You Are Asking Me to do WHAT?

Ask any teacher to describe their view of the writing process and expect to hear them respond with, “Well we follow the Writer's Workshop model. You know, use a writer's notebook, teach a mini-lesson, and follow the steps, of planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.” If only it were that easy! As teachers we assume a great deal. We assume that all of our students have the graphomotor, executive functioning, auditory/visual processors, and cognitive processors in tip top shape and ready to write. Mel Levine describes writing as a juggling act, trying to keep all the processes needed to write, balanced in the air, ready to access at any moment. Talk about multitasking! So the question remains, “Why is the writing process such an intense and involved process for our brains to complete?”

“Writing is a complicated process that involves the

interaction of motor and language skills. It relies on

good fine motor functioning, visual-motor, planning,

attention, sequencing, thinking, memory, and knowledge

of grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary and the

purpose of writing. It also involves visual monitoring

with the co-ordinated use of both eyes.” (page 1)

(Bardos & Maybury).

If you don't have issues with completing a writing task, then you have probably not given a second thought to all that is happening in your brain when you write. But if you have ever experienced difficulty with writing tasks, or know students or family members who have, this will hopefully give you a little taste of the enormity of the writing process.

What are we really being asked to do when we are asked to write and what processes do we need to have access to in order to write? Well it first starts with our ability to focus on the task at hand. We need to get our bodies and minds ready to write. Our brain needs to start visualizing not only about what we are going to write (our idea) but also about how we will form letters, words and sentences. We need to access language, vocabulary, organization skills, and sequential processing all before we ever put our pen to paper!

Don't forget about working memory! Remember, you have to hold all of your ideas in your working memory as you move from task to task. Once you have activated your prior knowledge and have turned those visions into vocabulary, you may be ready to pick up your pencil and get started...But wait...Don't forget you are now going to need to utilize some of that brain that is already working to use that pencil! We're talking about your fine motor, graphomotor, visual spatial, and motor planning skills. Last but not least, your automatic memory better get ready to remind you to use the appropriate pressure when your pencil touches the paper.

Now that you are holding your pencil and are ready to write your brain needs to efficiently recall and form those letters, space the letters well and move them in the right direction. But it is not enough to just get the letters down neatly on the page...you now need to pull in all those rules you need to follow for punctuation and spelling. You better hope that your long term memory and working memory are up to the task! Make sure you get your sentences structured well and don't forget to follow our English grammar rules. Had enough yet...There's more to come!

Now I'm sure you think that you are ready to write, so go ahead, get started...just remember to spell your words correctly. Start accessing that long term and working memory again. Remind your visual and auditory processors that you are going to be relying on them to help you get your words spelled correctly on the page. Start using your phonemic awareness and phonological processing to help you sound out your words. Getting tired?

“Writing is a demanding cognitive task that requires coordinated implementation 

of a large set of mental processes that must

be performed in a simultaneous and recursive manner.”

(Fidalgo, Raquel and Garcia, Jesús-Nicasio, 2008, 77).

So now that all of your systems are a go, let's integrate all of these systems together and complete our writing task. Depending on how quickly you can access all of these systems in your brain, will determine how fast your motor response can run, which will determine how fast your writing task will be completed. I'm sure you are thinking, “Come on, I just pick up a pencil and start writing,” but to truly be able to empathize and understand what people who experience difficulty with the writing task endure each time they are asked to write, a more explicit description of what is actually happening in our brains is necessary.

“It is vital for teachers to provide task- specific tools that help students

with LD engage in the entire process so they will gain writing competence.”

(Scott & Vitale, 2003, 223).

If you did not get the complexity of the writing process from my description above,

take a look below at the writing task analysis created by Barb Welsford.

References

Bardos, Elizabeth, and Maybury, Sarah. Overcoming Writing Diffculties. Learning Links: Helping Kids Learn. http://www.learninglinks.org.au/pdf/infosheets/LLIS 17_Writing.pdf last accessed (18/07/2012).

Fidalgo, Raquel and Garcia, Jesús-Nicasio (2008). Orchestration of Writing Processes and Writing Products: A Comparison of Sixth-Grade Students With and Without Learning Disabilities. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal. 6(2), 2008, 77-98.

Scott, B.J., and Vitale, Michael R. (2003). Teaching the Writing Process to Students with LD. Intervention in School and Clinic. March 2003 38(4) 220-224.