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The philosophy of
teaching writing covers the parameters of understanding, improving and
reflecting on writing. No definite rule to its effectiveness but a broader
General of language which encircles the nature of meaning, the relationship
between words and the difference between literal and figurative issues of
language.
To understand teaching of writing,
it must be instructed in a way of importance and interests so that students can
value their writing and exercise active involvement in any writing processes.
It is not what you write but learning to write which will result in a liking to
write.
Moreover, any academics writer
improves by working towards their goal so therefore when teaching writing there
should be a goal set to improve your writing skill and become a better writer.
Reflecting on writing is another
way of creative writing, our expressions of thoughts, ideas and emotions are
imaginable. According to EB White" A writer who waits for ideal
conditions on the witch to work will die before putting a word to people."
This is the sole reason why teaching writing should be of pique interest
meaningful and efficient.
References:
“E.B. White Quote: “a Writer Who Waits for
Ideal Conditions under Which to Work Will Die without Putting a Word to
Paper.”” Quotefancy.com, 2024,
quotefancy.com/quote/27262/E-B-White-A-writer-who-waits-for-ideal-conditions-under-which-to-work-will-die-without.
Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Before developing writing
skills in students, a teacher must first understand the potential of writing
itself. Writing is an expression of thoughts, a way to communicate with others
to relay emotions. Writing is not just what is produced on paper but is also a
tool to express thoughts of a topic, writing always has a purpose, even for recreation.
One must think of it as a systematic tool meant to be used in discovery. Society
can be built and destroyed by the stroke of a pen. In the early stages of
development even children communicate with the written word an like them their
writing skill is in its infantile stage. This is the role of the teacher, to instill
the love of writing in their students so that they can use it to make interpretation
of their world for their writing is the expression of their minds as they
reflect on experiences. Therefore, a teacher must teach their students how to organize
their thoughts with writing as a tool of expression and reflection.
The importance of an educator having a teacher
philosophy for teaching writing is that it provides them with a sense of
direction which will eventually impact how students view this particular task.
It helps us determine the best strategies to engage students, foster critical
thinking, and promote active learning. Students should be given an active
choice through the use of writing prompts allowing students to explore concepts
rather than relying solely on teachers. The primary purpose of writing is to
help students be able to communicate and express their thoughts verbal or
nonverbal, ideas, and emotions. In order to effectively teach a writing program
that consists of story elements such as plot/s for narratives or expositions
and arguments for persuasive writing, teachers must also be creative in making
the learning fun and valuable. This can also include the use of technology
perhaps in the form of interesting images as prompts for writing.
I hope to create an inclusive writing environment
by:
ØUsing writing prompts that both genders enjoy
(phones/ animals).
ØReflecting stories in the form of pictures.
ØAllowing learners to curate pictures through
drawing and coloring
ØRole-play or read stories through different
characters.
A way in which I once differentiated my instruction
was by accepting fewer sentences from students who did not have the mental
capacity to give the amount which I asked for originally. This is something I
hope to keep alive. An effective teacher of writing must also be a writer
in order to enable members of the class to become successful writers
themselves. This course has allowed me to become better at writing in the sense
that I am able to create short stories and hopefully books for the learners of
my class in the future.
References
“The Open University.” Open.ac.uk,
14 Nov. 2017,
www.open.ac.uk/blogs/news/education-languages-health/education/7-ways-teachers-get-kids-writing/.
Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
This Strategy uses the consideration of six traits as steps
to evaluate the strengths of a written piece. It also serves as a guideline to
writing an effective written piece. It is an effective system to use when
improving writing skills in students.
These traits are as follows:
1.Ideas: depending on the purpose of the written
piece, the writer is encouraged to brainstorm ideas to be used as content.
2.Organization: the writer strategically places
the contents in the appropriate order to allow for smoother flow of reading and
for comprehension.
3.Voice: the voice should be considered to convey
the thoughts of the writer. It should reflect the writer’s passion for the
profession.
4.Word choice: the author strategically chooses
the appropriate words that allow for description and contribute to the tone of
voice in the written piece.
5.Sentence fluency: the writer carefully
constructs each sentence to not only make sense but to allow for smooth reading
and carry the tone of voice that contributes to the overall written piece.
6.Convention: the writer should make sure the
aspects of the written piece are correct not just for the sake of being correct
but to make sure that the sentences can be read accurately. This means paying
attention to spelling, the use of punctuation marks, and other aspects of
grammar.
