Writing Strategies for All Primary Students E-Book

Janet C. Richards

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 565

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

A guide for teaching all your students the skills they need tobe successful writers The 25 mini-lessons provided in this book are designed todevelop students' self-regulated writing behaviors andenhance their self-perceived writing abilities. These foundationalwriting strategies are applicable and adaptable to all primarystudents: emergent, advanced, English Language Learners, andstruggling writers. Following the SCAMPER (Screen and assess,Confer, Assemble materials, Model, Practice, Execute, Reflect)mini-lesson model devised by the authors, the activities showteachers how to scaffold the writing strategies that students needin order to take control of their independent writing. * Reveals helpful writing strategies, including makingassociations, planning, visualizing, accessing cues, usingmnemonics, and more * Offers ideas for helping students revise, check, and monitortheir writing assignments * Explains the author's proven SCAMPER model that is appropriatefor students in grades K-3 Let Richards and Lassonde--two experts in the field ofchildhood education--guide you through these proven strategiesfor enhancing young children's writing skills.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Jossey-Bass Teacher

Title Page

Copyright

Foreword

Introduction

K–3 Writers

How This Book Is Organized

How to Use This Book

Let Us Hear From You

Section I: Developing Understandings About Writing Strategy Mini-Lessons

Chapter 1: Teaching Writing Strategies in the Classroom

What Is a Writing Strategy?

Why Is Writing Strategy Instruction a Good Idea?

How Should Writing Strategies Be Taught?

An Example

A Last Comment

Chapter 2: Incorporating the SCAMPER Writing Strategy Mini-Lesson Model into Your Writing Program

Your K–3 Students' Writing

What Is SCAMPER?

SCAMPER and Response to Intervention (RtI)

The Recursive Nature of SCAMPER

Contextualizing SCAMPER in Your Classroom Community

To Scamper

Chapter 3: Architecture of a Mini-Lesson

Purpose of the Writing Strategy Mini-Lesson

Sample Writing Strategy Mini-Lesson: Growing Ideas

Reinforcement over Time

Tips for Successful Mini-Lessons

Things to Consider

Chapter 4: The Role of Teachers' Evaluations

The Central Features of Evaluation

The Writing Teacher's Ultimate Goal

Chapter 5: Writing Strategy Instruction for Struggling Writers

Who Are the Struggling Writers?

Evidence Connections

Assessing Students: How Do We Know Who is Struggling?

General Accommodations and Strategies for Writers Who Struggle

Case Studies

Implications

Recommendations

Evidence Connections

Section II: Inventing Strategies

Chapter 6: Noun Charts

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Noun Charts

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 7: Growing a Poem with Interview Buddies

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Growing a Poem with Interview Buddies

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 8: Let's Tell a Story

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Let's Tell a Story

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 9: Writing Rockets and Other Graphic Organizers

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Writing Rockets and Other Graphic Organizers

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 10: Interest Charts

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Interest Charts

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Section III: Drafting Strategies

Chapter 11: Reread So You Know What to Write Next

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Reread So You Know What to Write Next

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 12: Where Have I Seen That Word Before?

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Where Have I Seen That Word Before?

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 13: Storyteller Blocks

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Storyteller Blocks

Adapting the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 14: Adding Information

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Adding Information

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 15: To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme?

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme

Adapting the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 16: Think, Draw, Write, and Share (TDWS)

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Think, Draw, Write, and Share (TDWS)

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Section IV: Polishing Strategies

Chapter 17: Act It Out to Discover the Details

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Act It Out to Discover the Details

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 18: Personal Editing Checklists

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Personal Editing Checklists

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 19: Adding Dialogue to Fiction and Nonfiction

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Adding Dialogue to Fiction and Nonfiction

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 20: Following Conventions for Writing Dialogue

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Following Conventions for Writing Dialogue

Adapting the Strategy

Adapting the Strategy for Emerging Writers

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 21: Color-Coding Editing

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Color-Coding Editing

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 22: Turning Up the Volume of Voice in Poetry

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Turning Up the Volume of Voice in Poetry

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 23: STEP into the Shoes of a Reader

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for STEP into the Shoes of a Reader

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Section V: Comprehensive Strategies

Chapter 24: Making Pictures

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Making Pictures

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 25: Comprehensive, Step-by-Step Composing for Nonfiction Writing

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Comprehensive, Step-by-Step Composing for Nonfiction Writing

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 26: Mentoring Authors' Voices Through Readers' Theater

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Mentoring Authors' Voices Through Readers' Theater

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

Chapter 27: Think Back, Look Forward

Why This Strategy Is Important

The SCAMPER Model for Think Back, Look Forward

Adapting the Strategy

Extending the Strategy

Evidence Connections

About the Authors

About the Contributors

Acknowledgments

Subject Index

Name Index

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Richards, Janet C., 1936 —, author.

