Friday, October 5, 2018

Creating a Writing Environment






Kids learn to write when they are in kindergarten. Even though they just start to learn sight words and most of them are misspelled. My teachers didn’t tell me the importance of writing well. They just taught me the skills of writing. I once won first place in a writing competition. And I was always one of the favorite pupils of my Mandarin Chinese teacher. So I want to say, with my own experience, why writing well is so important.
First, The era we are in is the information age. Most people will not choose to sit down and write letters to others carefully and conscientiously. Instead, they use social media such as twitter, facebook, Instagram, etc. We quickly input what we have to say without thinking. At this time, the high level of writing shows an advantage. If a person can write clear and sharp comments in just two minutes, it is really impressive.
Second, you can get what you want if you are really good at writing. The benefits of high writing levels are gradually reflected in the high school application to the university. My friend's daughter won the favor of some famous universities with her excellent essay when she applied for university. According to her mother, The essay even touched her.  After graduating from college, a beautifully decorated resume will definitely give you a lot more interview opportunities than your classmates. Even when you get a job, such talents in writing are rushed by employers.
The good benefits of writing can't be said. Let's take a look at what methods to improve students' writing skills.
The strategies I am using now  include:
planning
Students make a plan of the writing before they start. These plans can be compared and discussed in groups before writing takes place.
Fast writing
The students write quickly on a topic for five to ten minutes without worrying about correct language or punctuation. Writing as quickly as possible, if they cannot think of a word they leave a space or write it in their own language. The important thing is to keep writing. Later this text is revised.
writing skills take time and practice to master. To create a writing environment, there are more aspects of the writing process I would use, of course, are not limited to the above ones. Actually, there are more strategies that not only me but used by a lot of teachers.  
Brainstorming
Getting started can be difficult, so students divided into groups quickly produce words and ideas about the writing.
Discussion and debate
The teacher helps students with topics, helping them develop ideas in a positive and encouraging way.
Changing viewpoints
A good writing activity to follow a role-play or storytelling activity. Different students choose different points of view and think about /discuss what this character would write in a diary, witness statement, etc.
Feedback
The teacher gives feedback to students. Positive comments can help build student confidence and create a good feeling for the next writing class.
I like the strategies the teachers used in the video. One was about persuasion while the other was about the feelings and description in writing poems. The teachers asked questions to guide the students to get the answer. The third episode was group composition. Students worked in pair or three to discuss and develop ideas. Small group writing in the first video is also a useful strategy that I will use in my class to improve students’ writing. I realized a teacher read quite a long time the story while all her students had a copy each. It might not work in my class because my students are not that impatient to listen to the reading.  




Reference

1.Approaches to process writing. (2003, August). Retrieved August, from https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/approaches-process-writing

2.Small Group Writing. (2018, September 13). Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/high-school-writing-lesson-idea

3.Session 4: Teaching the Writing Craft: Video 7: Teaching the Writing Craft. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.learner.org/workshops/writing35/session4/sec2p2.html

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