Literacy Speaks Volumes

Outlining is the most formal method of organizing your idea. Outlining uses a very particular structure for organizing your idea. A writer will outline after he has done most of his other prewriting. Formal outlines distinguish between a central idea and a supporting idea. Formal outlines use Roman numerals for major points, indented capital letters for details, and Arabic numbers for more precise details. I.                     Introductory Paragraph: Training a Labrador retriever is easy if you follow these steps. A.       Start training when the dog is a puppy. B.       Train in small increments of time. C.       Be patient. D.       Reward your puppy for doing the correct thing, II.                ...

Focusing Ideas Writers must narrow their topic and link their topic to other subjects. The point where those ideas link is a great place to look. Exploring a Writing Topic ·          Think of the big picture. How broad is your topic? ·          Where does the text overlap or connect with others? This point of connection can be a good topic about which to write. ·          Use the 5Ws and H to define your topic. ·          Once you know your topic, narrow it down. What exactly are you interested? ·          After narrowing your topic, look at it again. What are its individual parts? Can you narrow it down even more? ·          What is the history of the topic? Where did you learn about this issue? ·     ...

Observation The world is an interesting place, and it is full of ideas for writing. Writers must be keen observers of the world. You should learn to see things, not in isolation but in relation to other things. How do things affect each other? How are they connected? Writers must use all of their senses to gain a full appreciation of their world. The senses that authors use are seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. Observation is crucial to prewriting. Most folks see a tree only as a trunk, branches and leaves. A tree is much more. Its roots hold the soil and draw water from the ground. It provides a home for birds, squirrels, and other animals. Its leaves are food and shelter for insects. Trees help provide the world’s atmospheric oxygen. Every tree is a part of an ecosystem. Each of these relationships is a topic for writing. Writing Idea: Choose a place like a park, your backyard, or your bedroom. What is this place? What are the relationships among th...

Using Personal Experience to Find Ideas One of the best places to find ideas for writing is through your experiences. Things that we have learned or things that have happened to us are the sparks that can ignite our writing. Your experiences are important to your writing. You already have had many experiences that can provide material for your writing. You just haven’t uncovered those ideas yet. Sometimes our writing ideas are tucked away in the corners of our minds. Inventory of Personal Experiences ·          What am I interested in? ·          What do I like? ·          What do I dislike? ·          What makes me different from other people? ·          What do I like about myself? ·          What do I dislike about myself? ...

Idea Listing Idea listing is similar to brainstorming and clustering. Write your general topic at the top of your sheet of paper. Then, list as many ideas you can about that topic. Sometimes, your list will resemble clusters when they are finished. Don’t worry about order or relationships, simply write as many ideas as you can think of. The purpose of listing is to generate ideas. When you finish your listing, go back and review your ideas. Brainstorming Brainstorming is a prewriting strategy in which a person quickly lists everything about a topic. Effective brainstorming relies on the following: ·          Record all of your ideas. ·          Do not take time to analyze ideas or look for relationships among the ideas. ·          When finished, go back and then look for relationships. Researching as a Way to Find an Idea After you have chosen a ge...

Lesson Plan 4 Developing an Idea for Writing through Free Writing Prewriting encompasses all the activities and strategies that prepare an author to write. The prewriting stage of the writing process is the time when authors find and focus topics, generate and develop ideas, and decide on the best method to express their ideas to readers. Prewriting is an essential part of the writing process. Authors don’t rely on just one form of prewriting. Authors use more than one prewriting strategy or a combination of strategies. You should always use a prewriting strategy that is most helpful to you as a writer. Any type of prewriting technique will engage your mind with the topic; it will fire up your imagination and creativity. Prewriting provides the foundation for the writing that is to come. Free writing is a prewriting activity in which the author writes freely to discover and explore ideas. For many writers, topics become apparent only after they have started writing. The...

Minilesson 3 Beginning to Write: Caring About Your Topic Whether you are writing an essay for English class or a report for social studies, your belief in the importance of your topic and confidence in your own ideas will be major factors in your success as a writer. Sometimes writing an essay can seem to have little or no relevance beyond getting a passing grade. In this class, however, you should consider every assignment as an opportunity to do the following: ·          Discover that you have ideas worth expressing. ·          Explore topics that you care about. ·          Incorporate the ideas of others into your own work. Prewriting Techniques: The First Step in the Writing Process Prewriting is the earliest stage of the writing process. It uses techniques such as brainstorming, clustering, and outlining to transform thoughts into words. Ver...

Minilesson 2 An Invitation to Writing ·          Begin with a positive attitude. You know more than you think. You have unique life experiences, and your ideas are worth writing about. Fortunately, writing is a skill that can be developed. No matter what your present writing skills are, practice will help you improve those skills. ·          Be receptive to new techniques and approaches. As a student beginning this course, you undoubtedly have not yet explored all the various techniques writers use to generate ideas on paper, and you may still have to learn how to incorporate other people’s ideas in your writing. Be willing to experiment with these new techniques. Once you practice these proven techniques, you will feel a new confidence as you tackle your own writing assignments. ·          Actively reach out and welcome help from others. When we lear...

Minilesson 1 Student Responsibilities in the Writing Workshop This year you will be taking part in a writing workshop. As in any other class, you will assume various responsibilities. To ensure a successful experience in the writing workshop, you will do the following: ·          Come to class each day ready to write. ·          Maintain a workshop binder in which you will keep your writing. ·          Bring your workshop binder to class each day. ·          Find and develop topics for your writing. ·          Experiment with different types of writing. ·          Learn and use the rules of written English. ·          Complete pieces of writing in a timely manner. ·    ...