Writing Instruction

Writing Instruction

From the readings, videos and presentations, I have become more aware of the importance of having students go through the entire writing process in order for them to develop as effective writers. Although from my previous courses I have learned that students need to consider different pre writing strategies such as brainstorming and graphically organizing their ideas,  this new information have enabled me to see in depth the benefits of these strategies and how they can be applied in the classroom. Some effective pre-writing strategies as highlighted in my readings are:

• ·         Creating Lists/Listing

• ·         Free Writing

• ·         Blind Writing (this one was new to me)

• ·         Use of Graphic Organizers

• ·         Brain storming

• ·         The Questioning strategy (my favourite)

If students are introduced to a variety of strategies that they can use, then they will be better able to assess which strategies work for them, which strategies they are comfortable or familiar with and which strategies they don’t like or are not comfortable with. The new information has presented me with a number of strategies that can be used to help facilitate writing in the classroom, and which will also help students develop proper antics and approaches to writing.

Below are some strategies that can be used with your students to practice effective brain storming:

PRACTICE

HOW?

• ·         Have students see how they use brainstorming throughout their daily activities.

• ·         Incorporate brainstorming into anything you can think of and your students will receive many    chances to practice as the days go by.

 BE ENTHUSIASTIC

HOW?

• ·         Present yourself as someone who is just as excited about each new idea that your students come up with. Ask probing question to help them delve deeper into their ideas.

• ·         Comment on the breadth and depth of their thinking, and the students will be encouraged to work even harder.

• ·         If a student has an idea that impresses you or that you find very original and creative, be sure to share this with the other students and let everyone know that they too can develop such diverse ideas.

• ·         Always have a positive attitude.

• ·         Be ready and willing to give feedback to students.

CHOOSE TOPICS WELL

HOW?

·          

• Choose topics that the students will be interested and excited about writing. To do this you may have to do interest inventories with students to find out what their interests are, what they like and don’t like. You will need to take into account students’ age group, level of maturity etc.

• ·         Be sure to choose topics that give students the opportunities to generate many varied ideas.

• ·         Encourage divergent thinking and originality. Good brainstorming is more than coming up with lots of ideas; how unique and different they are is as important as how many there are.

• ·         Always ask students many different questions that will allow them to think about many aspect of a topic.

REREAD IDEAS OFTEN

HOW?

• ·         Rereading students’ ideas often and aloud to the class will not only reinforce the importance of their ideas, but it will also encourage other students to strive to get better ideas.

• ·         This strategy reminds students of the ideas that have already been mentioned and discussed.

• ·         Hearing the ideas or suggestions of other can also lead students to think at a wider range and come up with new, more creative and innovative ideas.

COUNT THE IDEAS

HOW?

• ·         As students give ideas, write them on the blackboard and periodically count the number of ideas that they have come up with. Students themselves will be amazed at the number of ideas that they have generated and may be excited to come up with even more ideas.

• ·         You can create targets by giving a number as to how many ideas students should aim for, this can turn it into a very exciting experience for them. This will also encourage students to think even deeper to come up with ideas.

• ·         Always commend students on the number of ideas that they have.

CATEGORIZE BIG LISTS

HOW?

• ·         This strategy may come in handy when you are dealing with a topic which has many different parts or elements to it.

• ·         After students have presented many ideas for the topic, together you and the students can come up with different categories to place the ideas.

• ·         Since the ideas are just written on the board, you may choose to use colour coding strategies to group the ideas into their categories.

• ·         There are also other tools that can be useful in helping you to categorize the ideas such as web diagrams, Venn diagrams, tables and clusters.

KEEP IDEAS AROUND

HOW?

• ·         Have students write down the ideas that they have come up with in their notebooks for future referencing.

• ·         Since you will be showing students how to incorporate brainstorming into their everyday lives, it will be fun for the students to see their ideas posted all over the classroom. This shows students that the thought and contributions were well appreciated. This will work to your benefit in the future as students will be more willing and excited to participate in the brainstorming activities.