W r i t i n g M o n o g r a p h S e r i e s

Drafting Getting Words

on Paper

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W r i t i n g M o n o g r a p h S e r i e s

DraftingGetting Words on Paper

Authors

Cathlynn Richard Dodson

Susan Fitzgerald

Elizabeth Woodworth

Program Design and Development

Sally Hampton

Introduction 1

Essential Features of Drafting 3

Ways to Support and Guide Drafting 5In-Class Time for Writing

Teacher-Student Conferences During Drafting

Build Awareness of the Writing Process

Things to Think About 9

Drafting Activities 14

Drafting on the Computer 14

Making “Drafting” Plans 15For Short Projects

For Longer Projects

A Final Note 17

References 18

DraftingGetting Words on Paper

Table of Contents

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The only truly failed draft is a blank page (Murray, 1996, p. 117).

DraftingGetting Words on Paper

Drafting is a complex and seemingly solitary activity, a time when writers learn what they really want to say. In Write to Learn, Donald Murray refers to drafts as “experiments, sketches, trial runs” (Murray, 1996, p. 5). A writer may go through many drafts before a focus for the writing becomes clear. What’s most important at the drafting stage is simply to get the words down on paper, to write at top speed. Murray compares it to a first-time bike ride — first you pedal fast, even if the speed scares you, because

velocity makes it possible to balance the bike. Velocity is just as important in writing a draft (Murray, 1996, p. 5). You’ve got to get the ideas on paper to fine-tune them.

Another important consideration for students during the drafting stage, according to Peter Elbow in Writing with Power, is trust. It may be difficult for students to grasp that they can trust the process of the writing itself. “The secret of success,” says Elbow, “… is learning to adopt a crucial atti-tude that is new for most people: a

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sense of trust that when you have the germ of an idea or even just the han-kering for one, you will be led sooner or later to the words you are looking for if you just start in writing” (Elbow, 1981, pp. 47–8). Elbow calls drafting “raw writing”; it’s a time for produc-ing a pile of rough ingredients. As the writing process continues, the ingredi-ents will be shaped into their proper structure. Lucy Calkins, in The Art of Teaching Writing, likens the process to “rehearsal”, which includes “gather-ing raw materials: noticing shades of sunlight or the lilt of a voice, finding connections between ideas” (Calkins, 1994, p. 17).

Whether you call drafting “raw writing” or “rehearsal,” it needs to happen. Words must be put on the page. But the words written on the page (or screen) don’t have to be per-fect because revision is a natural part of drafting.

In The English Teacher’s Companion, Jim Burke talks about drafting. He calls it “constructing,” a term some students may find comforting. He writes:

Obviously there comes a point when

you’ve done your thinking and it’s time to

start writing. This phase of the process

can go on as long as it needs to. It may

involve false starts or failed attempts,

though each failure inevitably helps you

find your way toward the version that

works. For me, such failures typically

involve writing an entire draft of an essay,

then realizing that my conclusion should

be my introduction. This requires that I

throw everything else out and start over,

but this time with a much clearer idea of

what I want to say. This last idea — revi-

sion as creation — is crucial to improv-

ing writing (Burke, 1999, p. 78).

Burke’s “failed attempts” weren’t really failures because they led him to the place he really wanted and needed to go to in his writing. Students need to know that all writing in the draft-ing phase can yield pieces that are put away and pieces that get published. Students may see their initial drafts as unproductive if they come to view what they’ve written negatively or find they disagree with what they wrote or discover that the conclusion is actually the beginning of the piece they really wanted to write. Help your students realize this interesting moment of rethinking their work is actually a very important part of learning.

Students need to know that

all writing in the drafting

phase can yield pieces that are

put away and pieces that get

published.

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Drafts provide students with the opportunity to confer about writing, to figure out what their intentions are in crafting writing and to make reading-writing connections. Writing the “dis-covery” draft, as Murray refers to it in The Craft of Revision, is a crucial time in the initial exploration. “No matter how familiar you are with the subject,” he says, “no matter how well you have thought about and researched the topic, no matter how well you have planned solutions to the problems in the draft, you will be surprised by what appears on the screen or the page” (Murray, 1997, p. 172).

Essential Features of DraftingA draft may begin as an image, a sentence that lingers in the mind, a memory. Therefore, having students keep sourcebooks is a good idea. A journal or diary is typically a recount-ing of daily events, whereas a source-book is a place to record reflections, thoughts, feelings and observations. Though many teachers use the words journal and notebook interchangeably, “sourcebook” indicates more in-depth reflection (see the section on using sourcebooks in Planning: A Rehearsal for Writing for more detail).

