The writing process
The session we had on
the writing process was quite an eye opening moment for me, remembering my primary
school days over a decade ago. Prewriting, drafting, revising, editing,
publishing; my first exposure to the writing process didn’t involve anything
close to this. Although when I started teaching, I school myself on the process,
I felt like I still had a mediocre understanding of it until now.
Today, I feel enlightened to understand the recursive
stages of the writing process and what each phase involves. Two details that
caught my attention while learning about the prewriting were these: firstly,
how important it is to spend adequate time getting students ready during the planning
phase, and secondly, why it is necessary to allow students focus on content and
not spelling and grammar. These two stood out to me because I was guilty of
both. I didn’t differentiate adequately to appease the learning needs of all the
kids, and I put way to much focus on editing in the drafting stage, so I evidently
helped students to bury their ideas. How silly of me; now I know better.
I am anxious to get it
right this time, and sufficiently guide each child through the process. So, preloading
earlier in the week or even weeks before, using paragraph frames, and engaging
in idea generating activities, as well as clusters/concept mapping will
definitely be among the techniques I will be incorporating to get students
ready.
The following is a short video that explains the writing process and also helps further reiterate why each stage is important.
Video link incase the video does not play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGImUx4zg64
Yes, Emilio, I am happy Mrs. Laz has added the icing on the cake you, boy Mrs. Laz can handle. Understanding the writing process is critical in helping you become a competent writer. In my previous experiences, I used to pressure my students to make grammatical corrections in the drafting not knowing I was stifling their ability to discover through language.
ReplyDeleteI feel so much better that you mentioned that, am not alone. I really thought I was doing a good thing by focusing so much on the grammar. I didn't even realize the effect I was having on the poor kids creative juices.
DeleteHi Emilio
ReplyDeleteAs you recall your past years in primary school, my past memories came to me. I remembered some aspects of the Writing Process which were the revising and editing stages. My past teachers used to make comments with a red pen and I had to rewrite multiple times before I could read my piece to the class. In my secondary school days, I realized it was all in the Writing process.
I am also happy to know that you are aware of the stages in the writing process so you will do it right with students. The video is rather interesting too. You can also send this video to your students to view every now and then. I showed my son the video to reinforce what he knows on the Writing Process.
Oh my, that red pen must have been burned into your memory for you to remember it so clearly all these years later. I to have had rendezvous with Mr. red pen and it wasn't pleasant either. Lets both try to do better though, now that we have a much clearer understanding of the writing process, lets teach with a difference and use Mr. Red pen to do more positive uplifting work like correcting.
DeleteYes, that's a good idea using the the video with the kids on various intervals will help to remind them and eventual aid them in mastering the skill.
Hi Emilio
ReplyDeleteIts so refreshing to see you making metion of where you went wrong in the writing process after gaining a better understanding and what you will do different in the future as you engage your students, i really applaud you . I must say this course and the content really makes us search our sleves as teachers and dig deep in trying to unlearn how certain things were delivered.
I am excited to hear all about your progress when u implement into your classroom.
until next time.
Yes, I can clearly say that self reflection has been the name of the game as of late. Pinpointing my weak points, and analyzing my faults and shortcoming is more important to me now that ever before. I want to constantly be aware that I need to change, grow, and improve, so that my kids can get the best most proficient version of Mr. B. Only then can I know for sure and feel like am making a difference. It's an internal battle first for me at least. lol "Na mean" lol
ReplyDelete