Writing demonstrations

Teaching Pre K-8, Nov/Dec 1997 by Manning, Maryann

Standard, routine and alternative writing activities teach children the importance of the literary process.

I used group stories with my primary and intermediate students in my early years as a teacher because I was a product of R. Van Allen's language experience movement. My students knew that whenever we saw a beautiful butterfly, or went on a field trip, there would be a group story.

It went the same way every day: we wrote a title, someone dictated a lead sentence and other students contributed sentences until we had the entire story. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell you to do it the way I did it then; for many reasons, I teach writing much differently now.

Activities. I thought deeply about the importance of writing demonstrations on my first visit to schools in New Zealand and Australia. Every day I saw teachers walking students through writing activities from report writing to mystery pieces. A teacher of ten-year-olds demonstrated writing a newspaper story in front of her students. She began by interviewing a student who had seen a car wreck on the way to school, then drafted the story, revised it and published it on pages of chart paper.

When I began studying early literacy and saw the importance of writing demonstrations in the home, I also changed my views. Children who observed their parents and others writing constructed more about the writing process than those with few demonstrations. My steno pad was a familiar sight to my own children because they saw it throughout their waking days; I record all the details of my life. My children saw me at a computer daily. Even though I'm a parent who is a teacher, I didn't realize the value of these literacy episodes until I saw the effects of demonstrations, or the lack of them, on young children's writing ability. I now recommend writing in front of children of all ages as much as possible.

Writing process. I don't like to use the term "modeled writing," because it implies that you want your students to do it exactly as you do it. I prefer "demonstration," which is simply a public display by a writer of the writing process.

Teachers write in front of children as part of their duties: notes to the librarian, book orders, requests to the principal, etc. These routine tasks all serve as writing demonstrations.

An easel, or the chalkboard may be your preference, but I like the overhead projector. You act as a scribe for the ideas of students or write your own thoughts, thinking aloud as you write. Cross out and insert, use all the editing marks that you want your students to use. Show how you rearrange text even though you can't cut and paste on the chalkboard or overhead. While writing, ask questions related to each topic such as: "Do I find the topic interesting and would it be interesting to my readers? Is this a good lead sentence? Is my information accurate? Can the reader hear my voice? Could I have a better conclusion? How do I think this word is spelled? Do I need to start a new paragraph? Do I need a comma? Would it be better to use a contraction? Do my subjects and verbs agree? What end punctuation do I need? How can I improve the flow of this sentence or paragraph? Is the piece focused?"

PRIMARY GRADES

Personal demonstrations. Write a paragraph each day about things in your life your students will understand. Focus on ordinary events and think aloud as a writer: your baby or grandchild's first steps, a flat tire on the way to work...

Daily news. Ask children to volunteer statements about events important in their lives: "I have a new pair of red shoes that we found at the mall," and "My daddy took me to play at the new park last night."

Shared writing. Often called language experience stories, it's simply writing with children. The ideas develop collaboratively, but the teacher acts as the scribe.

INTERMEDIATE GRADES & MIDDLE SCHOOL

Personal demonstrations. Write a short piece on the overhead projector. Vary the genre you use so students will see how your feelings and ideas are expressed in different literary forms.

Mini-lessons. Use published pieces, or your own writing, or a combination of both. Some teachers think the text we write is inferior to published text. Even if it is, the text we write makes the point we are trying to teach and makes the point allowing students to watch us as writers.

Writer's notebook. Share pages from your writer's notebook with students. They need to see your entries as they gain insights about keeping their own notebook. They will benefit from seeing you write about the beauty of a rose, happy feelings about colorful sunsets, and yes, sad moments, too.

Compose pieces or issues. Demonstrate to students how writing can give voice to their concerns. Compose a letter to the editor or similar forum about issues that are of interest to students.

I've just scratched the surface on ways to support your students' writing with demonstrations. I know you will explore those strategies that work for you.

Maryann Manning is on the faculty of the School of Education, The University of Alabama at Birmingham and is a Teaching Editor of Teaching K-8.