process would be free writing. Free writing is a form of brainstorming that can help students to find a focus in writing their essays. They can write about why they chose that particular topic and what about the topic interests or inspires them. Peter Elbow, "a contemporary theorist who advocates expressionism in pedagogy and composition," believes that students should write, freely, for at least ten minutes. Elbow states that the idea of free writing isnt, "to produce a polished (or even "good") piece of writing, but to simply get in the habit of writing without censoring and editing. The only rule to follow in free writing is to simply not stop writing." Students should not focus on spelling, grammar, or punctuation, but rather on creating a central premise for their paper. Once the students are done, ask them if their ideas are too broad, and/or could their main topic be more specific. Elbow also says, "In free writing, "[n]ever stop to look back, to cross something out, to wonder how to spell something, to wonder what word or thought to use, or to think about what you are doing." A great way to free write without concentrating on mistakes is to use the technique, "blind writing."

Michelle Gatz

Teaching of Writing

December 6, 2004

Blind writing is another form of free writing that is particularly efficient on a computer. Bob Broad, an Associate Professor of the Department of English at Illinois State University, states that blind writing on a computer, is an exercise that, "shows you how to use computer technology to help you turn off your internal editor-you know, the one who looks over your shoulder as you work and says, 'Whered you get that stupid idea you just wrote?' or 'What a clumsy phrase! Tsk, tsk. In free writing, it is important that the student does not dwell on grammatical or spelling errors, but instead concentrates on the actual content of his/her paper. At this juncture of pre-writing, the thoughts behind the paper or important; not facial mistakes. Blind writing is essentially what its name implies; the student should not be able to see what he is writing. When using this prewriting technique, students should come to class prepared with a topic. When seated, the students should open up any word processor, but turn the screen off. They should freewrite for about ten minutes. After the ten minutes are up, the student will turn the computer screen on, read what they wrote and print it out. When the student has finished reading over their paper, they should circle any sentences that are main ideas, a thesis statement, descriptors, and so on. This will allow the student to recognize their ideas and put them in a paper format. This idea is great because it allows the student to ignore what they just wrote. This strategy allows the process of developing words and thoughts while contributing to the flow of the writing process. I, personally, find blind writing very helpful. There have been moments in my student career when I have been challenged and hit with "writers block." I find it a lot easier to come up with ideas by using this writing technique on a computer. Occasionally, when I was given a writing assignment it would take me up to twenty minutes to come up with a satisfactory opening sentence. Then I was introduced to blind writing by a high school teacher. We turned the computer screens off, but kept the computer on. After the ten minutes passed, we were allowed to turn our monitor back on. When I went through my ideas, I found that there were some concrete ideas and cogent examples that would be great to use within my paper. I plan to implement the use of blind writing within my classroom when I become a teacher. I have used it and found it successful and consider it great for the thinking and writing process. After the students have selected their topic

Michelle Gatz

Teaching of Writing

December 6, 2004

through listing and brainstorming, they can start to prioritize their main ideas with the assistance of graphic organizers. When I took the Content Area Test for Language Arts in order to get my teaching certificate, there was a question on the test that dealt with graphic organizers. I did not know what a graphic organizer was, so when I got home I looked it up on the computer. I found out that graphic organizers are essential in assisting students in the writing process. Graphic organizers allow students to generate lots of ideas with a logical structure. They help the student to organize their thoughts into illustrations; they are visual diagrams of written ideas. Write Design Online states that graphic organizers, "are valuable instructional tools. Unlike many tools that just have one purpose, graphic organizers are flexible and endless in application. One common trait found among graphic organizers is that they show the order and completeness of a student's thought process - strengths and weaknesses of understanding become clearly evident. Many graphic organizers show differd t aspects of an issue/problem - in close and also the big picture. Since many graphic organizers use short words or phrases, they are ideal for many types of learners, including English Language Learners with intermediate proficiency." There are different graphic organizers that are suited for different writing styles and tasks. Chain of Events is a graphic organizer that can be used to depict, in detail, the action of a specific character, or the steps in which the story will go. A teacher may ask students questions like, "What is the character going to do first?" or "How does it relate to the second event?" or "How does it conclude?" The Spider Map is another great graphic organizer which is used to display a central premise. The picture below is an

Michelle Gatz

Teaching of Writing

December 6, 2004

example of the spider map. In this graphic organizer there is a topic, concept or theme which is supported by a main idea that has evidence or claims to support it. There are many questions that a student can ask themselves in using this technique such as: What is the premise? What does it do? Another graphic organizer is the Continuum graphic organizer. This graphic organizer allows the students to display historical events on a timeline. This would help the students to decipher which event came first, what event is most important, etc. This type of organizer is very helpful for research papers. Within my classroom I plan on using graphic organizers for different genres of teaching reading and writing. I think that students will find the use of graphic organizers helpful in the writing process. The use of writing tool will also help visual learners who may have some trouble creating topics. It allows the student to see and draw/write out what they are thinking; giving the students a visual image of their thoughts. Another pre-writing strategy is called the questioning strategy. This is a great strategy because it already has the questions prepared. This strategy is designed to help students to generate and focus on specific ideas while writing. The students should be informed that they do not have to fully answer every question. In answering the questions it will help the student to discover information and focus the students thinking on their topic. The questions are broken down into, "what," "where and when," "who," "how," and a basic evaluation of your thoughts. The following are examples of each category.