7.Presentation: the additional trait, this
involves presenting the written piece complete with illustrations such as
pictures, diagrams and charts to strengthen the purpose of the piece. It also
relies on overall legibility which includes neatness for it to be well received
by the readers. It coincides with the other six traits to make sure that the
information is effectively conveyed to the intended audience.
R.A.F.T is considered a useful
writing strategy for students in Grades 4, 5 and 6. It is mainly used at the beginning
stage of writing (brainstorming/ prewriting) to guide young writers. R.A.F.T stands
for Role, Audience, Format and Topic. The video below explains this strategy better
along with examples.
These subsections play a crucial
role in a child’s writing as they act as a guide for them to know who they are
writing for, the purpose of the writing piece, the outline of the writing piece
and lastly the title or the focus of the overall piece. Below is a sample of
how the R.A.F.T Strategy may be used in Science classes at the Grade 5 level.
Role
A student writing to
inform the officials about the filthiness of our school community surroundings.
Leading to the creation of insects and wastes carrying harmful diseases.
Audience
Environmental
Officials
Format
Letter
Topic
Littering
in our environment.
Next
Level Writing. “RAFT Writing - the Ultimate Planning Strategy.” YouTube,
11 Jan. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB9VV02Cmas. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.
Double entry journal is a reading comprehension technique that help students to improve their critical thinking and active reading skills. These skills are improved by reading texts that will broaden their understanding.
It is important to enroll students in reading because students can easily ask questions, give opinions, interpret and reflect on the text which they have read. Reading comprehension and vocabulary are two ways in which grade four students can improve when reading texts.
Journals are very useful so incorporating such strategy allow students to be motivated in becoming good readers and writers. They grow academically because their sentence structure, grammar and vocabulary improve significantly.
This is a one-on-one small discussion or conversation between a teacher and a student to discuss the student’s behavior or progress. It allows the teacher together information about what learners know and what they understand, what they are struggling with and what they need to work on.
There are benefits in teachers conferencing with learners and includes the improvements of students’ outcome, the practice of teachers conferencing with learners articulates students’ performance in which a better outcome results.
Another strength in teachers’ conferencing is collaboration. Teachers and students collaborate with each other and a level of connection develops. It also fosters a sense of belonging and an exchange of ideas. Information gathered allows a deeper relationship between teachers and students. Such activity as building relationships fosters a sense of engagement by teachers listening to them and offering some sort of encouragement.
Goal Setting is the
process of identifying and planning how to achieve specific objectives within a
set time frame. It can help both teachers and students to be more engaged,
motivated and accountable in their achievement. Students need to set goals to
achieve knowledge in a specific timeframe whereas, teachers need to set goals
to advance their professional skills in so doing, instruction will be more
effective and have an enduring impact on students’ performance.
An acronym, SMART is used
as a checklist for successful goals which are specific, measurable, achievable,
relevant and time bound. Teachers can set goals for students or incorporate
goal setting in their lesson plans.
Hence, goal setting should
be practiced by all grades but using the smart technique to grade 4 will
enhance their learning capability. Students
should be encouraged to set goals and be specific and stay focused on goal
settings. Also, their goals should be geared to a specific timeframe and be
measurable.
Reference: “The Art of Goal Setting and Achievement: Your Roadmap to Success.” Www.linkedin.com, www.linkedin.com/pulse/art-goal-setting-achievement-your-roadmap-success-dr-shynee-martin.
Motivation when
writing is writing done with much interest, inclination and energy.
Writers usually write
their piece with a goal set, exercising such enthusiasm that the reader is
motivated to keep reading because that text captures interest and therefore can
picture exactly what the text is all about.
Motivation is an
internal driving force that propels one’s willingness. When used in writing, it
changes students’ behavior in writing by allowing them to develop academically
and creatively. Students become expert writers and even aspire to publish their
text.
Incorporating motivation
when writing to students of grade 4 is very important in that students will
develop a sense of interest in writing, improve their academic performance and to
be independent. Using techniques such as collaborative learning enable students
to share what they know with others and grow effectively and therefore master literacy
skills.
“The Importance of Motivation in ISM Code.” Captainslog, 15 Jan. 2021, captainslog.gr/the-importance-of-motivation-in-ism-code/.