Writing Strategies for All Primary Students : Scaffolding Independent Writing with Differentiated Mini-Lessons, Grades K—3 / Janet C. Richards, Cynthia A. Lassonde.

p. cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-61071-8 (pbk.)

1. Composition (Language arts)—Study and teaching (Primary) 2. English language—Composition and exercises. I. Lassonde, Cynthia A., 1957—, author. II. Title.

LB1576.R518 2011

372.62′3—dc22

2010045579

Foreword

Most of us are familiar with the age-old adage for preparing children to be successful in school and beyond. Teachers need to focus on the “three R's”—reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic. Yet in recent years one of these skills has received significantly less attention—writing. Even though we know one of our most important tasks is to introduce young students to written language—how to use it creatively and effectively to communicate—for the most part we have neglected strategies to develop students' writing. This book offers an array of strategies on which K–3 teachers can rely to ensure their students develop as able writers who can self-regulate their independent writing.

Whether you teach primary or upper-elementary grades, administrators and school districts count on you to teach your students to quantifiably improve their writing skills. You need to offer strategies to help them along the way, from the initial draft to polishing and bringing their unique voices to their writing tasks. In the mini-lessons described in this book, you'll see concrete, research-based ways to scaffold students' writing that make writing more pleasurable and successful for English language learners, writers who struggle, emerging writers, and students with advanced writing abilities.

All children want to write. In fact, through their pretend play, drawing, and conversations about storybook plots and characters, children try to use and understand writing long before they can actually write conventionally. What is truly remarkable is that these early writing activities tend to be even more visible than children's early reading attempts. As young children scribble and draw, they often begin to experiment with making wavy lines and letter-like shapes. In their early experiments, children demonstrate their knowledge about and desire to use writing. They find writing can be useful in their social relationships: in making requests, in defining and labeling their world, and in expressing their feelings of friendship and love. In these early activities, before children even go to school, they are beginning to construct such literary forms as notes, letters, stories, and poems.

Once children enter school, how do we corral their enthusiasm and creative minds so their writing is coherent, engaging, and purposeful? One important way is to screen your class to determine who would benefit from what strategies, then model and teach chosen strategies to small groups of students, and finally support students as they execute strategies independently. The strategies described in this book help students generate and organize their ideas for writing, translate their ideas into written texts, and review and reread parts of the texts to revise their work. All of these strategies are designed to place students in control of their writing.

To develop as writers, students need to find a balance between “doing it myself” and knowing when to ask for assistance and collaboration from others. Writing strategy mini-lessons fit this model. Teachers do not teach strategies that students cannot developmentally handle. In the same way, teachers do not offer certain strategies to those students who are already proficient in particular aspects of writing. These students have no need to learn strategies they already use with ease.

It has been my pleasure to write a foreword for this much-needed book. It is the first of its kind, and as a teacher you will refer to the wide range of chapters throughout the school year. If you need strategies to help your students begin to write, think of ideas about what to write, draft stories or content pieces, revise writing, or edit spelling, or if you need strategies to guide students from the beginning to the end of the writing process, you will find the answers in this book. Congratulations to Janet Richards and Cynthia Lassonde!

SUSAN B. NEUMAN

University of Michigan

Introduction

Along with reading comprehension, the ability to write well is a predictor of academic success and a basic requirement for participation in civic life and in the global economy.

Graham & Perin, 2007, p. 1

There are many exceptional books that focus on writing instruction, and each offers a different comprehensive approach or program. However, as a senior acquisitions editor of literacy publications recently told us, “Despite the number of volumes available on writing instruction, there are still not enough good books that explicitly address how teachers might teach writing.” We concur with the senior acquisitions editor. Furthermore, numerous teachers and teacher educators have told us they want more ideas about writing instruction because no single writing approach “will meet the needs of all students” (Graham & Perin, 2007, p. 11).

