Samples, Purpose and Activities of writings by: Rhonda Christopher

Reflection # 6

On Thursday November 29^th 2018, there were a wealth of information as to how identify different types of writings.  Some of the writings were narrative, descriptive and expository by being able to look at examples of each. However, the focus was placed on descriptive writing.  I able to follow the unit where I was guided as to how one should work with descriptive writing.  This was in a way that I have never done before.  This has taught me how I can teach students to write in ways that will captivate their readers as the will truly understand and use ways to express their writing.  Also, we looked at achieving coherence by putting details in spatial order, I was able to understand how this works even though I was not previously taught this method.  However, this is something that I have learnt from reading books and I truly believe that teaching this to students will enable them to think out of the box and allow them to use their imagination to create great descriptive pieces.  Further, the step-by-stem approach was new to me as initially I thought this was to only be sequential, but later, I realized that  after selecting the topic, focus had to be placed on that topic and also the topic sentence had to be planned with the dominant impression in mind by  making a note of at least ten sensory images.  Of the eight steps, this stood out to me because it will help students to brain storm and eventually come up with great ideas of their own as they complete the steps and review afterwards. 
 Additionally, as a wrap-up class, where we discussed the final aspects of the blog and other assignments.  The session was helpful to me as I was given most positive reviews from some of the pieces that were done.  However, I had to make minor adjustments that are suitable for each piece.   Further, there were examples of activities which accompanied each of the genre to show how they can be written in. For example, a descriptive genre can be written using comparison or observation; expository writing can be written in the form of a poster or report; journals and letters in the form of personal journals and reading and reading logs; persuasive writings as books or movie reviews.  Also, there is poetry writing which can be written as a “Haiku” or “Acrostic poem’ and story writing as a sequel to stories. 

Knowing these things are important for me as a teacher because it has broaden my knowledge about the different genres and whereby I can teach these forms of writing to my students so that they can have the necessary skills for writing to carry out their tasks daily now as students and prepare them for their future to become productive in ways where they can utilize their knowledge and understanding.