In reviewing a student’s source-book, you may see more than one entry on the same event; repetition of ideas or topics often is a good place to encourage students to begin their writ-ing. A sourcebook is also a good place for students to collect topics both from their own lives and from other sources that have come to their attention. Not only can the sourcebook be used for collecting ideas, but it also can provide fertile ground for future topics: collect-ing information around a particular topic, drafting, revising, editing and reflecting on the process of writing. “Writers’ notebooks are compelling tools in writers’ lives and in the class-room,” says Randy Bomer in Time for Meaning, “and when they work well, which is often, students and teachers are moved by the honesty and spirit of experimentation that permeates the classroom environment” (Bomer, 1995, pp. 83–4).

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It’s also helpful to remember that for many young writers, writing is deeply embedded in oral language. In the beginning, students may write with a great amount of verbal accom-

paniment, speaking out loud as they write. Lucy Calkins, in The Art of Teaching Writing, says that “speech — like drawing — provides a scaf-folding within which the text can be constructed. A tremendous amount of talk surrounds the production of even just a few written words. As writing becomes more fluent, the gap between [students’] speech and their writing decreases” (Calkins, 1994, pp. 57–8). Even older writers, however, may want to read their work aloud, to help them hear the “voice” of the draft. Doing so allows the writer to hear the tone of what’s being written, like background music that communicates mood and emotion.

In a sense, drafts allow writers to think aloud and, therefore, to discuss the possibilities of their writing. It’s

wise to provide a good amount of time for such interweaving of activities — talking, drawing, thinking, draft-ing, discussing. Indeed, the Writers Workshop work time is made exactly for this sort of recursive, circular dis-cussion, where students test out words, write leads, confer with peers or you, talk again, share, discuss, draft again. And mini-lessons on drafting and mod-eling will help your students under-stand what good can come of sharing drafts and talking about drafting.

Discussion time also provides a chance to encourage students to try a variety of ways to get started on a draft, to develop their own style of writing. They may want to fly through the draft at top speed, as Murray sug-gests, or they may choose to write a paragraph and then go back to per-fect it before moving on. Some need a firmer structure for proceeding, like an outline. Students may begin by jot-ting down ideas or various key phrases or even by doodling. However they choose to begin, it’s vital that you help students understand that drafting is one of the first stages of writing, an important stage and nothing to fear.

During the early stages of writing, even though a draft may be sketchy, Murray tells students that most begin-ning writers underwrite, and advises that it’s better “to overwrite, to turn out a draft that has an abundance of revealing detail. While drafting, the writer should be conscious of the infor-mation that is being delivered to the

The Writers Workshop is ...

where students test out words,

write leads, confer with peers

or you, talk again, share,

discuss, draft again.

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reader, and the writer should try to make that information as abundant and specific as possible” (Murray, 1996, p. 118). Young writers often wrongly believe that their reader has as much knowledge and concern about a subject as they do. If this is the case, student writers need to be guided toward drafts that offer a wealth of information.

Ways to Support and Guide DraftingWhen students are in a supportive classroom environment where they know their ideas are respected, they are more likely to write without hesita-tion. Sometimes, however, students do get stuck. They may see their draft as something they have to stick with, no matter what, and bring to a published form. They may think that other stu-dents who are “smarter” can churn out writing perfectly the first time or that writing flows magically from some inherited skill called “talent.” They may feel they don’t have anything interesting to say or that they simply don’t know how to proceed effectively.

If this happens, you might consider adopting and adapting the following three tenets of teaching writing used by Zemelman and Daniels in A Community of Writers (1988, pp. 165–70):

l allowing in-class time for writing;

l holding teacher-student conferences during drafting; and

l building awareness of the writing process.

These tenets are inherent in the structure of the Writers Workshop. Every day there is time dedicated to writing, conferences happen regularly between students and you and among students, and the writing process is emphasized through mini-lessons, rituals, routines and artifacts in the classroom (see Rituals, Routines and

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Artifacts: Classroom Management and the Writers Workshop for additional infor-mation). What follows is a brief discus-sion of ways to incorporate the above into teaching drafting to your class.

