All About

Book
RDG 528

Geli Marquis
1

Table of Contents
Front cover..p. 1
Table of contents .p. 2

Writing Workshop..p. 3
The Writing Process overview...p. 4
The Writers Craft/Traitsp. 5
Genre Overview.p. 6

Personal Writing..p. 7
Poetry....p. 8
Descriptive Writing.p. 8
Narrative Writing.p. 10

Expository Writing ..p. 11

Assessing Writing.p. 12

The Writing Workshop

Writing workshop is the teachers tool to expose
students to new skills, model these skills, allow
students to apply the new skills and then share their
writing with peers.

The Writing Process

The writing process consists of five stages. Each

stage plays a pivotal role in students learning
how to compose meaningful and interesting
text others want to read.

Students plan and choose a topic and

purpose, organize their thoughts and
discuss their ideas with peers.
Students follow their pre-writing plan and
put their ideas into sentences and
paragraphs.
Students may work by themselves, with a
peer or a teacher to improve the writing
by adding/substituting words, ensuring
the writing flows, or deleting
unnecessary/adding important details
Students work with peers, teachers, or
independently to correct capitalization,
punctuation, spelling, sentence structure
and grammar
Students recopy their composition into a
formal, polished piece of writing, such as
a book, poster, or digital version.
4

The Writers Craft

In order to learn how to write well and capture the

readers attention, students should learn seven
important traits, as identified by Ruth Culham and Vicki
Spandel, known as The six traits plus one. These traits fit
perfectly with the writing process.
Ideas

Choose, focus, develop the topic,

identify genre

Organization

Hook the reader, present ideas in logic

order, provide transitions, good
conclusion

Voice

Write with passion and knowledge,

allowing the reader to feel the writing

Word
Choice

Paint a picture with precise and

energetic words

Sentence
Fluency
Conventions

Presentation

Vary the types of sentences, their

lengths and beginnings to make the
writing flow
Use correct spelling, punctuation,
capitalization, grammar/usage, and
paragraphing
Make the composition visually attractive by
adding text features, illustrations, good
handwriting or word processing
5

The Genre Overview

There are five genres students learn in school in order to
become successful writers. Before beginning their
composition, students have to decide on a genre in the
pre-writing phase. However, once they begin the writing
process and they feel their writing going in a different
direction, they may change their genre.

Genres

Personal Writing
Poetry
Descriptive Writing
Narrative Writing
Expository Writing

Personal Writing

Most personal writing is informal in nature. Students may

respond to reading or personal experiences, explore
ideas, activate prior knowledge, solve problems, or
activate prior knowledge about a topic.

Dialogue
Journal

Personal
Journal

DoubleEntry
Journal

Reading/
Learning
Response
Journals

E-mail
messages
Reading
Log

Friendly
Letters

Postcards

Poetry

Most students have a natural affinity for songs, poems

and rhymes. Teachers can build upon this phenomenon
by providing students with modeling, examples, support
and encouragement. By doing so, teacher can engage
their students in various forms of poetic writing activities.
Formula
Poems

Wish
Poems

SyllableCount
Poems

Rhymed
Verse

Preposition
Poems
Free
Verse

Acrostic
Poems

WordCount
Poems

Descriptive Writing

When writing to describe, students must use precise

language in order to paint a clear picture in the readers
head using written words. Ken Macorie (1985) called this,
Show, dont tell. There are five techniques students
should master to become efficient in descriptive writing.

Add
specific
information

Use
figurative
language

Choose
words
carefully

Create
sensory
images

Write
dialogue

Narrative Writing

When reading or listening to a story beginning in

kindergarten or pre-k, students learn about the structural
elements of narrative text. As writers, we then ask them
to apply what they have learned in their own
compositions while telling a story.
B-M-E

Characters

Plot
Plot
development

Location
Conflict

Setting
Weather

Theme

Time

First
Person

Point of
View

Objective

Narrative
Devices

Omniscent
(or
Limited)
10

Expository Writing

When practicing expository writing, students must

understand that this is factual writing with real
information about the world. They may use this genre in
order to explain or provide information or instructions,
Comparison

Description

Text
Structures
Problem
and Solution

Sequence

Cause and
Effect
Collaborative
Reports

All
About
Books

Essays
Recipes
and
How-Tos
11

Assessing Writing

In order to support students on their journey to

becoming writers, teacher must frequently assess them
along the way. Formative assessment is crucial to
identify phases of writing in which students need
assistance or redirection, or to celebrate small successes
along the way.
Observing

Anecdotal
notes

Conferencing

Reviewing
writing
samples

Checklists
Rubrics

12

Bibliography
Tompkins, G. (2011). Teaching Writing.

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