Four Levels of Writing

Students progress from a new skill to mastery in four steps.

Compare learning to write with learning to ride a bike.

The first time a child rides a bike, a parent might hold it up as she tries to get on. They remain near-by as the wavering cycle moves forward. Soon the parent stays on their driveway as the new-minted cyclist picks up speed. And before you know it, Mom and Dad wave from the window.

With Write On, writing coaches use the same concept to encourage independence as new skills are taught and mastered.

Let's use the example of teaching students to write a Chronological Essay (Write On #61 and 62.) Students are shown a model of a chronological essay, read it, and note how each outlined event is the topic sentence for a paragraph.

Level One: Beginner

Write Together

Goal: Learn to Write using a familiar topic

The student chooses an event (historical, literary, or personal) to be the basis of their chronological essay. Then the student lists the key acts that happened.

The coach records the narrative events as they are listed and discussed. The rough draft is taking shape.

Using the organizational skills learned previously, student and coach produce the outline, keeping in mind that each sub-event will become one or more paragraphs.

Explaining the details of each point, the student dictates each paragraph as the coach does the physical writing. The coach may give a few suggestions but for the most part this is the student's own ideas. (Editing, of course, comes later.)

Paragraph by paragraph, the essay takes shape. In this beginning stage the student is relieved of the demands of writing, spelling, and mechanics. No, we don't ignore those essential ingredients, but we are allowing the students to focus their brain-power on this new strategy. The dictation is actually a writing booster: it saves time and energy as the student is developing the mental skill of turning each chronological event in the outline into a paragraph.

Whose work is it? It is the students' own essay - written at the beginner level. Yes, they had help. But the ideas are their own. They had to list the events and create one (or more) paragraphs about each one.

Students are encouraged to read and re-read their essay and share it with others. Each time they read it, it strengthens the concept that each paragraph consists of one point.

Level Two: Intermediate

Coach Provides Cues, Prompts

Goal: Learn to Write using a common or familiar topic

Within two weeks of writing the first chronological essay, students write another chronological essay at the intermediate level.

Again, students select their topic. They should choose something common that does not require a significant amount of research - though checking dates and facts may be needed.

Coach and students can discuss the topic and once again brainstorm a working outline. The difference? The student now does the physical writing.

After the outline is developed, the first paragraph is tackled. What details should be included? The coach physically departs and the student writes the paragraph.

Depending on their level of confidence, the student may want to discuss each paragraph.

Discuss together > write independently > read together > discuss edit > repeat.

At the intermediate level, the coach is providing guidance and feedback during the writing process.

Level Three: Advanced

Coach Suggests Improvements

Goal: Learn to Write independently using a common topic

As the student advances, the role of the coach diminishes. At this advanced level coaches may find it helpful to:

• Discuss the topic.
• Review the outline before writing begins.
• Read portions during the initial writing phase.
• Suggest edits.

Level Four: Mastery

Coach Explains Assignment, Gives Written Criteria, and Grades Final Paper

Goal: Write to Learn using writing to explore and organize an academic topic

Here the student has reached the level of mastery for their age and grade. (We aren't expecting best-selling non-fiction from an elementary or middle school student, of course.)

Now the student is ready to write independently as well as ready to use the skill academically. They have already learned to write; now they write to learn.

The coach's role becomes that of a more traditional teacher: assign and grade.

Purpose of the Levels

There are two major goals of the writing levels:

1. Increase writing proficiencey (increase the complexity of writing tasks students perform)
2. Increase writing independence (decrease amount of input needed to complete a task)

On one hand, these two goals are inter-related. Just as reading frequency and reading comprehension are interrelated and usually progress together, so does writing independence and proficiency. It is part of the maturation process. However, they don't necessarily progress concurrently at the same rate and time.

In another sense, these two are antithetical. If we try to increase the complexity too fast, we may make the student more dependent on outside assistance.

The purpose of the Write On levels is to give the assistance to learn a new writing technique, then intentionally withdraw the assistance as they master the skill.

Actually, it's plain common sense - applied systematically.

Things to Note

There are a few things that need to be stated regarding these levels.

Incorporate Earlier Skills

The writing coach will incorporate previously developed skills into these essays. These might include writing introductions and conclusions, inserting dialogue, establishing point of view, and any other relevant techniques.

Number of Times an Essay Is Assigned

While there are four levels (and logically, four steps) to this methodology, the number of times this particular skill is assigned will vary.

In Write On, it is anticipated that students with average writing skill will usually do the academic essays four times, more or less as described above. But they don't do the four essays one right after another.

The academic essays are presented on lessons divisible by 5 (ie Write On #5, 10, 15, 20 etc.) Between the academic essays are creative writing activities that stretch word usuage and allow young writers to have fun with pen and paper. The new skill is folded into their menu of writing proficiency over several weeks.

Stronger students might need only one or two encounters with this assigment before they naturally incoroporate it into their writing. Students who struggle with writing will need more time and opportunities to practice a skill with a variety of topics.

Individualized to The Student

Coaches individualize their instruction depending on students' writing ability and the difficulty of the new task. The goal is to gain independence and incorporate new skills. The Write On's that are assigned are tailored to each student.

Writing In Groups

This approach can be used with individual students or groups. Homeschool parents and one-on-one tutors use Write On with single students.

Small groups, such as writing clubs, microschools, co-ops, and multi-age unit studies also use Write On or an adaptation of this method. In one system, the leader assigns a particular Write On, and the students choose the topic. In another system, the leader assigns the topic, and the students choose the type of essay or writing, depending on which skills they have mastered (Level 4.)

In smaller groups, the first level may be done together, and the group produce a single essay. The second level, the group may choose a topic and produce the outline. Each student works on each paragraph individually.

Whether individual students develop their own essay topics or the group has a shared topic, time is given for students to read and react to others' work.

Larger group and classroom teachers can also incorporate the levels of writing into their program. Though time constraints may not provide as much one-on-one assistance, writing groups of two to three students can provide motivation and constructive feedback.

More About Write-On

Write On is the kid-friendly way to write. 100 lessons mix academic and creative writing assignments to keep student motivation high. Multi-level from 3rd to 8th grade, it starts with the simplest sentences and paragraphs, teaches a variety of essay skills with a strong emphasis on paragraph development, and concludes with a thesis.

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