Every year, large numbers of students in the United States graduate from high school or drop out of school unable to write at the most basic level (Kamil, 2003; Snow & Biancarosa, 2003). The reality is that most teachers have little time to deviate from their school districts' requisite pedagogical objectives and curriculum goals to offer small-group or even whole-class writing instruction based on students' immediate writing requirements. As one teacher commented, “Because of all the state mandates for subjects like reading, math, P.E., and more, I don't have time to teach specific writing lessons” (“Drawing Kids into Writing,” 2008, p. 7). Indeed, teachers in our graduate language arts and writing methods classes tell us they are only allowed to offer forty minutes of writing instruction per day. Therefore, they have little time to devote to students' distinctive writing needs. In our own recent experiences as teachers of primary students, and now as supervisors of our apprenticing teacher candidates and professors of master's and doctoral education students, we have been frustrated by the disparities among the writing needs of primary students; the perceived time restrictions of a busy academic agenda; and the absence of a resource, such as this book, that could help educators incorporate meaningful writing strategy mini-lessons into the core of their daily writing and curriculum goals. Teachers feel restricted by an overemphasis on one-size-fits-all, rigid, formulaic writing lessons that leave little room for differentiated instruction and are designed by those who are far removed from students' specific writing requirements.

Yet, as teachers know, the majority of primary children benefit from carefully planned, individualized writing instruction based on what they need to know next about writing (Tompkins, 2008). For example, for the most part, many primary students may write well but lack proficiency in certain areas of writing. They therefore need some supplementary instruction tailored to their specific writing requirements. And, as Gail Tompkins (2008) and Lisa Delpit (2003) note, explicit writing instruction is especially important for children from minority cultures who may not be familiar with “certain knowledge and strategies not made explicit in their classrooms. Explicitness is crucial because people from different cultures have different sets of understandings” (Tompkins, p. 71). Another area of concern is that for various reasons an entire class of students may need customized lessons that focus on particular aspects of writing.

So how do teachers of writing who are challenged by lack of time and inhibited by mandated programs find time to teach explicit writing lessons that fit students' needs? We propose, based on our personal teaching experiences, our research, and our extended study of writing theory and pedagogy, that an effective, pragmatic solution for teachers is to offer writing strategy mini-lessons based on the needs of individual students, small groups of students, or perhaps an entire class. “Strategy instruction involves the explicit teaching of behaviors” (Guthrie, 2009, p. 7). Mini-lessons are made up of fifteen- to thirty-minute direct-instruction sessions designed to help students become strategic, skilled writers (Atwell, 1998; Tompkins, 2008). Brief strategy lessons easily fit within the framework of any required school district's writing approach or program. As Tompkins notes, “The question is not whether to teach strategies…but how and when to teach them” (p. 71).

This book, Writing Strategies for All Primary Students: Scaffolding Independent Writing with Differentiated Mini-Lessons, Grades K–3, has the potential to change writing practice. It offers easy-to-understand descriptions of writing strategy mini-lesson instruction for all K–3 writers, including students in need of some occasional help, those who benefit from frequent supplemental writing instruction, those who struggle daily with aspects of writing, and advanced writers. Specifically, the book offers an array of strategies that teachers can model, help students learn in an interactive setting with peers, and assist students to apply independently to enable them to take control of and self-regulate their writing. This book is particularly needed because although it is acknowledged that writing workshops and process-oriented teaching methods have introduced many positive changes to writing instruction, these approaches do not support students in need of some additional help in one or more dimensions of writing and those who are challenged daily by writing assignments (Collins, 1998).

K–3 Writers

Students in kindergarten through grade 3 represent a wide range of writing skills. This book aims to meet the needs of students at all developmental levels of writing in grades K through 3, from emerging writers to advanced writers, including those who struggle and those for whom the English language is a second language.

Emerging Writers

The writing process begins from the time children can hold writing utensils and draw scribbles, symbols, and pictures that represent meaning to them (Soderman, Gregory, & McCarty, 2005). In this book, we recognize that writing strategies benefit emerging writers and also transitional and conventional writers (Sulzby, 1990). Over time, students begin to differentiate between drawing and writing as separate symbol systems (Dyson, 2001). We have provided writing strategies for each part of the writing process for emerging writers in the scribble, prephonemic, and semiphonemic stages (see Gentry, -NIL-). In these stages, students use pictures as mock writing, and move into using strings of letters and then some letters for phonemes they hear in words. This book identifies students who inconsistently use letters to represent phonemes as emerging writers. Each writing strategy mini-lesson includes suggestions for adapting the strategy for use with emerging writers.

Writers Who Struggle

There is no single profile of a struggling writer. Often we identify those who struggle by comparing them with those who are more proficient. For an in-depth discussion of writers who struggle, how to identify them, and how to instruct them, please see Chapter Five, Writing Strategy Instruction for Struggling Writers by Eva Garin and Rochelle Matthews-Somerville. Adaptations for writers who struggle can also be found at the end of each writing strategy mini-lesson chapter in Sections Two through Five.

