A is for Appalachia! The Alphabet Book of Appalachian Heritage

Sharpen Your
Child's Writing Skills

A Guidebook for Parents

Adapted from the Kentucky Department of Education Web Site

Linda Hager Pack
 

THE WRITING PROCESS

The writing process may be defined as a series of stages (processes) that writers engage in to produce a final product. During this writing process, writers explore and rethink their work continuously.

While the majority of your child’s writing takes place in a school setting, writing begins at home. Long before children have mastered the skill of putting pen to paper, they write because it is fun. Parents can help keep this interest alive without taking over ownership of the child’s writing. 

How Can Parents Help?

1. Model that reading is important by reading in front of and with your child.

2. Model that writing is important by writing in front of and with your child.

3. Provide rich experiences in your child’s life about which he/she can write.  (Get off the couch and out of the house.)  Take a camera.

4. Share family stories and encourage your child to interview family members.

5. Provide books, newspapers, and magazines to read.

6. Encourage journal writing: nature, family, personal, vacation, science, reading, etc.

7. Encourage listing, note taking, jotting down ideas, brainstorming, etc.

8. Be interested and involved.   

9. Question rather than dictate.

10. Coach your child rather than correct.

11. Remember that spelling is the least important part of writing.  The dictionary comes last.

12. Provide writing materials such as a journal, paper, pen, pencil, markers, crayons, glue, tape, stamps, envelopes, word processor, tape recorder, camera, etc.

13. Encourage your child to be curious about what is going on in the world.

14. Help your child find a real reason to write

to inform (e.g., create a family letter to friends and relatives)

to persuade (e.g., convince parents to allow a privilege)

to entertain (e.g., create a play for others to perform)

PREWRITING

IT ALL HAPPENS RIGHT HERE!

All the things that a writer does to get ready to write:  research, field trip, watching a movie, reading a book, daydreaming, brainstorming, listing, mapping a story, doing an interview, investigating, experimenting, etc. 

During this time writers consider:

1. The purpose (real reason) for writing,

2. The audience (the intended reader/listener) for whom they are writing, and

3. The form the writing will take. (short story, narrative, brochure, pamphlet, letter, poem, article, memoir, essay, picture book, chapter book, script, play, etc.)

This planning stage is vital for producing effective writing.

How Can Parents Help?

Before a writer begins writing, he must know his purpose for writing, for whom he is writing, audience, and the form his writing will take.

1. Make sure your child has a purpose for his writing and that he understands that purpose before he ever puts pen to paper.

2. Make sure your child knows for whom he is writing (his audience) before he ever puts pen to paper.

3. Help your child to decide the form his writing will take once he has decided his purpose and audience.

4. Help your child identify topics/subjects of interest.

5. Invite discussion topics.

6. Be an active listener.  Ask questions to clarify and make helpful comments.

7. Suggest possible audiences (relatives, other children, public officials, community leaders, school officials, etc.)

8. Discuss different forms of writing  (see above)

DRAFTING or ROUGH DRAFT

During the drafting stage, the writer produces the first draft (written copy).  The most important emphasis here is getting the thinking on paper.  Don’t worry about grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, or spelling.  Just get the thoughts on paper.  Skip lines so rewriting and editing will be easier.

How Can Parents Help?

1. Provide a quiet work place for your child to write and a variety of resource tools.

2. Ask and answer questions regarding content.

   1. What is your purpose?

   2. Who is your audience?

   3. Why are you writing this?

   4. What is the assignment?

3. Respect your child’s ability to make the appropriate choices and resist the temptation to take over the project.

4. Encourage your child to return to prewriting when “writer’s block occurs.

REVISING

During the revision stage the writer revisits and shares with others (conferences) a piece of writing in order to determine what needs to be added, removed, and/or rearranged.  Revision is not recopying an assignment neatly in ink or correcting grammar, punctuation, and spelling.  Instead, the writer focuses on strengthening content and meeting the needs of the audience.

How Can Parents Help?

1. Listen while your child reads the piece aloud and respond in some of the following ways:

   1. “The sentence or word that stands out for me is _______.”

   2. “The part that is most interesting to me is ___________.”

   3. “I’d like to know more about _______________.”

2. Offer praise about parts of the writing that work well.

3. Ask questions about the purpose, meaning, content, ideas, and organization.

1. “Does the writing say what you want it to say?”

2. “What changes do you think you need to make?”

3. “Can you tell me more about ____________?”

4. “Can you give me an example of ___________?”

4. Tell your child what you heard the piece of writing say.

5. Encourage talk about the changes and the reasons for them.  Do not write on your child’s work.  Writing what you and your child have discussed on post-it notes works well.

6. Ask questions about any part of the writing you find unclear.

7. Make sure your child has the final say in all revisions of the writing.

8. A colored pen is good to use.  Work in the blank space above the written line.

EDITING

Editing is the job of cleaning up the writing and eliminating errors (mistakes in grammar, punctuation, usage, capitalization, and spelling). Writers may need assistance from others during this process to strengthen writing skills. Correctness is important; however, editing is a developmental (growth) process. Correcting every error can be overwhelming to the writer.  As writers become more proficient, they will make fewer mistakes.

How Can Parents Help?

1. Ask your child to read the piece aloud while you both look at the writing. Focus attention on correctness of sentences, wording, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

2. Concentrate on only one or two types of errors at a time.

3. Encourage the use of a dictionary, thesaurus, spell checker, and/or computer-writing program.

4. Allow your child to make the actual corrections on the writing. Do not write on your child’s work.  Writing what you and your child have discussed on post-it notes works well.

5. Do not at any time actually do your child’s writing or make direct corrections on the work. You might decide to circle or place a check beside words or phrases that appear to be incorrect. Your child can look up the word and make the final decision.

