A strong emphasis on mechanics by teachers leads students to believe that text appearance is paramount. (Effective Writing Instruction Across the Grades: What Every Educational Consultant Should Know, Troia, Gary A. Graham, Steve (2003)
Writing conventions include spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Use your programs of study for curriculum outcomes related to print awareness.
Please refer to CESD’s Essential Outcomes work if you are using the previous Alberta Curriculum (Grade 7+).
Here is the New Alberta ELAL Curriculum, from the New Learn Alberta website, laid out like a scope and sequence.
Explicitly teaching and modelling the use of conventions, rules and tools in their writing to to ensure that students know and understand the following:
punctuation
capitalization
grammar
spelling
how to edit, focus on one area at a time
how to use a dictionary and/or spell checker
paragraphing while drafting
keeping a consistent verb tense
keeping a consistent point of view – I, we…
treatment of titles and headings – when to quote, capitalize, italicize
numbers – when to use the numeral versus when to write out the number
verb confusions
‘an’ vs ‘a’
subject and object case pronouns and how to test for which case is correct
Abbreviations
Writing left to right across a page for younger students
(N. Atwell, In the Middle, 2015)
Build editing checklist as you teach writing
Build spelling skills by engaging in word study activities
Teach the meanings of commonly used prefixes, suffixes
Teach spelling rules related to word endings – plurals, possessives, etc.
Video about Conventions in Writing
Assistive technology ie. spelling and grammar checkers enabled, speech to text
Individual teaching and support based on need
Reduced length of editing checklist – only editing for a few components at a time