Prewriting Tools

Résumé du livre

"This paper examined the type of writing middle school language arts students create in their personal journals and in their writer's notebooks. The paper is divided into three studies. Study One's purpose was to examine the type of writing students created in their personal journal and whether or not such writing helps to generate ideas for pieces the students create during the writing workshop. Using random samples of journal entries and open-ended questionnaires, it was found that students mainly write personal reactions to the events in their day. This writing did not appear to help students generate ideas for their self-sponsored writing during the writing workshop. Given this lack of connection Study Two examined the type of writing students created in another prewriting tool, the writer's notebook, and whether or not such writing helped to generate ideas for pieces the students create during the writing workshop. Study Two found that students created observational entries, as well as entries that were the beginnings of self-sponsored pieces. The results also suggested that students viewed and used the writer's notebook as a prewriting tool. To investigate further the possible link between the writer's notebook and students' own pieces and to examine how students use the writer's notebook as their writing process matures, Study Three was conducted using the same subjects later in the school year. Studies One and Two were conducted as the student's writing process was beginning to take shape. Study Three occurred approximately 60 writing workshop days after Study Two. The results of Study Three suggested that students used the writer's notebook as one of their ways to generate ideas. Discussion of the efficacy of the personal journal and the writer's notebook as prewriting tools is presented."--Author's abstract.