Linking the Writing Process to the Writing Traits

Linking the Writing Process to the Writing Traits

Food for thought

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing – Benjamin Franklin

The true alchemists do not change lead into gold, they change the world into words – William H. Gass

Now that you have digested those edible thoughts, let us take a look at what was done in the previous LIT 102 class which was held on the 27^th September 2016. Pixies’ Dust

The inter-relatedness of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, publishing)and the 6+1 writing traits ideas, organization, voice, sentence fluency, word choice, convention, presentation) was studied.

The first quality of the 6+1 writing traits ‘ideas’, are a combination of prewriting, drafting and revising. Ideas are the content of a piece. Ideas further include the main message in the story, as well as the supporting details. The second trait ‘organizing’, is a combination of the drafting and revising stage. Organization is the structure of the writing piece; the sequence in which the essay is presented. Revising and editing can be found in the trait which promotes the use of colourful, vibrant and precise language that clearly expresses feelings, moods, likes and dislikes readers are able to picture mentally. This trait is known as ‘word choice’. Editing also corresponds to ‘sentence fluency’, ‘voice’ and ‘convention’. Sentence fluency refers how the sentences which make up the piece flow when read aloud. Voice is a sense of the writer’s personality within the piece. Voice within writing demonstrates the writer’s passion, feelings, individuality and enthusiasm that produces a bond between the reader and the writer. Convention includes spellings, grammar usage, punctuation, capitalization and paragraphing. It is the editing process of the piece.

The +1 trait is that of presentation. How inviting is the writing to readers despite well-developed sentences and ideas; despite proper grammar, appropriate spelling, punctuation, capitalization and paragraphing is defined as presentations. Presentation is quite similar to publishing.

In addition to the interrelatedness of the writing process and the 6+1 writing traits, we looked at the information sentences provide us with. This include tenses (past, present, future), the type (declarative, interrogative, imperative) and the structure (simple, compound, complex)

Below are some examples of sentences with the different tenses, structures and types.

Tenses

Sentence in the past tense – Yesterday was a beautiful day to go horseback riding.

Sentence in the present tense – Today is a beautiful day for horseback riding. 

Sentence in the future tense – Tomorrow will be a beautiful day for horseback riding.

Structure

Simple sentence – Jesse kicked the ball.            

Compound sentence – Jesse kicked the ball and broke Mrs Benn’s bedroom window.

            

Complex sentence – Mrs Benn was very upset because the ball Jesse kicked broke her bedroom window.

Types

Declarative sentence – Anya is a really good hairdresser.  

Interrogative – Do you know Anya, the hairdresser?

Imperative – Meet me at Anya’s Beauty Salon for 10:30 a.m.

The Writing Process

The Writing Process

It is quite amazing how one can use play dough to teach student’s the writing process. In our Literacy class on Friday 23^rd September, 2016, we looked at the steps to the writing process in relation to an activity using play dough, directly after setting up our blog.

First, each student was given a few pieces of play dough. Then, we were told to think of somebody we would love to give a present. The person to be handed the present is similar to a topic of an essay or text and the present, itself is the essay. Immediately, each student began to brainstorm ideas for their beautiful creation before getting to work. This is compatible to the initial phase of the writing process, prewriting. Prewriting is when students brainstorm ideas and think about what they are going to write.

            After brainstorming our ideas, we took the play dough and formed a copy of the ideas we settled on. This is the second step of the writing process, drafting. In this step, students write down their thoughts on paper but it is not the final product, rather a rough sketch. Next, we were told to look closely at our creation and asked ourselves whether we were satisfied with what is in front of us. If not, make the necessary changes. Then we were told to exchange our creation with the person next to us. That person is to improve the creation a step further. This is the revising and editing stage of the writing process. The student rereads his/ her work and makes changes to the piece. This is done by adding or removing ideas, rearranging sentences, changing the sequence of the piece and, or substituting synonyms for a less preferable vocabulary. In the editing stage, the student checks for conventions. He/ she must ensure that everything is in the appropriate place and is good enough to be published.

Finally, the publishing stage. The student writes the final copy and shares it with others. When our finished product was to our satisfaction, we walked around the class to view each other’s masterpiece. This was indeed a wonderful activity and a memorable way to teach the writing process.

Below are pictures of the Pixies’ finished products.

         

 Pixie Thel