Rhonda Christopher

Reflection # 5 Genres of writing

 

Semester three began with the first LAE class held on the third of September 2018.   During this class the first unit presented was very informative and enlightening.  Also, the topic focused on trends in teaching writing and challenges in teaching writing.  This certainly gave an over view of what writing in primary school is all about.

There was a wealth of writing strategies shard with the class via group presentations that has gained my interests.  Some of these sentences combining, peer assistance, digital storytelling and the one which stood out to me most was the prewriting activities: In this strategy preschoolers who are not yet able to write learn to color, draw, tracing and scribble diverse types of lines, while older students may practice brainstorming, freewriting, amongst others. Before learning about pre-writing, I did not realize that all these methods must come into play as a part of writing.  In addition to that, other lessons consisted of inquiry activities such as observation and textural analysis which will also help students in learning to write.

Further, we looked at the challenges in teaching and how using the trends in teaching writing can curtail those challenges.  In my group, we looked at when writing many processes are required at the same time and how using thinking, writing and the reading process are involved.  This was done with the use of the think method. 

Overall, this course has brought the class even more alive when the presentations are made and we can see how using these methods can be implemented within the classroom.

 

 

 

Rhonda Christopher

Reflection # 5 Genres of writing

 

On the 27^th of November 2018, the class began with an in-depth description to what was expected in terms of the written pieces to be constructed for the portfolio.  Each piece was expounded upon as they were specific details as to how they were to be written.

Importantly, though I am very much familiar with most of the pieces such as a narrative and descriptive piece, I was afforded the opportunity to learn that the descriptive piece can be both technical and literal.  Learning of this has equip me as a teacher to know the differences so that I can impart that knowledge to my students.  In addition, the sonnet was another piece that I have never heard about before briefly.  However, as I listened I gained a better understanding about the three types and how they are constructed.  This is when I decided to construct the shake Shakespearean sonnet for my portfolio. Further, we were given a hand out as a guide to help us better construct our assignments.  This hand out also spoke of the teaching of the writing components.

            Whereas I have heard of the stages such as pre-writing and editing before, this came as a reinforcement to what I learnt before.      Additionally, the new material gave an insight into how the teacher -student conference should occur and its benefits to the student.  This was important to me as I have become more aware of how to observe the student’s behavior while they are writing.  This has seemingly proven to work for the teacher also as he/she goes to the student rather than the student going to the teacher. Furthermore, I was reminded about the different languages such as formal and technical which are used in writing.  These writings serve different purposes and so the choice of words, tone and the collaboration of both may vary between styles and therefore causes the formal language to be less personal than the informal.

To summarize, the class session made me more comfortable in constructing my pieces while preparing me also for teaching practice as well as being able to handle my own language arts class as a trained teacher ready to instruct my students.