In this article, we describe student-centered routines that prepare students for success on ambitious text-based writing assignments. Based on research showing the important role that peer collaboration and classroom discussion play in developing students' thinking, these routines support students to 'try out' their ideas, learn from the…

In writing instruction, teachers often struggle with developing engaging and interactive activities given constraints such as large classes and packed teaching schedules. A purposeful and appealing pre-task can energize the writing process and set the context for the subsequent writing task. With this purpose in mind, the author designed the…

Storyboards deliver a narrative through discrete visual representations. The purpose of the storyboards was always to "scaffold" the final product and students were free to add, delete, or adapt those images that were most helpful to their project. The storyboards served as a brainstorming activity, much like a prewriting exercise for a written…

With respect to the writing process in particular, a now well-established body of research demonstrates that process-oriented writing instruction benefits student achievement in writing. Process-oriented terms and concepts have entered the material environment of America's schools, in textbooks and curricula even where the theoretical bases…

The authors investigated whether a series of mini prewriting assignments linked to a formal paper describing an original research project would improve preservice elementary teachers' writing abilities in a science context. They compared 38 final reports from students who completed the prewriting assignments with 38 reports randomly selected from…

Improve students' writing skills and boost their assessment scores while adding arts education, creativity, and fun to your writing curriculum. With this vibrant resource, improving writing skills goes hand-in-hand with improving test scores. Students learn how to use acting and visualization as prewriting activities to help them connect writing…

Presents a procedural model for use as a prewriting strategy to help students "decenter" or distance themselves from their writing and avoid the generalities that characterize egocentric writing. The model provides opposing viewpoints in a student's analysis of problems or issues. (HTH)

Semantic mapping is offered as a prewriting strategy to help students (of all ages) with hearing impairments organize and structure their writing. Semantic mapping can offer these students a visual access to the writing process. (DB)

Describes method in which students write a draft requiring some writing skill before learning about that skill. Concludes that predrafting (1) enforces first-drafting; (2) shows students their natural writing abilities; (3) emphasizes discovery of substance first, rules and form second; (4) promotes an active student role; (5) arranges learning in…

A practical guide to establish an early writing program begins in kindergarten with children dictating a story that a teacher or parent volunteer records on paper. In first grade, 30 minutes are set aside for writing. Additional ways are suggested to infuse writing activities into every subject in a child's schooling. (MLF)

This essay is intended to assist teachers in helping students develop the art of resume writing. The curriculum outlined is based on prewriting, writing, and rewriting and on using sample entry-level resumes to illustrate basic resume do's and don'ts. The first section outlines the importance of good resumes and the pitfalls of having vocational…

This lesson uses the informational power of the Internet for a prewriting activity. Through various Internet sites, students gather information about the history and celebration practices associated with Veterans Day. Following the prewriting activity, students write content-rich poems that honor veterans. During the 45-minute prewriting session,…

Adapts Edward de Bono's "Intermediate Impossible" strategy--for considering ideas that normally would be discarded as stepping-stones to new ideas--for use as a prewriting activity to enhance creative problem solving. (HTH)

Developed to provide supplementary instructional strategies for reading teachers at the kindergarten level, this booklet presents the instructional module for completing patterns, a component of the Comprehensive Reading Program of the Chicago Public Schools. After an overview of the module, activities are suggested for the following areas:…

Although handwriting should not be formally taught in the preschool years, teachers can help children develop visual motor integration and other related skills required for writing. The activities suggested in this manual, while neither new nor different, are presented in a simple step-by-step form designed to facilitate success. Exercises focus…