Writing to a prompt is
where students draw from prior knowledge and experience to continue a writing
piece that can be started topics or scenarios to choose from which sparks their
interests. They decide what is relevant
information to incorporate in the piece by thinking critically. They must be
interested in the topic for them to produce information and the teacher may
have to provide experiences in by showing pictures videos or taking them on a
field trip. These pieces of writing are generally meaningful as they involve
real world experiences. Teachers can provide structures to guide them in this
process and also use this to develop research skills as they can be given
topics to research and write on. The writing is completely up to them as they
write based on their interpretation of the subjects.
Teachers can provide grade four students with
topics to write on as prompts that are of interest to them as they can write
short paragraphs based on their experience with a topics. This can also be
incorporated in journal entries after a lesson.
When assessing a child’s
writing, educators must consider three important aspects. These aspects include
the student’s strengths, weaknesses and recommendations to improve their skills.
To further discuss the core areas mentioned above, there is one thing that must
be carried out first. This is called an observation. Teachers should observe
this learner in their beginning writing stages, even before writing and once
the final piece has been completed down to the final product presented. Before
the observation ever begins, the teacher should have a readymade checklist to clearly
identify the things which is to be observed. Broken down below are each of the
three aspects which are not only associated with physical attributes of the
handwritten piece but also social and emotional attributes.
Strengths-
In this section of the writing, the teacher keenly pays attention to the
correct parts of the child’s writing which may include capitalization, subject-verb
agreement, punctuation and more. The teacher overall critically reviews each
sentence structure.
Weaknesses-
Here, the teacher identifies the students’ weak areas as well as the challenges
they repeatedly face. This may be as simple as not starting the sentence with a
capital letter or not using the punctuation marks in the manner that they
should be utilized. For instance the sentence: i woke Up late I missed the bus?
Recommendations-
After detecting the student's strengths and weaknesses, the educator may
begin to make adequate suggestions on what the child should be learning
more about or needs more practice with. Suggestions may also be made of his/
her teacher using a different writing strategy than what may be accustomed like
Microsoft Word (editing tool) or a peer review.
Though detecting
strengths and weaknesses and making recommendations, all students are
considered excellent writers or authors of their pieces and should be viewed
accordingly.
References
“Make the Switch to Using Pens during
Writing Workshop - the Primary Pal.” The Primary Pal, 20 Jan. 2019,
theprimarypal.com/make-the-switch-to-using-pens-during-writing-workshop/.
Accessed 10 Nov. 2024.
A Gallery Walk is a
hands-on teaching approach in which students circulate in the classroom to
view, engage in discussions, and react to various informational displays
(posters, charts, or other visual formats) connected to a particular subject. It
allows for active learning and collaborative discussions among peers. Students
often have more than one image, station or display to engage with. Information
is often presented visually (posters, charts, or images) and gallery walks
allow students to move around meeting the needs of visual learners.
Three ways gallery walks
may be used in the classrooms are:
·Comprehension passages:
Have students seated in groups of four. Each group will have different sets of
questions. Members must check the wall to ensure it is the story that matches the
questions. Once found, students must read the story and answer their questions.
·Spooky Forest Gallery Walk:
Different images are posted around the class along with spooky sounds that
would come from the forest. This is a creative means by which educators allow
students to express their creative side. This encourages Learners to become as
descriptive as possible when writing descriptive passages as they are describing
pictures placed around the classroom and the sounds in the forest they hear. For
instance, on a spooky Forest walk they would hear the sounds of leaves falling,
leaves crumbling, owls and wolves howling as well as seeing spooky Shadows of
tall dark figured trees.
·Science Gallery Walk:
Students rotate around different stations that each describe a different
planet.
The attached video describes
a simple yet efficient way gallery walk could be used along with group
collaboration and jigsaw learning.
References
Drollinger, Mark . “Gallery Walk.” Www.youtube.com,
27 Oct. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSt5echeRrM.
Hogan, John P. , and Dan Cernusca. Integrating
Gallery Walks and Wikis in a Synergic Instructional Activity: An Exploratory
Study of Students’ Perceptions. Dec. 2011,
www.researchgate.net/figure/Snapshot-from-one-of-the-Gallery-Walks-showing-the-different-collaborative-groups-working_fig1_280949073.
