Unit 3 - Teaching Writing and the Reading-Writing Connection by Chinyere Hughes

Unit 3 - Teaching Writing and the Reading-Writing Connection

Unfortunately, I have never had the experience of teaching Language Arts, due to being a Health and Family Life Education teacher.
However, I have always been told and from personal experience that writing and reading are inevitably connected and understandably so.
If the main focus is on the reader, then the writing of a piece must be done to accommodate their level of understanding (e.g. their grade and development level), their purpose of reading (e.g.pleasure, research).
Within the class sessions, I was able to gain a better understanding of this aspect of teaching writing as a result of four stages:

• examining texts that demonstrate different writing styles and their influence on the reader. For example, "How can the writer use language etc to best influence the reader?" and more so, in accordance to the writers intention of the piece of writing.
• using mentor/exemplary texts - this seems to be a very engaging and holistic approach because it involves the teaching of different aspects of Language Arts, such as grammar, pars of speech, nouns, and all while imparting a specific morale or message. It is an opportunity to teach several aspects within one session, thus enabling the student to be able to appreciate and enjoy writing.
• Sharing pieces of their writing with peers -  this aspect allows for a very interactive one on one 'critique' and appreciation opportunity, where the students can share their writing with heir peers, thus getting an honest feedback as to how the writing impacted them and how well it was understood. This also reduces the issue of intimidation, as the students can share with someone they are on the same level of development with and also interacts well with. Some students function and grow better in less collective environments and audiences. They will feel less pressured. Also, for the students who thrive better within a more open or collective environment and love to openly share their writing, then the strategies of Tell my Story or I choose You can be used. This is where student can be selected by their peers to read their finished pieces and give feedback such as through Double Entry journals. 
• Teachers as writers -  I understood this very clearly as a result of modeled behavior from my lecturer. She showed how you can create poems, songs or jingles and even short stories to introduce or teach an aspect of a lesson. 

• For instance, to introduce a lesson, the teacher can create a 'catchy' phrase or slogan so as to capture the students attention and interest, especially for a topic that is often viewed as boring or very difficult to teach and learn.

Therefore, I understood that if the reader is to be the main focus to the writer, then inevitably there must be a reading writing connection as they compliment or are dependable on one another.