According to Tompkins' Language Arts: Patterns of Practice there are five stages of the writing process. The stages as outlined in the text are as follows:
Stage One: Prewriting
Writers use knowledge about the topic, writing, literature, and language systems. Writers are cued by previous writing experiences, genre, purpose, and the audience.
Stage Two: Drafting
Write use spelling and writing strategies, monitor writing, and create meaning.
Stage Three: Revising
Writers respond to the text, clarify misunderstandings, and develop interpretations.
Stage Four: Editing
Writers examine the text by correcting mechanical errors and reviewing sentence/paragraph structure.
Stage Five: Publishing
Writers produce a final copy of their compositions, share with audiences, reflect on the process, feel accomplished, and look forward to writing again.
Connections to Tuesday Experience
I have not witnessed all five stages of the writing process in my Tuesday Experience. The stages that I have noticed during writing workshop are primarily the last few stages - revising, editing, and publishing. During writing workshops the students will correct the teachers editing marks and also try to develop ideas that the teacher may have marked as underdeveloped. I have seen many of the students typing up their drafts on the computer for their final copy of their composition. As mentioned earlier, I feel as though much more time is spend on reading rather than writing throughout the day each Tuesday. Perhaps schedules are different depending on the day of the week. Overall, I feel more time should be spent on the writing process than I have observed thus far.
Tip for Writing Workshops
Rather than being swarmed by students, my teacher uses a number system. The students will take a number if they have a questions during the workshop; the idea is to maximize efficiency and reduce the amount of time students waste. The students know to continue working until their number is called. I feel as though the number system promotes working effectively and keeps the class organized during a period that students could easily get off task and distracted.
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5 comments:
Hi Taylor:
I was wondering if you feel that more time is spent in your classroom revising, editing and publishing writing because, the children are in upper elementary school? Do you think that being fourth graders there is greater focus on these stages than the earlier ones?
Good questions, Katie! Unfortunately, answering your questions is challenging because my field work throughout college has primarily been grades one and two - I haven't had much experience with grades three through five. Based on Tuesday Experience, I would have to say that the teacher does spend more time on revising, editing, and publishing than the other stages. This is true for my particular classroom placement, but I am not sure if this is what most fourth grade classrooms focus on throughout the year. I would like to hear what other people think about this questions based on their experiences.
I understand all of your concerns about reading vs. writing in your Tuesday classroom, and i found it interesting that my classroom is the opposite. We spend more time on the children's writing. They are usually assigned a topic and will be working on it for weeks, as well as other writing assignments.
I think that it was a good idea to post the process on your blog. Many people really do not know that there are so many different steps. For example, your class does not practice all of them.
My Tuesday class did not either, my teacher was having a hard time getting the children to do the different steps..so i actually showed her the processes that the book had and the criteria for each. She loved the way that it sounded and she printed out posters for the children to use. The students have shown improvement in the steps...maybe this is an idea you could suggest to your classroom teacher.
I thought that the idea of the number system is a great idea. Like you said, children are also coming up asking questions and trying to get answers. This way there is organization and less chaos. Do you think that you will do this same technique or try something different?
Tina,
I definitely would love to use a number system in my own classroom! Long lines just waste time that students could be productive and the students have fun taking numbers and waiting for their turn. Other options that I though of include writing numbers on ping pong balls or Popsicle sticks, which may be fun as well.
UPDATE
Today, I witnessed the first few stages of the writing process in my Tuesday Experience classroom. The teacher photocopied illustrations from a picture book and asked the students to select the one they liked the best. After selecting the photo, the students had to plan a story based on the picture including the setting, characters, suspenseful events, the climax, resolution, etc. After getting the plans approved, the students moved to the rough draft portion of their story.
Today, I witnessed EACH and EVERY step of the reading and writing processes!!! I commend my teacher on being able to enrich the students' literary experiences in the classroom so remarkably!
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