Writing: Composition and Penmanship

Writing Instruction Tips

Though the names may vary, there are basically five steps to the writing process:

1. Pre Writing

2. Writing

3. Revising

4. Proofreading

5. Publishing

Prewriting is the stage where the writer gathers and organizes ideas. A writer may prewrite using some of the following methods:

Making lists.

Conducting research.

Formal or informal reading.

Interviews.

Brainstorming.

Webbing, clustering, or use of graphic organizers.

Outlining.

Remembering

Drawing.

Discussion.

Free writing, notebook or journal writing.

Note taking.

Prewriting is an important step of writing. It should not be skipped or cut short. I typically tell my students that after prewriting using some sort of graphical organizer and then writing a good outline, the paper practically "writes itself."

Writing is the stage where the writer, using his prewriting materials, gets his thoughts down on paper. Many feel that at this stage, the writer should write and not worry too much about mechanics or style or organization or anything other than getting everything down on paper as quickly and as easily as possible.

The writer turns sketches, notes, and ideas into sentences and paragraphs at this point. The writer should have a "recognizable" beginning, middle, and end.

Tips for the writing stage include:

Double spacing the draft so you have room to add editing marks

Before you write, determine who the audience is. Establishing your audience before you write, will make your writing easier as you can write “to that audience.”

Sometimes writers may put down their work for a day or two before moving on to revising.

Revising

During the revision stage, the writer may also want

to get a response from a reader.

Writers usually go through three stages of revision:

Adding on. This is the easiest kind of revision to accomplish. After hearing from readers, writers often realize they have left out important details.

Moving around. As the writer adds more materials, ideas may begin to "bump" into each other or interact in unforeseen ways. Getting things in the right order becomes more and more important.

Cutting out. This is the hardest thing to do, but it is often the most valuable. By this point the writer may have accumulated far more material than he originally planned.

Editing

At this point, the writer focuses on mechanics: grammar, usage, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, etc. This is the point in the process where traditional editing occurs. Grammar, usage, punctuation, spelling and minor text changes (word choice, formatting) are, ideally, the only work the paper should need at this point.

Publishing

Ideally no changes of any kind occur at this point except those that affect presentation. Keep in mind, who your audience is and what the best form is for presenting your writing.

Publication can take many forms, including:

posting in classroom/study area

submitted for formal publication to a magazine, etc.

read out loud

collected in a portfolio or web gallery

email to a relative

BE CREATIVE!

Some methods of teaching writing include giving a writing assignment the first day of the week and alloting a day for each stage of the writing process.

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Ideally, the homeschool writing teacher will walk the student through each step with each assignment until the writer is comfortable on his/her own. Writing isn't a skill that comes naturally for many people and, like other skills, is best learned with continual, guided practice. We can't expect children to become good writers by assigning a writing assignment and wait for them to turn in a great piece of writing at the end of the week without any guidance.

How do I actually teach writing?

Use the above 5 stage writing process model, walking your writer through each step.

What types of assignments should I assign?

Real life writing assignments are the most valuable types of writing assignments because, after all, that is the purpose of teaching writing--for real life use. You will probably want to expose your student to as many types of writing as you can. Keep in mind the purposes of writing: to inform, to entertain, to persuade, to describe, etc.

Below is a list of real writing assignments you might try. You may try to draw assignments from things you are studying in other subjects such as history, literature, science, Islamic studies, etc.

compiled from a variety of resources:

advertisement

arrest warrant

anecdote

biographical sketch

brochure

book/movie review

business letter

commercial script

compare/contrast

cover letter

declaration of war

deed

descriptive writing

dictionary entry

editorial

email

eviction notice

friendly letter

game review

greeting card

how to article

humorous essay

job application

job manual

journal entry

inspection analysis

interview

letter of complaint

letter of recommendation

love letter

menu description

monologue

narrative

news article

newscaster script

obituary

parody

personal narrative

persuasive essay

picture book story

play

poetry

preface/forward

problem/solution essay

product evaluation

product jingle

public announcement

reader response log

recipe

rejection letter

research paper

restaurant/food review

resume

satire

scene for a TV/radio show

screenplay

short story

speech

summary

survey results analyzed

survival story

technical support manual

thank you note

transcript

travel log

Before assigning these or other types of writing, try to show your student good examples of the particular writing format so that they know what one looks like and how it is written.

Below is a sample writing "curriculum" that I have compiled.

My approach was to rotate back and forth between the four categories, i.e. one week descriptive writing, say write about a person, the next week, expository-compare two things, the next week, persuasive writing, and so forth, cycling between the four categories.

Keep completed assignments in a portfolio or web gallery. Children usually love to go back and read completed work and you can also share it with others.

I. Descriptive Writing

a. Person (e.g. describe the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam)

b. Place (e.g. the Kabah)

c. Thing

d. Menu descriptions

II. Expository Writing

a. Compare/Contrast (two things)

b. Process/procedure/how to

i. How to perform something (e.g. wudhu, salat)

ii. How to make something (craft, recipe, etc.)

iii. Manual

iv. Survey results analysis

c. Directions

d. letters

i. friendly

ii. business

iii. letter of complaint, recommendation

e. research report

f. reaction (e.g. to current events)

g. summary

h. response to literature

i. Preface/forward to a book

j. News article

k. interview

III. Persuasive Writing

a. Opinion

i. Book review

ii. Restaurant review

iii. Game review

iv. Opinion on an issue (editorial)

v. Product evaluation

vi. Letter of recommendation

vii. Job application/cover letter

b. Influence reader’s thinking (e.g. advertisement, billboard)

IV. Narrative

a. Personal narrative

b. Short story

c. Dialogue

Composition Aids

Where do I start?

A handy chart of ideas to use for prewriting activities using the 5Ws and How.

Great Beginnings (NEW!)

Having trouble coming up with an interesting beginning

for your paragraph, essay, report?

Ideas on how to begin a piece of writing, plus examples.

Writing Descriptive Sentences (NEW!)

Use this activity on a regular basis to improve sentence writing.

This has been a very effective activity for helping my children write better sentences.

We use this on a weekly basis with vocabulary words from anywhere.

Tips for Writing a Five Sentence Paragraph (NEW!)

Walk through writing a five sentence paragraph, includes proofreading checklist.

The Writing Game:

Use this activity to walk through the steps of the writing process

to complete writing assignments.

The Writing Game Cards:

Cards to use with The Writing Game. Can be used separately as a writing handbook.

Other visual aids that I have made: ( I hope to post soon, insha Allah:) We either compile them in a binder or post on the wall.

When my students are writing, I strongly encourage them to use them as much as they can. Eventually they will not need to use them as they tend to internalize the different tips, rules, etc.

Writing Checklist

Proofreading Checklist

Punctuation Rules

Interesting Words

Capitalization Rules

Effective sentences (word choice, sentence structure)

Transitional/Terminal Words

Compare/Contrast Helping Words

Sequence Transition words

Number words

Example conclusions

Example topic sentences