Teaching Writing – Step 3 Prewriting

Some may feel that teaching writing is one of the most cumbersome subjects.  For some students, writing topics are too abstract and for others, they may need a modification or accommodation.  However, through careful writing unit planning, you can make your students feel at ease and comfortable enough to take that writing risk.  

My previous blog post on teaching writing, Step 2 – Brainstorming.  I would check it out before reading below.   Happy Writing!

Prewriting

With possible ideas generated as a class, students will now narrow down their own thoughts and ideas and make choices for their own essay or story.  Even though some students will be ok with jumping in and beginning their Pre-Writing Organizers, others will benefit from a modeling lesson.  Regardless,  before the students begin, I would recommend begin by modeling the process. 

Modeling

First, I will display the graphic organizer, referencing the displayed notes that were taken during the brainstorming phase.  Typically, since it’s pre-writing, I’ll stick to words and phrases or bullet points as the goal is to generate ideas not drafting.  The goal is to have at least 2-4 or 3-5 or more ideas for each paragraph, depending on the level of your students.  

I make sure to explain that the more ideas written down, the more flexibility students will have with their writing when drafting.  I will also point out that just because they write it down, doesn’t necessarily mean they will use it later.  

You will need to judge how much modeling your students and class will need.  Some will need the entire process modeled and others will need just portion and will be ready to go.  Regardless, you will need enough for the beginning of your own story you will draft when modeling in the next step.

Student’s Pre-Writing

Next, I will hand out either on paper or digitally, a Pre-Writing Graphic Organizer for students to fill out.  I will reference the Brainstorming Graphic Organizer and make sure their ideas that were generated are displayed.  

During the prewriting part of the writing process, I would have students stick to words or phrases, unless there is a topic sentence.  I typically require the students to have a minimum of 2-4 or 3-5 ideas in each box depending on the grade or level of your students.  

You can allow students to complete this activity in small groups, partners, or individually.  

Accommodations:

• Help Table:  After modeling and sending students off to fill out their own graphic organizers, I would pull a small group or have a writers “help” table to support students with ideas and to help them write them down. 

• Scribe: Some students may benefit from a scribe during this portion.  When I work with my small group of special education students, I will write down their pre-writing organizer for them.  This will help in several ways. One, the student can just concentrate on getting his or her ideas down.  Also, the student will  have some of the key elements in his or her story spelled out for them to refer to later.

• Digital: You can create this organizer on Google Docs through tables and share via Google Classroom.  Some students who have difficulty with fine motor will benefit from the option to type out their ideas

• Speech to Text: Another benefit from creating a digital graphic organizer on Google Docs is Speech to Text.  Students can find a quiet place and use the speech to text option.  NOTE: Speech to text is easier on Google Docs than on Google Slides.  It’s still possible on Google Slides, there will be an extra step.  Let me know if you want to know more about this process.