English Language Learners

English language learners may need support with vocabulary, sentence structure, and syntax that exceeds the type of assistance required by other primary writers. As you model and teach writing strategies to English language learners, you will want to rely and expand on the language and writing abilities students already possess in their first languages. All mini-lessons provide adaptation ideas for teaching writing strategies to students whose second or third language is English that will help them become proficient writers.

Advanced Writers

Advanced writers excel in writing. You will have your own standards for identifying your advanced writers based on your grade level and students' abilities. They may be students who love to write and write prolifically. The content of their writing may show maturity. The mechanics of and spelling in their work might be exceptional. You may recognize your advanced writers by the themes they select, their engagement in writing, the length of their sentences, their word choices, or the intricacy of details in their writing. All mini-lessons include adaptation ideas for challenging advanced writers.

How This Book Is Organized

We have designed this book to help you develop as a strategic teacher of writing and to help your students become strategic writers. There are five main sections in this book. Each major section begins with an overview to help you know what to expect as you read its chapters. The overviews summarize each of the chapters and, therefore, assist you in determining what strategies in the book are most relevant to you and your students.

Section One, Developing Understandings About Writing Strategy Mini-Lessons, includes five chapters that provide background information about how to screen and assess students to help you teach writing strategy mini-lessons that meet the individual needs of your students in your classroom and that correlate with your existing writing program. Section One also provides a comprehensive description of the theories that undergird writing strategy mini-lessons and how to offer these mini-lessons. For a brief introduction of each chapter, see the Section One opening pages.

Sections Two through Five categorize the nature of the writing process we hope students develop as they work their way through the strategies. Each chapter in these sections portrays a strategy. Section Two includes strategies for inventing. Section Three offers mini-lessons on drafting. Section Four provides strategies for revising, polishing, or editing writing and moving toward a final draft. Finally, Section Five presents comprehensive strategies students can employ as they work through all of the phases of the writing process. Each of the strategies in Sections Two through Five is offered in a uniform format so readers can easily predict where to find specific information. Here is the outline of the components:

Introduction—This provides a brief overview of the strategy's objectives.

Why This Strategy Is Important—This section narrates an informal, contextualized purpose for the writing strategy mini-lesson.

The SCAMPER Model for the Strategy—In this part of the chapter, authors follow the SCAMPER model (fully described in Chapter Two) to portray a writing strategy mini-lesson.

Adapting the Strategy—Here you will find suggestions, following the SCAMPER model, for how to adapt the mini-lesson to meet the diverse needs of emerging writers, writers who struggle, English language learners, and advanced writers.

Extending the Strategy—Ideas for extending the strategy are shared in this helpful section.

Evidence Connections—This section offers two annotated, relevant reading suggestions that connect to the ideas presented in the chapter.

References—A list of useful texts completes each strategy so you can seek out further readings on the ideas discussed in the chapter.

Furthermore, some of the strategy chapters contain survey and assessment forms that you can duplicate and use in assessing your students. And many share samples of students' writing and illustrations.

How to Use This Book

This book is different from other writing instruction books. You will first want to read it from start to finish to learn all about what writing strategy instruction entails. Then you will want to revisit particular sections and dip into the ideas and strategies presented. This book will be a practical resource tool for you. It will be a writing book you will keep on your professional bookshelf, to consult when you need informed ideas to help your students improve their writing.

Let Us Hear From You

We want to hear from our readers. Therefore, we have provided our e-mail addresses below. Tell us how you have implemented the strategies in this book and about your students' independent, self-regulated writing achievements as they employ writing strategies. Perhaps you have extended or altered the strategies presented, or maybe you have devised some writing strategies on your own because you wanted to meet your students' particular writing instruction needs. Tell us about your uses and adaptations of our model and the strategies presented in this book. Teachers who understand the theory behind writing strategy instruction and the SCAMPER model for teaching writing strategies possess the knowledge and ability to offer best practices in writing instruction for all students in grades K through 3.

Janet

([email protected])

Cindy

([email protected])

References

Atwell, N. (1998). In the middle: New understandings about writing, reading, and learning. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Collins, J. (1998). Strategies for struggling writers. New York: Guilford Press.

Delpit, L. (2003). Effective white teachers of black children: Teaching within a community. Journal of Teacher Education, 54, 413–427.

Drawing kids into writing. (2008, October 17). St. Petersburg Times, p. 7.

Dyson, A. H. (2001). Where are the childhoods in childhood literacy? An exploration in outer (school) space. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 1, 9–39.

Gentry, J. R. (2008). Step-by-step assessment guide to code breaking. New York: Scholastic Press.

Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools (Carnegie Corporation Report). Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education. Retrieved September 7, 2007, from www.all4ed.org/publications/WritingNext/WritingNext.pdf.

