English Language Arts and Reading.8.10.B.ii

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The student is expected to

develop drafts into a focused, structured, and coherent piece of writing by:

 

developing an engaging idea reflecting depth of thought with specific facts, details, and examples;

writing process TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--writing process. The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions.

Have students identify specific facts, details, and examples in a mentor text and then develop their own text using ideas with facts and details based on a personal experience. Instruct students to use facts and details to fully elaborate their ideas and help the reader best understand the ideas presented. Assess student work for development of ideas.
 

Further Explanation

Students should be able to support and elaborate on their ideas using facts and details that demonstrate the amount of consideration given to an idea. Students should carefully select compelling facts or particularly illustrative details that reflect their depth of thought on the topic. They should be able to select facts and details that help a reader better understand the ideas they are attempting to convey. Student writing should reflect a deep level of thinking and go beyond simple or surface-level ideas. A more thoughtful approach or analysis and careful consideration should be expressed in the student's writing as it improves with multiple drafts. 

Student writing is expected to go beyond simple or surface-level ideas. A more thoughtful approach or analysis and careful consideration should be expressed in the writing and improve with multiple drafts.
Once students have planned their rough drafts, the next step in the writing process is to start organizing thoughts into sentences and paragraphs. This initial draft often includes frequent errors. Students should not focus on writing in a polished manner during this stage.
Students are expected to support and elaborate on their ideas using specific facts and examples. Careful selection of compelling facts or particularly illustrative details reflect a student’s depth of thought on the topic. Students should select specific facts, details, and anecdotes that help the reader better understand the ideas they are trying to convey. When students do not provide specific facts or points to support and elaborate on ideas, the development of the composition remains superficial and unengaging.
As students produce rough drafts, they are expected to bring focus by narrowing their topics and refining their writing. Students write topic sentences, add relevant details, and determine the most effective way to organize and present their ideas in a manner that best reflects their intended purpose. The order and logic of the writing should make it easy for the reader to follow.

Research

1. VanDerHeide, J., & Juzwik, M. M. (2018). Argument as conversation: Students responding through writing to significant conversations across time and place. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(1), 67–77. doi:10.1002/jaal.754

Summary:  In this article, the author presents an instructional model that reconnects to the why of writing. The model of information reasoning requires students to learn how to make a claim, provide supporting evidence of that claim, and create additional examples of the claim through the use of analogies and stories. In this study, students were asked to write a letter in response to an ongoing conversation that was of particular importance to them. Personal experience helps to develop the students' ability to advocate for a position through writing. The approach requires scaffolding on argumentative writing instruction. This study includes multiple templates to guide the writing of the responses. This approach fosters the opportunity for students to participate in conversations that have a historical background. In doing so, students engage in topics of debate that have continued over time and in various spaces. Students are invited to participate in these discussions through their writing positions as arguing for or against a position.

2. Composition Writing Studio. Argumentative essay/commentary. University of Purdue’s Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from ttps://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/05/ 

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. 

3. 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. Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/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).