Down draft. More than a name for our first attempt to put ideas onto the page. It is an action we can choose as part of our writing process.
Category: writing process
Students Can Draw at Every Stage of the Writing Process (For All Ages)
Drawing can slow you down in a way that is useful for generating ideas and thinking more deeply.
Flailing and Feedback In Writing Process As Critical: KidLit Authors Share Why
Slowing down the brainstorming part of the writing process and recognizing the emotionality of feedback has big rewards for two published authors, in addition to our young classroom writers.
(Re-)Launching our Writing Workshops With Joy in January
As I think about returning to school, I want to be excited about the week to come. I want students to feel happy to be back together. Writing workshop is my favorite part of the day, and it’s the perfect place to infuse some intentional joy for all of us. I have a two part plan to do just that.
Three Ways to Exalt Process for Young Writers
My litmus test for the work we do in the classroom pivots on an understanding that collecting one's own ideas and practicing ways to communicate them will serve students outside classroom walls. And it is with that framing in mind - with children reflecting on their journeys, in carefully selecting the language I use, and in sharing feedback on growth as opposed to the final alone- that I hope to continually communicate the importance of process over product.Â
Mining the Moments Between Minilesson and Work Time
In those quick moments between minilesson and work time, as writers are settling in (or not), I pay attention to what is—the current reality. I seek leverage points to both know writers better and to support writers in continuing to grow. Over time, I notice as more and more writers find the processes and strategies that work for them.
Getting to Know the Writers in Your Classroom- Part 1: Academic and Linguistic Domains
Who students are and what their past experiences have been impact them as writers, and those impacts should have implications on instruction. Therefore, it's worth the time and energy to have systems and structures for learning about students as writers in your classroom.
Recording, Revision and Repetition: Empowering Multilingual Writers
Recording for revision, encouraging translanguaging, and repetition are useful strategies to exalt and empower multilingual writers. As teachers of multilingual students, encouraging translanguaging and recording as revision is akin to telling students: every aspect of you is valued. Every aspect of you is important.Â
Considering Processes With Students
If I can teach students not only to recognize their learning styles and resources that benefit them, but also how to ask for or find those resources, then I increase the potential of having an impact on their learning long after I'm physically or digitally present in their lives.
Personal Writing Calendars for Each Student
With a personal writing calendar, each kid can see what is going to happen in the unit of study, and has the power to adjust it.
Predictable Barriers for Writers– and Some Ways Around
Identifying barriers and teaching into ways through, around, or over them will help writers not only with their immediate process, but also with their future endeavors.
Supporting Writers Across the Writing Process
For every writer, the writing process is a little bit different. As teacher writers, we all struggle at different points and our students are no different. Today I offer a few tools for supporting writers at different points of the writing process . . .