Teresa Del Dotto
Julia Stephens Knapp
Using Resources to Teach Various Phases of the Writing Process
The primary benefits of process writing are that it enables students to develop ideas and
to improve clarity (Pritchard and Honeycutt, 2006). Consequently, the National Council of
Teachers of English endorsed the use of writing process elements as early as 1992 (Pritchard and
Honeycutt, 2006). However, students can use writing process elements strategically only when
they are taught strategically. The use of effective strategies to teach students the writing process
addresses the primary criticism of the process approach-the lack of attention to writing products.
A teacher’s use of instructional strategies allows the students to “internalize” their own set of
writing process strategies, and research shows a consequential improvement in student writing
products (Pritchard and Honeycutt, 2006).
Effective teaching of instructional strategies requires a dedicated teacher with innovative
ideas about the writing process. S/he joins the class in writing and uses Web 2.0 strategies for
integrating technology for student interactive lessons. Amanda Ripley in “What Makes a Great
Teacher” states that “great teachers set big goals for their students, perpetually look for ways to
improve their effectiveness, constantly re-evaluate what they are doing, avidly recruit students
into the process, maintain focus, and work backward from learning outcomes” (Ripley, 2010).
An exhaustive discussion of instructional strategies related to the writing process would
be too vast for the scope of this position paper; we have narrowed our focus to strategies in the
drafting and revision stages. Most of the drafting and revising strategies can be folded into the
six traits of writing, which we will use as our organizing structure. The six traits of drafting and
revising are ideas and content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and
conventions.
Content is at the heart of any student’s writing. A “meaningful, detailed exploration of
the topic” is the goal (Daly, 2002). As students develop their ideas or content, they should mix
technology with learning and use the most up to date research from trusted online databases and
websites. Experimentation with different genres can “expand their repertoire” (Pritchard and
Honeycutt, 2007). The teacher should encourage fluency first and then control.
The organization of a writing assignment is important, and John Trimble states that
“writers should listen to feelings, start small, stockpile data, pose some tough questions, get an
organizing principle (thesis), imagine a good audience, rewrite a zero draft, critique the draft,
free write for 45 minutes, and tinker to get the words right” (Trimble, 2000).
Writers who have a pressing topic should take a walk down a forest path, breathing
deeply to get in touch with their associative subconscious, and ask themselves what they really
want to say. Attracting and holding readers is like a flower bed attracting hummingbirds. The
reader may flit from journals to books to websites like a hummingbird drinking the nectar of the
flowers. The writer’s voice is nectar to the reader, attracting her back from distractions because
the voice is so compelling. Donald Murray notes that “It is the voice of the text…that attracts and
holds the reader’s interest. Voice produces trust. Voice creates the illusion of a conversation, an
individual writer speaking and listening to an individual reader and responding to that reader in a
personal way” (Murray, 2000). Journals and daybooks are perfect places to record snippets from
these conversations worth saving. They are good gardens to grow voice from notes, quotes, and
free writing or thoughts that stream in dreams. Tom Romano invites teachers to “let students
choose their own topics and they will write from a core of knowledge that gives them writing
authority and voice” (Romano, 2004). These topics will come from daybooks.
Precise word choice “enriches and enlivens” students’ writing. The right word serves to
clarify or intensify student messages. Effective diction conveys that intended message in a
“precise, interesting, and natural way.” As students select and revise words in their writing they
use language to “paint a picture” for their audience (Daly, 2002). Teachers can guide students to
employ word choice strategies in many phases of the writing process, but incorporating
synesthesia, replacing specific nouns for generic ones, adding series of specific items, and
utilizing colloquation are particularly helpful in the revising stage.
Sentence fluency concerns the “rhythm and grace” of our language. Students who
achieve fluency allow for an easy flow to their writing when read aloud. Deliberate, varied
sentence structures invite “expressive oral reading; sentences need to be clear and powerful,
creating just the right meaning” (Daly, 2002). Sentence fluency strategies include sentence
combining (Carroll and Wilson, 1993), examining errors from students’ own writing (Pritchard
and Honeycutt, 2007), examining grammatical structures such as appositives, participial phrases,
and absolutes (Noden, 1999), experimenting with parallelism, alliteration and length variety
(Daly 2002), and using “master” writers as models (Fletcher, 1996).
Editing and proofreading are steps that take the audience into consideration. Students
must prepare their writing so others can read it, enjoy it, and respond to it (Daly, 2002), either
actively or passively. Using conventions correctly and effectively demonstrates an
understanding—and sometimes even a clever manipulation— of grammar. While problems with
conventions could be dismissed simply as evidence of emerging writers, they still provide
opportunities for improvement. Rather than the teacher correcting the errors on the students’
papers, however, s/he can identify areas of the students’ assignments in which corrections need
to be made and allow the students to discern those errors and correct them themselves (Pritchard
and Honeycutt, 2007).
Finally, several strategies utilize the six traits in a more holistic manner. Peer response
groups, which make use of the six traits, allow students to “experience a wide range of abilities,”
and “positive effects on writing products are pronounced when peer groups are used” (Pritchard
and Honeycutt, 2007). Role playing the potential pitfalls of peer groups, modeling procedures,
and extending practice throughout the school year increase their efficacy. Focus correction areas
(structured teacher / student writing conferences) can also address all six traits (Collins, 1998).
Web 2.0 strategies in research, expository writing, and fiction writing can improve students’ use
of the traits of writing. The CAWP workshop professors and instructors taught instructional
strategies such as Timetoast for creating timelines for novels or topics. Voicethread is for sharing
information on a research topic using databases or for reading parts of research papers or
narratives. Viewers can comments with comments or audio. Wikis assist groups of students in
editing or adding to content to be shared or created such as a story. Teachers can create their own
wiki for activities or lesson plans or assignments. Blogs can help students reply to a prompt or
create a classroom activity such as recording a strong memory and writing five leads to hook
readers into a narrative.
One innovative “next steps” writing plan would be to create a writing center in the Media
Center or library where teachers could meet with their class peer writing groups to edit and
revise papers and narratives. Veit and Gould suggest “reading each paper twice and asking
students to write a paragraph stating the main idea (this could be recorded in Voicethread). They
ask peer groups to “tell the author how the paper worked for you, ask any questions, write
comments, point out the papers strengths/weaknesses” (Veit and Gould, 2004). The writing
process in six steps would be taught and peer reviews would allow a fresh look at student
writings, for a writer needs an audience and the audience gives a new vision with many eyes that
can see epiphanies in the work. A writer without an audience is a polar bear without a glacier.
The writing process will ensure a writer becomes part of a writing community that will assist
him/her to succeed.
Using the six traits framework to plan writing lessons ensures teachers will plan with the
end result in mind, thus ensuring a focus on both writing process and writing product. A variety
of strategies can ensure that multiple learning styles are addressed. When each student’s success
is maximized, we develop a culture of writers.
References
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Daly, Cindy. (2002). Parent handout for the six traits of writing. Retrieved July 12, 2010,
from http://schools.lwsd.org/Bell/leahy/parent_handbook_for_the_six_trai.htm
Fletcher, R. (1996). Breathing in, breathing out: keeping a writer’s notebook. Portsmouth, NH:
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Murray, Donald. (2000). Writing to deadline: The journalist at work. Portsmouth, NH:
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Noden, Harry R. (1999). Image grammar: using grammatical structures to teach writing.
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