University of Manchester
Institute of Education
The Process Writing Project
The Process Writing Project: Introduction and Key Principles
| The Process Writing Project aims to enable teachers to develop writing schemes that give pupils opportunities
· to explore and discover ideas and experiences as well as recording and transcribing them; · to compose texts in ways that reflect the complexity of the writing process; · to use and develop their procedural knowledge of language in drafting and revising their texts. |
In process approaches to teaching writing, composition consists of overlapping processes and sub-processes used recursively, including prewriting, drafting, revising and celebrating.
The key principle of the project is that as far as possible writing starts with, follows and may contribute to the development of pupils’ own experiences and ideas.
Current methods for teaching writing, described by a DfE (2011) review of the National Literacy Strategy as ‘a widely-accepted model for the teaching of writing’, in which pupils analyse then emulate model texts supplied by the teacher, have taken a lot of the struggle out of writing.
Providing scaffolding such as models, writing frames, lists of features to be covered and ready-made plans has also taken significant elements of challenge out of writing tasks.
An approach that enables pupils to engage with compositional challenges without doing their thinking for them is the most effective way for them to secure mastery of the writing process, and is certain to be more productive than one where they follow prior guidelines set, directly or indirectly, by somebody else.
The Process Writing Project encourages the use of teaching approaches that emphasise independent learning over the longer term. These are more likely to lead to improvements in pupils’ writing capabilities than those that focus on immediate outcomes.
| For more detailed discussion, please refer to the following article:
Keen, J. (2017) Teaching the Writing Process, Changing English, 24(4), 372-385 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1358684X.2017.1359493 Key idea: An approach to teaching writing that focuses on pupils’ learning through prewriting, drafting and revising rather than on text outcomes alone is likely to help improve their attainment in writing composition. |
Example of a Process Writing Scheme: A time in my life I will always remember
The objective of this writing scheme for Year 7 (11/12-year-old) pupils, carried out at Birchwood Community HS in Warrington, was to enable pupils to convey experiences in personal narrative writing.
The key principle was that pupils’ writing should emerge out of their own experiences and their responses to the topic, A time in my life I will always remember.
The criteria for peer assessment were constructed collaboratively by pupils and the teacher. Pupils worked in mixed ability groups of 4/5 throughout the scheme of work.
Outline of the Process Writing Scheme
Pre-writing
Pupils discussed why people talk and write about their own experiences. Pupils discussed some of the experiences they would always remember.
Drafting - Draft 1s
Each pupil wrote a Draft 1 account based on one of the experiences they had discussed in pre-writing.
Revising 1 – Draft 2s
Pupils worked in groups to ask each other questions about their Draft 1s.
Pupils revised their accounts in response to their classmates’ questions to produce Draft 2s.
Revising 2 – Draft 3s
Pupils worked in groups to peer assess each other’s Draft 2s.
Pupils discussed what makes a piece of writing effective.
Pupils revised in response to peer assessment and discussion of effectiveness to produce Draft 3s.
Celebrating
Pupils shared their Draft 3s with the class.
Pupils suggested some possible motives for sharing experiences, such as:
- Catharsis (To express your feelings; To release something locked up inside you; They might be upset and need to share it)
- Audience response (They just want people to know to see what they say; You can make someone else smile)
- Audience understanding (To give other people understanding of something)
- Audience empathy (To tell them how you experienced it)
- Inner necessity (Because they are excited and want to share it with us).
Developing criteria for success
Pupils suggested answers to the question What makes a story interesting to listen to? Their ideas were used to create criteria for success to cater for the wide range of topics, approaches and writing styles the pupils were likely to produce:
Criteria for Success
A story you want to tell
With good use of details and feelings
And a satisfying ending
You might also:
Build atmosphere
Tell it with enthusiasm
Exaggerate if you want to
The first three criteria represented what all pupils’ accounts could be expected to achieve in terms of motivation, content and narrative shape. Atmosphere, enthusiasm and exaggeration were included for additional challenge.
Planning for writing
Pupils were provided with some questions to support their planning:
- What was the setting?
- Who was with you?
- What were the main things you remember?
