Return to MenuThe Lewis and Clark Expedition:
ELOB Approaches to Writing in Steve Chavez’s 4th/5th
Grade ClassAt the fourth and fifth grade level, Steve Chavez’s
class is taking the Six Traits of Writing, taught since second grade at
AE II, to a more polished state via the completion of several writing
projects of varying types and complexities, from interviewing and
writing a brief biography of a fellow student to creating an original
fiction. Some of the projects have been centered on their expedition of
the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery. Two of these are letters to
President Thomas Jefferson, describing Native American cultures with
which the corps interacted, and historical fiction journal entries,
which required some research of a corps member.Steve usually
introduces a project with a model of the kind of writing to be
pursued. This model, usually exemplary but occasionally with problems,
can be written by another student (outside of his class) or a
professional. His class discusses the model’s fulfillment of the six
traits of writing: ideas and content, organization, voice, word choice,
sentence fluency, and conventions.
Once these students have a basic idea in mind for the project,
they begin a pre-writing activity. This may be gathering information
(researching, deciding how to write what they want to write–getting
organized, or creating a character profile.The next step is the
actual writing and re-writing. This may involve two or three drafts. The
first draft focuses on the first four traits of writing. Upon completion
of this stage, the draft is self-assessed by the author, using Room 14's Writing Rubric. A second draft is written with the
first five traits of writing in mind and a special focus on
traits three through five. When finished, this draft is
peer-assessed by a partner and/or teacher-assessed, again using
the Room 14 Writing Rubric. Depending on
the complexity of the project, a third draft may follow the same
process. Occasionally at this point, a student may elect to
read this second or third draft to the entire class for peer
critique. This gives these brave students the benefit of
multiple opinions. And students learn alternative models or
approaches to writing.The last two
traits of writing – sentence
fluency and conventions – are the
focus of the final review. This editing is usually done by
Steve or another adult. It is from this review that the final
product emerges; ready for display and/or the student’s
portfolio.
According to
Steve, the entire process “lends itself to independence with
guidance.” This is the state at which professional writers
work. From discussing the model to getting organized, through
layers of writing and
assessing to the last careful rewrite,
students are developing the skills to confidently evaluate and
revise their own work and know when to seek outside assessment. In this day of quick and easy, get it out asap, it’s encouraging
to know that someone is learning to take the time necessary to
produce their best work. |
