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 learn new skills, we are not expected to figure things out by ourselves. Most students need help getting started, and because learning styles are different, students need to explore whatever methods work best for them. At every stage of the process, writers need each other to brainstorm, to read and comment on drafts, and to help revise, edit, and proofread each other’s work. The first few weeks of the school year will include lessons to help you extend your own thinking as you work beyond your first thoughts on a topic.

·         Respect the ideas of others. Communication goes two ways. In the process of exploring and expressing your ideas, you must be open to other points of view, whether they come from your teachers, your classmates, or your own reading. You can debate opposing ideas without criticizing the people who hold those ideas.

·         Finally, practice, practice, practice. This means willing to put in the necessary time and effort to achieve the needed results.

An Outline of the Writing Process

I.                    Prewriting Stages

A.      Choose your topic and consider what aspect of that topic interests you.

B.      Gather ideas using prewriting techniques.

II.                  Writing and Revising

A.      Compose a first draft and then set it aside for a time.

B.      Reread your first draft and ask for input.

C.      Revise the first draft by adding, cutting, and moving material.

D.      Continue to revise, correcting grammar errors and producing new drafts.

III.                Publishing

A.      Check the final draft for grammar, usage, and mechanics errors.

B.      Type a clean final copy for publication.

C.      Turn our published piece into the teacher.

·         You will go through all steps of the writing process for each piece that you publish.

·         Keep all prewriting, and drafts with revisions in your workshop binder in the correct section.

Writing Task

·         Create a mind map about yourself. This mind map is prewriting for a later piece of writing.

·         The mind map is due tomorrow.

·         You must write for the entire writing time (30 minutes).

·         Stay focused and on task during the entire time.