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.