Reflection 5

On September 25th lecture five commenced under the topic "Teaching the genres- descriptive writing". The focus of the lesson was descriptive writing and its implications for both student teachers and students alike. The lecture began with the lecturer reading two different pieces of descriptive writing. This set the tone of the lecture, as it provided a clear example of what the required elements are of a descriptive piece. To further reiterate the elements, a list of sensory descriptive words was presented. Miss. Butler, our lecturer, further highlighted that within descriptive writing , adverbs are also incorporated to enhance  the description of your writing. Therefore, to ensure that we understood the contrast between adverbs and adjectives, two sentences were written on the board of which we were instructed to point out the adjectives and adverbs. Thus, the opportunity arose to clarify misconceptions on the aforementioned.

                                                                                              

 During the lecture few students spoke about their experiences with children and their inability to transfer their thoughts and ideas onto paper. Thus, we concluded that a graphic organizer can be used to help students organize their thoughts on a specific topic. The six traits of writing stood out to us the most as they reminded us of the steps of the writing process. The traits gave us a stern reminder that it is important to teach writing to students. It also further emphasized that writing is indeed a process and must be taught continuously with guidance and modelling. Therefore, it is important that we as trainee teachers make the effort to learn the six traits of writing. In the lesson we were also exposed to a spelling strategy which was taught through the use of modelling. We found the strategy to be very effective as it promotes the memorization of unfamiliar words. Therefore, spelling should be taught instead of students independently learning the words on their own. With regards to descriptive writing, we were provided with various techniques which will act as a stimulus to assist in the creation of ideas. For instance, students can be taken outside the classroom to make observations, and from those observations create a descriptive piece.

To conclude, the lecture provided us with a clear understanding of what is required when writing a descriptive piece. We enjoyed the fruitful discussion and the lecturer’s patience in answering all of our questions. The modelling of various aspects of the lesson was also commendable and reminded us to always model when teaching students.  Our only suggestion to improve the delivery of the lecture would be to provide samples of descriptive writing, which students can use to identify the writing traits, format and word choice.

Reflection 4

On the 16^th September, the course, LIT 102 began with oral presentations that gave way for newfound ideas. Throughout the session, innovative ways were presented by groups to give an insight into the various activities that can be utilized to teach the writing process. Each group's oral presentations exhibited understanding, which allowed them to accurately demonstrate the writing process. During the presentations, it was also evident that it was an interactive session as we were all actively engaged in the activities. On the 18^th September, the commencement of lecture four began with a new topic.  In this lecture, the writing stages of children were highlighted and discussed. The purpose of this lecture was to give an insight into what is needed to assist us in completing one of our writing assignments.

During the teaching of the stages, we were able to immediately understand the stages, as we were already familiar with the writing stages. Our first encounter with the writing stages was in EDCL, a course that was offered in the summer. Therefore, this lecture was a reminder or acted as reinforcement for the concepts. As the class proceeded, it became clear that it is integral that as teachers we possess knowledge of the stages of writing. Awareness of the stages of writing, provides us with the advantage to pinpoint students’ writing issues. This will result in teaching instructions being planned effectively, as the intent will be to improve students’ writing.  During the teaching of the lecture, it was also mentioned that reading and writing are intertwined.  In essence this is indeed accurate, as a child who is able to read or is exposed to books is able to write to achieve academic success.

Overall, the oral presentations that were presented on 16^th September stood out the most. The opportunity to present our ideas and creativity gave us adequate practice. We have realized that through practice, our confidence in teaching improves.  Furthermore, the exposure to other group members’ perspective gave us ideas into the various ways we can teach the writing process to our students. After thorough consideration, we think a short video clip of a child moving through each writing stage would have enhanced the lesson. This will assist individuals who are visual learners to better grasp the information.

Reflection 3

Lecture three began on Monday, 9^th September and continued on Wednesday, 11^th September, 2019. The lecture on Monday was focused on the best practices to teach writing to students. There were numerous best practices that were mentioned, however, specific product goals and sentence combining stood out to us most. The lecturer reiterated that specific product goals must be clear, concise and attainable by our students. As future educators, we must keep in mind the abilities of our students; therefore, the goals set must be realistic and attainable.  The inability to set realistic goals will lead to frustration, which may result in students feeling pressured or uncomfortable when tasks are being given to complete. Additionally, during the discussion on sentence combining, it was highlighted that students experience issues with constructing sentences even in the simplest form. Therefore, as teachers we must understand the importance of teaching students about the types of sentences, how to construct and differentiate between each type of sentence. Failure on our behalf to teach the aforementioned will result in students who lack the capability to produce well thought out and structured pieces.

Wednesday’s lecture focused solely on the writing process. Although we were exposed to the writing process in previous lectures, it was refreshing to review the content. The lecturer not only reviewed the content but provided us with insightful information about issues that both teachers and students face in the classroom with regards to writing. During the lecture, the writing process was modelled step by step to ensure that we understood how it should be taught. The act of the lecturer modelling the writing process gave us an insight of how it should be done in the classroom. At that very moment, it became clear to us that regardless of your students’ age,  modelling is an effective teaching strategy that must be applied in order to establish understanding among students. We were also reminded that the writing process cannot be taught in one sitting, and as such it should be continuously taught to aid students through the process.

