Post 98: Using both Writing as a Product and Writing as a Process in one class

Post 98: Using both Writing as a Product and Writing as a Process in my Writing classes

Writing as a Product focuses on the final written product. It uses prescriptive ways to teach writing. The teacher gives a model article for writing. Students read the article, and then are asked to write their essay in the same style as the model article. The teacher may give exercises on how to follow that model article template or ask questions about the article to ensure reading comprehension and to ensure students understand what writing skills, style and argumentation that students should learn from that model article. After doing practice exercises based on that model article, then students hand in their paper for a final grade.

Writing as a Process focuses on the process of writing. The Writing Process includes Pre-Writing. In Pre-Writing, students find a topic, brainstorm topic to help find thesis statement and body paragraphs, then students write an outline. Students spend the most time on Pre-writing phase of the Writing Process. Then, the second stage of the Writing Process is the Writing stage where students write their rough draft based on the outline they wrote. The last stage of the Writing Process is the Re-writing stage where students revise and proof read their essay. Students peer edit each others' papers. Students can submit several drafts if the class is set up with a writing portfolio in mind.

In  the writing classes that I design and teach, I teach students The Writing Process from the very first day of class. I give students a visual of  The Writing Process (Pre-writing, WRiting, and Re-writing).  I teach The Writing Process throughout the class from Week 1 until the last day of class. I take students through each step of the Writing Process as I teach students how to brainstorm, how to find a topic, how to create a thesis statement, how to write an outline, how students peer edit each others' papers, how students write a rough draft, and I teach students the difference between revision and proofreading.

I use Writing as a Product when I teach students the rhetorical modes of writing--The Personal Experience Essay, The Character Sketch, The Process Essay, The Problem Solution Essay, The Definition Essay etc... I give students a writing textbook where each kind of essay has its own unit, model article to read, explanation of each rhetorical style, practice exercises on that style, and then in class, we discuss both the essay of the week while going through The Writing PRocess at the same time.

Teachers can use both Writing as a Product and The Writing Process both at the same time. When I teach, I use an eclectic mix of all different teaching strategies. I don't just use the Learning View of Krashen's theory and I don't just use the Acquisition View of Krashen's Learning Theory. When I teach writing or foreign languages, I like to mix it up.  I find the more I mix it up, the more interesting my classes become. Later in this blog, I will discuss more in detail contemporary English Composition theory.