Peer collaboration among
students in writing is a group effort of improving their writing skills as a
community of writers. According to the theory of Lev Vygotsky, children learn
through social interactions with peers. Like a writing workshop where students
improve their writing skills as a community, students will read their pieces of
writing to one another and will share their interpretation of the work. The writer
will then edit the piece based on responses after it has been critiqued. Dartmouth
(2024) Peer collaboration allows students to build a correlation between the writer
and their readers which helps them to improve their writing skills. Students can
work as a whole class or in small groups. These interactions can prompt students
to edit their piece as their peers may recognize grammatical errors. This may
go beyond editing as the writers may want to evoke emotional responses from
their readers thus allowing them to make improvements to the structure of the
sentences and choice of words. Students can also engage in discussions about
their pieces and explain their writing styles which will allow them to get to
know each other as writers on a more
emotional level.
Peer collaboration can be
applied in the grade six level. Students can be given a task to write a thrilling
story that will be shared with the class. They will explain their intentions on
writing the piece to gain feedback from their peers to determine if the objective
has been accomplished.
Individuals may hear the
term games and associate it with video games which serve a child no purpose
other than entertainment purposes. However, educational games serve a much more fascinating
purpose than entertainment and excitement. Matter of fact, teachers who use educational
games/ activities in their classes contribute to meaningful learning does not
teach in isolation therefore leaning towards meaningful learning rather than
rote learning/ memorization.
There are numerous sites that allow educators of all grade levels to create games for students based on the student’s
age, age level, gender and interest. These are all factors that should be taken
into consideration when curating these games. Taking them into consideration
ensures student's interests are captured therefore keeping them engaged and
motivated to complete the task at hand.
https://wordwall.net/en-us/community/games
The image above displays simple
games that students can easily manipulate yet still enjoy and learn something from.
These games are in the form of spin the
wheels, jet flying, puzzles, matching and much more
This could be used for
all grades from kindergarteners learning cvc/ cvce words to sixth graders
learning historical sites. It is used across all subject areas and is free and available
to all users.
Wordwall allows educators
to create and manipulate games to their liking and the enhancement of their learner's
performance.
As a teacher I see myself
using this site as an engaging teacher resource that permits students to have
fun while they learn. For instance, the link below is a game I once created for
a Science lesson on planets. This game authorizes users to choose the correct
spelling for each planet.
When assigning students
tasks, it is crucial that teachers ensure that these assignments aren’t merely
given to the class to keep them busy. Quite often, students are given tasks or
assignments that have no benefit on their studies and overall lives. Tasks are sometimes
given to allow time to pass while learners are kept seated working studiously. These
serve no purpose other than ensuring the class is kept quietly seated.
Nevertheless, educators
should utilize assignments that motivate learners, gives them the opportunity
to choose topics, allow them to think critically and enhance students’ academic
performance as a whole. This means that actual thought and creativity are put
into the curation of these assignments on the teachers’ end. Authentic and relevant
tasks should be implemented at all grade levels allowing appropriate skills and
attitudes of students to be formed towards academic studies.
I see this concept being
implemented in my classroom to allow meaningful learning rather than just
passive learning or rote memorization. Here are five real-world examples students
should engage with:
Wall work-
Posted handwritten paragraphs, poems or stories in a particular area of the
class. Invite parents or guardians to look at their children's pieces. Kindergarten
students would create sentences.
Journaling- Journal
about their feelings and state their understanding of a concept or whether they’d
like assistance/ clarification on something.
Book publication-
allowing students to create their own books in multiple classroom sessions. These
books may be posted on blogs or in Google Classroom to be shared with others.
Letters-
writing letters that serve a true purpose such as writing to the principal,
minister, government officials or family members.
Reports-
allowing learners to peer review each other’s work by making short notes at the
side of their work.
After students have been
given a chance to freely produce their own pieces of writing, the teacher then
models writing for the class which includes detailed explanation in the process
of producing one, not for them to feel discouraged about the pieces they
produced, but for them to see the thought process that goes into the decisions
made in writing, especially when it comes to structuring sentences. It also
encourages them to edit their writing as they will have a better understanding
on how to structure their sentences to better express themselves. It's a means
of scaffolding them as the teacher demonstrates the process. The teacher and
students then work together which would involve them walking the teacher through
the process as they are asked what would come next in the sentence or what is
missing, and then they are allowed to attempt writing Independently. The
teacher may emphasize punctuation, use of joining and sight words, and
subject and verb agreement depending on the time and the workload. This is a
gradual process to nurture the joy of the writing process.
For a grade one class
this would be useful after students have been exposed to certain site words and
sentence structures. They can be given a prompt to write on, then the teacher
will briefly model the process and put emphasis on a misconception noticed
in most of the class’s writing.
