Look for opportunities for students to write:
Applications
Freebies
Letter Jokes
Math problems
Travel brochures
Want ads
Advice Columns
Book Reviews
Write "cyber biographies"-Where students state who they are and to what goals they aspire http://www.geocities.com/bronx_tech/work.html
Telementoring: Using parents,community members and older students to mentor students via the internet. For pros and cons about using this approach go to:http://www.tnell.com/cybereng/
Create a Chat Room: Teachers have found that sometimes-shy students in class will eagerly participate in cyberspace and this encourages writing. Be certain to set up rules for the positive use of the chat room.
Author Writing: Students take on the identity of the author and are asked to write a journal entry or even a letter to the class from the author's perspective.
Kamishibal- Students work in groups of 4, with each student given a role:sequencer, who determines how to depict the action of the story; an artist, who draws the pictures; a scriptwriter, who writes script for each picture; and a performer, who acts out the scene. This technique is from Japanese culture see the following Web site fro more information:http://www.kamishibai.com
Diary: Have students keep a daily journal or as a class keep a diary
Pictures: Use pictures to show students how to develop topic sentences
Peer Editing with Credit: Two peers edit a paper together and they both receive credit for the improvement in the final paper.
Crystal Ball and Yesterday's News: Ask everyone to write a short paragraph at start of class either telling someone what they learned yesterday or predicting what they will learn today.
Red/Green Pen: When grading papers circle errors in red and good aspects of the writing in green. Then ask students why items were circle in green.
Expanded Sentences: Start with simple sentences and in cooperative groups asks students to expand into larger sentences. Set a goal of a specific number of words
Pass a Sentence: Have student in cooperative groups write a starter sentences and then pass the starter sentence asking each student to contribute to paragraph.
STOP:
Interviews: have students write interview questions and answer questions about numerous topics
Journaling:Have students write in a journal about everything from their personal life to every subject that they experience in school.
Vocabulary Book:For every subject area have students keep a vocabulary book of words they are struggling to learn. Then encourage students to use these vocabulary words across disciplines. For students who have difficulty with the writing process for definitions have them draw a picture to help them remember the definition.
Written Assignments(Alley, 1998)
C-Capitalize the first word
O-Overall appearance
P-Punictuation
S-Spelling
POWER (Englert et al., 1988)
P-Planning
O-Organizing
W-Writing
E-Editing
R-Revising