ERIC Number: ED172200
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1978
Pages: 55
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Improving Basic Writing Skills.
Popham, Rae Jeane; Zarem, Janet
The classroom-tested ideas for teaching writing described in this booklet are based on the beliefs that writing is a teachable skill, that it is a process with constituent steps, and that students need evaluation at each stage of writing. Following an introduction that identifies eight steps in the writing process and discusses class organization, the booklet is divided into sections on prewriting, writing, and evaluation. Each section begins with an explanation of the writing principles involved and then describes specific exercises that provide practice based on those principles. The exercises in the prewriting section are designed to guide students through the first five steps of the writing process: gathering data, listing details, formulating a thesis statement, selecting details that support the thesis, and ordering the details coherently. The writing section offers ideas for helping students in the final three steps: writing the rough draft, writing the final draft, and revising. The last section, on evaluation, offers ideas for training students to evaluate their own and each other's essays. The appendix provides an illustrative syllabus, an excerpt from an illustrative class calendar, forms useful in three data gathering exercises, and an illustrative essay accompanied by completed peer critic checklists. (GT)
Descriptors: Data Collection, Evaluation Criteria, Higher Education, Learning Activities, Peer Evaluation, Secondary Education, Sequential Approach, Student Evaluation, Teaching Guides, Teaching Methods, Writing (Composition), Writing Exercises, Writing Processes
Instructional Objectives Exchange, P.O. Box 24095, Los Angeles, California 90024 ($3.95)
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Instructional Objectives Exchange, Los Angeles, CA.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A