15 distinct stages of ThinkWrite

Each of the three divisions of writing in the ThinkWrite model—pre-writing, writing and revision—is broken down into smaller parts, based on the different kinds of thinking that occur within the stage, and these stages are used as launching points to explain the brain’s more nuanced approach to literacy.

Within pre-writing, for example, writers understand, know things, mind wander, and reflect. Understanding, knowing things, mind wandering, and reflecting use different neural pathways in the brain, and are therefore stimulated by different types of activities.

Similarly, during the writing and revision processes we use different thinking processes. As writers start to write down words after pre-writing, they map and connect ideas, outline, plan, research, and then eventually draft. Each of these sub-steps (i.e., mapping and connecting, outlining, planning, researching, drafting) are visible elements, and are often graded as part of the progress toward a final product.

Less visible, and therefore not often graded, are the ways that learners revise their writing on the way to a final product. We don’t often see all the peer exchange, feedback, editing, revising, and proofreading that occurs before the final product is completed. We also don’t often see the final product as marking the beginning of a new writing adventure.

 
 

  • Understand

    By doing “Understanding” activities, writers ensure they write with a clear goal in mind and are more likely to have a successful outcome.

  • Know Things

    By doing “Know Things” activities, writers value what they already know and are more likely to ground ideas in past experiences to produce authentic insights.

  • Mind Wander

    By doing “Mind Wandering” activities, writers take advantage of the brain’s ability to freely connect ideas, leading to more creative insight.

  • Reflect

    By doing “Reflect” activities, writers make more strategic decisions about how to execute the task and become more metacognitively aware.

  • Map & Connect

    By doing “Map & Connect” activities, writers better organize their ideas and are able to visualize innovative links between concepts in their projects.

  • Outline

    By doing “Outline” activities, writers find a logical order, and determine a hierarchy of concepts for their ideas. By establishing a blueprint for the content, writers can then focus more of their mental energy on the writing process and remember all their great ideas.


  • Plan

    By doing “Planning” activities, writers make their processes more visible and manage their time and energy better.

  • Research

    By doing “Research” activities, writers gather and analyze materials to expand their knowledge with multiple perspectives, and appeal to readers by using authentic, contextualized evidence.

  • Draft

    By doing “Drafting” activities, writers will begin to formalize, externalize, visualize, and connect their thinking processes.

  • Peer Exchange

    By using “Review & Exchange” activities, writers will gain better insight into themselves and their writing by knowing others’ perspectives.

  • Feedback & Feedforward

    By doing “Feedback” activities, writers will know how to improve their work, as well as listen to and manage feelings about assessment.

  • Edit

    By doing “Editing” activities, writers unify decisions about word choice, audience, syntax, intonation, along with understanding the order of ideas.

  • Revise

    By doing “Revising” activities, writers revisit their goals, reconsider the order of and type of information being presented, and refine their ideas (or generate new ones).

  • Proofread

    By doing “Proofreading” activities, writers use different modalities and tools to check their work for errors and to make their product clear to understand for their readers.

  • Complete & Commence

    By doing “Complete & Commence” activities, writers celebrate completion of their product, consider what they’ve now learned, and turn their work into the beginning of a new idea.

Apply the ThinkWrite model to your life.

 

Now that you are familiar with the stages of the ThinkWrite model, consider the questions below:

As a writer, think about a recent writing project

In which stage of thinking did you spend the most time (and the least time)?

In which order did you move from one stage to another?

What stage do you love (and hate)?

What did you perceive as "off task" or avoidance when assessing yourself as a writer?
(this to highlight that some perceptions of "wasted time" and avoidance actually indicate potentially useful and necessary thinking strategies that have been hitherto ignored or de-valued.)

As a teacher, think about a student writer

In which stage of thinking do you think the student spent the most time (and the least time)?  

In which order do you think the student moved from one stage to another?  

What stage does the student love (and hate)? How do you know?  

What do you as a teacher perceive as "off task" when watching student writers (i.e. What does a student writer's brain want to do when given a writing task?)
(again, this to highlight that some perceptions of "wasted time" and avoidance actually indicate potentially useful and necessary thinking strategies that have been hitherto ignored or de-valued.)