Michelle Gatz
What questions

Teaching of Writing

December 6, 2004

What are you writing? What is it about? What's the plot? What's the theme? What is the purpose? What genre or classification of writing does it fit? What is the tone? What is the point of view? What's the mood? When and Where questions When will this be done? Or when does the action take place? Where was this done? Or where does the action take place? Who questions Who tells the story? Who is speaking? Who are the main characters? Who's the intended audience? Who has said what about this? Why? How questions How does it convey its main point, mood, or theme? How will the audience react to it? How well does it fulfill its purpose? Evaluation questions Did I like this in general? Why? Will I or my readers agree with the main theme/purpose? Why or why not? What specifically did I like/dislike? Why? How could it be improved? Why would particular changes help?

After the students have answered the questions, they should begin to select and organize the information that they would like to use in their paper. The questioning strategy is useful for all types of learners. The questions are general but aid in the thinking process.

Michelle Gatz

Teaching of Writing

December 6, 2004

It allows the student to pre-plan their ideas, and help the heuristic process of completing a first rough draft. There are many effective practices in the process of pre-writing. It is important for students to create a topic by using various methods, such as listing and brainstorming with their peers. After developing a topic, students can use free or blind writing, graphic organizers, and/or question strategies to compose the development of their paper. I have attached a lesson plan that assists students in pre-writing activities which involve free and blind writing, and graphic organizers.

Michelle Gatz Lesson 1-Developing a Topic

Teaching of Writing

December 6, 2004

Description This will be a 50 minute lesson which is designed for Junior English studies. This lesson will focus on developing a topic, which will eventually turn into an essay paper. Standards This lesson will correspond with Illinois learning goals: IL 3.B.4a Produce documents that exhibit a range of writing techniques appropriate to purpose and audience, with clarity of focus, logic of organization, appropriate elaboration and support and overall coherence. IL 3.C.4b Using available technology, produce compositions and multimedia works for specified audiences. Objectives The student will be given a writing prompt about a novel that was being read in class. The students will have to create a topic by listing and brainstorming with their peers. Materials Paper Pen/Pencil Activities and Procedures Prior Knowledge The students have previously read Hamlet. The characters have been discussed along with the key points and themes throughout the play. Set Induction When the students are seated and quiet, the teacher will put the prompt up (either on the board, projector, or other). The prompt that the students will have to respond to is, Select and analyze a character from Hamlet. You will need to develop a specific and well-developed argument about the character. Stay away from stating the obvious. The students will be asked to take fifteen minutes to free write any ideas about the character that they are going to choose. When the time is up, the teacher will put the students in groups of three. When in groups the teacher will pass out questions which will assist in the students thinking process (Questions are located under discussion questions). The students are given fifteen minutes to come up with ideas, each student gets five minutes to discuss their ideas with their group. Describe the Activity Once the students are finished with their groups, the teacher will pull the class together. The teacher will listen to what the groups came up. Once all the groups have been heard, the teacher will give out a hand out of pre-writing graphic organizers. The teacher will briefly go over the handout and ask if there are any questions. This assignment should take up the rest of the class period.

Michelle Gatz

Teaching of Writing

December 6, 2004

Closure Before the students are dismissed, the teacher will give them homework. There homework is to take their ideas and use one of the methods of graphic organizes to arrange their ideas. It will be handed in the next day. Assessment The assessment of this activity is the turning in of their graphic organizer. This assignment is due in the beginning of the next class period. Adaptations for an Inclusive Environment Adaptations for this lesson will be applied to students who are in need of Individualized Education. Discussion Questions What does the author want us to feel about this character? What do we learn about the character? What kind of diction, syntax, and tone does the character use? Why is this character important? Stay away from the obvious! Does the author put her/him in a position that is not escapable? What are the characters strengths and/or weaknesses? How would the story be different if another character was used? Plan B If the discussion with their peers does not last long enough, the teacher will have the students begin working on their graphic organizers.

Michelle Gatz

Teaching of Writing Work Cited

December 6, 2004

Activator Strategies. 2004. 4 October. <http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/dsd/activators/graphicorganizers.html> . Annotated Bibliography: Peter Elbow. 2004.4 December <http://www.iupui.edu/~sharrin/5365/huang.htm>. Essays. 2001. 29 September 2004 <http://english3.freeservers.com/essay_one.htm>. Graphic Organizers. 1988. 29 September 2004<http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr2grap.htm> Lawyer as Writer . 2004. 4 December <http://www.wvu.edu/~lawfac/jelkins/writeshop/elbow.html>. OUSD. 2004. 6 December. <http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/prewriting_strategies1.htm> Prewriting. 2004. 4 October. <http://wire.rutgers.edu/p_pre.html>.

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