Myth #4: You have to know what you are going to say before you begin writing.
This myth resonated strongly with me because I am the type of writer who just starts writing and then figures it out as I go along... Sometimes my entire focus changes... I cannot begin with a graphic organizer and plan out my writing through pre-writing... I need to just "freewrite" and then work it out as I go along... That's something I struggle with when it comes to teaching writing... I understand that there are students in my class that write just as I do... I give them the choice to prewrite or begin writing... Whatever works for them... I learned this from watching students sit there and stare into space during the five minutes of prewriting time they are given... I know those students need to just "get to it.."... So, now I have worked it out that those students may just start working and if an adminstrator wants to see "prewriting," I have those students complete a graphic organizer or brainstorming chart of some sort after they've finished writing... Only my good writers can do this... but without that choice, my good writers would struggle sitting there trying to "think of what they are going to write about" and lost the opportunity to produce a great writing piece!!!!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Myths about Writing....
Posted by Ms. Crabtree at 10:20 AM
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1 comments:
Ditto!!! I find it diificult to do any pre-writing. I need to just write down whatever I am thinking as it pertains to a topic. Now, I must admit that I do go over in mind at least the topic sentence. But after that I just "go at it". I have found that balancing this way of writing and having students do a graphic organizer or some type of pre-writing activity is truly a task to behold. I'm not used to doing it, therefore teaching it makes it a struggle. As a teacher you want to follow the strategies that administrators and your district suggests or want to see; however, I want my students to better themselves as writers. I like your idea of having students write something down afterwards. In my opinion, if a student is writing GREAT! That is truly our goal, is it not? Thanks for the ideas.
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