Bonjour! My wonderful
people. Boy, do I have some great information for you today, to aid you as a
teacher within your classroom and most importantly your students.
Before I go on, I must say Lit102 this week was aboundingly insightful and consisted of myself and others who had not demonstrated their writing strategy fulfilling that task. My demonstration was good and it comprised of firstly explaining my strategy and then demonstrating it within a writing frame where sequential writing was done. I incorporated pictures of the ingredients to assist them in creating the content needed to expound on their writing about the topic, ‘Making Pizza’. All in all, the entire Lit102 lessons showed no fault in my eyes and were relatable as we thought of strategies that could be used to assist with some challenges in teaching writing to students.
These Challenges include: -
- Multidimensional nature of writing
- Writing as a decontextualized task
- Absence of prosody, body language, and facial expression in writing
- Writers who cannot assume shared context with the reader
- Writers who have limited information about the reader’s knowledge, opinion, and reading competence.
Thankfully,
these challenges can be remedied with the suitable writing strategies that have
been taught within Lit102. Such strategies include Gradual Release of Responsibility, Writer’s Workshops, Think Aloud, Text Model, and much more.
Have a look at this article, comprised of information to aid you as a teacher in dealing with challenges in writing within your class:-
Challenges Faced by Students and Teachers on Writing Skills in ESL Contexts: A Literature Review
Emergent
writers, also known as developing writers, comprise students from the kindergarten level or lower to the second grade. These
writers are currently discovering the fundamentals of writing. Students should
be able to form letters correctly with the use of alphabet charts to help with
the relationships between the letters and their sounds, use spaces between
words, and write high-frequency words smoothly at this level.
Early writers, also referred
to as beginning writers, who are in the second and third levels are already
able to analyze the placement of sounds in words (beginning, middle, and end),
and they can monitor their own writing to the point that they can spot
misspelled words and possible sentence fragments that have been omitted.
Transitional
writers also known as expounding writers are within the third,
fourth, and possibly fifth levels. These writers continue to employ editing and
rewriting techniques to help them write their pieces and come up with new ideas because they can easily write while spelling, resulting in
longer, more elaborate pieces.
Students who
are fluent writers often referred to as independent writers, include
some fifth- and sixth-level students. These students have a wide range of
writing skills and can write independently all while integrating
descriptive language. Incorporation of what they have learned from previously
read books, experiences, or lessons taught is seen in their writing, which ultimately
helps to establish the writer's voice.
Have a look at
the writing progress of children from the Emergent Writers stage right up to
the Fluent Writers stage, and how their writing has excelled during their days:
What are your takeaways from this week's lesson?
How have my aids in this blog assisted you in gaining a better understanding of the topics?
Have you dealt with any of these types of writers? If so, which ones? and how has your experience been with them being in and outside the classroom?
Bonjour!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your take on the classes being packed with a lot of useful information. I also enjoyed your presentation where you illustrated ‘Making A Pizza’, and this is indeed a topic students will enjoy writing about. The article you shared highlights the issues many teachers are facing. It is unfortunate that the issue is common for both students and teachers around the world, where teaching writing is concerned. It adds to the consensus that teaching writing should not be cursory, however, both students and teachers need to have the patience and eagerness to learn and apply the various strategies when writing.
The video included also ties into what was covered in class where the students writing development advanced as they went through the different stages. This concept was new to me as I also thought children were just ‘scribbling’ as their way of utilizing their fine motor skills when holding a pencil. I was not aware that they were actual labels to the writing development stages.
To answer your questions:
1. What are your takeaways from this week's lesson?
The stages in writing development definitely stood out to me and being able to see what the different stages look like in a child's ‘scribbling’/writing.
2. How have my aids in this blog assisted you in gaining a better understanding of the topics?
The video you shared reinforced the concepts learned in class and the article was a great addition in highlighting the concerns of other teachers.
3. Have you dealt with any of these types of writers? If so, which ones? and how has your experience been with them being in and outside the classroom?
I had a few students in grade 3 who in my opinion were writing at the Emergent Stage. It was indeed a struggle to bring them up to the required level and I honestly wished I had the knowledge of these stages as a guide back then.
Excellent information Roannah. In my spare time, I will definitely take a look at the article you mentioned. The information that you provided on the different stages of writing development was short and sweet, just like you. The video also provided excellent examples of how children’s handwriting develops through the various stages. I am definitely looking forward to your next post.
ReplyDeleteTo answer the questions that you posed.
I took away a lot from this week’s lessons as I have definitely been in situations where I wished I could have aided my students with their writing. The challenges in writing are numerous but so are the solutions. I will definitely be using these strategies upon my return to the classroom.
I have encountered a few of these writers, as I was fortunate enough to teach all the students at my school Agricultural Science. It has given me an insight into how students’ handwriting develops from Kindergarten to Grade Six. At that point in time, I simply believed that their handwriting would develop with practice. To my surprise, there were students who I observed with excellent writing skills for their age, due to practicing at home. Knowing what I have learned now, I will be making strides to improve the writing development of all my students with the strategies that I have been exposed to.