20th -24th /11/23- Learning How to Analyze Students’ Writing

             Well, we have come to the end of this blogging journey. Before we conclude, however, I briefly want to talk about our class session in LIT102, where we learned how to analyse students’ writing. Analysing students’ Writing pieces is hard work! It takes lots of practice and, in my opinion, is time-consuming.

(image retrieved from www.pinterest.com)

       Using the 6 + 1 writing traits, teachers are expected to explain the task of the writing piece. In our LIT102 class, we were placed into pairs to practice analysing a ‘Vacation Time’ writing piece. 

             Overall, my take ways from the session were, using the 6 + 1 writing traits, one will analyse the student’s writing piece by:

Ideas: One will assess the depth, originality, and clarity of the student’s thoughts, concepts, and information.

Organisation: Organised to evaluate the logical and coherent arrangement or explanation of the student’s ideas.

Voice: One will also consider the student’s writing style and the expression of feelings and convictions expressed through their words.

Word Choice: One intends to assess the student’s use of language to decide whether or not the words used effectively engage the reader.

Sentence Fluency: One will also seek to evaluate the flow and rhythm of the student’s writing piece. 

Conventions: Besides revision, the correctness of grammar, punctuation, and spelling in the student’s writing piece will also be assessed. 

            Lastly, one will consider the overall appearance and formatting of the writing piece. Notably, while this writing trait is not directly taught to students, it is regarded as an essential trait. 

         This blogging experience was also a welcomed new strategy that I found helpful in effectively remembering what LIT102: Promoting Writing in Primary Grades has taught me. 

         I intend to implement all that I have learned into my literacy classroom, such as how one can slow down in one's narrative writing to zoom in on a moment as well as consider the purpose and audience of one's writing. I will also rely on my blogging family to help me remember the fundamental concepts of this course that I learned. 

        Overall, I truly enjoyed this blogging experience, though I must admit, it was challenging to be motivated to continuously blog at times. Thanks for viewing my blogging page and sharing your valuable insights on various writing concepts in LIT102: Promoting Writing in Primary Grades. Adeus👋. 

(image retrieved from www.giphy.com)

 

13th -17th /11/23- Reviewing the Writer’s Workshop

              Hiya! I know I have already spoken about the Writer’s Workshop, but please bear with me and permit me to expand on what I said. Our lecturer explained this strategy so comprehensively that I felt compelled to reflect on it once more.

               Do you remember a scenario when you thought you understood a concept until someone more knowledgeable than you came along and explained it even more comprehensibly, causing you to have an ‘aha’ moment? That is how I felt when my classmates and I were informed that the Writing Workshop can be seen as a collaborative community of writers using conferencing and group sharing.

              This caused me to think about myself and my classmates. We are a community of writers in LIT 102: Promoting Writing in Primary Grades. These two aspects of the writing workshop can coincide concerning writing and conferencing time. For example, my ‘aha’ moment was when I vividly recall in class when Lisia and I shared our narrative writing pieces and got feedback from each other.

              Additionally, I have a deeper insight into how one conducts minilessons during the teaching time of the Writing Workshop. I further understand that the minilesson is primarily based on the essential concept that the students will need to help them write their composition pieces, which can also be based on what was done in the previous Writer’s Workshop.

6th /10th /11/23- The Art of Persuasive Writing

          Finally, we have arrived at my favourite genre of writing: persuasive writing! I cannot wait to delve into my compelling piece. However, I must not get ahead of myself. Using the information I obtained, I will further enhance and harness my skills in this genre in my LIT 102 class. 

         In our LIT102 writing session, we were presented with exciting facts regarding persuasive writing. For me, the ‘key’ word during this session was art. This is so because my colleagues and I were informed that persuasive writing is the art of gaining favourable consideration for one’s point of view, which I deem to be true. 

          Some of you may be wondering why I like persuasive writing so much. This type of writing resonates the most with me because it is used to change a person’s perception or attitude towards a point of view. I am not bragging, but I like to use persuasion. I want to get others to see my point of view using authoritative evidence and a ‘sweet touch’ of emotive language. When done correctly, I can be a very effective persuader. However, if you disagree or doubt my persuasive abilities, you haven’t fallen ‘prey’ to my persuasive charm yet.

                                                        (image retrieved from www.my-harry-potter-generation.tumblr.com)

           Other effective persuasive techniques include exaggeration, contrast, rhetorical questions, direct personal appeal, and repetition. 

           I found the following insightful video on persuasive writing. The information presented is detailed. Please enjoy it. 

23rd -27th /10/23 - The 6+1 Traits of Writing (Organization and Word Choice)

                  Continuing our journey in Lit 102, we were further informed of the 6+1 Writing Traits. Based on those traits, the two traits that resonated the most to me were Organization and Word Choice. Organization stood out to me because the information presented by my colleagues caused me to ponder on the different ideas within my writing piece that come together logically and cohesively. One further notes that organized writing contains the introduction, which should be written in such a way that captivates the reader’s attention. It also includes the body, which contains the various elements of the writing piece concerning the topic, which should be coherent. It has transition words to connect the ideas within the writing piece smoothly and presents the writing in a logical, sequential order. Moreover, an organized writing piece should also have a conclusion that shows cases the resolution or summary of the primary purpose of the writing piece. 

