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Writer's Workshop: prewriting step
It is in this first step that you will decide what you will write, who
will be your audience, your purpose for writing, and what form you will
choose to convey your ideas. You will be doing a lot of brainstorming
at this point. Download and reproduce these two handouts for all students:
- 5 Step Student Handout (PDF
- you need Adobe Acrobat Reader)
This is a one page handout for students to keep as easy reference for the five
steps they should follow for the Writer's Workshop.
- Pre-Writing Poster (PDF
- you need Adobe Acrobat Reader)
This poster should be visibly displayed in the classroom for quick
reference.
Pre-Writing
Brainstorming topic
ideas, deciding genre and audience.
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Description for Pre-Writing
Step This section describes the pre-writing process as well
as adaptations for grade level and brainstorming help.
An Overview...
In this first step students should decide:
- their purpose for writing
Student should ask themselves why they are writing this piece and
what they hope the audience will gain from reading it.
- their audience
Students need to consider the age, attitude, and needs of their
intended audience so that their writing can make an impact with
the reader.
- what genre they will choose to convey their ideas
Genre is the form of writing that the students choose to convey
their ideas. Different forms of genre include memoir, letter,
autobiography, poetry, non-fiction, fiction, ...
Brainstorm Your Content...
The next step students take is brainstorming, which is planning their
content of their piece. There are many forms of brainstorming. A few
examples include rough outlines, lists, using note paper for individual
brainstorming or butcher paper, white boards, and even software. There
are 3 models of webbing that you can use to develop topics:
- word webs
- These are especially useful for writing and analyzing stories
and characterizations. For more information on how to use word
webs, visit Inspiration's
Example.
- idea mapping
- This is a two step process. After choosing your topic, students
can brainstorm all of the concepts associated with that topic.
The second step is to cluster those ideas into categories and sub-categories.
For more information on idea mapping, visit Inspiration's
Example.
- concept mapping
- This process allows concepts to be linked by phrases. This is
a two step process. First have students list all of the concepts
they can think of that are related to their topic. Finally have
your students connect concepts with the topic as well as concepts
to concepts while including phrases that explain their connections.
For more information on concept mapping, visit Inspiration's
Example.
Grade Level Adaptations
Although all students are capable of prewriting teachers will
need to know the compentency level of their students and plan accordingly.
Below are listed some suggested examples for what the prewriting step
might look like at the different grade levels.
| Primary |
In the beginning a lot of prewriting may be teacher led. There
are two levels of prewriting at this stage:
- natural prewriting: students find that drawings are a
good prewriting activity. They will use these drawings to help
them focus on the topic and purpose of their piece.
- formal prewriting: after choosing a topic and determining
audience and genre, students may brainstorm as a whole class while
the teacher records ideas and suggested words to include in their
writing. As students become familiar with this process they can
begin formally brainstorming on their own.
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| Intermediate |
Some students may still find drawing a helpful prewriting strategy.
Teachers should still model appropriate prewriting strategies, but
the students can be expected to do this either individually or as
a group activity.
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| Secondary |
Some students may still find drawing a helpful prewriting strategy.
Teachers should still model appropriate prewriting strategies, but
the students can be expected to do this either individually or as
a group activity.
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For additional suggestions on the prewriting step visit:
- The
Writing Process: Prewriting
- includes ideas on how to generate writing ideas as well as a quick
time movie clip
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Next visit the explanation for the second step: Drafting |
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