REFLECTION ON MINI LESSONS
Having gone through this course, we have grown
to realize how significant writing is and how the intricacies of writing can be
reduced if we pay attention to the writing process. Over the duration of this
course, we’ve been hearing about the writing process. But what is the writing
process? The writing process consists of five stages namely prewriting,
drafting, revising, editing and publishing. Editing is a crucial stage of where
we peruse our writing, trying to correct errors in grammar, punctuation,
sentence structure, vocabulary and other mechanics in writing.
Whether you are a competent writer or not, CUPS
help add fluency and coherence to your piece as it helps you check for
capitalization, spelling, grammar, punctuation and word usage. It may sound
like a simple task but going through this process may prove to be a bit
daunting. The most sensible thing would be to edit for one aspect one at a
time. This would help us really focus on and correct the errors contained in
the pieces before publishing.
My group members and I had the distinguished
opportunity of conducting a mini lesson on editing for descriptive writing.
This was very eye opening as we got first-hand experience on how to teach
writing and most importantly model the desired behaviours that we want our
students to replicate. Admittedly, we have learnt quite a lot about editing.
The epitome of our lesson was going through the acronym Cups. This made the
writing process even less complex and I believe that our students from very
early need to be introduced to such techniques to help them produce even better
pieces. Going through this stage really help us to focus on ideas and errors
that we would not specifically pay attention to in the earlier stages of writing.
Before we can publish our masterpieces, we need to be sure that they are
spotless in errors and that they are free from ambiguity and confusion.
What was also interesting was getting an
opportunity to be in the audience to observe our colleagues transfer and apply
the skills and knowledge that we have acquired through this course as it
relates to the writing process in Descriptive and Narrative writing. This
experience was very enlightening as we got to pinpoint some of the challenges
that can be encountered during the teaching of writing; learned some of the
best techniques and acronyms to aid in the instruction of writing and also being to critique each
other was also rewarding. We see these mini lessons being very practical and
strategic in our learning and we hope that our lecturer can replicate that to
provide us with more exposure and training before we go out on teaching
practice.
Written by: Tamara, Michaela and Ron
Excellent post! I agree that these microteaching lessons were very rewarding as we got to apply and transfer the knowledge and skills that we had acquired in this course. This gave us the opportunity to diagnose each others strengths and weaknesses; think of strategies which may have been more effective; gain deeper insight into what is required in the teaching of writing; and learn of the various techniques that can be utilized throughout each stage of the writing process.
ReplyDeleteViews by Ylet Jn.Baptiste
As a novice teacher, I was extremely nervous about teaching writing. Getting the opportunity to model writing to my colleagues and lecturer has broaden my knowledge of the teaching of writing. In addition, getting an opportunity to be in the audience to observe my colleagues model and teach the different genres of writing has increased my confidence. I will be able to transfer and apply the skills and knowledge acquired through these lessons in my classroom. It was a great experience for me .
ReplyDeleteNasha John
The micro teaching sessions were very informative as it not only showed us what should be done in the classroom when teaching writing but we were also exposed to some activities that we can use when we are in the classroom teaching writing. The strengths and weaknesses highlighted for each session was useful in improving on both teaching writing and teaching children.
ReplyDeleteNoelita Tench
Among many others, this was one of the sessions where theory connected to practical. Engaging in the micro teaching exercise and viewing how others taught certain stages in the writing process helped me to connect the gap between the theory and practical aspects of the writing process. This activity was very beneficial to me. Many activities were generated to teach each stage of the writing process. The timely feedback provided by the lecturer and peers was a bonus. We were advised on what should be improved on, discarded and continued. The micro teaching is a strategy that must be continued because of the significant impact it had on our understanding of the writing process.
ReplyDeleteSoria Cornibert
Definitely!!!
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