Second graders' perceptions of what is important in writing

In this teacher-generated study we explored 15 children's perceptions of wh at constituted good writing to see how those might better inform the teache r's instruction. Transcripts of audiotaped data, including students' respon ses to interviews Parry and late in the 5-month study and student and teach er talk during small-group classroom writing sessions, were analyzed for ch ildren's perceptions of what was important in writing. Analyses revealed th at during interviews children focused on the conventions of writing (i.e., handwriting, spelling, and mechanics) as indicators of "good" writing. Howe ver, the children's conversations while writing reflected more emphases on idea generation, planning, and organization of stories and growing awarenes s of ownership and audience needs. The data indicated that children recogni zed a need to become proficient in the conventions of writing. However, whe n provided with scaffolded writing situations, the children talked about ex panded indicators of good writing. When supported by peers and teachers, th e children were able to balance their need to produce conventionally correc t writing with their need to make writing interesting to themselves and oth ers.