(Elementary School to High School: Parents, Teachers, Students can use the suggestions to further aid the learning process, especially with checklist and helpful hints, and examples offered in the videos and on the pages)
Reading and Writing are intertwined
Reading and Writing is a Process
Ideas for Writing come from Everywhere:
personal experiences television, movies special people literature (reading) songs trips sports
beliefs discussions pictures art culture hobbies family
Why Write....
to explain
to persuade
to compare
to express feelings/thoughts
to reflect
to remember
to analyze
to draw conclusions
my family
my teacher
my classmates
myself
younger children
other adults
wider audience
KNOW what you are expected to do!
answer a question
write a paragraph
write a report
write an essay
write a story
and many more
KNOW what your expectations are for your piece of writing
Then BEGIN ....more information on the other pages
Once you know your Purpose and the Audience, then you need a writing plan to help organize your ideas. This site covers the following areas: Summary, Elements of a Story, Main Idea and an Essay (see above for different sections). The areas covered will help you write your First Draft.
The Writing Process for any piece of writing requires: (#1) generating ideas (web, outline, point form) , (#2 ) developing and organizing ideas based on what you have to do, (#3) revising and editing according to the checklist- here you check to make sure did you follow the format of the assigned task, did you check your sentence structure, spelling and punctuation.
Developing a Paragraph: You need a topic sentence which is the first sentence and is the main idea of any paragraph. The rest of the sentences in a paragraph must develop or explain the main idea by using details and example(s). Explaining sentences in the paragraph that relate to the topic sentence is called "developing the paragraph". The sentences create a clearer and more vivid picture (with details/information) for the reader. The sentences flow logically from one part/idea to the next.
REMEMBER with any piece of writing, there is a beginning, middle and an end, and the details support the main idea!
