Writers learn by learning about writing -Frank Smith
Description of the principle
Effective writing teachers give direct instruction in the different components of the writing process (how to generate an idea, plan, draft, revise, edit, publish). They scaffold children’s understanding of these processes through demonstration, discussion, modelling and sharing exemplars which they have written themselves. The ultimate aim is for children to relinquish their dependence on this scaffolding and develop their preferred writing process.
What Writing For Pleasure teachers do
- Teachers give direct instruction in strategies for engaging in the different components of the writing process (how to generate an idea, plan, draft, revise, edit, publish). They scaffold children’s understanding of these processes through demonstration, resources, displays, discussion, sharing self-written exemplars and also techniques children have used themselves.
- Children are made to feel very knowledgeable about the writing process and confident in navigating it on their own. One way in which teachers show commitment to helping their children achieve independence is to allow them to develop and use a writing process which suits them best and to write at a pace which enables them to produce their best writing.
- Children are able to use the writing processes recursively and are not tied to a linear model.
- Teachers set very clear process goals for their writing lessons.
Reviewing your practice:questions to consider
- How do you explicitly model, teach and provide resources and use displays to aid children’s understanding and competency of all of the following writing processes: idea generation, planning, drafting, revising, editing and importantly publishing?
- How do you ensure children know the class project’s ultimate goal before splitting it up into ‘chunks’ or sub-process goals?
- How do you build on what children already know and have practiced to increase their levels of independence and personal mastery of the writing processes?
- How do you provide writerly advice and strategies during the lesson that are clearly linked to the process-writing goal set?
- How do you check that children know which writing process they have undertaken in a lesson and what process will likely come next?
- Once experienced enough, do you allow children more freedom to personalise their approach and to choose the pace in which they complete the different writing processes?
Examples from the classroom
No More Draft-Dodging
Speedy Books: Making Planning Authentic
Supporting resources
- eBook: No more: ‘I don’t know what to write’ Lessons that help children generate great writing ideas for 3-11 year olds [LINK]
- eBook: No more: I don’t know what to write next… Lessons that helps children plan great writing [LINK]
- eBook: No more: ‘My pupils can’t edit!’ A whole-school approach to developing proof-readers [LINK]
- eBook: The BIG BOOK of writing mini-lessons: Lessons that teach powerful craft knowledge for 3-11 year olds [LINK]
- Real-World Writers: A handbook for teaching writing with 7-11 year olds [LINK]
Suggested further reading
- Young, R. (2023) Trust the process: setting process goals [LINK]
- Young, R. (2023) The components of an effective writing unit [LINK]
- Young, R. (2023) Teaching children how to plan their writing in KS2 [LINK]
- Young, R. (2023) Teaching children how to plan their writing in the EYFS and KS1 [LINK]
- Young, R. (2023) How to help children plan great writing [LINK]
- Young, R., Ferguson, F., (2023) The cognitive and motivational case for inviting children to generate their own writing ideas [LINK]
- Ferguson, F., (2020) Are you a planner, adventurer or a vomiter? Teach Reading & Writing [LINK]
- Islam, S., (2020) That’s the way I work: One child’s experience of a Writing For Pleasure pedagogy [LINK]
- Young, R., Ferguson, F., (2022) Eight tips for developing great proof-readers [LINK]
- Young, R., Ferguson, F., (2022) Top tips when talking to children about editing [LINK]
- Young, R., Ferguson, F., (2022) More top tips when talking to children about editing [LINK]
A writer’s process is a recursive, flexible, and sometimes spontaneous undertaking which can, depending on the context of the writing, include a set of processes such as generating ideas, planning, drafting, revising, editing, publishing, or performing. Children need time to generate ideas, plan their writing, draft freely, and conference with their peers and teacher. They need time in which to reflect and attend to their initial drafts through revision and proof-reading until the manuscript is as accurate as possible before publication or performance. The goal of engaging children in the process of writing is to help them gain control over the types of recursive activity characteristic of mature authors. Children will participate and respond within the context of the writing situation by generating ideas for individual pieces. Planning becomes important when ideas need to be captured on paper or screen as external representations.
This chapter discusses how explicit direct instruction in the writing processes is one of the best ways of teaching apprentice writers. There is no single agreed-upon writing process, but there are many approaches to it. The writing processes are often recursive and include strategies such as exploring, generating ideas and thinking; pre-writing, visioning, dabbling, talking aloud, drawing and planning; drafting; refining, re-drafting, re-reading, improving and revising; proof-reading and editing; and publishing, performing and evaluating. Research shows that, when experienced, children should be given agency over their writing process.
Agency over writing topics contributes to the writer’s motivation, enjoyment and development. Research shows the importance of planning and drafting as a low-stakes process with the focus on composition. The important revision stage is discussed, including different types of re-reading and making improvements. Reconsidering and trying out are key to effective revising.
Motivation to proof-read and use punctuation with care comes from the sense of a genuine reader at the end of the writing. Editing skills are best embedded in the context of children’s own composition, and aspects of proof-reading can be attended to over several sessions. The chapter discusses that only when children become fluent writers can they cognitively deal with composition and transcription at the same time.
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