In-Class Time for WritingStudents may not have time or space to contemplate or focus their thoughts outside the classroom. During the Writers Workshop, and specifically during the work time, “students may choose tasks appropriate to their topics and work styles. Along with drafting, some may need to stop to read, gather more data or brainstorm additional ideas. Many writers discover what they want to say through discussion” (Zemelman and Daniels, 1988, p. 166).See Rituals, Routines and Artifacts: Classroom Management and the Writers Workshop for ways of making your classroom work for you as you teach writing. Good ideas offered include:

l setting aside one corner of the room for peer conferences;

l designating an area as the writing center where students can count on finding the supplies they need; and

l including a space for a classroom library where students can go to favorite authors for inspiration.

A good way to keep students on task during this period is to have them state briefly at the beginning of the class, during “status of the class,” what they plan to work on throughout the period. (See Mini-Lessons: Establishing the Writers Workshop for information on teaching rituals and routines such as “status of the class” and more.)

To help students begin a draft, you could place posters of prewriting activities around the room. As students learn more about the writing process and move from planning to drafting, you could ask them to create “draft-ing” posters with tips on how to begin, keep going and get help.

A good way to keep students

on task ... is to have them state

briefly at the beginning of the

class, during “status of the

class,” what they plan to work

on throughout the period.

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Teacher-Student Conferences During DraftingIndividual conferences should be used as a means to support the students’ drafting processes without being intru-sive. These provide an occasion for students to verbalize aims, feelings, problems and worries during writ-ing. Conferences where you listen to the student read his or her work can be enhanced if you ask “questions that reveal the writer’s processes and purposes” (Zemelman and Daniels, 1988, p. 167). Conferences about draft-ing also can be conversations about what’s going on with a student’s work (see Writing Conferences for additional information).

Some specific ways teachers can help students think and make decisions, rather than simply telling them what to do, might include the following:

l Sit on the same side of the table, signaling collaboration rather than opposition. Let the student hold the paper or hand it to you if he or she wishes.

l Help students talk by asking ques-tions such as, “Jill, tell me what your paper is about and what part you’re working on right now.”

l Ask process questions to help stu-dents see where they are in their work and how they might proceed: “Okay, so you say you don’t like this part. Tell me how you got it

written. What were you think-ing about?” Focus questions can encourage students to identify their main idea or the structure they are creating: “What’s the main thing you’re really trying to say here?”

l Search for questions the students can answer, rather than questions that put them on the spot. Conferences should encourage students, not prove the teacher is smarter. Try to discover what the student is trying to achieve.

l Wait after asking a question. Give students time to think and don’t jump in immediately.

l If the student wants to read aloud, just listen. This may allow the stu-dent to discover and correct errors, which is revision in action.

l Teach skills late in the conference, and focus on just one, so that the student will remember it clearly.

l Listen and learn from students. Conferences not only help students write, but they also help the teacher understand how the students think, discover what is blocking them or realize a valuable idea that is hidden under the surface confusion.

l Record conferences periodically to monitor the process and your own teaching methods. Give the program some time before judging whether it works or not (Zemelman and Daniels, 1988, pp. 167–68).

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During or after a conference with you, the student may want to circle parts in the piece that can be expanded from the first draft to the second. Later, they may want to use the “cut and paste” method of reconstructing the piece. (See the mini-lessons on revision and on using Post-it™ notes to facilitate revision.)

Any change in the routine

must signify something

important and be only an

occasional variation.

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Build Awareness of the Writing ProcessEncourage self-observation for stu-dents. Ask students to use their sourcebooks to make notes about how particular pieces were written. You might want to offer questions to guide the initial attempts so that the entries will be productive:

l What made you think of these topics or ideas?

l What made you want to begin?

l Where did you start?

l What else have you written that is similar in topic, genre or idea?

l Is there anything else that reminds you of what you’ve done?

l What part was the hardest to write?

l Why was it hard to write?

After students have had a chance to consider these questions, perhaps by freewriting their responses in their sourcebooks, take time to discuss these issues in class. This is an opportunity to show students how writing pro-cesses may vary by modeling your own process or asking a response group to model a few of their own. Later in this monograph, in the section on making

“drafting” plans, is a sample plan that can be adapted to reinforce learning about the writing process and drafting’s role in that process.

Students also need to understand that the writing process takes time. Allow plenty of opportunities for them to read and reread drafts, evaluating what works and what doesn’t. They need to know, too, that the time will come for them to put their draft aside and return to it another day.

Designated works-in-progress or published work folders are important tools and are useful for housing the various versions of student drafts. (See the mini-lessons on using and main-taining writing folders.)