University Park Campus
School (2016) Writing can be used for learning if students are free to express
themselves freely in their pieces as the objective is for them to use it as a
tool to layout their thought process and not to produce a final product. This is
a raw process that is imperfect as students can write about a topic freely without
fear of being wrong or mistakes being highlighted in red ink. In this process
the students think critically about a concept being taught and the teacher’s
role is to simply provide guidance and general instructions to prompt the
students thinking. Students can take control of their learning as they can apply
prior knowledge and past experiences to think critically as they attempt to
grasp a concept, and they can generate questions they want answered to allow them
to be further involved in their learning. In this case students can jot
down and analyze notes about a topic and reflect on the information to allow
them to express their understanding in their own words about a topic. This can
be applied to other subject areas which will allow for meaningful experience.
This can be used for a
grade 4 class. An example of writing to learn is the use of a KWL chart that
students can create in their books to record what they know, want to know,
and what they learned, and they can freely write their responses during
class sessions. They can also write journal entries on what they understand
about a topic as a home assignment.
After all these steps in the process of writing has accomplished, to prove that the text ii perfect, revising and editing as part of the stages in writing should be used.
Revising and editing are basically the elimination of errors in the text which has resulted during the writing process and include ambiguous phrases, repetition, unclear structure, reorganizing and grammatical errors.
These stages enable craftiness of the writing process, including clarity, coherence and concision. Revising and editing also improves your vocabulary and makes the use of literary devices more efficient and therefore readers take keen interest in reading such pieces of work.
Finally, instructing students to revise and edit the writing process is very important in that they will improve on their writing skills and therefore produce effective work that will enroll themselves in becoming academic writers. Focusing on strengths and clarity, comparing texts and emphasizing on the body argument are some of the areas that are most challenging for instruction of the writing process.
There are different
ways in which essays are written and persuasive writing is that type that
presents logical and ethical arguments. The writer usually commences with a
question that is either in favor of or opposing to the claim or topic so
therefore appeals to the readers of a particular point of view, walking them
through by the writer’s convincing opinions.
Hence, two main forms
of persuasive writing are used to write persuasive essays which are the
structural format and the modes of writing. The structural formats include the
introduction, the body and the conclusion whereas the modes clarify the validity
of the persuasive essay, based on three elements and are: Ethos, Pathos and
logos.
Ethos is a writing
element of argument and persuasion through which knowledge, good moral
character and credibility are established, Readers are likely to trust this
type of persuasive writing. Pathos is an emotional appeal made by the writer to
the audience to evoke feelings. It provides interest to the readers, make the
writing more compelling and aids in connection with the narrator. Logos is a
rhetorical and persuasive element of writing that appeals to the audience. The
readers believe the logics and rational out lined by the writer.
In addition, a good
persuasive essay consists of a claim, reasons and evidence which is done after
the writing process of prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and
proofreading. Revising is a process of improving the first draft of persuasive
writing. It is done by either adding to the content or removing errors. Ideas
are reviewed and reorganized.
Finally, the editing
process is reviewing and making changes to the writing so that it’s error-free.
It also includes checking the structure, the transitions should be smooth and
the structure of evidence are well supported by the argument. There are several
ways of teaching editing and revising but my main ways includes, reminding
students to focus on strengths and clarity of their writing, comparing texts
and asking questions about the introduction, body and conclusion for example,
Does the body of the writing has an argument?
Educators commonly
integrate technology into their teaching through the use of videos and images.
This method of displaying visual content related to specific topics serves as
one of the simplest yet effective means of incorporating technology into
lessons which most educational institutions require to meet the diversified
learning styles in their classroom. There are numerous ways to utilize technology
in the class as it advances as time progresses. One of these ways is the use of
Microsoft Word Processing tool. This may mainly be used as a means to make student's
handwriting legible. For instance, the case of a child who has muscle dystrophy
where they get tired quickly or may require more time to write notes where the
time is not available. It is not only applicable as a note taking application but
also as a spelling, subject and verb agreement and capitalization helper.
The key advantage of this
tool is that it allows students to detect faults and errors in their writing
and offers a variety of solutions in which the error can be replaced.
However, educators must know the extent to which this tool may be used. For instance,
students should have the ability to self-correct or self-editing their pieces
which boosts their confidence and enhances their overall critical thinking
skills without the use of this application. Another major disadvantage is the limited or lack of resources for all leaners in the class.
