The Drafting Process.. The red pen is your friend :)

When writing my memoir coming up with a topic was only half the battle.  The next step in the process of writing my memoir was to write a draft.  Before writing the draft I brainstormed details I could write about the story.  Because I chose a story that I was very familiar with, coming up with what to add wasn’t very hard.  I used my writer’s notebook to keep all my prewriting and drafting exercises together.  As a teacher, I will have to make sure my students have some kind of writer’s notebook to keep themselves organized.  It really helps out during the process, because then you don’t have to worry about losing anything.  Anything you want to write goes into the notebook, and then you will always have it there to refer to later in the writing process.

Once I had come up with the main points, I then focused on the introduction.  I really needed a way to start off my story well and get readers interested.  I have always felt like the introduction is the hardest part of writing a paper.  Once I get started, then usually I can keep writing, but getting started is hard for me.  There are so many ways to start a paper.  Here is a helpful site I found on writing an introduction.  Asking a question usually hooks readers.  A quote can make them feel interested and make a connection to the topic.  I wanted to use something that would keep my audience thinking and wanting to know what happened on that particular day.

After a few “dead end” intros, I was able to come up with one that I thought was a good way to open my paper.  Then it was time to start writing.  I actually found that writing the memoir was quite easy and enjoyable.  The words just flowed out of me, and I felt like I was telling a great story.  This is exactly how I want my students to feel as they write.  I don’t want to constantly give my students topics to write about where they have no idea what to say, and it takes them hours to get words down.  This is very frustrating for students and a big reason of why a lot of students hate writing.  They are forced to write about things in school that they don’t want to write about, therefore the writing is hard and they learn not to like it.  If we give them topics they enjoy, writing about them will be more enjoyable, and students won’t develop such a negative view of writing.

With my draft neatly printed on pristine paper, I was ready to share it with my group.  Peer reviewing is a great way to edit papers, and I believe it should definitely be used with students.  It not only gives the writer feedback on how to improve their paper, it gives the peer reviewer experience editing a paper and also critiquing another paper.  My peer reviews showed that my group liked my paper, but there was some helpful criticism that I needed to make a few changes. 

I liked the peer review process that we used in which we were to give three positive feedback points and then a push, or something to improve.  This is a good exercise to use with students, because I think often when a student’s paper is edited all they see are a bunch of marks made in a red pen.  The red pen points out everything that the student did wrong and can sometimes completely tear a paper apart.  This can lead students to feel inferior about their work.  Giving positive feedback lets students know that their work is good.  The “red pen” isn’t something that is meant to break your paper down.  In fact, it’s meant to build your paper up.  Any first draft can be improved, and it’s important that students realize just how imperative the drafting and editing process is to get a well written final paper.