The Writing Process (El Proceso de Escritura)

   In my kindergarten/1st grade Spanish Immersion classroom, I do see quite a bit of writing instruction, done primarily by the MSU Student Teacher.  Many of her techniques are similar to what both Gibbons and Tompkins suggest, and I have seen significant improvement in the writing of both the class as a whole, and individual students.  I am elated to not only see this improvement, but also a more holistic approach, in that the student teacher places instruction on writing in every subject, instead of teaching writing as a separate-and-distinct entity.  The students journal about their math and science experiences, and during Black History Month, they had the opportunity to work with a teacher during social studies to construct a mini-report book upon an influential figure of history.  I helped the Kindergartners write their report on Harriet Tubman, and I learned a lot of patience!  Getting students to write in their second language is difficult, but can be done!

    Gibbons’ section on learning to write in a second language really rang true to the techniques I see in my classroom.  Gibbons mentions that “many young writers rely on and then for sequencing accounts and narratives” and suggests that teachers scaffold the use of language for second-language learners (69).  Much earlier in the year, the student teacher taught a unit on this sequencing, using the words primero (first), despues (after), luego (later) and al final (finally).  She included these words on a word bank in the classroom, and had students do centers for a few days so that they could understand how to use these words in place of “and and and.”  Her first mini-unit was on “how-to’s” and was “how to brush your teeth,” since her step-dad was a dentist.  The students got to put the words in order, and discuss the steps, as well as read a book and discuss the steps using the words.  My center, however, was highly authentic, as it was a video of her father giving the directions to the children in his dentist uniform.  The video was in English, so I was able to pause the video, and discuss the words in Spanish, to help the students make the connections.  At the end of this mini-unit, the students came up with the how-to sequencing to brush their teeth, and acted it out with free toothbrushes provided by her dad.  Super cute.

    This was all part of the “pre-writing” stage cited by Tompkins, in which students “choose a topic, consider purpose and form, and gather and organize ideas for writing” (53).  Since kindergartners and first graders are in the very early stages of physically writing, many times, the teacher will have them organize their thoughts and talk as a form of writing.  They were very focused upon what genre they were writing: a how-to instead of a story, as well as the organization and form by using the four sequencing words.  Their discussions using these sequencing words to come up with a how-to was their writing.  After other lessons on sequencing and how-to’s, the children were off and running on their own how-to’s, and this time, they got to write them down!

    I was lucky enough to be there to see this unfold.  The students thought of something they knew how to do really well, and used draft sheets with the words on them to organize their ideas.  They re-used this draft sheet to make cohesive sentences.  I helped many students formulate sentences to write from our conversations.  From there, the students used these sheets to create a full draft, with lines, that they had the opportunity to revise and edit, with a blue pen.  After several conferences with teachers and revisions, the student teacher published their writing in books, which the students had the opportunity to illustrate.  It really was a great assignment, and I was happy to be able to catch glimpses of it, and talk with the student teacher about the unit as a whole, her concerns, and student progress.  

It was impressive for kindergartners and first graders.  And even more impressive that all of their writing was done in a second language!