The boys and girls learned that a good writer thinks about the questions a reader might have about a topic and tries to answer them in their writing piece.
As the kids will tell you, this is not easy!
For example, if I were to write about my Barbie collection, I think you might have these questions for me prior to reading:
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| And she's still in the box! |
- How many Barbies are in the collection?
- How old is the oldest one in the collection?
- Are any of them very valuable?
- Why collect Barbies?
- Where do I keep them?
- Which one is my favourite Barbie?
After considering the questions a reader might have about my collection, I now move on to writing the actual paragraph where I make sure I address each of them.
Today, the students were given four topics to choose from. They must first ask five questions a reader might ask about their topic of choice. This is a whole new way to think about writing and it helps the child to focus on their reader, which is what good writers do.
Everyone was all ready to jump in with both feet and simply start writing their paragraphs but when you have to pull back and think not as a writer but as a reader, it takes the task up a level.
At first, I suspect it's not very fun to write this way, but I think once the kids see the high quality of writing they produce, they'll see their hard work pay off!
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