This is the final step in our How to Teach Kids to Decode a Writing Prompt series!
You can link to the other ones here and here!
The goal of this series is to help teacher help kids (huh?) understand the work that they need to do even before start writing in response to a topic. Oh, and these three steps are actually really great test-prep tools for teachers, too!
The last step is to get kids to link into what product they need to come out with and the purpose for producing it. Should they be informing? Persuading? Engaging? Entertaining? This step also helps them determine very clearly what genre of writing the prompt is asking for!
Here are the focus questions you should teach kids for this step:
- What am I writing in response to? What clues does the prompt give me?
- Am I writing to inform, persuade or entertain?
- Am I writing to demonstrate my knowledge on this topic, as well?
- Am I analyzing a topic or situation for the reader?
- What strategy will I use to write this?
- Is the topic broad or specific?