1,2,3.....Write!

Power of Words
(Litterio, A © 2011)

“Either write something worth

 reading or do something worth writing.”

 – Benjamin Franklin

Since I was going through a writer’s block, I thought I would start with a quote. These sayings by wise people always get me thinking about their deeper meanings and make a great prompt for me to embark upon my writing journey. It is important for me, that as a teacher candidate that I am continuously writing in order to improve my writing skills. Journaling is a great way to not only reflect on the successes and improvements for the day, but also helps in refining my writing skills. When I first got into journaling, I would have a really hard time starting the writing process, but soon I discovered an app that had writing prompts that which help start off the writing process, for example, “One teacher who has had a lasting impact on my life is…” Coincidentally I came across this prompt which was related to teaching when I opened up the app. In previous week’s resources, I have found out that Pinterest is also a great resource for such prompts available for student use when they feel they are unable to write, or to help them practice their writing skills.

It is part of the curriculum that teachers introduce to students the writing process for various forms of writing. The process includes teaching students what goes into the pre-writing or the planning stage, drafting or the organizing stage, re-thinking and revising stage, reflecting stage, final editing stage and publishing stage. Until this process of writing become innate to students, they must practice selected forms of writing and the IMSCI model is a great tool to be used within the classroom. The IMSCI model is an approach of teaching different forms of writing by dissecting the specific genre of writing. The model is an acronym that stands for, “Inquiry, Modelled, Shared, Collaborative, and Independent.”

The IMSCI model is not only specific in teaching and scaffolding a student’s abilities of becoming good writers, but is model I have personally seen used in other subject areas such as math. Inquiry, allows the teacher to ask supporting questions to get students thinking and noticing the characteristics of various forms of writing. Then the writing is modelled by the teacher to use as an example for students when they produce their own work through use of graphic organizers. Students then work with the teacher using a sample piece of writing to add notes to the graphic organizer in the shared aspect of the model. Students can now work in groups to collaborate, share their ideas and read aloud text to then add and modify their writing. Finally students work independently to finalize and publish their writing. This is great, for teacher candidates to use this model to scaffold the learning of the students and to release the responsibility gradually.

Here is a link to the article which goes into great detail along with examples to explain how it was used in the classroom: https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/attachment/EDBE8P24D07FW2016LEC003/Forums/62346283-9c94-4aa3-b323-06a733d15f2d/Writing%20strand%20-%20Read%20et%20al.pdf

The four overall expectations are summed up within the curriculum document to indicate what makes effective writers: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf

1. Students are able generate, gather, organize their thoughts, ideas and information in order to write for an intended purpose and audience.
2. Students can draft and revise their writing, using a variety of informational, literary, and graphic forms and stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose and audience.
3. Students are able to use editing, proofreading, and publishing skills and strategies, and knowledge of language conventions, to correct errors, refine expression, and present their work effectively;
4. Students reflect on and identify their strengths as writers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful at different stages in the writing process.

The use of writing strategies helps students internalize the writing process in order for them to become effective writers. When the teacher says, “1, 2, 3….write,” students can use their knowledge on writing to be the ink with which they convey their thoughts into writing that is worth reading.