Teaching Writing Through the Process-Oriented Approach

1. Teaching Writing Through the Process-Oriented Approach Amy Millspaugh Teac 922B – Spring 2014

2. Writing Task • For this assignment, students (3rd or 4th level German) will be writing a blog post reviewing a movie they have watched recently • The class will have watched a movie together in order to practice the skills they will need to write their review, so students can always use this movie if they have not watched any others recently • Students must include a short summary of the movie, their opinion about the movie, and examples to back up their opinion • This task fulfills Williams’s requirements for a good writing assignment, including: • The task has a communicative purpose • The task fits into a sequence of writing tasks building toward a clear goal (in this case, the goal is the movie review itself) • The content is interesting and accessible to learners • The assignment is narrow enough to be timely, but also broad enough to allow students to further their knowledge • Students are provided direction about the format, as well as how the task should be completed

3. Considerations before Writing • Audience – Who will be reading this? • In this case, the student is writing a blog post that could be to a number of different audiences, so they must have a clear audience in mind • Fellow students • Movie lovers • Superhero fans • Purpose – Why will they be reading this? What do they already know? What knowledge do they hope to gain? • Depending on the chosen audience, students will have answers to these questions • If the audience is movie lovers, for example, they might be reading the blog to find out what others think of the movie and if these opinions are the same as theirs

4. Prewriting phase • The purpose of the prewriting phase is to invent, discover, and gather ideas before writing • Invention techniques include • Free writing or fast writing • Looping (writing a paragraph or two and then going back and summarizing in one sentence) • Ways to generate ideas include • Brainstorming • Taking notes or outlining • Mind maps or brain diagrams • Asking questions

5. Prewriting Tasks • The teacher leads students in creating a mind map about the format and aspects of a review • Students use what they have learned over the past few weeks about writing, as well as giving their opinions about a movie to help create the mind map • Students also take notes, creating their own mind map in their notebooks • Students then brainstorm movies they have watched recently, choose a movie, and then create two lists of words that could be used in a review • The first list will include words related to the plot of the movie • The second list includes words concerning the student’s opinion about the movie • Students then determine who their audience is and answer the questions, “Who?” and “Why?” • Finally, students identify their thesis or “main point”

6. Drafting phase • Students should be reminded that some writers start at the beginning, while others start writing in the middle, and that it is ok to go back to prewriting activities even after they have begun writing • These questions should be kept in mind while writing: • What is my paper about? • What am I claiming? • Can I support that claim with the rest of what I have written/will write? • When students are ready to write the introduction, they should include these elements: • Topic • Thesis statement • Finally, students should make sure the sentences in each paragraph support the intro. sentence

7. Drafting Phase (Cont.) • There are also questions students can ask when they are stuck in their writing • A point I have not addressed is… • Another aspect of this argument is… • The reason for this is… • This reminds me of… • An example of this is… • My opinion of this is…

8. Drafting Tasks • For this assignment, students will be asked to simply sit down and write a first draft of their movie review • Students can decide whether they want to start with the introduction or the main body • Students should make sure their first draft has an introduction, a paragraph summarizing the movie, a paragraph containing their opinion and reasons, and a conclusion • When students are finished writing their first draft, they should go back and make sure they addressed the main point of their paper fully (i.e. Did they prove their main point?) • At this point, students also give each other feedback or receive feedback from the teacher

9. Revising Phase • It is often helpful to put the first draft aside for a while and let some time pass before revisiting • Students should be able to recognize the different between revising (paying attention to content, organization, and flow) and editing (finding and correcting mistakes) • Students should also know that sometimes revising can feel like taking steps backwards in the writing process • Strategies for writing include outlining the paper and paying attention to the organization of the text

10. Revising Tasks • Students will first go through a copy of their text and use a highlighter to mark each topic sentence • Students will then create an outline of their text with each of these sentences as the main sections of the outline • Students will determine whether or not their paragraphs are complete and sufficient and if the paragraphs support the main topic of the paper • Students will then participate in peer feedback groups • Groups of 3-4 • The students will read each others papers, using post-it notes to mark places where they are confused or have questions (?), ideas they find important (!), and things they like (+). • Students will then have a discussion about the papers, focusing on one paper at a time and giving both positive feedback and constructive criticism, making sure to be specific in their statements

11. Editing Phase • Editing should take place throughout the writing process to some degree, but the editing phase is where students specifically focus on surface issues, such as grammar and spelling mistakes, as well as word choice • It makes sense to put the editing phase at this point in the writing process, since until now students have been continually revising and changing their writing • Remind students that it is ok to make mistakes, but grammar, spelling, and word choice often play a role in how a text is received and how the message comes across, so it is also important to edit • i.e. Content and form are a unified whole

12. Editing Tasks • Students will first review their first draft on their own, correcting mistakes as needed • Students will then turn in an initial draft of their movie review, the teacher will mark the draft with different colors or symbols that correspond with different types of mistakes • Correct gender of nouns • Correct case of nouns • Subject-verb agreement • Adjective endings • Word choice • Students will then review the feedback, making chances as necessary