Promoting Writing in Primary Grades LIT102

  Writing as a skill include all the knowledge and abilities related to expressing ideas, expressing who we are, a means of explaining our ideas to ourselves and other readers while at the same time preserving our personal experience and memories through written words. Writing is an important skill that all students should acquire before leaving school. How can  we as teachers, help students perfect their writing skills?  In our class discussion this week, we looked at the different types of writing strategies which can be employed or introduce in the classrooms. These strategies are effective in helping students improve on their writing skills once used properly. Listed below are a few strategies that were looked at in class. Elaborating : Writers expand their written piece by adding vivid details (Brainstorm ideas Evaluating : This includes reviewing and evaluating their work and judge how the goal set was met ( Use rubrics) Formatting : Designing the layout of their fi...

  There are seven traits of a good author. They are the author’s: ideas, voice, vocabulary, organization, convention, sentence fluency, word choice and presentation. These traits can determine whether an individual is a good writer. It also, helps a writer to see where he/she can improve. In addition, it provides a guide for teaching, modelling, and assessing writing. Being able to focus on any element makes it easier for teachers and students. It makes it simpler to provide specific criticism of the students’ work. Voice The voice of author refers to their personal style. Its shows the writer connects with their audience. The interested level in the topic of choice. Every writer has to develop their own style.     Sentence Fluency Sentence fluency pertains to the rhythm and flow of the written word. It displays how the author can blend ideas together. Also, this is how the author sets the mood of the piece. It also deals with how the author transitions betwe...

Any good teacher desires for their students to become effective writers. For this to be possible there are certain conditions that needs to be met. Creating an atmosphere that is conducive to learning , giving students control over what they are writing, modeling, and writing with students are methods of developing effective writers.       Creating an atmosphere for developing effective writers There are certain elements that contributes to a conducive learning environment. First, the teachers body language. The enthusiasm that a teacher exudes is important to motivate your students to write. In addition, a classroom that is quiet, filled visual inspiration and little distraction helps with the process of writing. Allowing students to choose Giving students the power to choose is very impactful. When students are given the option to choose, they can write on topics they are interested in. For instance, a class of 25 students may have come from varying background...

In keeping with the theme ‘Promoting Writing in the Primary Grades’, our sessions this week started off with a discussion on how we can help our students take their writing from a craft (the work in progress) and turning it into an art (the carefully crafted finished piece). By such, our students must be made to understand that writing is not a one step, trial and error exercise, which is quite often the impression they get, but that it involves many processes in order to reach its final product or masterpiece. To aid us in understanding how we can further assist them with this journey, we were introduced to  a set of student - centered instructional activities called the 6+1 traits of Writing. Though I relate to them as activities, they are not necessarily things the students will do on a task by task basis, but more so, what should be included or reflected in their composed pieces at the end of their writing. I n implementing these traits, teachers should or can focus on them o...

  The 6 + 1 Traits of Writing Donald Murray put forward the view "Writing is a craft before it is an art; writing may appear magic, but it is our responsibility to take our students backstage to watch the pigeons being tucked up in the magician's sleeve." What is the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing, one may ask? The 6 + 1 Traits of Writing is a way of teaching, modeling and assessing the instruction of writing. It is a shared vocabulary for teachers and students.   In addition, the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing helps us to teach the Qualities of Good Writing . It also support the writing process of Prewriting, Drafting, Sharing Writing with others, Revising, Editing and Publishing. The 6 + 1 Traits of Writing includes: Ideas   Ideas are the heart of the writing. The content of what you are going to write. Organization Organization is the structure of writing. The pattern of ideas within a piece of writing. Word Choice Word Choice is using the right words or phrases. Sentence Fluen...

In this week session, we will be looking at the 6+1 traits of writing.  Before I go into depth on what the 6+1 traits of writing let us reflect on the ways we teach writing to our students. When teaching writing, do we guide students through each process one at a time? What about feedback and encouragement? Do we offer those?  How many of us, as teachers help students when they struggle to formulate ideas on their own? Or we just offer a topic on our own? I am guilty of doing some of these, not because of dislike teaching writing, but because of frustration, whether in helping students formulate and develop their own ideas or in trying to complete the curriculum. In this blog you will gain some insight on what is the 6+1 traits of writing ,why its important? and the proper way in grading students written pieces. The 6 + 1 writing traits is a way of teaching, modeling and assessing the instructions of writing.  These traits are consideration to be the good traits that stud...

As I mentioned in the previous blog post on the Writer's Workshop, writing, and teaching students to write can be compared to a "toothache" and  "pulling teeth."  "How so?", one may ask. This is because it is deemed hard, frustrating, time consuming and it is definitely the subject easily ignored and/or avoided.  "But why?", one may add.  It could be for one simple reason, "Its thought of and taught wrongly." As some experts would have noticed, in many classrooms,  especially in the primary grades, writing is taught for the sake of writing, for the sake of getting a grade or because teachers are forced to teach it. That's on the down-side of things. On the upside, some teachers view the teaching of writing as a way for students to demonstrate what they were taught. For example, students may compose a paragraph to show they  know how to write a paragraph or a letter to show they know its format.  And while the latter is not such ...