Template+Tutoring+Writing


 * Template Tutoring Writing **


 * Assignment 10/2/2012 **
 * Name: **
 * Week's Topic: **
 * Date: **
 * Site Name: **
 * Hours tutored weekly/total: **
 * Please write each question above your response to it.**


 * Topic Questions: **
 * 1) Which of ** Students' Attitudes Toward Writing in School ** applied to you in grades 1-12? Please explain why.
 * 2) In a ** Writing Process Fit for Young Writers **, which steps do you focus on the most in your writing? Which steps do you focus on the least in your writing?
 * 3) Do you like to write today? Explain why or why not and talk about the influence of growth mindsets and multiple intelligences on you as a writer.
 * 4) Has your writing improved through high school and college? Why is this so?

Reading Assignment:
Read the synopsis of **Students' Attitudes Toward Writing in School** on the wiki page below Read A **Writing Process Fit for Young Writers** on the wiki page below

**Write a poem at each of the interactive poetry engines, 4 in all:** **Scholastic Publishing Poetry Idea Engine** []



Writing and School Reform: The **//National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges//** has issued a series of reports on the state of writing in elementary and secondary schools calling for writing to be placed at the center of school curriculum instead of its

**Students' Attitudes Toward Writing in School** ** Writing in Schools Today has been called the “neglected R” ** (National Commission on Writing in America’s Schools and Colleges, 2003). **While writing is an essentially creative intellectual process, it is often taught in schools as an exercise in memorizing, editing, and manipulating of words with an emphasis on standard spelling and correct usage of conventions** (National Writing Project & Nagin, 2006).

**Students, at every grade level, say they do not enjoy writing in school, for the following reasons**:

• **Pressure/** For children in kindergarten through fourth grade, the physical demands of forming letters correctly when writing in print or cursive can make writing seem intensely laborious. They may feel pressured to spell words correctly, and use punctuation, grammar, and other conventions of written language appropriately, further diminishing any sense of enjoyment from writing.

• **Lack of Confidence/** Many young writers feel stymied by the terror of the blank page—a feeling of not knowing what to write —that begins in the early grades and continues on through middle and high school. It is very difficult for a child to write when she or he does not feel confident as a writer.

• **Lack of Joy/** Many students fail to discover the joys of expressing ideas using written language. Instead, they associate writing with worksheets devoted to grammar and punctuation or with research reports about teacher-assigned topics.

• **Misdirected Self-Evaluation/** Some students measure their proficiency as a writer by mechanics alone, as in how they form letters, how much they know about writing conventions, or how well they spell, but usually not by their ideas or the value of what they might say. “You will not like my writing,” one first grader told us at an after-school writing workshop. “It is too messy.” This child equated writing with neatness, but his fine motor control skills prevented him from producing neatly arranged text on a page.

• **Lack of Patience/** Other students lack the patience or calmness to write quietly. They want to be up and moving around, engaged with other students, sometimes to the distraction of the teacher and the rest of the class.

• **Ideas about Being Smart/** Still others connect the ease and enjoyment of writing with being smart in school. Since they do not find writing pleasant or easy to do, they conclude they are not smart, setting in motion a downward cycle of negative feelings about being a writer and a learner.

No single approach to the teaching or tutoring of writing can address all of these concerns. For this reason, many teachers try to find a “fit” between the process of writing and the needs of individual students; that is, they seek the best possible combination of adult and technological supports that will promote a sense of confidence and engagement with written language for each young writer.

You can access the Commission’s report on [|Writing and School Reform] (May 2006).

**A Writing Process Fit for Young Writers**
**//A Writing Process Fit to Young Writers is the effort to inspire students to express their ideas creatively while learning how and when to use the conventions of written language//** (Edwards, et. al., 2003).

