basic skills of writing

Elementary-school writing consists of copywork, dictation, and narration,

Years One and Two: Practicing Narration
Before requiring the student to write, teach him to narrate. Narration happens
when the student takes something he’s just read (or heard you read) and puts it
into his own words.
This begins on a very simple level: You read to the student and ask him
specific questions about what he’s heard, such as “What was the most interesting
thing in that story?” or “Who was that history lesson about?” You then require him to answer you in complete sentences. As the student grows more familiar with
the process of narration, you can move on to more general questions such as
“Summarize what we just read in your own words.”

As the young student narrates out loud, he is practicing the first part of
the writing process: putting an idea into his own words. He is practicing a new
and difficult skill without having to come up with original ideas first; because
his narrations are always rooted in content that he’s just read or heard, he can
concentrate on the task of expressing himself with words.

He is also practicing this new skill without having to worry about the
second part of the writing process: putting those words down on paper. As he
narrates, you—the teacher—write the words down for him as he watches.
He can simply concentrate on the task at hand, without worrying about the
mechanical difficulties of wielding a pencil. (For students whose fine motor skills
are still developing, this is essential; they cannot focus on narration if they’re also
contemplating how much their hand is going to hurt when they have to write the
narration down.)

Years One and Two: Copywork and Dictation
Separately, and preferably at a different time during the day, the student
begins to master the second part of the process: putting words down on paper.
This is not a simple task. It requires physical labor, fine motor coordination, and
an understanding of the rules that govern written presentation: capitalization,
punctuation, spacing, letter formation.

This skill is developed through copywork and dictation. Copywork and
dictation allow the student to master the second step of the process without
having to worry about the first, difficult task of putting ideas into words.
The beginning student doesn’t even know yet how written language is
supposed to look. Before he can put words down on paper, he must have some
visual memory of what those words are supposed to look like. So during first
grade, he’ll copy out sentences from good writers, practicing the look and feel of
properly written language.
Once the student has become accustomed to reproducing, on his own paper,
properly written sentences placed in front of him as a model, you’ll take the
model away. Now that his mind is stocked with mental images of properly written
language, he needs to learn how to visualize a written sentence in his mind and then put it down on paper.

Years Three and Four: Putting the Two Steps Together
Around third grade, most students are ready to begin putting the two skills
together. In third grade, students will begin to use part of their own narrations
as dictation exercises. They will tell you the narration; you will write it down for
them, and then dictate the first sentence back to them. Eventually they will learn
that, in order to write, all they need to do is put an idea into words (something
they’ve practiced extensively through narration), and then put those words down
on paper (which they’re accustomed to doing during dictation).
They will begin to write.