The pre-writing process is an important step in creating a well-rounded writer. Pre-writing allows students a chance to brainstorm, make writing decisions, and organize their thoughts. Although it may seem simple, it is essential to writing development. So, today, I am going to talk about how pre-writing can help your students.
Pre-writing looks like:
- Choose a topic or decide their opinion.
- Brainstorm.
- Organize ideas and gather information.
1. Allows Students to Choose a Topic and Set their Purpose
First, pre-writing is going to be when students set their writing purpose. They will need to focus on what type of writing it is, narrative, informative, or opinion. Likely, the writing type will be established in the prompt. Then, they will be able to brainstorm ideas before deciding on a stance or topic. After establishing a stance or choosing a topic, students will be able to move forward in the writing process.
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2. Gives Students Time to Think and Deepen Knowledge & Emotion
Secondly, pre-writing can help your students expand their writing. With narrative writing, students will be able to plan for emotion and story detail. With informative and opinion writing, they can use research and fact-planning to deepen their understanding of the topic. I would recommend using a prompted graphic organizer for this part of the process. Over time and after practice, this will help your students develop expansion as a skill!
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3. Provides Students Opportunity to Organize Thoughts
Finally, pre-writing will teach students to organize their thoughts. This is another way that pre-writing can help your students. At this point, they likely have a lot of information written down, but getting to an organized draft will be the next step. Again, graphic organizers will be a great tool. After continued practice, students’ writing will naturally improve in structure and flow.
Without the pre-writing process, students will have writing pieces that have an unclear stance, underdeveloped details, and disorganized thoughts. If you take the time to establish a pre-writing process, with guidance, prompted graphic organizers and practice, students can develop life-long writing skills.
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