English 403: Lesson 7

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7: Supporting Writing Processes

Overview

In this lesson you will look at all the ways teachers support the writing process of pre-writing, drafting, and revising. You will examine the roles teachers can take in these processes, and how to help make writing meaningful and authentic.

Activities

1. Read Z&D 10, 12, 13, and Atwell 6.

Activities To Do:
See detail instructions in the Activities list below.
	1.	Read Z&D 10, 12, 13, and Atwell 6.
	2.	Talk with your mentor teacher and/or other English teachers
	3.	Observe and talk to students
	4.	Give a mini-lesson
	5.	Blackboard: Discuss mini-lesson
	6.	Blackboard: Reflection Paper

2. Interview your mentor teacher about how he/she approaches the processes of prewriting, drafting, and revising in his/her class, and how he/she uses mini-lessons. If possible, observe and talk to students as they engage in prewriting, drafting, revising:

	What prewriting strategies does the teacher require, recommend, and/or teach? If he/she doesn’t teach them, at what grade are students introduced to various prewriting strategies? You might ask about the specific strategies Z&D describe.
	Does he/she allot class time for prewriting? For drafting? For Revising?
	What procedures, structures are used for drafting and revising?
	What role does the teacher play in these processes? Does he/she confer during drafting? Model methods for “getting unstuck”? Write while students write?
	How does the teacher use mini-lessons in support of drafting or revising?
	What are some of his/her favorite mini-lesson topics?
	Does he/she have any tips for conducting effective mini-lessons?
	What role do students play? Do they confer with and respond to each others’ work in progress?
	What are the expressed purposes for revision? How does the teacher define revision? How do students define it?
	Do students see revising as “rethinking” or “correcting”? How much revision is focused on content? How much on editing?
	Does the teacher use checklists?
	What revision strategies does the teacher teach? Do students read aloud? Ask questions?
	Who is the audience for revision? Who do students see as the audience for their writing?

3. Observe and talk to students need details

4. Give a mini-lesson on one aspect of prewriting, drafting, revising. You might borrow one from Atwell or create one of your own that fits your mentor teacher’s program, the needs of the students in one of his/her classes, and the stages of writing in which the students are engaged. (For example, if students are working on revisions you might give a mini-lesson on writing good leads or on a strategy for proofreading.) Get your mentor teacher's advice on the content of the lesson, and ideally, his/her feedback on the lesson.

4. Discussion: Tell us about your mini-lesson and put it in a context. What was the subject? What did you do? How did it go over? What would you do differently? Post your response in discussion labeled "Lesson 7" in Blackboard by the middle of the week. In our discussion let's talk about the teacher's role in supporting these processes.

6. Reflection Paper: Based on what you observed and read, how will you use class time to support pre-writing, drafting, and revision in your own classroom (think about time, structure, approach)? What will you do differently or the same as your mentor teacher? Turn this page paper into the Assignment Dropbox in Blackboard under "Lesson 7 Reflection" by the end of the week. The document should be a Word97 or higher format, 12 point legible text.