Stages of the Writing Process

The writing process has five stages: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Students will move through each of these stages as they write. The stages will not always happen in this order and sometimes we will return to a stage we have already moved past.

Prewriting: Students spend most of their time in the prewriting stage. This is when they are choosing what they want to write about (topic), why they are writing (purpose), to whom they are writing (audience), and if they want to write a poem, a report, a letter, or a song (form). Once students make these decisions, then they collect and organize the information they want to use in their writing. Sometimes this stage is also referred to as brainstorming.

Drafting: Students get their message down on paper. In this stage, students do not stop to worry about spelling, grammar, punctuation, word choice, or organization. They simply get the thoughts that are in their head onto the paper. Nothing is wrong in the drafting stage. I have a stamp that says "DRAFT!" We will use the stamp on the top of our drafts so when students bring work home you will know the student is in the drafting stage. Please, read their work and talk with them about what they are writing. Focus your discussion on the ideas they have written down.

Revising: Students take a second look at their writing after being away from it for awhile. We will try to wait three days before returning to a draft to take a fresh look at what was written. At this stage, students look at the big picture. They ask themselves, "Does this make sense?" They also look at the flow of the ideas and check to see if they have a beginning, middle, and end. The process we use in class is students reread their draft, share it with others, and make revisions. The three types of revisions students make at this stage are to take out, to move, or to add. We still are not looking at spelling or grammar mistakes at this stage. Revising is the most difficult stage for students because they think their paper is perfect the first way they wrote it!

Editing*: This stage is taking a look at the little things to prepare the writing for an audience. Now, students look at spelling, grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and handwriting. Students will learn to edit their own paper. The writing belongs to them, even in the editing stage. I will not take the pen from their hands and do it for them or mark up their paper with my red pen. Their writing means it is their responsibility. Students get their papers ready for someone else to read when they edit.
*Referred to as proofreading in the graphic above.

Publishing: Students get the opportunity to share their work. Publishing is the main goal of any writer. It is when they present their finished work to the world. We will publish one or two writing pieces each nine weeks. When publishing, students may write their piece on the computer or on paper using pen. We will bind our writings either using construction paper or a cover we will make in class. What works are published will be the choice of the student.