Things to Think AboutAdele Fiderer offers ways to think about drafting in Teaching Writing (Fiderer, 1993, pp. 45–8). The follow-ing mini-posters are based on Fiderer’s thoughts on drafting. You may want to adapt these posters as a class and add your own tips as the students progress as writers. A student or a response group could be in charge of making sure the poster is added to regularly.

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What Students Need to Know About WritersA “Work in Progress” title can help writers get started.Writers should draft freely without worrying about correct conventions.Spaces left between the lines of writing make drafts more legible and allow the writer to add or change words later on.Writers develop their stories over time.Writers collect ideas for future topics.Writers make lists.

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What Students Need to Know About Good Writing

Good writing demonstrates the writer’s full knowledge on the subject.Concrete details and specific information show the reader what is happening.Good writing keeps the reader’s attention.

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What Students Need to Know About the Writing ProcessTalking comes more easily than writing; some writers talk a lot about what they’re writing to a lot of people.Writers sometimes feel vulnerable when sharing their work.Writers sometimes want to quit because writing can be hard.Writers don’t give up easily, even when they’re frustrated, because writers write.Writers read: for inspiration, for fun, for help with conventions.

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What to Do When You Are StuckMake a storyboard. Use stick figures to show the main scenes of your story. (Moviemakers use this technique in telling visual stories.)

Put your draft in your folder and write in your sourcebook.

Talk about the topic with other students and with your teacher.

Go back to the planning stage: do more research, try to generate a new topic by yourself or with a partner or group, or find a new twist on the topic you originally picked.

See if part of the draft you started is really the beginning of another draft.

Read a favorite book over again for inspiration, or just to take a break.

Explore the classroom library again for inspiration, or just to take a break.

Write a letter to a famous author or your favorite author to ask for advice about drafting; tell about your project and where you got stuck.

Try reading what you’ve drafted aloud to yourself or others to see what sounds good or doesn’t sound good.

Listen to a book on tape to hear how words flow, to get inspiration.

Put your head down for five minutes; breathe deeply and regularly.

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Drafting ActivitiesIn Write to Learn, Donald Murray offers a wide variety of drafting activities (1996, pp. 198–200). Many of these are adaptable for younger students as well as older students. Again, you may choose to turn these into a poster that your students can add to as they dis-cover new ways to draft.

l Power through the draft. Read your notes beforehand, but do as much writing as you can from memory. Leave asterisks or spaces where you want to insert more information.

l Compose your draft in vignettes or storyboards rather than in para-graphs. Focus on the details, and then flesh out the piece.

l Experiment with genres if you get stuck. Write a poem or an essay or a recipe. Write instructions for writing your essay. Write a letter or a play.

l For the first draft, break the rule and “tell, don’t show.” Go back later and add the dialogue, descrip-tion and details.

l Put on your favorite music and write to the sound of it.

l Pretend you’re writing in your diary rather than for an audience.

l Commit to a certain number of words or pages each day.

l Get the opening paragraph down, and then brainstorm with others about what should follow. Decide which suggestions you want to use.

Drafting on the ComputerEncourage students to draft on the computer. The computer allows stu-dents to write fast — faster than the inner censor and critical mind can think. When writing with a “computer, it is easy to rush ahead of meaning, of clarity, of grace, of tradition, of correct-ness to where we find what has not yet been said, at least by us, in forms and voices we have never explored” (Murray, 1999, p. 35). With a computer, spelling doesn’t seem to be as impor-tant initially, nor does knowing what you think you want to say. The idea of getting work on paper (in this case on the screen) seems to be more easily achieved when writing on a computer. Then, once the initial draft is done, entire sections, words and paragraphs can be moved easily. Background material can be worked into the rough structure of the story, and experiments in language and creativity can be attempted. Many writers today think of the computer as their best and most basic drafting tool.

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Making “Drafting” PlansThere are all kinds of ways to begin drafting, but it is helpful to plan how to proceed. Encourage students to create something like a work outline that includes all the steps in the writ-ing process and the possibilities for each step. As they create this “plan,” they will be practicing all the steps in the writing process, drafting and lots of revision.

For Short ProjectsWhen writing a short piece, writers often can wait until the end of the first draft to solicit feedback. The follow-ing is a sample plan for a short project. This plan, though, reflects how all plans evolve as the project evolves. For instance, the “revising” part of the plan can be written as it happens. Students can know that they will revise, but until they are drafting and then revising, they won’t know exactly what actions will be required of them. Any plan should be flexible. These plans also can help students to better understand the variations in the writ-ing process and can be part of your plan for building an awareness of the writing process.

