Week 15: Writing and Reading
My first memory of writing for me was in elementary school. I remember learning how to write sentences and gradually moving up to writing stories. I don't recall ever using a writing process at that age. Do you? My next memory was when I was in middle school/high school. This is where those red ink lines played a big role in my writing. I remember we were forced to create an outline first, then write, and then our peers would edit our paper and we had to revise. Looking back now, we were going through the writing process in my classes. Did you do something similar? I would say that my experience in middle school/high school with writing was rather indifferent. I struggled with creating an outline, always. Prewriting and brainstorming was something that I had to take much time and thought into. When I finally was able to gather my thoughts? I liked writing and still do to an extent today.
In Chapter 12, Creating Literacy Instruction it explains the process approach to writing which is:
Prewriting: preparation for writing which includes: topic selection, planning, rehearsing, and goal setting. (ideas for students: brainstorming together, one-on-one conversations, journals)
Composing (Drafting): The act of writing the piece. (ideas: younger students are used to oral conversations, emphasize on writing out what they want to talk about)
Revising: adding or deleting material, changing sequence, getting a better lead, adding or substituting. (ideas: having them read it out loud will help fix mistakes, peer edits, dramatize and ask questions)
Editing: students check for mechanical errors, adding commas and question marks and correcting misspelled words. (ideas: editing should be modeled for students, need to be introduced to concepts the teacher wants them to look for and edit)
Publishing: finished work. (idea: author's chair)
Questions:
1. If you had a student like me in your class (struggled with prewriting stage), how would you help?
2. What area of the writing process did you struggle with?
3. In my definitions I listed ideas for students for each process, what are some you like/dislike? Do you have any to add?
4. Does your writing process differ today from middle/high school?
In answering your second question, What area of the writing process did you struggle with? To this day I still struggle putting all my thoughts together. I struggle with the drafting part the time to write. When it comes to thinking of what to write it's easy. When it comes to writing it all down for it to make sense that's where it becomes a mess. I tend to start on one topic jump to my next idea then forget about the other ideas and start writing again about the last idea. I jump around too much and it makes my papers look unorganized and sometimes confusing. A tip from a friend was to write down all my ideas for that one paragraph in bullet point. When it comes to that paragraph I can add all my ideas i had down plus more that I wanted to expand on. I also use word read aloud setting to help me. Sometimes when I hear what I wrote it doesn't make sense to me compare if I read it it does. This helps me go back and fix my paper to be organized and make sense to flow.
ReplyDeleteI feel like reading our writings out loud helps a lot with organization and sometimes wording, as well. I think Analis mentioned in class that her teacher used to have them put their writings in google translate to help fix errors. Reading out loud, word read aloud settings and google translate are all good strategies to help with writing.
DeleteTo answer your second question, "Does your writing process differ today from middle/high school?", yes my writing process does differ today than from middle and high school. When I was younger, it was always required to have each step of the writing process done and turned in but now I just get right into writing. I do make a notes page about what I want to discuss in my paper and try to organize my thoughts before I start writing. Once I have a simple overview of what I want to discuss I just start writing and editing as I go along.
ReplyDeleteI too, write differently from what I was required to do in middle/high school. But even then, we still have some sort of "writing process" that we go through. Your notes page could easily be transcribed as your prewriting/drafting.
DeleteTo answer your question 4, my writing style is definitely different from middle school/high school. When I was in high school, I learned none of the writing styles or citations I experienced in college which made me struggle with English. I ended up having to re-take an English class because I had to learn all nee formats, citations, different types of writing that I’ve never even heard before. It was definitely hard for me.
ReplyDeleteCollege has definitely changed my perception on writing too. All the different formats and citations that we have to learn, it has been different from what we learned all through high school.
DeleteTo answer #4, I don’t think my writing process has changed much. Like I said in my blog I kind of just go with the flow. Most of the time I may think about what I’ll write before I write about it, but I don’t physically compose a draft before my paper … unless deleting what I wrote and starting over is considered a draft. In middle/highschool I did the same thing I do now. I write what comes to mind and if I don’t like what’s written when I come back I start all the way over until I’m satisfied.
ReplyDeleteDesiree,
DeleteI feel like you're describing my writing process now. Since most of my writing-when I have to write out papers- is done on Word, I basically just start writing the body of my paper by jotting down what comes to mind. I always end with the introduction for some reason, but that's just what works for me. I don't spend too much time thinking about what I'm going to write about, I just write what comes to mind as you mentioned and just go with the flow.
To answer your second question, "What other areas of the writing process did you struggle with?", I always struggled with revising and publishing my papers. In middle school my teacher used to pair us up into two and have us do a peer review. It was one of the most frustrating and dumbest things I experienced in my writing stage. Most of my peers wouldn't go off of the revising rubric our teacher gave us. They just would have comments like "This is good. Its "their" not "there"" and all of these basic lines of critiquing. So then I would always have to stay after or even before class to get help from my teacher. The publishing was always something that bothered me. Sharing my ideas with class was nerve-racking. For my presentations I would say my thoughts on paper and some of the class would either look at me funny or just thought I was joking with my ideas . I started to get better as time went on but I finally mastered it my eighth grade year. I think if teachers had allowed students be held a higher standard for peer evaluations I think the writing process would be more beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your peer review experiences. I feel like most of the comments I got back from other students were either grammar related or contained "good job" and that was all. Only until my 8th grade year, the teachers were stricter and had certain things that they would require that we mark down. I only remember reading my writings to the class in elementary school, once. But if I had to present my writing ideas, it would have been nerve-racking for me too because I tend to write about personal ideas.
