E-book Teaching Beginning Reading and Writing With the Picture Word Inductive Model By Emily F.Calhoun
Read User's Comments0
The Process of Writing
The
Process of Writing
How do you
usually begin to start writing? Is there any ways that help you to write? If
you don’t have any ways that help you in writing, this steps may be will help
you to do it. Here are the steps you need to complete a quality piece of
writing.
A.
Brainstorming
Every writer
usually brainstorm before writing about something. Brainstorming is a way to
think up ideas for a story or a book. Write down everything that comes to
mind.
B.
Story Starters
It’s mean that
the way a story starts is really necessary. A story should have the beginning
that interesting and makes the reader want to find out more. So, the reader
will keep reading. But, to find a good way to start a story is more difficult
than we think.
Examples from The Reading Teacher Book Of Lists :
-
“Get
that thing away from me!” the girl yelled.
-
Everyone
had a partner but me. What was I supposed to do now?
C.
Graphic Organizers
There are some
advantages of graphic organizers:
·
They
help you understand how things go together.
·
They
help you remember information better.
·
They
make it easier to write your final draft.
·
They
help organize any type of writing.
There are also
some kind of graphic organizers, they are :
·
Cluster
Diagrams ( it’s good for descriptive writing)
·
Charts
(it’s good for writing directions of how to do something)
·
Venn
Diagrams (it’s good for retelling books or stories)
·
Cause
and Effects Diagrams ( it’s good for explaining how something happened)
·
Outlines
(it’s good for big topics with lots of main ideas and details)
·
Timelines
( it’s good for telling the order of how things happen in time)
D.
First Draft
I n this case, you
need pencil and paper and also a quiet place to start writing. In writing
process, usually we need some references such as dictionary, thesaurus,
encyclopedia, or everything depend on what you are writing.
E.
Revising
Revising is a
process of make changes or corrections in your story, report, assignment, etc.
It’s the time to delete words or sentences that you don’t want and to match a
sentence with other sentences.
F.
Editing
Editing is the
most important process in writing. A writer or editor have to check their
spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, and grammar. If punctuation is wrong, the
reader may not understand it. If the grammar also wrong, may be he reader can
not get what you are saying.
G.
Final Copy
The next step
after correcting your writing is final copy. Your final copy shoul be:
Neat : either
type it on a computer or use your very best handwriting, also no wrinkles,
holes, or tears in the paper.
Clean : no dirty
smudge marks or other blotches, or smeared ink.
Visible : the font
should be large enough to read, but not so large that it takes up the whole
page and looks silly.
H.
Format
In this case,
you should adapt your format with the kind of writing. Do you write a letter, a
book report, or bibliography? Whatever you are writing, it should suitable with
the format. If you write a story or book report, it should have opening,
body, and conclusion. If you write a letter, it should have the date, heading
or greeting, body and closing.
Reference :
Handbook ‘Be a Smart Writer’
Saiful, S.Pd., M. Pd., Riwayatiningsih, Rika, S.Pd, Be a
Smart Writer, 2010, Kediri : Anugerah Ilmu Kediri
Read User's Comments0
How to Assess the Writing Skills of Students
How
to Assess the Writing Skills of Students
Almost
teachers use assessment for identifying strengths and weaknesses, planning
instruction to fit diagnosed needs, evaluating instructional activities, giving
feedback, monitoring performance, and reporting progress. In teaching writing skill, the
teachers have two responsibilities toward the students. First responsibility is
to provide opportunities for writing and encouragement for students who attempt
to write. And second responsibility is to promote students' success in writing.
The writing process and product can be assessed by using Curriculum-based
assessments. The writing process can be assessed through observational and self-observational
checklists. While the writing product can be evaluated on five product factors:
fluency, content, conventions, syntax, and vocabulary.
There are some
ways to assess the process of writing :
Writing
experts have proposed as few as two (Elbow, 1981) and as many as nine (Frank,
1979). Englert, Raphael, Anderson, Anthony, and Stevens (1991) provided a model
of a five-step writing process using the acronym POWER: Plan, Organize,
Write, Edit, and Revise. Each step has its own substeps and strategies that
become more sophisticated as the students become more mature as writers,
accommodating their style to specific text structures and purposes of writing.
Assessment of the writing process can be done through observation of students
as they go through the steps of writing. Having students assess their own
writing process is also important for two reasons. First, self-assessment
allows students an opportunity to observe and reflect on their own approach,
drawing attention to important steps that may be overlooked. Second,
self-assessment following a conceptual model like POWER is a means of
internalizing an explicit strategy, allowing opportunities for the student to
mentally rehearse the strategy steps. Figure 1 is a format for both
self-observation and teacher observation of the writing process following the
POWER strategy. Similar self-assessments or observation checklists could be
constructed for other conceptual models of the writing process.
There
are also some ways to assess the product of writing:
An
effective writing process should result a good writing product. When various
conceptual models of writing are compared side by side (Isaacson, 1984) five
product variables seem to emerge: fluency, content, conventions, syntax, and
vocabulary.
