- English Language Arts and Reading
- Grade 5
- Composition
plan a first draft by selecting a genre for a particular topic, purpose, and audience using a range of strategies such as brainstorming, freewriting, and mapping;
Provide students with an assigned topic, purpose, and audience for which they will create a piece of writing. As students begin the writing activity, instruct them to use brainstorming, freewriting, or mapping to organize their work.
This example can help gauge students’ familiarity with prewriting strategies in the planning stage of the writing process. Students should be able to select their own strategies to help plan and make decisions.
1. Klein, P.D. & Rose, M.A. (2010). Teaching argument and explanation to prepare junior students for writing to learn. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(4), 433–461. doi:10.1598/RRQ.45.4.4
Summary: In this study, Klein and Rose examine how students respond to various writing tasks and assignments. The teachers used the process writing approach, which included creating an outline, drafts, and a final paper. The revision and edit process lends itself to implementing teacher and peer oral and written feedback. The study reveals that there are specific as well as varied means to teach the writing process to students. Students must use prior knowledge and have access to relevant external sources (i.e. internet).
2. Lucidchart. (2017). 4 steps to wrangling the writing process. [Web log post]. Retrieved from www.lucidchart.com/blog/4-steps-to-wrangling-the-writing-process
Summary: This blog includes the four steps in the writing process—prewriting, writing, revising and editing. Additional resources, graphic examples and templates are included.
3. Composition Writing Studio. Argumentative Essay/Commentary. University of Purdue’s Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html
Summary: This online resource offers a complete overview of the writing processes and the components involved in each. The overview includes definition of terms, examples, graphs and charts as appropriate, and additional resources.