Get Ready to Write!

1. Get Ready to Write! February 7, 2007North Hunterdon - Voorhees Local Professional Development Committee

2. Agenda • Overview of Writing as a Process • Prewriting Strategies • Break out sessions – Staff explores “Inspiration”

3. Importance of Writing as a Process • Act of constructing meaning • Tool for learning • Enhances a student’s metacognitive skills • Skills must be directly taught

4. Process Overview

5. “Encouraging students at the beginning ofan assignment to use prewriting techniques … relieves anxiety in students who put off beginning a major writing assignment for fear of not being able to write ‘perfectly.’” Koffolt & Holt

6. Prewriting Strategies • Looping • Wheel • Concept Mapping • More in toolbox

7. Looping • Freewrite 2-3 minutes • Student stops and reads what has been written • Choose a word or phrase from first loop and use it at the start second loop sentence • Freewrite 2-3 minutes • Repeat the process one more time

8. Looping

9. Hub = A word or phrase that represents main idea Spokes = Concrete examples to support main idea Rim = Thesis statement Can be used to organize paragraphs or entire paper Writing Wheel Thesis Statement Examples to Support Thesis Statement Student’s Main Idea

10. Concept Map • Graphic representation • Key words • Teaches students to differentiate • Can be utilized in prewriting, revising or post-writing activity.

11. Concept Map

12. Inspiration Concept Map

13. Concept Map Introduction • Use to generate a topic • Brainstorming stage • Can organize ideas into categories • See structure to expand/contract • Use for first draft

14. nhv-prewriting.wikispaces.com

15. Summary • Overview of Writing as a Process • Prewriting Strategies • Break out sessions – Staff explores “Inspiration”