• What is a prewriting activity? • What is the correct order of the stages of writing? • What are the phases of writing development? • During which stage of writing should you be evaluating clarity of purpose? Prewriting Brainstorming and outlining are prewriting stage activities. During brainstorming, it is important to only focus on generating ideas and/or questions that relate to the topic. It is not important to evaluate or organize the ideas during this stage. That comes later in the writing process. Clustering is a type of prewriting that allows you to explore many ideas as soon as they occur to you. Clustering is very similar to brainstorming. Unlike brainstorming, where ideas are simply listed, in freewriting one writes sentences to form a paragraph about whatever comes to mind. Revising Revising involves making somewhat significant changes such as checking for clarity of purpose. Re-reading the draft for organization, logic and grammar are each part of the revising process. Editing is the process of making minor changes. Making language more precise or checking examples happens during the editing phase. Proofreading is the final check and includes making sure punctuation and grammar are correct. Charting works well for compare and contrast. A simple two-column chart often works just fine. The thesis is one of the major parts of the paper, and is a focus during the revising period. Phases of Writing Development You should be familiar with the phases of writing development. Most children begin their writing career by scribbling and drawing. When creating letter like forms and shapes, children begin to display their understanding that writers use symbols to convey their meaning. With conventional writing and spelling, children spell most words correctly, with a reliance on phonics knowledge to spell longer words. Transitional writing is inventive spelling and often includes the use of one letter to represent an entire syllable. Early emergent writing has shapes that are not actually letters, but at least somewhat resemble letters. Conventional writing usually represents adult writing. #PRAXIS #ElementaryEducationExam #praxis5014