WritingFix: The Writing Process...Ideas for Pre-Writing

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The Writing Process: Ideas for Pre-Writing

exploring techniques for our student writers plan for better rough drafts

Hi, my name is Jamie Priddy, and I am a teacher. The writing process has always been a very important element of the classes I teach, but it has taken some time and effort to get to a place where I can get my students excited about and engaged in the process.

My experience with writing in my classes often failed to reach my expectations for myself as a writing teacher and for my students as writers. Many students would rush through writing assignments, not even completing most steps of the process. I discovered that I needed to get my students to buy-in to the process so they could see the value in it.

It was evident that I needed to guide my students through the process and get them engaged with their writing. While reading a book called Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg, I ran across something that really made me think about what goes through our mind when beginning a piece of writing: "When I teach a beginning class, it is good. I have to come back to the beginner’s mind, the first way I thought and felt about writing. In a sense, that beginner’s mind is what we must come back to every time we sit down and write. There is no security, no assurance that because we wrote something good two months ago, we will do it again. Actually, every time we begin, we wonder how we ever did it before. Each time is a new journey with no maps."

If what Natalie Goldberg says is true, then a freshman sitting in my English 1-2 class, who is already feeling nervous and self-counscious, is feeling even more insecure about actually taking the step to write something down on paper that is his or her own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. I didn’t need much more convincing that I was going to have to make this as easy on the students as possible. I needed to help them in the beginning stages of writing when they are feeling no assurance that they will be able to write anything that they feel is good writing.

In Donald M. Murray’s 1972 article, “Teach Writing as a Process Not Product,” he focuses on how teachers can emphasize the process of writing as being the most important aspect, not the product. He states, “Prewriting usually takes about 85% of the writer’s time”. If prewriting is to take about 85% of the total process time, then this is the part of the process students need the most guidance with. When students spend some time thinking about what they will write, which words they will use, and how they will use those words to say what they want to say, they see that their writing turns into something in which they can take ownership and feel good about.

My purpose at this webpage is to provide ideas to help teachers guide students through this very important part of the writing process so that your students can begin to see themselves as writers. I hope you will find some useful ideas here that will help engage your students during the very beginning stages of the process.

Original Lessons With Excellent Graphic Organizers	Five Pre-Writing Resources from the NNWP's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Guide
	In 2005, Teacher Consultants from the Northern Nevada Writing Project worked together to create the NNWP's fifth print guide for teachers: The Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Guide. This guide is used by PLCs and during all of the NNWP's trait-based inservice classes for teachers. In the trait guide's Idea Development Section, Jamie found a variety of pre-writing resources designed to help students pre-plan more developed (and organized) ideas for their writing assignments. Below, you will find four excellent pages from the Going Deep... Guide, and you will find full-page graphic organizers inspired by these pages. If you'd like information on how to purchase the entire 196-page guide, click here. Pre-planning for Big Topics and Sub-topics Here are four complimentary pages from the Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Guide that explore different graphic organizers that help students pre-write. Main Idea Graphic Organizer Here is a full-page version of the main idea graphic organizer found in the four pages from the Going Deep... Guide. Cause/Effect Graphic Organizer Here is a full-page version of the cause and effect graphic organizer found in the four pages from the Going Deep... Guide. Storyboard Graphic Organizer Here is a full-page version of the storyboard graphic organizer found in the four pages from the Going Deep... Guide. Ice Cream Cone Graphic Organizer Here is a full-page version of the storyboard graphic organizer found in the four pages from the Going Deep... Guide. Hamburger Paragraph Graphic Organizer Here is a full-page template found in the the Going Deep... Guide.
An Offer for WritingFix Users Who Believe in Sharing:
The NNWP's Elementary Writing Guide and Secondary Writing Guide were printed for the last time in 2007 because of the rise in paper prices. It now costs the NNWP between $15 and $20 to print and bind each guide. Eventually both guides' contents will be completely available and free-to-use here at WritingFix. In the meantime, we are letting you in on a little secret: we have in our warehouse about 100 final copies of each guide to distribute to teachers who use WritingFix. We are looking for original, teacher-created response handouts and activity write-ups that we can share here at this page. If any K-12 teacher reads our submission guidelines, then sends us a one- or two-page resource we can share here, we will send you one of the last available copies of either Writing Guide. Contact Jamie Priddy, this page's host, if you have a pre-writing resource to share that you believe matches our submission guidelines.
Seven Pre-Writing Resources from the NNWP's Secondary Writing Guide:	Pre-Writing Resources from the NNWP's Elementary Writing Guide
In 1998, Teacher Consultants from the Northern Nevada Writing Project worked together to create the NNWP's second print guide for teachers: The Secondary Writing Guide. The Washoe County School District generously agreed to print 500 copies of this 450-page resource to distribute among every secondary language arts teacher in Northern Nevada's largest county. In 2004, the SWG underwent a revision, which aligned the guide's original content to Nevada's new academic standards. A generous grant from the Walter S Johnson Foundation paid for the revision and distribution of the new guide. In 2007, the guide was printed for the last time. The rising price of paper inspired the NNWP to began posting the SWG's contents on-line here at WritingFix. Clustering: A four-page explanation (with examples) of this technique for pre-writing. Mapping: A five-page explanation (with examples) of this more organized form of clustering. Listing: A one-page explanation (with an example) of this alternative to clustering. Creating a Character Exercise: Pre-writing to create an original character based on strong idea development Fun with Sensory Details: Teaching students to pre-write using all five of their senses Power Paragraph: Also featured on our drafting page, here is a technique to teach students to plan and compose paragraphs that explore topics meaningfully Power Essay: Also featured on our drafting page, here is a technique to teach students to plan and compose a complete essay that explores topics meaningfully	In 1995, Teacher Consultants from the Northern Nevada Writing Project worked together to create the NNWP's first print guide for teachers: The Elementary Writing Guide. The Washoe County School District generously agreed to print 1500 copies of this 400-page resource to distribute among every elementary teacher in Northern Nevada's largest county. In 2000, the EWG underwent a revision, which aligned the guide's original content to Nevada's new academic standards. The WCSD again agreed to generously pay for the re-printing and distribution of the new guide. In 2007, the guide was printed for the last time. The rising price of paper inspired the NNWP to began posting the EWG's contents on-line here at WritingFix. Throughout 2009, we will be posting pre-writing resources from this guide here.