Chapter 12. Persuasive Writing

Chapter. 11 - Poetry Writing

Chapter. 8 - Expository Writing

Expository Writing is to write about some information. The writer researches about and explains specific information. It has several structures and types. The commonly used outcome of expository writing is reports. It can be done individually or with groups. And there are two types of reports; Collaborative reports and individual reports. The collaborative reports are very efficient way to learn how to divide their parts, share them, and compile them to make a complited report. "Children benefit from writing a group report, first, because the group provides a support system, and second because group members share the laborious parts of the work" (Tompkins, 2008, p. 177).


Response to

Chapter. 7 - Biographical Writing

Biographical writing is an efficient way for students to practice writing about chronicle events of someone's life and about the reflection on it. Teachers can draw students' interest by biographical writing. "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 naratives and autobiographies" (Tompkins, 2008, p. 147).

There are three types of Biographical writing; Personal narratives, Autobiographies, Biographies. And the process of these three types is generally as below.
The format and the proper feature of writing should be considered first before writing. Next step is to gather information and organize the information. And then write and share it with peers.



Respond to

Chapter. 5 - Journal Writing

In writing instruction journal means a series of writings done by a person in response to daily life. “It contains description of events and reflections about the events (Peyton, 1990).”
Journal writing can be used with all ages of learners and with learners at various proficiency levels. Studies indicate that this learning activity may be used successfully for a wide variety of individuals ranging from elementary to advanced level. And in journal writing, a writer can choose a topic among various topics according to various purposes. "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, p. 98)

Response to

Chapter. 4 - Assessing Children's Writing

Assessment gives students the clue of what they know and what they don't know so that they can check their learning. And, of course, writing assessing is necessary to enhance students' writing skills. "The goal of writing assessment is to help children become better writers" (Tomkins, 2008, p. 74). And Brown states that "In your evaluation of student writing the most instructive evaluative feedback you can give is your comments, both specific and summative, regarding the student's work" (Brown, 2007, p. 414) The efficient and effective feedback should provide students with specific information that students need to enhace their writing skill.

There are many kinds of writing evaluation. Among them Portfolio Assessment is a very good way to reflect their writings. "Reflection is an important component of portfolio assessment because it rewuires children to pause and become aware of themselves as writers (Tompkins, 2008. p. 91)


Response to Kyoungchun Kim

According to Kyoungchun Kim, "Among various forms of writing assessment, the most impressive one to me is portfolio because teachers can apparently examine writing process and writing product after finishing writing. Also portfolio is more realistic than any other writing assessment form." As I said above I absoliutely agree with him. Portfolio assessment is the best way for teachers to check the process of writing, and give them effective feedback.



References

Brown H. Douglas. (2006). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (3rd ed.). White Plains, NY : Longman.

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