Practicing the Writing Process

Five step Writing Process

Step Description Strategies

Invention/Prewriting An activity that causes the writer to Drawing
think about he subject. The writer Talking
organizes his thoughts before he Brainstorming
Graphic organizers
begins to write.
Research
Listing
Field Trips
Drafting The process of putting ideas down on Taking notes,
paper. The focus is on content not Organizing thoughts
mechanics into paragraphs,
Writing a first draft
Revising The process of refining the piece of Peer editing
writing. The writer adds to a writing Conferencing
piece. The writer reorganizes a piece Share Chair or Author’s Chair
of writing. The writer shares his story
and gets input from peers or teacher.

Editing Mechanical, grammatical and spelling Checklists

errors are fixed in the writing piece. Rubrics
Editing Checklists
Proofreading
The writing piece is prepared in final Reading aloud
Publishing form, including illustrations. The Reading to a group
writer shares his writing with others. Displaying in the room
Printing the books
Web publishing
Writing Assignment:

Writing to Explore the Self

Role = the student

Audience = the student himself/herself
Format = journal writing in casual mode
Topic = journal writing relating aspects of today to The Odyssey

Choose one of the three following prompts and go through all five steps in
order to write a well organized paragraph (5-8 sentences).

1. Name a hero in your life and describe why you consider them your hero.

2. What kinds of obstacles do people today have to try and overcome?

3. What kinds of qualities does Odysseus have that make him a good leader?

TASK:

A. Prewriting. Create a graphic organizer to brainstorm. List ideas in order of

importance. Choose topic. List details about topic.

B. Write first draft. Put your ideas down in writing and create first paragraph.

C. Revise. On the paragraph, list where you could add details to make your
paragraph more interesting and more understandable. Meet with a partner
and complete a peer edit sheet.

D. Use editing checklist to edit for grammar mistakes.

E. Re-write the paragraph with the added details and fixed grammar mistakes.

TURN IN – all parts of the writing process. Make sure your name is on each
page. Staple the pages together.

Types of Brainstorming Graphic Organizers

Editing Checklist
Indent Paragraph(s)

Complete Sentences (each has a subject and predicate)

Capitalization
• Do all sentences begin with a capital letter?
• Do all proper nouns begin with capital letters?

Punctuation
• Are periods and commas used correctly?
• Are quotations punctuated correctly?
Verb Usage
• Do all main verbs agree with the subject in person and number?
• Are verb endings correct?
• Is the verb tense correct?

Noun Usage
• Do regular plurals end in “s”? Are irregular plurals
correct?
• Are articles (“a,” “an,” and “the”) used correctly?
• Is it clear what every pronoun refers to?

Correct Spelling (Be careful of words that sound the same but have different
meanings.)
• What words are misspelled?
• Were those words corrected?

Descriptive Words
• Are words used that give a picture of what is taking place?
• Are transitional words used?

Word Variety
• Do sentences begin with different words?
• Did the writer use a variety of words in each sentence?

Organization
• Is there a main idea sentence?
• Are there detail sentences?
• Does my story has a beginning, middle and end?
• Are the parts of the paragraph in the correct order to make sense?

Peer Editing Sheet

 1. What is the topic and main idea of the paragraph?

2. What are some details that develop the main idea?

3. What do you think is the strongest part of the paragraph ?. What makes this
element so strong?

4. Is there a part of the paragraph you find confusing? A part that doesn’t seem to quite match the rest? Give some
suggestions for how to improve that part?

5. After reading the paragraph, what would you like to know more about? Is there a part that leaves you with
questions? Write down at least two questions to help your partner further develop this paragraph.

6. Do the ideas of the paragraph follow in logical order? Where can the writer strengthen
logical transitions between sentences?

7. Did you notice any major typos or grammatical issues? Please note anything glaring in this space.

8. Did your partner fulfill all the requirements on the writing process task?
If not, which one or ones still need to be added?