Chapter 10. Descriptive Writing

This chapter explores the descriptive writing, its techniques, and how to teach them. The techniques are adding specific information, choosing words carefully, creating sensory images, making comparisons, and writing dialogue (Tomkins, 2008) “Descriptive writing is painting pictures with words” (p.221). Descriptive writing is one of the most important skills you can teach to students. By thinking about what details make a description come alive, students will improve their writing and observational skills. Lewis deals with step5, one of effective step is “Use Visualization to Make a Point”,” Explain to your students that the point of writing is to make your reader see the same exact picture that you had in your head when you wrote the words” (Lewis, 2010) it should be valuable to teach alternative and vivid words of English to the students.

According to Alchemical Park, “Students should learn descriptive techniques to use proficiently them in writing.” I am of the same opinion with this point; the general characteristics of descriptive writing include: elaborate use of sensory language and rich, vivid, and lively detail. Descriptive Writing’s goal is to improve students' writing by incorporating photography into descriptive and narrative writing exercises. Teachers should help guide them with enough examples for students to improve descriptive writing skills through writing exercises.

References  

Tompkins, G.E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Lewis, B (2010). How to Kick It Up a Notch. About.com Media Inc. Retrieved from

http://k6educators.about.com/cs/languageartswr/a/kickitupanotch.htm

Chapter 9. Narrative Writing

Child develop their concept of story through listening to stories read aloud and telling stories during the preschool years (Tomkins, 2008) the author says that children are ready to learn more about how stories are organized and how authors use the elements of story structure to create stories. “Skills, processes and techniques are tools for a writer, but they are not what bring them to write in the first place. Don't diminish the importance of these. These tools help children to turn their rich life experiences and imaginations into a piece of work that expresses themselves and their beliefs.” (Dlessem, 2010).

Teaching narrative writing is the best way to get elementary school students to begin to develop their writing skills. Through stories, journal entries and other narrative assignments, elementary school students learn how to organize their thoughts and ideas.

According to Kyoung Chun Kim, teachers should encourage children to try it after teaching basic information for narrative writing and showing many types of narrative writing examples. I second that. Children already have a concept of a story a story learned inductively inside and they can even tell their own stories. Teacher should allow students to feel teacher’s approval for their ideas, thoughts, fantasies and issues.

References  

Tompkins, G.E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Dlessem (2010). How to Teach Narrative Writing to Elementary School Students eHow.com Inc. Retrieved from

http://www.ehow.com/how_2184715_narrative-writing-elementary-school-students.html How to Teach Narrative Writing to Elementary School Students

Chapter 8. Expository Writing

Children use expository writing to learn and to share information. (Tomkins, 2008) Expository writing is the process of writing to communicate information to an audience. But Students will not be able to write perfect text, expository or otherwise, until they have had extensive experience with it. Expository writing requires many drafts and revisions, and students should not be expected to write a perfect essay the first time. Teacher task is to encourage the children. As teachers assess expository writing, as well as other forms of writing, it is important to have a view of the long term process of writing and student’s overall progress. It is also for teachers to recognize the widely accepted writing conventions which all English writers must embrace, and to differentiate these from individual preferences which we each possess

According to Kyoung Chun Kim, Too often, teachers assume that children are more comfortable writing stories instead of nonfiction, but researchers have provided compelling evidence that children even those in kindergarten and first grade, can write expository text (Tomkins, 2008) I agree with him, everyone has the capacity to write, writing can be taught, and teachers can help students become better writers. Teacher should focus on getting the students to think more creatively about their writing.

References  

Tompkins, G.E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

O’Brien, M. (2010). How to teach expository writing for the second grade. eHow, Inc. Retrieved from

http://www.ehow.com/how_4460949_teach-expository-writing-second-grade.html

Chapter 7. Biographical Writing



I am..



In this chapter, Tompkins is talking about Biographical writing is writing about people. Children like to investigate the lives of well-known personalities as they read biographies and share information about themselves and their lives as they write personal narratives and autobiographies (Tomkins, 2008) making connections between these elements using biographies for children is a wonderful approach to creating rich learning experiences. Children are more apt to engage in reading and writing activities when they are motivated, and selecting subjects of personal interest to the child is a fantastic approach that can yield excellent results. Countless biographies for children offer inspiration, motivation and many opportunities for Writing. Taylor also says that Biography study engages Children’s imagination (Taylor, 2002/2003)

According to Ja Eun Kim,” By reading the real examples of these three writings, the children can get an idea how they need to work on their compositions. Tompkins (2008) supports, "Children get ideas for their writing as they listen to classmates sharing their books and from books of children's literature they are reading." Talking to others will help children understand how others see them and it may help children discover things about themselves that you hadn't noticed.

