Task Analysis - The Writing Process

As with blowing our noses, writing - when broken down into a task analysis - is a very complicated process. In order to be a good writer, you need to be able to write well.

In writing, you have to remember the shape of the letters, to keep letters on the lines, certain size of fonts, controlling the pencil.

This is where remedial writing comes in – need to know the shape of the letter, the sound it makes, that it’s upper case to start the sentence, how to space the second letter from the first. If you're in third grade, you may be thinking of how to make cursive letters. What is the next letter? How is it formed? I have to know how to pick up my writing utensil and make sure the spacing is correct. 

By the time a student actually starts writing, their brain is working VERY hard. They may be exhausted after writing just a few letters or words, and with good reason...especially if they have central processing difficulties. Writing is complex and requires a great deal of prior knowledge.  


Software programs such as Co-Writer with word prediction can help a lot to make this process less tiring and more enjoyable for students. I've used Co-Writer with a few of my students, and it has been quite powerful for them as a way of expressing their thoughts in a way they'd been unable to in the past. The topic dictionary and word bank are my favorite aspects of the program. Once a student knows how to make a topic dictionary, they can have it visible as a word bank on their screen while writing. You can also use the word bank for prompting or have several high frequency words that you'd like students to use in their writing directly visible to them at all times while they are writing. There are lots of possibilities!