School writing activities

Consider the types of writing you did at school. How controlled, guided or free were they? Did they focus on accuracy or communication? - I see this question as one about my being a student at school, so I still remember answering questions, word dictations and translating sentences(controlled, focused on accuracy). And there were letters to a friend(guided, focused on accuracy and communication). I left school after the 9th form, so haven't got much to say. Even that long time ago our teacher was focused on teaching to speak, thus we didn't have much writing.
The examples of controlled activities may be the first three - handwriting, gap filling and spelling. They are definitely aimed at accuracy. I call them non-creative.
Guided writing (compositions, letters) gives more space for your thoughts to grow, although there are some limitations(plan to follow, example to paraphrase, structure to fit, questions to answer). I see them as half-creative (both accuracy and communication are important).
The term free writing speaks for itself - feel free to write anything that comes into your mind(there may be  time or size limitations only). It is highly communicative. And this is a totally-creative thing. I see this as the pre-writing activity.