Content & Mechanics:

Understanding First Grade

Writers
PISMP TESL SK JAN 2013
Writing
Process
Organizing Reflecting Planning
The Complexity of the Writing Process

Children travel through stages of development as
they gain an understanding of the processes of
reading and writing (Graves 1983; Calkins 1986).

Writing development is not necessarily linear, even in
young children (Flower & Hayes 1980). Effective
writers do not always follow a strict succession, from
planning the ideas to translating the ideas into
written words to reviewing the product.
The Complexity of the Writing Process
Both content and mechanics are important skills to
address with beginning writers (Avery 1993).

However, it is important that teachers begin by
nurturing childrens desire and attempts to
communicate through writing, regardless of writing
ability. Writers first need to have a genuine purpose
for writing and become comfortable in taking a risk
before learning all of the conventional rules of writing
(Routman 1991).

Problems Faced by Teachers

Our theoretical backgrounds and teaching
experiences lead us to believe that the mastery of
writing skills occurs at a different point for each
child.

This pedagogical lens encourages us to value the
knowledge each student brings to the writing process
as we carefully support individual growth along the
developmental continuum.
Problems Faced by Teachers
Unfortunately that support is easy to
describe in theoretical terms yet quite
difficult to enact in a real classroom
setting, especially when teachers have to
address state standards that seem to
disregard the developmental process.

We sometimes find ourselves not having
the time to let the children grow at their
own pace.

Problems Faced by Teachers
As we reflected on these struggles, we realized
we had somehow lost sight of what was
important to us as teachers: building
relationships with children that allow us to
listen to them, share responsibility for learning
with them, and use their insights and needs to
guide our instruction.

Overemphasizing mechanics would hinder the
creative process of developing interesting
content.
Developing Question

How can we effectively emphasize story
content in our writing instruction?
When we do emphasize content, what
emerges within our students writing?
What does this journey look like for the
students and for us as teachers?

How To Help Children To Write?
Some of these initial action ideas
included focusing children on writing
content by using story webs and other
tools that help develop storylines and
using samples of other first grade
writing as models for their own work.

Collaboration helped the children improve
the content of their writing.

Design of Study
Children anlalyze the technique of some
of their favourite author.
Children discuss the use of descriptive
and informative writing with the
teacher.
Children talk about how they as authors
can use personal experience as their
story ideas.

Data Collection and Analysis

Teacher journal
Teacher conferences
Observation and transcripts of children
conversation.
Children writing samples
Interview responses, written reflection of the
writing process by the children.
Findings and Discussios
1. A disconnect between what the school system wanted children to focus on in
their writing and what was natural to them as writers.
2. Our own difficulty focusing on the content of writing as we found ourselves
unconsciously commenting on the way the children writing look.
3. Defining the inconsistencies we saw in childrens attention to mechanics as their
stories gained variety and depth of content, their attention to mechanics
decreased.
4. The struggle children had making complex writing ideas look right, because
they lacked an understanding of complex writing structures.

Teachers Struggles to Focus on Content

Proper punctuation is concrete rather than an
abstract concept, so we found ourselves
migrating toward this area even when we had
consciously decided not to. We kept getting
trapped.

Defining the Inconsistencies in
Childrens Attention to Mechanics

As stories gained variety and depth of content,
attention to mechanics decreased. In other
words, when the children began to explore
with their writ- ing, punctuation skills they
had previously mastered suddenly
disappeared.

Expressing Complex Ideas

We faced our anxiety about writing instruc-
tion and discovered the importance of
accepting the nonlinear fashion in which the
first-graders grew as writers.

Conclusion

Teaching is a dynamic process that requires us
to be reflective practitioners who continually
create, analyze, and reevaluate the
experiences we create for the children in our
classrooms.

Summary
If we are too focused on mechanics, it
will hinder childs ability to be creative
(content); and vice versa.
Teachers are trapped to catch up on
the syllabus and wanting to help their
students to develop their skills.

Thank
You