Guthrie, J. Contexts for engagement and motivation in reading. Reading Online, 4(8). Retrieved February 19, 2009, from www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=/articles/handbook/guthrie/index.html.

Kamil, M. (2003). Adolescents and literacy: Reading for the 21st century. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.

Snow, C. E., & Biancarosa, G. (2003). Adolescent literacy and the achievement gap: What do we know and where do we go from here? New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Soderman, A. K., Gregory, K. M., & McCarty, L. (2005). Scaffolding emergent literacy: A child-centered approach for preschool through grade 5. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Sulzby, E. (1990). Writing and reading instruction and assessment for young children: Issues and implications. Paper commissioned by the Forum on the Future of Children and Families of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Association of State Boards of Education, Washington, DC.

Tompkins, G. E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Section I

Developing Understandings About Writing Strategy Mini-Lessons

The five chapters in Section One provide foundational understandings about what it means to teach writing effectively in today's primary classrooms. They will help prepare you to deliver writing strategy mini-lessons through the SCAMPER model, explaining the rationale for teaching writing strategies and exploring how to teach them, how to connect writing strategy instruction and mini-lessons to your writing program, the central features of evaluation, and how to meet the needs of all primary writers.

Chapter One, Teaching Writing Strategies in the Classroom, an invited chapter written by Steve Graham, focuses your attention by describing the strategic facets of students' skilled writing, such as planning and gathering suitable ideas and information for writing, reflecting and revising as they work through their writing, and self-directing their work and environment in productive ways. In the remainder of the chapter Graham explains why writing strategy instruction is beneficial for young writers and how writing strategies should be taught.

Chapter Two, Incorporating the SCAMPER Writing Strategy Mini-Lesson Model into Your Writing Program, provides an overview of the SCAMPER model and how to fit it into the writing program your school uses. It also discusses how the SCAMPER model addresses the principles of Response to Intervention (RtI) and offers ideas for contextualizing the model within a meaningful environment.

In Chapter Three, Architecture of a Mini-Lesson, Anne Marie Juola-Rushton identifies the function of the writing strategy mini-lesson as the vehicle for young writers to learn the purposefulness of writing and the value of being a writer. The author then shares an example of a mini-lesson using the SCAMPER model format. She also provides suggestions for maintaining new strategies over time through the use of an “if-then” strategy reinforcement chart.

Jane Hansen presents the four central features of evaluation in Chapter Four, The Role of Teachers' Evaluations: (1) teachers evaluate the ways they use their own lives and writing to ensure their young writers value their own lives and writing; (2) teachers evaluate by observing and conferring with their students while they write among their classmates; (3) based on their in-context evaluations, teachers provide strategy lessons in which they show children how much confidence they have in them; and (4) teachers establish networks of supportive evaluators among the children in their classrooms.

In Chapter Five, Writing Strategy Instruction for Struggling Writers by Rochelle Matthews-Somerville and Eva Garin, the authors answer the questions Who are the struggling writers? and How do we know our students are struggling with writing? They then suggest general accommodations and strategies for writers who struggle.

We urge you to read these chapters thoroughly before you offer writing strategy instruction using the SCAMPER model. What makes educators exemplary writing teachers is their understanding of theories related to writing instruction, teaching, and learning, and of how to connect these theoretical perspectives to practical applications. By aligning writing strategy mini-lessons with sound theory, you will be better able to make sound choices about what specific writing strategies to model and teach.

Chapter 1

Teaching Writing Strategies in the Classroom

Steve Graham

Writing is a self-directed, effortful, and strategic activity (Graham, 2006; Zimmerman & Risemberg, 1997). This is clearly evident when skilled writers talk about how they compose. One point they often emphasize is the goal-directed nature of writing. One of my favorite examples of this involves the famous critic and author Robert Benchley (Hendrickson, 1994). When he was a college student at the beginning of the twentieth century he was asked to write about the arbitration of the international fisheries problem from the point of view of either the United States or Great Britain. He decided to set his own goal for this task, and addressed the question from the point of view of the fish!

Skilled writers also maintain that they spend time preparing in advance what they plan to do and say. This was evident in the case of J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books. Before writing the first volume in this series, she spent several months planning it, filling several boxes with notes and ideas (Shapiro, 2000). Likewise, R. L. Stine, creator of the popular and thriller books, indicated he relies heavily on the traditional strategy of outlining (Associated Press, 1995). He creates very complicated and detailed chapter-by-chapter outlines for a book before writing it, claiming that knowing what will happen in advance makes writing the book more enjoyable.