Reflection on Unit Three (3) Teaching and the reading writing connection by:  Rhonda Christopher

Within this unit, I was even more inspired to learn how I can easily teach students the writing process without them even realize they are doing something different.   To begin with, books were places at the front of the class.  Then, we were asked to choose one book from the stack.  The books were all kindergarten or lower level elementary books.  As I waited for instructions, I was quite surprised that we were to read these books.  However, there was a twist. We were challenged to examine the text and then share our thoughts with the class concerning what we found out about how the different strategies and grammatical elements such as punctuation, parts of speech and capitalization.  After that, another moment of sharing took place as we engaged in writing small pieces of literature to show writing can be geared to a specific audience.   With this newly found information, I hope to be instrumental in changing the way students learn by helping them to think critically when constructing writing for different purposes and audiences. 

Overall, the skills that I have learnt in this unit has showed me that I can help students make the connections between writing and reading with activities that can be used at any stage.

.  In the same manner, while the processes are being introduced, as a teacher, I have also become aware of the fact that students need to be taught strategies such as think aloud that will enable them to speak aloud what they want to write.  Also, they can choose topics that will help them to become excited to write.  Students are normally excited about the use of technology and so this will aid them to be better and efficient writers. Introducing devices such as the use of wikis, blogs and digital story telling will show how writing can be enjoyable.

To this end, I have leant that each child must be catered for individually as they all learn at various stages and therefor will utilize the process and traits in their unique way.

 

 

  

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