“What’s your big idea?”
The purpose of writing is to communicate an idea. In order to accomplish this goal, students need to develop the skills and confidence that will prepare them to communicate that idea well.
Teach your students early on to read what they write.
How?
Hand them a Writer’s Checklist!
All writing comes into being through a process:
1. First comes the IDEA. Without an idea, the writer will simply stare at the blank page.
2. Once there is an idea in the mind of the writer, the pencil steps in to translate the idea to words on the page.
3. When the pencil’s work is complete, the job of the writer is to become a reader. Encourage your students to READ everything they write—absolutely everything! It is often best to leave space between the “draft” and the “read” stage.
4. Next, make sure students use the RED pen as they read through the first draft of their idea. Teach them to look for spelling errors, for capitalization errors, and for grammatical errors. Beyond this teach them to use strong words, to fearlessly re-arrange, and to not be afraid to strike through unnecessary words.
5. Lastly, teach them to polish the draft, preferably in cursive.
Our checklists will support students at various levels to re-read and edit as they progress through CORE Level 1 (3rd grade), Level 2 (4th and 5th grade), and 3 6th – 8th grade) to re-read with purpose.