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The computer allows students

to write fast — faster than the

inner censor and critical mind

can think.

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l Kind of Project: Haiku

l Planning: Generate topics by reread-ing sourcebook, brainstorming with partner or response group, writing in sourcebook, reading poems by other authors, selecting topic, and making list of favorite words about the topic.

l Drafting: Try using favorite words about the topic in different ways; try starting several times — with different words each time; when it feels like there’s something there, write the haiku; try another one; try another one; and pick one or two and share with a response partner, group or teacher.

l Revising: Revise one haiku, throw out haiku, draft new haiku, put aside, draft newer haiku, go back to first one and use part from that one, revise newest haiku adding parts from first one, consider going back to planning stage to rethink topic, go back to planning stage, pick new topic, start all over, and finally come to the editing stage.

l Editing: Make sure words are spelled correctly and that punctuation makes sense.

l Publishing: Pick favorite haiku and share with class on “Haiku” bulle-tin board or in “Haiku” book.

For Longer ProjectsWhen planning for longer projects, sometimes it’s a good idea to break down the project into parts and tackle each part separately in the drafting stage. Rather than speeding through the whole thing, a writer can speed through a part at a time. Of course, many writers will want to take their time drafting longer projects, as extensive research may be necessary depending on the genre.

Writers may want to get feedback on individual parts of a longer project, conferring as they go. By working with a regular partner or response group for the life of a project, writers can easily separate parts for response because the group or partner eventually will see the whole project.

Writers with a regular source for feedback may even decide to draft out of sequence. When writing parts out of sequence, writers may choose to get feedback on whatever current part they are working on, instead of wait-ing to give parts to response partners or groups in the sequence they will appear in the published piece.

With longer projects, students will need more detailed ways of organizing how they work and, specifically, how they draft. You can brainstorm with students to create forms or charts for handling longer projects. The forms or charts for these sorts of plans will be dictated by the genre of the project.

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“Drafting” is a good way to describe the tentativeness of these early efforts. Calkins, in The Art of Teaching Writing, writes this description:

Like an artist with a sketch pad, we begin

to find the contours of our subject. We

make light, quick lines; nothing is perma-

nent. Each writer has his or her own style.

Some bolt quickly down the page, their

momentum building, their pencil leading

in unexpected directions. Others work in

smaller units, toying with their begin-

nings, trying a line one way and then

another, drawing in to write, then pushing

away to see what they have said (Calkins,

1994, p. 17).

With your guidance and support, students will come to see that all draft-ing efforts are acceptable and that there are no failures, merely different stages in the writing process.

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A Final NoteStudents need to understand that shifts between the various writing stages are often smooth and quick. For example, moving between planning, drafting, revision and editing occurs minute by minute, second by second, throughout the writing process. But understanding that the nature of drafting is exploration will help students see that this phase of writing has its own valuable con-tribution to make to the writing pro-cess. Sometimes “first drafts need to be written without notes,” write Lucy Calkins and Shelley Harwayne; “The goal is fluency, voice and an organizing image.” After the drafting has begun, they say, “authors can reread their drafts, correcting facts, and inserting statistics and quotes” if that is what is required for a particular piece (Calkins and Harwayne, 1991, p. 289).

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References

Bomer, R. (1995). Time for Meaning: Crafting Literate Lives in Middle and High School. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.

Burke, J. (1999). The English Teacher’s Companion: A Complete Guide to Classroom, Curriculum, and the Profession. Portsmouth, N.H.: Boynton/Cook.

Calkins, L. (1994). The Art of Teaching Writing. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.

Calkins, L. and S. Harwayne. (1991). Living Between the Lines. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.

Elbow, P. (1981). Writing with Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process. New York: Oxford University Press.

Fiderer, A. (1993). Teaching Writing: A Workshop Approach. New York: Scholastic.

Murray, D. (1997). The Craft of Revision. Fort Worth, Tex.: Harcourt Brace.

Murray, D. (1996). Write to Learn. Fort Worth, Tex.: Harcourt Brace.

Zemelman, S. and H. Daniels. (1988). A Community of Writers: Teaching Writing in the Junior and Senior High School. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.

In This Series

Rituals, Routines and Artifacts: Classroom Management and the Writers Workshop

Mini-Lessons for the Writers Workshop

Planning: A Rehearsal for Writing

Drafting: Getting Words on Paper

Response Groups: Providing Feedback to Writers

Writing Conferences

Revising Writing

Editing for Clarity and Conventions

Author’s Chair: Bringing Closure to the Writers Workshop

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