Writing as a social process

Abstract

Several months after the establishment of a writing program in an after-school daycare program in Chicago, an 8-year-old girl wrote the following story: Three Little Scarycats Once upon a time there were 3 little scarycats, there name's were Manuel, Kevin and Simon. They were scared of the dark, a cat, a dog, a little bird, and a little baby. They slept with their parents because they are to scard of the dark. They always screamed when they saw a cat, a dog or a baby bird. They always started to cry when they saw a little baby smile. This story represents a considerable achievement for both its young author and the adults in charge of the writing program. It illustrates one child's discovery that she can use writing for playful and social purposes of her own devising, and it had an impact on the small community of 16 children and two group workers in the afterschool room when it was read aloud and then dramatized (McLane & Graziano, 1987). In the course of this informal after-school writing program, children discovered that they could use writing to enhance and extend activities that were already interesting and important to them, such as playing, drawing, and speaking. They could use writing in their play, and they could play with their writing; they could incorporate writing in their drawing, and they could use writing to elaborate on their drawing; they could use writing in their social relationships, to express themselves and to communicate with people who mattered to them.

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