English Language Arts and Reading.5.11.A

The student is expected to

plan a first draft by selecting a genre for a particular topic, purpose, and audience using a range of strategies such as brainstorming, freewriting, and mapping;

writing process TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--writing process. The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions.

Provide students with an assigned topic, purpose, and audience for which they will create a piece of writing. As students begin the writing activity, instruct them to use brainstorming, freewriting, or mapping to organize their work.
 

Further Explanation

This example can help gauge students’ familiarity with prewriting strategies in the planning stage of the writing process. Students should be able to select their own strategies to help plan and make decisions.

the intended target group for a message, regardless of the medium
the author’s primary goal in a piece of writing, such as to narrate, to argue, to review, to explain, or to examine.
a technique in which many ideas are generated quickly and without judgment or evaluation, usually as part of a problem-solving process or to inspire creative thinking Brainstorming may happen in a classroom, with a small group, or individually.
the product a writer creates during the writing process when the writer organizes thoughts and attempts to create a cohesive text that supports the purpose and message
a prewriting technique in which a person writes continuously for a set period of time without regard to spelling, grammar, or topic Freewriting is similar to brainstorming but written in sentence and paragraph form and produces raw, often unusable material that has the potential to increase the flow of ideas for writers.
the type or class of a work, usually categorized by form, technique, or content Literary genres include tragedy, comedy, poetry, novel, short story, creative/literary nonfiction, etc. and the sub genres of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, horror, satire, etc. Nonfiction genres include biography, essay, memoir, historical text, scientific text, academic reporting, etc.
a structured way to organize thoughts and notes on a topic prior to writing; an organized format for showing important information and relationships among pieces of information by using a series of boxes, circles, or lines. Note: Mapping is different from the unstructured strategy of brainstorming wherein students produce notes in a more random, unrelated manner.
Planning the rough draft of a piece of writing, often referred to as prewriting, is the first step in the writing process. In this step, students choose their subject (topic), identify the audience and intended purpose, and begin to organize their thoughts using a number of strategies such as brainstorming.
a word or phrase that identifies the subject matter of a text or speech

Research

1. Klein, P.D. & Rose, M.A. (2010). Teaching argument and explanation to prepare junior students for writing to learn. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(4), 433–461. doi:10.1598/RRQ.45.4.4

Summary: In this study, Klein and Rose examine how students respond to various writing tasks and assignments. The teachers used the process writing approach, which included creating an outline, drafts, and a final paper. The revision and edit process lends itself to implementing teacher and peer oral and written feedback. The study reveals that there are specific as well as varied means to teach the writing process to students. Students must use prior knowledge and have access to relevant external sources (i.e. internet).

2. Lucidchart. (2017). 4 steps to wrangling the writing process. [Web log post]. Retrieved from www.lucidchart.com/blog/4-steps-to-wrangling-the-writing-process  

Summary: This blog includes the four steps in the writing process—prewriting, writing, revising and editing. Additional resources, graphic examples and templates are included.

3. Composition Writing Studio. Argumentative Essay/Commentary. University of Purdue’s Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html

Summary: This online resource offers a complete overview of the writing processes and the components involved in each. The overview includes definition of terms, examples, graphs and charts as appropriate, and additional resources.