The Writing Process - Narrative Writing 

How can we teach our students how to write a narrative piece?

 

   This was the question which was posed to us by the lecturer at the beginning of the lesson.  While we knew that teachers are to use the writing process to deliver writing instruction, we were not knowledgeable of the strategies which can be used to instruct at each stage.  This situation was swiftly rectified as she introduced us to story mapping: an effective strategy that one can use during the pre-writing stage. 

    The first course of action was to provide us with a narrative piece which was written at a grade five level.  From this piece, we went through the components of the story map and extracted the contents which corresponded with each element of a story, before placing it in the story map.  This was one of the aspects that we liked because it gave us the opportunity to break a story into its bare essentials (elements) to understand how the writer constructed his piece.  Furthermore, it also provided the experience needed to guide our future students through this same process.

   To allow us to gain a more thorough firsthand experience of the way that the strategy can be used at that stage, the lecturer taught a mini lesson using story mapping.  This was quite meaningful as we were able to observe the manner in which she progressed through the lesson and involved the students in the process.  As she commenced the lesson, the lecturer immediately established that she and the students would be writing a story as a class.  This was particularly interesting to us as the norm is usually to brainstorm with students but allow them to write their stories independently.  In light of this, we were able to attain a more effective means of beginning instruction of story writing and also clear up our pre-existing misconception of the way it should be done.  We agreed that this style of teaching writing will provide students with first-hand experience in integrating the individual elements of a story into cohesive paragraphs, to form an events rich and readable piece.
     Considering the knowledge that we accumulated throughout the lesson, we recommend that the lecturer continues the development of the last lesson to show the transition from where we concluded.  We believe that we can develop into more competent teachers of writing if we continue to experience mini lessons at each stage of the writing process.  This will allow us to see what is expected from us at each stage and how we can guide the students development while working in the various stages.  Finally, we suggest that she exposes us to a variety of effective activities which can be used during instruction at each stage, in an attempt to differentiate the instruction to meet the needs of our different learners. 
      To provide our viewers with a clearer picture of what transpired in the lesson, we have embedded a video below.  From this video you can gain a practical example of how a teacher uses story mapping (Bubble Diagram) as an activity during the pre-writing stage of the writing process.  This video is quite similar to the events which took place during the LIT 102 session last week.  This will allow you to better understand the events of our last lesson.  More importantly, it serves as a guide to help you learn how to incorporate story mapping into your writing lesson.

                                                       

Group Entry: Shaquille Aldonza, Jina Jonas & Leah Giman-Satoute 

Modelling - A teaching tool

It is one thing to know what to teach but another thing to execute a lesson effectively in literacy.  One of the most exciting part of our LIT course is having our lecturer teach mini lessons where the class pretends to be a different grade per mini lesson and she acts as that particular grade teacher.  We had exposed our low level of self esteem with regard to teaching literacy from last semester and so we requested that she model to us good teaching practices.  This proved to be very helpful.  We are able to see the lessons unfold from introduction to conclusion and this creates a more meaningful approach to teaching.

Our final class for the week was very interactive.  In this class we pretended to be grade 3 students and  likewise our lecturer pretended to be a grade 3 teacher.  She modelled writing the first draft from the story map she had outlined from the previous class.  We had also outlined our own story map in pairs using her model as a guide, which we used to write our narratives.  Towards the end of the class, each pair read aloud their stories.  These stories reflected the fabulous job done by our lecturer in teaching us narrative writing.

The modelling process

Modelling is one of the most effective strategies used in teaching.  It is an appeal to students for imitation.  According to a recent research review of teaching practices that increases students engagement in Preventing School Failure:  Alternative Education for Children and Youth, the writers revealed that while many desired academic and social behaviors are abstract concepts for students, when teachers model using explicit examples, they reduce student confusion and enhance understanding.  Modeling is a twofold process that includes demonstrating a desired skill or behavior while describing the actions and decisions being made throughout the process.  It is a very interactive process because it makes concepts accessible to the learners through structured, guided practice and reflecting learning and also because it increases on-task behaviour.  Research has found that modeling decreases student error, positively affects the perceived importance of a task and increases self-regulated learning.  For effective modeling, teachers should use think-alouds to make important connections and share their expert thinking with their students.   

As we continue our LIT course on the different types of writing and becoming effective in teaching those genres of writing, we would recommend that our lecturer continue modelling as we believe that it is a very effective strategy which is helping us become exceptional in the teaching of Literacy.  We would also advise current teachers as well as future teachers to use the modelling process not just in literacy but across the curriculum.  It is a process that has been proven to work as witnessed personally.  

Our lecturer models narrative writing.

Written by Shaquille Aldonza, Jina Jonas, Leah Giman-Satoute