Pupil A’s planning sheet read as follows:
Pupil A’s Planning sheet
I was in Malta in the Silent City
I was in a cafe
Nana granddad cousin
I got attacked by a cat
it hurt
Draft 1s
Pupils’ Draft 1s were completed in class. Pupils had access to their planning notes and to the criteria for success. Pupil A’s Draft 1 was as follows:
Pupil A’s Story Draft 1
My story starts when I went to Malta with nana granddad and cousin. One of the days we went to a cafe in the Silent City when a cat jumped on my knee and attacked me.
Preparation for Draft 2s
Pupils worked in groups to read each other’s accounts and to ask and answer each other questions about them and to discuss how they might change their story.
Draft 2s
Pupils wrote Draft 2s in class. Pupil A’s Draft 2 was as follows:
Pupil A’s Story Draft 2
My story starts when I was 11 and I went to Malta with nana granddad and cousin. It was nice there but it was cold. One of the days we went to the Silent City which is an ancient site where you’re meant to be silent. We were getting hungry so we went to a cafe to get something to eat. When a ferocious cat jumped on me. It was big and white with giant teeth and claws. Next it started to scratch me and bite me.
Preparation for Draft 3s
Preparation for Draft 3s consisted of peer assessment of Draft 2s using the criteria for success agreed earlier and opportunities to discuss what makes a piece of writing effective.
Writing Draft 3s
Pupils were asked to write Draft 3s of their accounts. The task specification was:
Draft 3 of A time in my life I will always remember
Write Draft 3 of your story.
Give your story a title.
Use your peer assessments to make your story more interesting for a reader.
Make any other changes so that your story is more interesting and more effective.
Pupil A’s Draft 3 was as follows:
Pupil A’s Draft 3 – The Ferocious Felion
My story starts when I was 11 and I went to Malta with my nana granddad and cousin. The place was nice and clean but it was cold and windy. One yet another cold windy day we went to an ancient site with big temple like buildings. It was high up like on a gigantic hill which made it even more cold. It was called the Silent City where you where meant to be silent in. We was getting hungry so we went to a cafe.
I sat down then a giant white ferocious feline jumped on my knee. It stuck its huge claws into me and as I went to strangle grab it it bit me. I finally got it off me but it started to hurt.
Celebrating
The final lesson was devoted to pupils reading their stories aloud to the class.
Some Suggested Example Task Specifications for Pupils’ Writing
Year 7
Y7 1 Write about a time in your life that you will always remember.
Y7 2 Write about a place that is important to you.
Y7 3 Write a scary story.
Y7 4 Write a story about someone being bullied.
Y7 5 Write a letter to your parents or carers asking them to let you have a pet.
Year 8
Y8 1 Write about a journey you have made.
Y8 2 Write about a time when you lost something that was important to you.
Y8 3 Write a funny story based on something that has happened to you
Y8 4 Write a story called ‘Rumours’.
Y8 5 Write to your Headteacher suggesting some ways of improving your school.
Year 9
Y9 1 Write about a time when you faced a challenge in your life.
Y9 2 Write about a time when something important in your life changed.
Y9 3 Write a story that involves travelling in time.
Y9 4 Write a true or imagined story about loneliness.
Y9 5 Write a promotional leaflet for a festival to take place in your area.
Year 10
Y10 1 Write about something you have achieved.
Y10 2 Write a story about two very different people having to work together.
Y10 3 Write about what might happen if technology were to take over from people.
Y10 4 Write a leaflet to help sell something you have created or invented.
Y10 5 Write a review of a film or a play or a musical you have seen recently.
Notes
1 These task specifications were sourced from University of Manchester PGCE English trainees’ Writing Assessment assignments, in which trainees analyse pieces of pupils’ writing and suggest ways of helping them to improve and develop as writers.
2 Allocation of task specifications to Years is mainly based on my intuitions about what topics and issues Year 7 – Year 10 pupils would find productive for their writing. Colleagues should feel free to vary these according to the interests and capabilities of particular classes.
3 Key principles for this phase of the Process Writing Project are as follows:
- Use the prewriting – drafting – revising – celebrating process;
- Allow pupils to draw on their own experiences and ideas;
- No model texts;
- No identifying then applying features and devices;
- No AFOREST-type acronyms for scaffolding;
- No contrived insertion of techniques.
Process Writing Project 