At the end of the lecture, we were provided with the opportunity to display our understanding of the previous content that was taught on Monday. The independent practice gave us a realistic feel of the task we had to teach. The opportunity to express our understanding and creativity reinforced the importance of giving students independent practice. It was also a learning experience as the various groups that presented had different ways to deliver their presentation, especially the groups who taught the class on the writing strategies POW and TREE. The exposure given on these strategies gave us ideas of the multiple ways we can utilize the strategies in our very own classroom. The presentations in all gave us the opportunity to reflect on our own understanding and appreciate other groups’ perspectives.

Reflection 2

     This reflection is based on two lectures that took place on September 2nd, 2019 and September 4th, 2019. These lectures focused on the Writer's Workshop Lesson plan format, where we were actively engaged in the teaching-learning process. The primary purpose of the lessons was to educate us on a simple and effective method that teachers can use to facilitate the teaching of writing. 

       In the first session of the lecture, we were exposed to the elements of the writer’s workshop. The focus lesson/ mini lesson, writing time, conferencing and group share session are the elements that were discussed in class. In an effort to ensure that we understood the elements, the lecturer used a writer’s workshop template to highlight the elements and then proceeded to model the specific outcome for each. The action of modelling gave us a reminder that it is always necessary to model to students whenever content is being taught. This particular format of the lesson plan was very straightforward, as it consisted of similar components of previous lesson plan templates.  On the contrary, although it depicted similarities to previous lesson plan templates, the differences were noticeable. The Writer's Workshop outlined several different types of objectives designed to achieve specific purposes such as Time to Teach, Time to Write and Confer and Time to Share. During this time the lecturer also mentioned specific activities, that we as future educators can utilize to make students more interested in sharing their written pieces. Activities such as the author's chair was mentioned, where a special chair and specially designed crown would be assigned to students who are going to share their pieces with the class.

        The second session of the writer’s workshop was solely based on independent practice. The practice was done in groups and guidance was given to ensure that the task was accurately completed. The group discussions gave room for collaboration among our peers, as ideas and opinions were combined to create the final product. The method of using peer evaluation was effective as by reviewing other groups’ work, we were exposed to their ideas and learned to provide critical feedback. 

        After further evaluation, we have recognized that throughout the teaching of the two lessons, it was noticeable that the procedure of delivering the content took some form of the elements of the writer’s workshop. This was evident as the content was taught, modelled and independent practice was given followed by conferencing. These specific steps that were performed by the lecturer can be imitated in other content areas. For instance, in Mathematics when teaching addition without regrouping to students, the rules can be taught and modelled, independent practice given, conferencing can be done during practice to prevent misconception and finally share time. Furthermore, the time taken to provide independent practice was satisfying, as continuous practice will assist us to become familiar with the steps, so that we are able to successfully create an effective writer’s workshop lesson plan. Moreover, it was agreed that the group discussions should be continuous as it was deemed to be very interactive. 

Reflection 1

 The commencement of the course “ Promoting Writing in the Primary School Grades”  began with a lecture that prompted us to explore our personal philosophy for the teaching of writing.  After further evaluation of the topic, my group members and I have shared the same sentiment, that writing is an essential aspect of a child's learning.  We learned that writing, that is written with a purpose, can be used as a guide to aid students in improving their writing skills and to write with meaning.  Students who write with a purpose are able to select and consider their audience, write proper sentence structure and select the appropriate form of the language. The lecture reminded us of the topic " Critrical Reading and Writing in the Content Areas" that was covered in the course EDCL. During the teaching of this lesson, we learned that writing gives students the opportunity to communicate their thoughts and opinions, synthesize information, monitor their learning and even unlock doors that access their creative side. Therefore, due to our previous knowledge of the topic, we were able to immediately make connections and understand the importance of writing to students. The statement “ the ability to comprehend and write will determine if an individual will have academic success” protruded the most.This statement gave us a sharp reminder that we as teachers have the ability to shape or disfigure a child’s future. 

       During the teaching of this topic, there were many aspects of the lesson that we enjoyed. The answering of questions at the end of the lecture was quite stimulating to the brain.  It pushed us to deeply evaluate and construct our own opinion on the importance of teaching writing. The opportunity to outwardly express our philosophy in the teaching of writing, gave us a clear and meaningful understanding of the importance of writing to students. The aspect of listening to our classmates’ perspective of their philosophy exposed us to multiple viewpoints. This aided in the creation of new perspectives and led to further evaluation and alterations of our previous perspectives on the teaching of writing. Additionally, during the process of sharing, our lecturer was able to identify and eliminate misconceptions, as a few of our classmates restricted the meaning of writing to only handwriting.

      However, we believed that the class can be slightly improved to enhance our learning  experiences. We have agreed that during the teaching of the lesson, we needed to be more engaged. For instance, we can form groups and perform task by using  dramatizations or group discussions to reinforce the importance of teaching writing to students. The use of these engaging activities will appeal to all our senses , which in turn will help us to critically think and develop a great appreciation for teaching writing. Nevertheless, the concept was thoroughly explained,as the significance of teaching students to write was voiced in many of the philosophies that were read in class.

Welcome !!

                                                                         

Dear Readers,

It is of great importance that writing is not seen as a chore, but as a tool that will lead to academic achievements. Throughout this blog, be prepared to be enlightened by my group members' perspectives on promoting writing in the primary school grades, as we reflect on our journey throughout our LIT 102 course. Do enjoy and do not forget to drop a comment under each reflection 🙂.

              " Writing today is not a frill for the few, but an essential skill for the many"