Parenting the Writing Process
Getting the Most out of your Child --- On Paper
GT/LD Network
Tracy Topping
November 15, 2012
Why is Parenting the Writing Process Important?
 Where does your child do most of their writing - at home or at school?
 No specific writing course in public schools
 Opportunity for child to demonstrate knowledge is usually assessed by
written assignment or test
 Importance of written communication skills in careers
Who Will Own the Final Product ?
 Goal - Process not Product
 Child should learn writing process and internalize it
 Emphasize not what grade but what you will learn
 Grades do not matter until high school
 Self esteem/confidence -- promote independence
 Target problem areas -- only one at most two at a time
Other Parenting Do’s and Don’ts
 Model writing for your child at every opportunity
 Give your child ample opportunities to write
 Make writing fun
 Enabling v. Empowering - be careful about what work load modifications
you request
Nuts and Bolts
or
Writing Stages
 Planning
 Pre-Writing
 Writing Process
 Self-Evaluation
Planning
 Goal - good writers are goal directed
 This is stage where our kids fall down
 Considerable time should be spent
Planning con’t
 Student clearly knows what assignment requires
 What is the end result?
 What is the timeline?
 What form will it take?
 Who is the reader?
 What discreet steps are involved - research, interviews, reading a book?
Pre-Writing
ACE4
 A - Answer the question
 C- Cite the evidence
 E - Explain how the evidence supports your answer
 E- Expand your answer: other evidence, background information
 E- End it. Sum up your ideas in a conclusion
 E- Edit writing. Mechanical and Qualitative
Pre-Writing
 Big wall - how will you help your child navigate around it?
 Never lift a pencil
 ACE4 - Answer the question.
 Can student paraphrase the question and put into their own words?
 Is question sufficiently narrow?
 Brainstorm ideas
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How do you think you will answer the question?
Goal is not to organize but allow generation of free flowing ideas.
Use old standby - who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Take general ideas and try to get your child to be more specific.
Pre-Writing con’t -- Organization

Next step is how do we get the ideas down on paper?
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Goal of this stage is the A and C - answer the question and cite evidence
 very important to identify what evidence supports the answer
 why are you including this information - what point will you make by using it
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Choose your format
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graphic organizers
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dictate to a parent who outlines or puts in organizational format
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computer or computer software
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speech to text software
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Make your organizer
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Check your assignment/rubric
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Whatever works - whatever is fun
Writing Process
 Don’t assume that a completed graphic organizer means your
child can now put it into writing
 Let the writing process flow - don’t stop to correct spelling, word
choice, etc. Idea is to get the ideas down QUICKLY on paper.
Don’t interrupt thinking.
 Once ideas are down, leave it alone if possible
 Put ACE4 at top of paper
Writing Process con’t
ACE4
 Answer the question - introductory statement or paragraph answers the
question.
 Flip the question presented
 Flip your paraphrased question
 Cite the Evidence - Start with the first piece of evidence that supports
your answer. (In a multi - paragraph paper you would include each of
your evidentiary ideas in the introductory paragraph and then develop
each idea individually in its own paragraph later in the paper.)
 Explain why that evidence supports your answer. Why did I pick this
example? What point am I trying to make. Why does this evidence prove
or disprove my answer?
Writing Process con’t
ACE4 con’t
 Expand your answer
 Can you bring in other information that supports your explanation of this
point?
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background information
prior knowledge
other examples from the text that support the same point
outside research
opinions
 Is there other evidence that supports your answer but which needs a distinct
explanation? If so, go back and develop answer as before.
Writing process - con’t
ACE4
 End it. Bring ideas to a conclusion. A simple sentence or paragraph.
 Very important to brainstorm conclusion before writing it.
 Not sufficient to say “This is why I think it is.” or “These are the reasons that make it
so.”
Writing process - con’t
ACE4
 Edit. Very important stage - just as important as planning
 Kids often think of editing as running spell check. This does not
constitute editing or revising a paper.
 Editing Steps
 Mechanical
 Qualitative
 Self-evaluation?
 Use of Six Plus One traits very helpful at this stage
Writing Process-con’t
ACE4
Edit - Mechanical
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Spelling
Punctuation
Grammar
Use of software at this stage is very helpful
 spell-check
 grammar check
 Ginger
Writing Process con’t
ACE4
Edit - Revising
 Reminder - goal is process not product
 Recheck rubric - are all parts there
 Revise to make paper more interesting
 Word choice
 Is introductory sentence an attention getter?
 Do I use active rather than passive voice?
 Go over each paragraph or key sentence and ask
 Does this add to my paper?
 Does it clearly state what I want my reader to know?
 Does it raise any questions that I failed to answer?
 Do words flow freely - Read it aloud
Writing Process-con’t
ACE4
Edit - Self-evaluation
 How do I feel I did on my assignment?
 Is there anything I would do differently next time - time management,
narrow the topic, etc.?
 Is my writing improving?
 End on a positive note
Dribs and Drabs
 BCRs, ECRs, 6 plus 1, Rubrics
 Following directions
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Circle - Key direction words
Underline - detail words, information words
Count - number each direction word
Check - did you do each step
Example - Answer1 questions 1-4 then draw2 a picture to explain #5. (answer
and draw should be circled)
 Research papers
 One idea - one card. Make sure page number and source are on card
 Develop system for recording source right from the beginning
 Summarize not rewrite