References

Tompkins, G.E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Taylor, G. (2002/2003). Who’s who? Engaging biography study. The reading teacher,56, 342-344.

http://childrens-books.lovetoknow.com/Biographies_for_Children

Chapter 6. Letter writing

This chapter concerns the children write notes for a variety of purpose, but Boyd emphasizes their educational value: Children practice reading and writing skills, and they recognize functional and social nature of writing (Boyd, 1985) teaching student how to write a letter is an excellent way to improve student writing skills. Although letter writing is becoming less and less common these days with the increase in technology and email usage, writing a letter is a great way to have students practice their writing skills. Tomkins says Letter writing is the logical extension of these informal notes (Tomkins, 2008) Letters are written to communicate with a specific and important audience, children think more carefully about what they want to say, write more legibly, and are more inclined to use spelling, capitalization, and punctuation conventions correctly.

According to Soo Hyun Kim,” Having an authentic audience makes children to be more careful about their writing, because they want to communicate effectively.” Not only do children have the opportunity to sharpen their writhing skills through letter writing, but they also increase their awareness of audience (Tomkins, 2008) through Letter writing with audiences, children can recognize necessary parts of a sentence with the students including Capital Letters, Punctuation, and a complete. Knowing how to write a basic letter is an important skill that all children should learn.

References

Tompkins, G.E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Boyd, R. (1985). The message board: Language comes alive. In J.M. Newman (Ed), Whole language: Theory in use (pp. 91-98). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Wagaman , J. (2008, Dec 4). Teach Students How to Write a Letter: Lesson in Letter Writing for Elementary Students, Suite101.com Media Inc. Retrieved from

http://www.suite101.com/content/teach-students-how-to-write-a-letter-a84649#ixzz16RuZkD00

Chapter 5. Journal writing

The author says that children use journals to record personal experiences, explore reactions and interpretations to books they read and videos they view, and record and analyze information about literature, writing, and social studies and science topics (Tomkins, 2008) most important for the learner of all the benefits is the enhancement of personal growth and development. (Hiemstra, 2001).Journaling can help with such learning goals or expected outcomes as integrating life experiences with learning endeavors, allowing for a freedom of expression that may be inhibited in a group setting, stimulating mental development, enhancing breakthroughs in terms of new insights, and even planting seeds in terms of future study or research. Basically it is an investment in them through a growing awareness of personal thoughts and feelings.

According to Soo Hyun Kim, “Dialogue Journals is the good way to get to know children better by having a dialogue or conversation in dialogue journal. It affects not only relationship between teacher and children but also children’s writing in response to teachers’ requests.” I agree with this opinion Learning to trust that inner voice and interpret new thoughts or even dreams can increase self-confidence not only in the classroom but in many other settings, too. For me there is almost nothing more satisfying than seeing learners tackle new topics because of their growing ability to personally reflect on changes taking place and integrate such new knowledge in an ever enhancing personal capability.

References

Tompkins, G.E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Hiemstra, R. (2001). Uses and benefits of journal writing. In L. M. English & M. A. Gillen, (Eds.), Promoting journal writing in adult education (New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, No. 90, pp. 19-26). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Chapter 4. Assessing children's writing

Teachers use rubrics to assess children's writing. Teachers and children often develop their own rubrics because it provides the opportunity to teach children valuable lessons about what makes strong a piece of writing (Tomkins, 2008) Instructional rubrics support the development of skills. Another study (Andrade, 1999) It appeared that more intensive work with the rubric might be helpful. Investigated the effects of rubrics and self-assessment on learning and metacognition—the act of monitoring and regulating one's own thinking (Goodrich, 1996)

According to Ja Eun Kim, Self-assessment encourages students to reflect on their learning and results in their consciously improving how they learn. Because self-assessment is new for most students, instructors can implement strategies to support the development of students' abilities to assess their own work. Students using the rubric learned more than students who did not. I concluded that self-assessment supported by a rubric was related to an increase in content learning

References
Tompkins, G.E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Andrade, H. (1999). The effects of instructional rubrics on student writing. Manuscript in preparation.

