Step by Step
Module 1, Activity 2.8 - The Writing Process
Teacher Page
(student page for this lesson)

Introduction:

In the same way that an athlete must go through a process of warming up and preparing before a game, writers must go through a process before writing. Many students not only skip the warm up, they omit any discussion during the game, and never even develop a strategy for the game itself. In this lesson the students will review the steps in the writing process and have the chance to use the process in writing a letter to the editor.

Resources:

- internet access or books/articles on the writing process.
- newspapers
- examples of letters to the editor
- checklist (.doc) or (.rtf)

Activities:

Task One - Review the Process
Students should be familiar with the writing process at this level. However, it is important to review the specific steps before having the students engage in an activity using the writing process. You may choose to simply orally review the process if you have used it recently. If not, the jigsaw below is a good review.

Have resources on the writing process in the classroom or available online. The following resources may be useful starting points:

Websites
writing process
the steps of the writing process.

Textbooks
Writer's Inc.
The Writer's Workshop.

Using these resources, or others that you may have at your school, the students can review the steps of the writing process through a jigsaw. See specific instructions for the jigsaw on the student version of this page.

Need more information on Jigsaw? View the On-line Learning Center's page on Jigsaw.

It will be necessary for you to set guidelines for what the students must find. They should:

1. Read from at least two different sources
2. Have between 6-10 points about their topic.
3. Look for information on what is included in the step and the different ways they might accomplish the goals of the step.

Task Two - Use the Process
Once the students have reviewed the process, it is time to have them use it. Assign the class the task of writing a letter to the editor. At this time it will important to review the concept of bias. Discuss with the students that as journalists, they would not be writing letters to the editor as they only look at one side of the issue. However, today is their chance to put on the "hat of the reader" and express a personal opinion.

Want more information on teaching about bias?
Have a look at the lesson Bias/Slant/Spin.

To begin the writing process, students will need to come up with some ideas of what they might want to write about. See the student page for this lesson. This can often be one of the most challenging aspects for students. The idea of staring at a blank page can be very daunting. By generating a list of ideas as a class, or giving the students resources such as newspapers to look through for potential ideas, you can ease the pressure of having to come up with that one great idea.

Task Two Continued. . .
Once the students have had time to generate and choose an idea, they are ready to receive information on format for letter to the editor.

Give the class a structured overview of what should be included in a letter to the editor. See the student page for this lesson.

The students should now be ready to draft. This is often the easiest stage for students. Once they have an idea in mind, the drafting process allows them to simply write. You can remind them that they shouldn't worry about format or grammar at this point. The drafting process should be a flow of ideas.

If students are having trouble getting started, it may help to have sample letters to the editor and access to the internet for short periods of research.

Once the students have finished drafting their first copy, they should spend some time, revising. In a two step process, have the students revise individually first. At this time they should:

1. Look back at the samples to see if their format is correct.
2. Read their letter carefully and cut out any information that is unnecessary.

When they have finished revising themselves, they should move to the second step. Have the students read their letters to a classmate. The classmate must:

1. Tell her partner what she liked about the article. 2. Let the writer know if there are any parts of the letter that need improving or any questions that are unanswered.

For this reason, having the writer of the letter read it to a partner means the partner will only be able to listen and comment on ideas.

After the students have worked with a partner to revise their letter, they are ready to move on to editing. Now, working with their partners, they will trade papers and edit for grammar, spelling, mechanics and format.

Task Two is the students' chance to experiment with the writing process. The teacher may want the students to show evidence of the process by handing in the pre-writing, the rough drafts and the final draft. Instead of grading the final copy, you may want to give a completion mark for the steps of the process using a simple checklist.

Be sure that the students keep their letters to the editor once they have been handed back. They may be a useful jumping point to generate ideas for the editorials they will be writing in Activity Group 4.