We call the match between writing and writers “ **A Writing Process Fit to Young Writers** “ a term derived from a widely used teaching method known as “process writing.” **In this approach, classroom computers, the Internet, word processing, PowerPoint software, handheld devices, and other technologies provide ongoing support to children from initial brainstorming of ideas to final publishing of written work**. These technologies are not add-ons for writers, but ways for teachers and students to find the combination of tools that best supports each individual student as a creative writer.

Process Approaches to Writing Process writing has been at the center of writing instruction in schools for more than 30 years (Graves, 1991; Calkins, 1986; Mermelstein, 2005).

**Practiced by writers of all ages, a writing process involves the following stages:**

• **Prewriting/Brainstorming** —The writer begins by **freewriting, conversing with others, listening to read alouds, webbing ideas to connect or categorize information, or engaging in other activities that serve as a catalyst for ideas and for structuring the text**.

• **Drafting** —The writer focuses on **creating a “draft” of writing, allowing ideas to flow forth without stopping or making large changes to the text. The goal is to write whatever comes to mind and see where the ideas take the writer**. While writers often talk in terms of “first draft,” the process of drafting ideas may go on through many brainstorming sessions and several written copies.

• **Revising** —The writer revisits, reviews, re-visions the writing, to change it in ways that create clarity, increase interest, and support smooth flow of ideas. An author cannot work alone in this pursuit. Through questions and suggestions, a teacher or other writers become involved in the process of making writing interesting to readers. **Feedback from readers and listeners is then used to guide changes that produce a final draft** with improved communication between the writer and its intended audience.

• **Editing** —The writer **begins editing once a draft is revised, with the additions and deletions that clarify the meaning of the text. Editing is necessary now to check the actual physical structure from a reader’s viewpoint**. Standard punctuation and spelling make reading the writing easier, and is why these conventions exist. To ensure that editing is something young writers can do, someone knowledgeable of the rules of printed text should be the editor-in-chief, providing the expertise and support to add conventions without endless labor or confusion on the part of the writer.

• **Publishing** —The **writer shares with others a complete, but not necessarily completed, text**. Publishing **may involve many different formats, from a read aloud to a performance to a display of the writing in a public place**, with the goal of making the writing available for audiences to read and to hear.

**Brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing merge together in thought and action to generate a process of writing**. **The essence of the process is the flow of ideas that dynamically connects each element to the others. If any of the ingredients of the writing process are missing or are shortchanged, then the writer and the writing suffer.**

Writers generate ideas, compose initial versions, read and change their material, and share what they have done with readers and listeners. **Throughout, the writer is not alone, but in constant conversation with other people** (often teachers, but also other students) who offer new perspectives, thoughtful comments, and appreciative support.

**Pushing young writers to write before they are ready, making them edit a text too quickly, or rushing them from first draft to publication, all create a sense of writing as a race to the finish line with the goal of getting something done as quickly as possible.**

**Leaving the audience out of the process is also counterproductive. Writers need to have readers comment on their drafts in order to revise them and receive new reader responses as the work evolves. In this way everyone becomes a writer, always working through part of the process.** **Otherwise writing is viewed as a singular activity that only a special few have the talent and mental resolve to do well**.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ABOUT THE TOPIC:
[] "Can I Have A Word?" has been developed by Barbican Education giving teachers new ideas and resources to inspire creative writing in the classroom.

For a perspective on teaching writing to diverse learners, [|read the comments of Wilma Ortiz-Marrero], the 2010 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year, and faculty member in the Amherst Public Schools.

[|Teachers Are The Center of Education: Writing, Learning and Leading in the Digital Age,] a 2010 report that contends that technology is essential to the teaching of writing.

[|NCTE Beliefs About the Teaching of Writing] affirms the idea that every student is a writer, right now.

[|Required Writing in Physics Class] from //The Washington Post//, October 14, 2010.



Do you know of the downloadable podcasts to help you with writing? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/who-versus-that.aspx
 * Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing**


 * Riddle Interactive ** from the National Council of Teachers of English

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/riddle/index.html


 * Scholastic Publishing Poetry Idea Engine **

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/poetry_engine.htm