DeleteFor your first question, "If you had a student like me in your class (struggled with prewriting stage), how would you help?" I think there is a lot you can do. First I would ask why are you interested in this certain topic? Then, the student would explain and that way they have a start of ideas. I think the idea stage is the most important, and once you get your ideas in order, the writing process will come more natural.
ReplyDelete"Why are you interested in this certain topic?" Is a great question to ask someone before their actual writing, if they can't answer the question then they should think of a different topic to write about.
DeleteI struggled with understanding all the necessary things that go into a story such as a beginning, body, climax, a conclusion and other things like this. I was able to have creative ideas and I was able to fill out the essential topic on the paper outlines we were always given. I hated doing rough drafts because I just wanted to write the story. I also struggled a lot with grammar. I still have issues with it and I'm not sure why I never grasped the concept of most terms such as an adjective, a comma, or pronoun.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that about myself too. I moved around a lot when I was younger, so I'm not sure if that was why but I don't ever remember being sat down and taught what a pronoun...etc was and where it's placed in sentences. I struggled with grammar a lot and I think they assumed I had a good grasp on it, even though I had not. It wasn't until I was playing madlibs with my friends when I realized how far behind I was.
DeleteTo answer question 2, I always struggled with starting off my paper, and then keeping on track with the topic. I would write my thoughts down so quickly that I would end up getting off topic, and not even realize it. I also would repeat myself a lot in my papers.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the trend is that a lot of us had trouble starting off our papers. Good thing that we are learning strategies to help our future students not feel the same way.
DeleteI always struggled with the organization part. I would get confused with where things would go and where to put them. I remember writing and then getting off track and then writing about something completely different than what I had in mind. It would all make complete sense to me but not to my teachers. They would tell me that I got off track and off topic. I would just shrug my shoulders and have the mind set that i'm not a writer so it doesn't matter what it looks or sounds like. I also knew that no one else was going to read it, other than my teacher and that wasn't a big deal. It was getting published and the whole world wasn't going to see it, so I didn't care.
ReplyDeleteOur writings in classes were never published or read out loud. I had one experience where I had to read out my narrative in front of the class. But, other than that one time I didn't have to present my papers. Did you ever have to share your writings with your peers? We had to do a lot of peer evaluations when I was younger.
DeleteI want to answer your first question, What area of the writing process did you struggle with? I think I struggled with the brainstorming part the most because I just wanted to go straight to the writing. I would usually get the idea in my head but I thought it was pointless to brainstorm if I already knew what I wanted to write. Another question I want to answer, Does your writing process differ today from middle/high school? Yes, it really does differ because I just go ahead and just write instead of brainstorming or making a rough draft. I do reread it and make sure there are no errors, but its always the final draft and thats it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger, I absolutely disliked writing rough drafts/outlines. I still do not participate in writing outlines so, my thinking would be the same as yours on that part. Just diving into the writing seems to be the way a lot of others write.
DeleteI think sometimes i wouldn't know what to write, but other times i would just race to write before i lost all of my thoughts that i had. I also think i put more effort into my writing now because i know it actually means more to my grade. I also believe i have a better understanding of how to even write and plan for my writing too.
DeleteI would like to answer question number 2, What area of the writing process did you struggle with?" I think that i struggled most with the prewriting or the editing part. I believe that it was difficult for me the think of what i should talk about or if it was even going to be good enough. i also struggled with the editing because sometimes i think that i wouldn't believe i did bad or see what should really be changed. I also believe that it had something to do with my internalized standards that i believed i did well when in reality i didn't meet my teachers standards.
ReplyDeletePre-writing to me was almost taken as a ehhh- joke. And I say this because with prewriting options, if little to no detail is given about expectations or what the writing prompt is. Then the prewriting process is typically just done half fasted. In primary school prewriting was fun. Word bubbles and word maps were the ways I typically did my prewriting. But as I got older, I just tended to not even use my prewriting guide. I just wrote the required papers and my "rough draft" was usually my rough, edited, and final draft because I would wait until last minute.
ReplyDeleteIn area that I struggled with the most in elementary school and sometimes even now is editing. I tend to always add in extra words and extra material in my writing that doesn't always fit. I had always needed the help revising and editing my paper because I always felt it was good enough till I did have someone finally look over it and it was all over the place in some areas. What I may not see in my paper to change, others might be able to which sometimes is all the time.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in school I struggled with the prewriting process. I always thought it was pointless to write it all out twice. I would get bored and not do as well on the prewriting because I didn't want to write it twice. It was also frustrating to me when we would do peer reviews because we didn't have very good instruction, so I never knew what kind of feedback to give my peers.
ReplyDeleteMy writing process did differ from middle school to high school because in middle school it was mostly about grammar and such. However in high school it was more of everything because we had more expectations so I would say my writing really grew in high school.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school I struggled with the prewriting step as well. I would have good ideas to start with and then around the third paragraph I wouldn't have any more ideas. Eventually, I just started writing as I went and I found that my ideas were more authentic, though I tend to run on and write more than what's necessary.
ReplyDeleteOne of the sections that I struggled with the most was the rewriting and editing. I struggled with the prewriting because my 'process' is just starting to write and that's it there is no process to my writing, I don't plan my writing so I struggle a lot. I also struggle with the editing because I never really know what I need to fix unless someone tells me what I need to fix.
ReplyDeleteYou could help a student that is struggling with the prewriting stage by setting up a goal list and giving examples of topics. Teachers could also suggest that students write about something they are passionate about or interested. I struggled with the prewriting stage as well and found suggestions from my teachers to be helpful. I like all of the ideas for students that you suggested and I do not have any to add because these are what I was taught. My writing process does not differ today from middle/high school because I have done the same process for so long that it stuck and I haven’t considered any other methods.
ReplyDelete