李光富
Teaching writing is a slow process which takes time and effort.Students improve slowly and this can be disappointing.However,if the teacher keeps a piece of writing from the beginning of the year and compare it with one at the end of the year,he/she will be surprised to see the progress each student has made
The key to improving any piece of writing is to revise and rewrite it.This needs to be done in class by the students after they have learned the techniques.The steps the teacher needs to follow each lesson are as follows:
Step 1:Class discussion
Collect some useful words on the board which will improve the quality of the writing.Encourage students to use these words.
Step 2:Writing the first draft
1.Work in pairs and brainstorm together
2.Make a list of ideas
3.Put the ideas into a logical order
4.Write the first draft
Step 3:Peer editing
1.Each student should swap the writing with his/her partner.This is to encourage students to help each other.It is a situation where both students benefit.The teacher also benefits because he/she is developing co-operative learning and saving himself/herself unnecessary marking.
2.Each looks at the other餾 work and helps correct content,grammar,rhetoric,punctuation and spelling.This is the most difficult part of the improvement process and so the teacher should demonstrate what is to be done to the class first.
1)content
For creative writing,this is how a story is planned.Students should check:Does it have a beginning,a middle and an end? You can check this as follows:
For non-fiction writing the organization is somewhat different.You can see this as follows:
2)grammar
Is the writing logical? Most stories or recounts are written in the past tense so make sure that all tenses are consistent.Underline examples you think are not correct.
3)rhetoric
Are some words repeated very often(eg,say)or are there different verbs(eg,ask,answer,reply, shout, explain, etc)?
Underline words like this so they can be changed.
4)punctuation
Are the capital letters and full stops in the correct places?
Have the quotation marks been included?
Remember names of people and places also need capital letters.
5)spelling
Underline words which are wrongly spelt.
3 Swap back the writing and explain to each other what improvements need to be made and why.
4 Write a second draft.
Step 4:Assessment
The teacher should ask students for the first and second drafts.It is very useful to compare them and see which pairs have especially helped each other.Then use this information to improve the quality of the writing in class.
1.Congratulate those pairs that have been especially helpful to each other.This will encourage the others to be more helpful to each other.
2.Read out the most improved pieces of writing(which may not be the best)and comment positively on the improvements.This will encourage others to work harder to have their work praised in class.
3.Make a book or collection of the best pieces of work and display it in the classroom.That way the students will know that the teacher values their work when they try really hard.