            Concerning Word Choice, my blogging family, Dessy-Ann, Makeda and myself, had to present on this topic. I had fun researching word choice and creating PowerPoint slides.😀 Previously, I had never thought about the benefits of using vocabulary for one’s writing piece. I am now more cognizant that the types of words chosen can make a difference in the tone and impact of the writing piece. Additionally, I came across an interesting article called ‘V.I.P. C.O.W.S’ that noted Word Choice should be specific according to the topic and the reader’s comprehension. Additionally, the selection of words should include new words, words that show action or movement, words that describe, words that go beyond the child’s spelling ability, and words that are sensory appealing to the reader.

            Regarding the 6+1 Writing Traits, one can use these through various activities such as the creation of a thesaurus with overused words regarding Word Choice, as well as using a web to plan ideas before writing about Organization. The other traits, such as Voice, Ideas, Presentation, Conventions, and Sentence Fluency, are also notably essential and can be used to have the student write a paragraph or story with a checklist provided to edit their writing. 

        The following images give a vivid description of the beneficial 6+1 Writing Traits. 😌

                                            (images retrieved from www.literacysolutions.com.au; www.northeastrangeschool.net) 

16th -20th /10/23- Introduction to The Writer’s Workshop

              

                                                                       (image retrieved from www.bestanimations.com)

           One would term this week as the Writer’s Workshop week because that was what the main focus was on in LIT 102: Promoting Writing in Primary Grades. My classmates and I were introduced to how one goes about conducting writing workshops. Based on the information presented by our lecturer, Mrs Lazarus, one has ciphered that Writer’s Workshops involve a specific time slot in one’s classroom where students can write. Specifically, the ownership is on the students regarding their intention for writing specifics about their writing pieces. In this regard, one also realises that it is essential to guide my students through this process correctly.

                Ideally, the Writer’s Workshop should take place throughout the week, which may be daunting. However, as teachers, we should set this as a goal because, just as anything else, the more one practices it, the more competent one will become at it. For this purpose, we were placed into small groups and were given the task of how one would go about planning a Narrative Writer’s Workshop for a week.

           The first step is known as teaching time. This is where the teacher targets a critical skill and delivers it through instructing a mini-lesson to the students. During this time, the teacher would define the craft as well as model the skill, which will act as a guide for students. Next comes writing time, where students will practice what was taught and demonstrated by the teacher. Specifically, the students will start creating and editing their writing pieces. The next phase of the writer’s workshop is conferencing. During this time, the teacher will be going around to check up on and conferring with writers. This may also include answering specific student questions. It is a form of  ‘checking in’ on the progress the students are making during the Writer’s Workshop and may also provide feedback concerning their writing pieces to aid them in further revising their writing.

                Finally, in the sharing stage, this can be done using a gallery walk or the author’s chair strategy. Admittedly, one realises that this Writer’s Workshop will only come to fruition in my classroom if I routinely practice it. Unfortunately, I am not in the classroom at the moment to implement it. However, I must be sure that once I return to my classroom, I will not waste time implementing this writing strategy.

16th – 20th /10/23- Explode the Moment in Narrative Writing

               In our Lit 102 course, we were challenged to zoom in on something of interest in narrative writing so that it becomes more apparent to you and your readers. This is also known as ‘explode a moment’. In narrative writing, this strategy requires one to look carefully at one’s writing, decide on one aspect of the writing which requires more detail and interest and then ‘spice’ it up by exploding that aspect in that particular piece of writing.

                To be honest, I do not think I am very good at writing narrative pieces. This is so because they require so much creativity and detail. So, when we were introduced to zooming in on narrative writing pieces, my heart 'sank’ a bit because I felt that this would cause narrative writing to be more challenging for me than it already is. Zooming in requires one to ‘slow down’ their piece of writing. To expound on this fact, Mrs. Lazarus showed us an example writing piece that uses this strategy entitled ‘A Fabulous Exploded Moment’. This causes me to ponder how I will know if aspects of my narrative writing are ‘slowed down’ sufficiently to deem my writing piece satisfactory. I would have to, therefore, rely on my colleagues to assist me with this if they are willing. The following picture further explains how one can ‘explode the moment’ in narrative writing. 

(picture retrieved from www.pinterest.com)

9th– 13th/10/13- Creativity in Narrative Writing

                       Wow! What an informative week we had to learn about how one writes an effective narrative writing piece. My colleagues and I shockingly learned that we could make use of descriptive writing when we are doing narrative writing. This was surprising to me because previously, I never thought about narrative writing pieces including descriptive pieces. How when I heard this it caused me to recall the times that I used figurative language to describe characters and the setting when composing a narrative piece.  

                      I had previously known that narrative writing is a form of writing that contains interesting events based on different elements such as the characters, the setting, and the plot, just to name a few, of writing. However, after this week’s lectures, I am more cognizant that a good narrative piece must be so engaging to the point where it makes the reader transported into another world or era and feel as if he or she is directly a part of the story. Furthermore, Mrs. Lazarus used a creative an innovative strategy of getting my classmates and I more comfortable to write an excellent narrative writing piece by giving us the topic ‘Johnathan Learns His Lesson’ and having us brainstorm and describe how we would go about creating a plot structure for this narrative writing piece. I loved this strategy, and I will definitely be ‘copying’ this tactic to use in my classroom.😉

(image retrieved from www.giphy.com)