Helpful Questions You Can Ask When Your Child Shares His Writing With You:
(From the NCTE brochure "How to Help Your Child Become a Better Writer")
About purpose and audience:
What do you want to write about? Why?
Who will want or need to read this?
What do you want your reader to know or do?
How will you present it to the reader?
Do your details help the reader understand?
Are they the best details and examples for the reader and for your purposes?
Have you explained important details?
Do your examples focus on the main ideas?
Do your details make the ideas clever?
About Organization:
Did you stick to your plan throughout the piece of writing?
Does the order of the ideas make sense?
Does all of your information fit together?
Do your ideas lead the reader easily from one to another?
Will your reader be able to follow all of your thinking?
About Sentences:
Do your sentences have different lengths, different beginnings and structures or do they sound too much alike?
Do your sentences express complete thoughts?
About Wording:
Have you used a variety or words to make your meanings clear?
Do the words say what you mean?
Are all of your words used correctly?
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