Writing and Composition

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Writing and Composition

• TE 301

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How Children Learn to Write

• Through discoverycreating their own strategies
  for writing
• Moving developmentally from strategy to strategy
• By others around them providing meaningful
  examples
• From each other as they figure out how to write
• Temple,C. Nathan, R., Temple F, Burris, N.A.
  (1993). The beginnings of writing. Needham
  Heights, MA Allyn and Bacon.

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Writing Development

• Writing develops over time
• Six common stages to writing
• Writing through drawing
• Writing through scribbling
• Writing through letterlike forms
• Writing through familiar units of letter strings
• Writing through estimated spelling
• Writing through conventional spelling

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Writing Through Drawing

• One of the first ways that children express their
  thoughts and ideas on paper

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Writing Through Scribbling

• Writing (squiggly lines) starts to differ from
  drawing (circles and scribbles)
• Writing may follow a structure (looks like a
  letter, list or story)

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Writing Through Letterlike Forms and Letter
Strings

• Letters and letterlike forms start to appear
• Writing may include strings of letters put
  together (that dont necessarily form words)

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Writing Through Estimated Spelling

• Writing includes more letters (more
  conventionally formed)
• Use knowledge of sounds to help in writing

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Writing Through Conventional Spelling

• With time and exposure to print in books and in
  the environment, children will begin to spelling
  more conventionally
• Not expected until formal school entry

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Concepts in Emergent Writing

• recurring principle writing consists of the
  same moves repeated over and over again
• generative principle writing created by
  employing the same small set of letters combined
  in different ways
• sign concept a graphic display representing
  text
• flexibility concept letters can be varied to
  produce new letters
• directionality arrangement of print on a page
• negative space the space left between words
• Temple,C. Nathan, R., Temple F, Burris, N.A.
  (1993). The beginnings of writing. Needham
  Heights, MA Allyn and Bacon.

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Using Names to Learn to Write

• First piece of writing for most children is their
  own names
• Name teaches the child a repertory of letters
• Generative principle allows the child to use a
  limited set of letters to fill a page
• Flexibility principle allows the child to use a
  limited set of letters and embellish them to
  become new letters
• Temple,C. Nathan, R., Temple F, Burris, N.A.
  (1993). The beginnings of writing. Needham
  Heights, MA Allyn and Bacon.

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Strategies for Early Writing

• Tracing-writing over the letters someone else has
  written
• Copying-using the letters someone else has
  written as a prompt to write ones own letters
• Generating-creating ones own letters without
  prompting
• Inventory principletendency to make lists of
  letters or words kids can write
• Temple,C. Nathan, R., Temple F, Burris, N.A.
  (1993). The beginnings of writing. Needham
  Heights, MA Allyn and Bacon.

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Concepts for more Practiced Writing

• invented spelling early spellings children
  produce on their own
• Example mskedas (mosquitos)
• letter-name strategy using a letter to spell a
  sound if the name of the letter closely resembles
  the sound
• Example lade (lady)
• incorrect use of digraphs using one letter to
  spell a digraph, or sound produced by two letters
• Example ihovr (each other)
• Temple,C. Nathan, R., Temple F, Burris, N.A.
  (1993). The beginnings of writing. Needham
  Heights, MA Allyn and Bacon.

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Concepts for more Practiced Writing, contd.

• invented spelling of long vowels lack markers
  to indicate longness
• Example nam (name)
• invented spelling of short vowels use of
  letter-name strategy in place of short vowel
• Example veset (visit) or mod (mud)
• vowel omissions lack of vowels in syllables
• Example letl (little) or sopr (supper)
• transitional spelling words may look like
  English words but are spelled incorrectly
• Example dayses (daises)
• Temple,C. Nathan, R., Temple F, Burris, N.A.
  (1993). The beginnings of writing. Needham
  Heights, MA Allyn and Bacon.

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Strategies for Scaffolding Emergent and Early
Writing

• Ask the child what he would like to write
• Repeat what the child says
• Draw one line for each word using a highlighter
  or pen. Have the child write one word per line
• Read and reread the message together as
  necessary, practicing one-to-one match

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Examples of Some Spelling Rules

• Vowel consonant when a vowel is followed by a
  consonant that vowel has a short pronunciation
  (e.g., mat)
• Vowel consonant e, i, or y when a vowel is
  followed by a consonant, followed by any one of
  these three vowels, the vowel has a long
  pronunciation
• Temple, C. Nathan, R., Temple F, Burris, N.A.
  (1993). The beginnings of writing. Needham
  Heights, MA Allyn and Bacon.

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Stages of Spelling Development

• Prephonemic-stringing of letters together without
  attempting to represent speech sounds in any
  systematic way.
• Early phonemic-spelling in which letters are used
  to represent sounds, but letters are often
  written for only one or two sounds in a word.
• Temple,C. Nathan, R., Temple F, Burris, N.A.
  (1993). The beginnings of writing. Needham
  Heights, MA Allyn and Bacon.

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Stages of Spelling Development, contd.

• Letter-name-letters are chosen to represent
  phonemes based on the similarities between the
  sound of the letter-names and the respective
  phonemes.
• Transitional-words look like English, yet are
  often spelled incorrectly.
• Correct-majority of words are spelled correctly.
• Temple,C. Nathan, R., Temple F, Burris, N.A.
  (1993). The beginnings of writing. Needham
  Heights, MA Allyn and Bacon.

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Craft

• Sense of who the audience is
• Word choice
• Mirroring mentor texts in format, which varies by
  genre
• Creating more complex sentences
• Rhythm and rhyme (especially in poetry)
• Using metaphors, similes, foreshadowing, and
  other devices

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Three Modes of Writing

• Expressive mode free flow of ideas and feelings,
  closest to self
• Poetic mode considered more of an art medium
• Transactional mode attempts to persuade or
  advise others
• Britton, J. (1970). Language and learning.
  Harmondsworth, England Penguin Books.

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Is Composition Different from Writing?

• Children can compose before they write. They like
  to dictate their stories to others.
• Children plagiarize. That is, they often pull
  bits and pieces from the works of others into
  their own works.
• A challenge for kids is to think about the
  interest of themselves as authors, their
  audience, their topic, and their purpose for
  writing.

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Revising and Editing

• Revising- changing the content of the piece (word
  choice, storyline, voice, etc.)
• Editing- fixing the mechanics of the piece
  (spelling, punctuation, etc.)