Teaching the Conventions of Writing

General Tips

1. Post the mini-lesson you will conduct a week in advance. Expect children to experiment with these in advance of the lesson.
2. Keep the tone of each mini-lesson as one of discovery, rather than of preoccupation with accurate use of the convention.
3. Talk about conventions: So the first thing you'll do in this mini-lesson is help children to see what they already know about conventions.

4. Let children share the conventions they are using. Ask questions like: Did anyone use a new form of punctuation? Did anyone use quotation marks today? If you ask children to keep track of the conventions they use, they'll have much to share.

5. Post the names of children who effectively use certain conventions and can serve as helpers to other students.

STRATEGIES TO MASTER BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS

Our lives are marked by beginnings and endings. In the things we do every day, we look for starting and ending points. We hold those images — their sight, smell, taste, and feel close. It's no wonder, then, that writers take such care to develop strong introductions and conclusions — introductions that grab readers and conclusions that leave them feeling satisfied. The best leads and endings don't just happen; they are crafted. This can be a painstaking process that, as any experienced writer knows, becomes somewhat easier with practice.

1. CONDUCT READ-ALOUDS FROM FAVORITE BOOKS

Explore examples of leads and conclusions. Have students read the first sentence or paragraph to the whole class. As a group, discuss whether this opening makes you want to keep reading and why. Then read the whole story, paying special attention to the ending. How does it make students feel?

2. SHARE YOUR OWN WORK

Show three rough starts or finishes that you have written. Have the class decide which ones work best, and then talk about how you made your choices.

3. HAVE STUDENTS CHOOSE A FIRST DRAFT

Make sure students understand that the time to write best beginnings is after they've completed their first drafts. At that stage they can return to their original beginning and be merciless, hacking off as much as necessary to find a good lead. Tell them that even the most accomplished writers have to dig through a few bad sentences and paragraphs before they get to the good stuff.
There can be three kinds of beginnings that work well. Teaching these leads alleviates some of the anguish of making cuts, and puts students on the road to well-crafted writing.
1. The circular lead/close: Once a first draft is completed, a circular lead/close is easy to create. I have students look at their endings and ask them if they can begin with those closing words as well. This type of lead is a favorite of many students.

2. The dialogue lead: Indeed, dialogue can be the stuff of sweet beginnings. Teach students to scan their writing until they reach the first quote, and then consider moving it to the start of the piece. If the first quote doesn't lend itself to a strong lead, encourage students to look for others that might.

3. The climactic lead: It's a good idea to pick up your readers by the scruff of their necks and drop them into the heart of a conflict. Every piece of writing has a climax, which doesn't always come at the very end. Students can be asked to find the point of greatest tension in their writing, and then to move those words to the beginning. Putting the climax of the story first gives the lead immediate energy.

4. Take a look at endings that don't work

There are three kinds of horrible endings that raise their heads again and again in writing. If you teach students to recognize these blunders in their writing, they are more likely to avoid them and craft more original closings.
• Unnecessary repetition: The student repeats his main point over and over again not knowing or trusting that he has made that point earlier. Students who have this tendency often just need to be reassured that they've done a good job in conveying their ideas earlier in the piece.
• Uninspired chronology: Students also make the error of reverting to chronology, often ending their writing with the characters dying or falling asleep. If you ask students never to end their pieces with phrases such as "...and they all went to bed," you'll eliminate lots of abrupt conclusions.
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• The "Dallas Syndrome": This catchall ending is used when the writing is implausible, or contains loose ends that the writer can't tie up. In these instances, it's typical for students to conclude with passages such as, "It was all just a dream," or anything that provides an easy return from fantasy to reality. ("Dallas Syndrome" is a nickname inspired by the night-time soap opera).

5. Encourage kids to use one others leads and conclusions

Have each student give a classmate just the first line of something he or she has been working on. The recipient has to write something starting or ending with that line. If the student likes what she writes, she deletes her classmate's line, and replaces it with something original. This activity reduces the struggle of finding leads or endings, or of being overly invested in them in the first draft.

6. Are your students ready to revise?


Fostering an awareness of good beginnings and endings may be developmentally more realistic, and therefore more effective, than demanding revision from primary students. Students generally cannot spot good leads, as well as extraneous words in their endings; they even oppose revising their work to bring them out. You can have students underline or put a star around strong potential leads and endings in their writing using bright colored markers.