Writing Development
Tips to help your young writer
The Stages of Writing Development
Preliterate writers, partially literate writers, and emerging literate writers all start in the same place. These young writers begin making scribbles, then writing letters to represent words, and then they use the oral language to sound out and write out their thoughts.
These writers also develop in their sense of audience. Starting with no audience in mind and just writing what makes sense to them, even if it is turned around and misspelled. They then turn to understand audience and the English language and start to focus on sentence structure and flow.
Because of these stages we need to encourage our students at every level. Preliterate writers are eager to share their work and to tell you what they "wrote." We need to encourage this so that they continue on their path to becoming great writers.
Print Development in Writing
This is critical! How can you express yourself through writing without first knowing how to create letters? The young writer begins by writing and rewriting the same "letter" or "word" over and over. This is known as the recurring principle. It is important to encourage your young student to take this and run with it. This will turn into letters that show an understanding of reading and writing. Your young writer will start to write letters that resemble sentences. They also use pictures to depict their thoughts and words.
So How Can You Help In The Writing Process?
Prewriting
Planning and Organizing. Two most important things to remember for prewriting. Graphic organizers help, as well as outlines and notes.
Drafting
Writing the paper or letter and really getting all the details to come together to make sense. This is like putting a puzzle together and creating something from all your notes and planning.
Revising
This is critical, so that your young writer can see how they can improve and what they do well. They can see their progress from start to finish and be proud of what they have accomplished.