6. A colored pen is good to use during this stage.  Work in the blank space above the written line.

REVIEW

Review is the process of taking one last look at a piece of writing before publishing.  The writer normally does this by conferencing with a teacher, parent, or peer and in the final analysis by using his or own self-assessment.

How Can Parents Help?

1. Ask your child to read his piece aloud.  Ask him or her questions about the writing to help determine if your child is satisfied that he/she fulfilled the purpose of his writing and reached the audience she wanted to reach.

2. Listen carefully to your child’s reading of his writing.  Ask questions that will aid him/her in being able to determine if there are still parts of the writing that could be added to, rearranged, or deleted to make the writing better.  (A piece of writing never wants to ramble.)

PUBLISHING

Publishing is the process of making a piece of writing public.  Writers recognize the value of their writing when they share it with an audience in a variety of ways.  The final piece needs to be polished, have excellent penmanship, and be as perfect as the writer can make it.

How Can Parents Help?

1. Provide publishing opportunities.

   1. Mail a letter.

   2. Post on a bulletin board or your refrigerator.

2. Submit to a magazine or newspaper.

3. Read aloud at family gatherings, like the dinner table.

4. Bind a book with fabric or take to a local copy company to have bound.

5. Provide necessary materials (pens and pencils, stamps, envelopes,

6. Different kinds of paper, etc.).

7. Encourage your child to make the writing neat and legible.

8. Share your writing with your child.

9. Allow your child to decide when to share pieces with others

Points to Consider: The Scoring Guide

Unlike a grade of A or B, your child’s score on the Writing Portfolio can give you information about the characteristics most often observed in your child’s writing.  When you and your child know what to look for, you also know what needs improvement.  The Kentucky Holistic Scoring Guide, below, lists the qualities of effective writing under “Proficient,” the goal for all Kentucky students.

NOVICE

•  Limited awareness of audience and/or purpose

•  Minimal idea development; limited and/or unrelated details

•  Random and/or weak organization

•  Incorrect and/or ineffective sentence structure

•  Incorrect and/or ineffective language

•  Errors in spelling, punctuation, and capitalization disproportionate to length and complexity of writing

APPRENTICE

•  Some evidence of communicating with an audience for a specific

    purpose; some lapses in focus

•  Unelaborated idea development; unelaborated and/or repetitious

    details

•  Lapses in organization and/or coherence

•  Simplistic and/or awkward sentence structure

•  Simplistic and/or imprecise language

•  Some errors in spelling, punctuation, and capitalization that do not

    interfere with communication

PROFICIENT

•  Focused on a purpose; communicates with audience; evidence of voice and/or suitable tone

•  Depth of idea development supported by elaborated, relevant details

•  Logical, coherent organization

•  Controlled and varied sentence structure

•  Acceptable, effective language

•  Few errors in spelling, punctuation, and capitalization relative to the

    length and complexity

DISTINGUISHED

•  Establishes a purpose and maintains clear focus; strong awareness of audience; evidence of distinctive voice and/or appropriate tone

•  Depth and complexity of ideas supported by rich, engaging, and/or

    pertinent details; evidence of analysis, reflection, insight

•  Careful and/or subtle organization

•  Variety in sentence structure and length enhances effect

    •  Precise and/or rich language

    •  Control of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization

Since learning to write is as much a developmental process as learning to read, you can look for characteristics to determine if your child is growing as a writer.  The Kentucky Holistic Scoring Guide lists these growth indicators as you read through the categories of Novice, Apprentice, Proficient, and Distinguished.

For example, inexperienced writers may show a limited awareness of why and for whom they are writing.  When they have more learning experiences and thus more growth as writers, “some evidence,” but perhaps with “some lapses,” may appear more frequently.  Successful (proficient) writers will remain “focused on a purpose” throughout the writing.  Parents, students, and teachers should understand these growth points toward becoming better writers

How Can Parents Help?

The six criteria below are those considered when portfolio writings are scored.  These are generally accepted characteristics of “effective writing” you’ll find anywhere. The questions can be used to guide a conference with your child about a piece of writing. Keep in mind that a conference about a piece of writing provides a learning opportunity for your child, and good questions provoke thinking. If your child simply answers “yes” to any of the questions, ask him/her to find specific examples in the piece of writing. Please do not make direct corrections or do the writing or typing for your child since this takes the responsibility for learning away from the student.

Ask questions about Purpose/Audience.

           What do you want to write about?  Why?

Who will want/need to read this?

           What do you want the audience to know or do?

           How will you present it to the audience?

Ask questions about Idea Development/Support.

           What are the details and examples you have used?  Do they help

              the audience understand completely?

           Are they the best details and examples for your audience?

              For your purpose?

           Have you explained important ideas?

           Do your examples support the main ideas?

           Do your details make the ideas clearer?

Ask questions about Organization.

           Did you stick with your plan throughout the piece of writing?

           Does the order of the ideas make sense?

           Does all of your information fit together?

           Do your ideas flow easily from one to another?

           Will your reader be able to follow all of your thinking?

Ask questions about Sentences.

           Do your sentences have different lengths? Different beginnings?

           Different structures?  Or do they sound too much alike?

           Do your sentences express complete thoughts?

Ask questions about Language.

          Have you used a variety of words to make your meaning clear?

          Do the words say what you mean?

          Are all of your words used correctly?

Ask questions about Correctness.

         Have you made any mistakes in spelling?

         Do you see any punctuation problems?

         Have you used capital letters in the needed places?

         *NOTE: If you focus on errors before the writing is completely developed in the areas above, you may keep your child from doing his or her best writing.  However, these skills should receive attention before the writing is “published” for an audience.