Introduction to Drafting

1. Introduction to Drafting

2. What is Drafting? • Drafting is the second phase of the writing process, after prewriting and before reviewing. • It is the time when students translate their plans and ideas into more coherent text.

3. Key Elements of Drafting • Students expand upon, clarify, and modify their plans and ideas. • Students organize their content into a meaningful sequence. • Students use an iterative process—drafting and redrafting text—over time.

4. How Does Drafting Help Students? • Helps students turn their initial ideas into longer, more skillful pieces of writing. • Gives them a chance to modify their prewriting decisions.

5. Discussion Questions 1 • What are the biggest challenges your struggling writers face in moving from prewriting to drafting? • How do you guide struggling writers through the drafting and redrafting process? • What modifications do you want your students to be making to their drafts (e.g., more details, better word choices, improved sequence of ideas)?

6. How Can I Support Students Before, During, and After Drafting?

7. Use of Evidence-Based Writing Process Practices • Provide students with direct instruction • Help students write for a variety of purposes • Engage students in ongoing assessment

8. Differentiated Instruction • Plan instruction that considers students' readiness, learning needs, and interests. • Use a range of technology tools to: • engage learners at varying levels • engage learners in multiple ways. • offer students options for demonstrating understanding and mastery

9. Teacher-Dependent Ways to Differentiate • By Content • Different levels of reading or resource materials, reading buddies, small group instruction, curriculum compacting, multi-level computer programs and Web Quests, audio materials, etc. • By Product • Activity choice boards, tiered activities, multi-level learning center tasks, similar readiness groups, choice in group work, varied journal prompts, mixed readiness groups with targeted roles for students, etc. • By Process • Tiered products, students choose mode of presentation to demonstrate learning, independent study, varied rubrics, mentorships, interest-based investigations

10. Student-Dependent Ways to Differentiate • By Readiness • Options in content, topic, or theme, options in the tools needed for production, options in methods for engagement • By Profile • Consideration of gender, culture, learning styles, strengths, and weaknesses • By Interests • Identification of background knowledge/gaps in learning, vary amount of direct instruction, and practice, pace of instruction, complexity of activities, and exploration of a topic

11. Discussion Questions 2 • What roles do genre and student motivation play in engaging students in the drafting process? • Which technology tools can support students as they redraft their work? • What could go into a checklist for drafting?

12. Integrate Online and Offline Tools into the Drafting Process • Manipulatives • Interactive whiteboard • Web-based applets • Math drawing tools • Calculators • 3D design software • Graphing and charting software

13. Encourage Use of Valuable Word Processing Features • Highlighting • Underlining • Comments • Track changes • Graphics • Text-to-speech • Color coding • Font size

14. Before Drafting: Possible Strategies • Provide students with direct instruction • Provide and model use of sentence frames—from simple to complex—to guide student writing. • Help students write for a variety of purposes • Model how to take two basic (kernel) sentences and combine them into a single, more complex sentence. • Engage students in ongoing assessment • Use sticky notes to point out to students where their texts can benefit from further drafting.

15. During Drafting: Possible Strategies • Provide students with direct instruction • Meet with students individually to help them brainstorm ways to solve problems in their drafts. • Help students write for a variety of purposes • Focus on which details to keep and to cut based on purpose, audience, and format. • Engage students in ongoing assessment • Show students how to assess strengths and weaknesses of their own by exposing them to strong exemplars.

16. After Drafting:Possible Strategies • Provide students with direct instruction • Teach students how to use word processor features that support writing (e.g. spell checker, thesaurus, text-to-speech) • Help students write for a variety of purposes • Model for students how to use genre-specific checklists to assess writing. • Engage students in ongoing assessment • Within their writing portfolios, have students compare drafts to prewriting plans.

17. Discussion Questions 3 • What kinds of materials do you use to model how to draft and redraft? • What classroom management strategies do you use to carve out time to meet with students privately? • What could go into a checklist for drafting?

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