Emergent Writing

1. Emergent Writing Discussion Points

2. Definition “Emergent writing means that children begin to understand that writing is a form of communication, and their marks on paper begin to convey a message.”

3. Social - constructivist view of early writing • How do the principles of social-constructivism apply to writing? • What are some examples of functional writing that most children will see at home?

4. Research Point: Children understand that writing conveys meaning before school entry • Why might children have a better (emergent) understanding of writing processes than reading processes before school entry?

5. First Relevant Writing: Own Name • Using what you know about young children’s psychological development, why would this be developmentally appropriate?

6. Interesting Emergent Writing Fact: • Initially, children don’t distinguish between drawing and writing because both convey meaning. • How can we make use of this knowledge in encouraging even the littlest ones to “write”?

7. 2 Broad Phases of Writing Development • What might you expect to see in birth – 3? • In ages 3 – 6? • How can your awareness of these phases help you with young students’ learning differences?

8. Details of Writing Stages: Can YOU put these in order? • SCRIBBLING • DRAWING • LETTER-LIKE FORMS • INVENTED SPELLING • CONVENTIONAL SPELLING • WELL-LEARNED UNITS OR LETTER STRINGS

9. Summary: • Morrow text has practical suggestions for all the ways to expose children to writing, from early childhood at home, into preschool • Essential: writing centers, journals, writer’s workshop, using literature etc. • Chapter 8 has a good early writing checklist PLUS excellent references, particularly because author (Morrow) has done a good deal of primary research on this.