Goodrich, H. (1996). Student self-assessment: At the intersection of metacognition and authentic assessment. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

My graphic Organizers

Chapter 11. Poetry Writing

                              

Children need to learn and experiment with each poetic form. After these preliminary experiences, they can apply what they learned and write poems adhering to any of the poetic forms they have studied. Class collaborations are a crucial component because they provide a practice run for children who aren’t what to do (Tompkins, 2008). Through collaborations each other, they can look at the poem from various angles and imaginations. All students do the same poem and are amazed at the different interpretations of the same poem. After all poems are read, teacher writes a small report on which students’ performance was excellent and which were not and why. Students will critique other students to get an understanding of good poetry performance.

According to Min Gyu Kim, “It may not seem so, but children are naturally born with a talent. And as young as they may seem, their minds have a wide range of imagination that they can come up with almost anything when it comes to writing.” I feel the same way, too. Children are natural poets (Tompkins, 2008). Childers’s imagination knows no boundaries. There are much imaginative than teacher can imagine so teacher should provide a chance to give full play to their imagination.

References  

Tompkins, Gail. E (2008). Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Suite101.com Media Inc. Retrieved from

http://www.suite101.com/content/teaching-poetry-to-children-a16532

Assignment #2: A Strategy Mini-Lesson PPT

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Chapter 8. Writing Strategies and Skills

                                                

In this chapter, Tompkins talks about the position in this book is that teachers have the responsibility to teach children how to write, and part of that responsibility is teaching children the strategies and skills that capable writers use. Although it is true that children learn many things inductively through meaningful literacy experiences, instruction is important. (Tompkins, 2008) They totally reflect on what they have learned and how they can use their strategies and skills in writing by an instructor. In order to help students with Writing Strategies and Skills to grow as a creative writer, teacher should create learning environments that help them to use freely the strategies and skills in Writing. Writing development involves changes that occur in children's strategic behavior, knowledge, and motivation (Harris, 2006)

According to Alchemical Park, literacy is central to all learning and literacy is learning through the work of dedicated and caring teachers at every grade level. I agree to this opinion, teacher’ role of to equally and freely instruct skills and strategies in writing is important. Teacher should learn to be able to help them effectively and must not being biased because students faithfully reflect the teacher’s instruction.

  

References  

Tompkins, G.E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Harris, Karen R (2008), American Educational Research Journal V. 43 No. 2 (Summer 2006) P. 295-340

Chapter 1. Teaching Children to Write

Tompkins says that teachers use interactive writing to provide instruction and assistance to children as they are actually writhing (Tompkins, 2008) it is much like shared writing except that the children as they are actually writhing. In this chapter, it describes the ways that how to make the writing process by guided writing and independent writing. In this method the teachers and students write to each other.The teachers should help the students become aware of options and taught how to use considerable decision-making power (Hansen) the teacher just support them getting into creative writhing process, not inject the standard pattern.

According to Ja Eun Kim, teaching method will be influenced and teaching process is very important.. When I look back my school days, their skills are passed down to the students intactly. One of my middle school teacher was evaded a question from an inquisitive or a complicated question cause that question wasn’t in textbook. Ja Eun was quoted an article “teacher must be a facilitator”. They must own in practice before the class what they have learned in the abstract for the successes that are possible with their student, furthermore, implications for their development and should realize that how to interact with students.

References  

Tompkins, G.E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Hansen, J (1990). Students' Evaluations Bring Reading and Writing Together.

My teaching experiences and target teaching levels

Before begging this program, I worked for the architectural firm as a graphic designer, Also do free-lance work working out of home cause I majored in interior design. It is totally unconnected with my major between this CSUSB TESOL MA Program but I had opportunities to learn American culture and society as well as language. After language study abroad in USA, I'd really wanted to proceed to the degree of MA study abroad and I happened to know this CSUSB TESOL MA program. As you can see, I didn’t have any experience to instruct as an English teacher. This is my one of a great challenge over the past few years.

 Actually, it is hard to decide what my target level in my future it is right now curse I am kind of beginner to start as an English teacher. But if I get an opportunity to teach, I’d like to teach as an English teacher through various activities from preschool child to the lower grades. They will be my target teaching levels.