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Answer to #1
Answer: Creating a comfortable, supportive classroom environment is vital for writing development. Care in fostering risk-taking in writing, providing feedback, providing opportunities for writing in various forms and for different purposes, and nurturing student confidence are all essential components of the classroom environment. The ideal classroom may include: an area for small group instruction, an author's chair, a writing center, a system for organizing student writing portfolios, a place to display student writing, and a publishing center.
Answer to #2
Answer: The response should address how the writer's workshop format covers all aspects of the writing process. Students learn the mechanics of writing, engage in writing, and share their works. They also benefit from reading their own writing. Writing content should be valued above errors as it fosters writing development, confidence, and fluency. Correcting errors or spelling words for students as they write interrupts the flow of ideas and can reinforce bad habits such as waiting for the teacher to spell a new word instead of trying it on your own or waiting for the teacher to rescue you by providing ideas.
Answer to #3
Answer: These informal conferences focus on the student as an author and address needs or concerns the student has about a writing assignment in progress, the writing process in general, or how they are developing as writers. The key to the success of author conferences is that the student receives feedback that encourages him or her to want to write again. Some questions to ask are: What is your topic? Do you need a plan? How are you coming along? Do you have enough details for your audience? Conferences can help a teacher assess student needs and establish writing groups.
Answer to #4
Answer: Revising requires writers to analyze their writing from a reader's perspective. Revising focuses on the content and the organization of the writing as well as the words used by the author with an eye towards the purpose and audience. Editing attends to punctuation, correctness, and appearance. Having students revise before editing contributes to the writer's fluency and confidence. A young writer's content should be valued above grammatical correctness to encourage confidence and maintain fluency in writing.
Answer to #5
Answer: The writing process includes prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Prewriting is the time spent planning, brainstorming, and organizing for writing. Prewriting activities include: art activities, freewriting both focused and unfocused, reading for structure or content, graphic organizers, and journaling. Drafting is the process of creating the piece of writing. When students engage in writing, teachers need to provide time for students to write on their own. Teachers should be available to stimulate through questioning or comments. Students need not worry about spelling at this stage. For primary students who lack adequate writing mechanics, dictation is okay. Revising requires writers to analyze their writing from a reader's perspective, a skill that is sometimes difficult for young writers. Revising focuses on the content and the organization of the writing, as well as the words used by the author, with an eye towards the purpose and audience. Revising activities include: partner reading, author conferences, and writing groups. Editing attends to punctuation, correctness, and appearance. The same strategies used for revising are effective when editing. The final step in the writing process is publishing. Activities for sharing published writing include: author's chair, posting works in a special area of the classroom, and hosting a young author's conference.
Answer to #6
Answer: Most of the writing students do falls into three categories according to function or purpose. They are: expressive writing (writing that conveys concerns, feelings, and observations); transactional writing (writing that explains, describes, and persuades); and poetic writing (writing that is done and enjoyed for its own sake). Examples of expressive writing include letters that share personal feelings or journal entries discussing personal reactions to a situation. Expressive writing is most often used by younger writers to convey personal messages. Transactional writing examples include letters written to persuade, essays, descriptions, and explanations. Transactional writing is usually more focused, detailed, and written from an objective point of view. Examples of poetic writing include poetry, plays, fiction, and dramatic scripts. Poetic writing focuses on the language used to impress the reader rather than to convey information as with transactional writing.
Answer to #7
Answer: Marie Clay identified the following characteristics of early writing: the recurring principle, the directionality feature, the generating principle, graphic features, and nonprint features. These graphic features include the flexibility principle and message concept. Nonprint or the use of drawings, signs, or nonprint graphics are important print substitution for preliterate writers.
Answer to #8
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