1. Fluency
The
first thing that might be assess toward the beginning writer is fluency. They
should be able to translate one’s ideas into their own words. As concepts of
print and fine motor skills develop, the student should become more proficient
at writing down words and sentences into compositions of gradually increasing
length. Then
children try to relate their experiences in writing using invented spelling. As
they begin to construct little stories they explore spelling patterns and
develop new language patterns. A simple curriculum-based measure of fluency is
total number of words written during a short writing assignment. When fluency
is the focus, misspellings, poor word choice, and faulty punctuation are not considered.
2. Content
Content is the second factor to
consider in the writing product. Content features include the composition's
organization, cohesion, accuracy (in expository writing), and originality (in
creative writing). General questions the classroom teacher can ask regarding a
composition's organization include:
- Is there a good beginning sentence?
- Is there a clear ending?
- Is there a logical sequence of subtopics or events?
- Cohesion questions include:
- Does the writer stick to the topic?
- Is it clear what words like it, that, and they refer to?
- Does the writer use key words that cue the reader to the direction of the discourse (First… , Then… , Therefore… , On the other hand… )?
- Originality is assessed through questions like:
- Did the writer attempt humor?
- Did the writer present a unique point of view?
Analytical scales are the best way to lend some objectivity to
evaluation of content. One can choose from a general rating scale, appropriate
to almost any writing assignment, or one tailored to a specific genre or text
structure. Spandel and Culham (1993) developed an analytical trait scoring
guide for six aspects of writing, three of which address content: Ideas and
content, organization, and voice. (Voice refers to the author's own unique
personality, style, and honesty reflected in the writing.) Each of these traits
is scored on a five-point scale. For example, organization is scored using the
following guidelines:
- 5 The organization enhances and showcases the central idea or storyline. The order, structure or presentation of information is compelling and moves the reader through the text.
- 3 The organizational structure is strong enough to move the reader through the text without undue confusion
- 1 The writing lacks a clear sense of direction. Ideas, details or events seem strung together in a loose or random fashion-or else there is no identifiable internal structure. (Spandel & Culham, 1993)
3. Conventions
There
are some standard conventions of written English. They are correct spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, and grammar and legible handwriting. Counting
correct word sequences is one quantitative method of measuring and monitoring
students' use of conventions. Correct word sequences (CWS) are two adjacent,
correctly spelled words that are grammatically acceptable within the context of
the phrase (Videen, Deno, & Marston, 1982). Capitalization and punctuation
also can be considered within the sequence. To calculate the proportion of CWS:
- Place a caret (^) over every correct sequence between the two words that form the sequence.
- Place a
large dot between every incorrect sequence. Place dots before and after
misspelled words.
Example: o my ^ dog o chasd o the ^ ball^. - The first sequence is not comprised of two words but marks how the sentence was begun. (Sentence beginning to first word my is marked as an incorrect sequence because the M is not capitalized.) The last sequence is the last word to period, question mark, or other appropriate ending punctuation.
- To control for length of composition either (a) time the writing sample for 3 minutes (the student may continue writing after a mark is made indicating the last word written in the 3-minute period) and/or (b) divide the number of CWS by the total number of sequences (correct and incorrect), which gives the proportion of CWS.
4. Syntax
Powers and Wilgus (1983) examined
three parameters of syntactic maturity: (a) variations in the use of sentence
patterns, (b) first expansions (six basic sentence patterns formed by the
addition of adverbial phrases, infinitives, and object complements, and the
formation of simple compound sentences), and (c) transformations that result in
relative and subordinate clauses. Adapting Power and Wilgus's analysis of
patterns suggests a simple schema for evaluating the syntactic maturity of a
student's writing:
- Fragment
: A group of words that does not make a complete sentence
Examples: His old shirt. Nina and Fred too. - Level 1
Repetitious use of a single pattern (simple sentences)
Example: I like my horse. I like my dog. I like my kitty. I like to feed my kitty. - Level 2
Use of a variety of simple sentence patterns.
Examples: I have a new toy. (S-V-O) It is big. (S-Vbe -Adj) It came in the mail. (S-V-PP) - Level 3
First expansions: (a) addition of an adverbial or gerund phrase, or (b)
the making of a compound sentence by combining two simple sentences with
the word and.
Examples: Our baby sitter sleeps all the time. To go faster, we push it. I ate the cookie and my brother ate the candy bar. - Level 4
Complex sentences (transformations in which one sentence is embedded
within another as a subordinate clause)
Examples: The man wants to live where there is no pollution. Since John was late, we had to start without him.
5. Vocabulary
The words used in a student's
composition can be evaluated according to the uniqueness or maturity of the
words used in the composition. Both quantitative and qualitative methods can be
used to evaluate vocabulary. Quantitative methods include calculating the use
of unrepeated words in relation to the total number of words, such as Morris
and Crump's (1982) corrected type-token ratio. A simpler classroom-based method
of looking at vocabulary is to simply make note of words used repetitiously
(over-used words) as well as new and mature words the student uses.
Example: Over-Used Words: New Mature Words
Example: Over-Used Words: New Mature Words
- awesome
- inspiring
Source :
Stephen Isaacson
Read User's Comments0
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)