Promoting Writing in the Primary Grades

Have you heard of the 12 Writing Strategies Islands?  No? Well let me share with you what I have learnt about these islands in my LIT class this week. I have learnt that the 12 Writing Strategies Islands go hand in hand with the writing process. You remember the writing process don’t you? If not let me jog your memory with this picture. LET'S SET SAIL The island of Narrowing     On this island, it is responsible for management. This island is quite the same as the writing strategy NARROWING . writers narrow or limit their ideas so that it is more specific and manageable. This is done by using the 5 "W" (who, what, where, why, when).                                                                         ...

Over the past few weeks, we have been dealing with tips, tricks and traits of writing. This week we will be looking at twelve strategies to help develop strategic writers. Twelve might seem like a lot but at the end of the day they all play an important role in ensuring that we become and help students to become strategic writers.  Remember the stages of the writing process... Keep them in mind as we navigate this week's blog together.  Strategy One: Setting Goals  Writers set action oriented goals to guide their writing. These goals provide guidance and direction for the entire writing piece.  Strategy Two:  Generating Writers collect information that is necessary for the writing piece by using their background knowledge, research data or other sources.  Generating can be used during the  brainstorming  stage of the writing process. Strategy Three:  Organizing  Writers place ideas into groups and sequences as they practice for...

  WRITING STRATEGIES Writing is a very effective technique for both learning and showing learning. It is a necessary skill for learners to develop communication and critical thinking skills. Student demonstrates strategies that help them become more efficient, effective, and strategic writers. Additionally, it encourages students to overlook their areas of weakness and focus on their strengths. Strategic thinking is a critical aspect of learning. Not only is writing an effective means of communicating with others, but it may also be utilized to aid in the clarification of one's own thoughts throughout the learning process and as a form of self-expression. Writing strategies are intentional thought processes that writers use to resolve issues that arise while writing (Collins, 1998). As a primary school teacher, I believe that writing is not only about physically creating letters, words, and sentences, but also about gaining an understanding of the writing process. As pr...

When I was younger, I loved putting puzzles together. I was always fascinated to know that what seemed to be an absolute mess by itself, could turn into something really beautiful once all the pieces were in place.  This week's blog post is about just that... seven separate pieces of the writing puzzle that combine to create a beautiful writing piece. Ruth Culham referred to these seven components as the 6 +1 traits of Writing.  It is a program designed to help students become better writers.  Here is a mnemonic device that can be used to help you remember the seven traits of writing...  I only write very cool sentences. Period! (as the young people would say).  So let's get into it... What exactly are these seven traits of writing? I - Ideas      Ideas are the content of the writing writing piece...               The ideas are the "heart and soul" of the piece. Only - Organization      ...

  6 + 1 Traits  of Writing? What is that  you may ask?   According to a document that I read on “ 6 + 1 Traits of Writing (geneva304.org) ”, “the 6 + 1 traits of writing is a way of teaching, modeling, and assessing the instruction of writing.” According to R. Culham, (2018), these traits are used to assist students to learn specific skills that are necessary to make their writing ‘work’.   The 6 + 1 traits of writing is a model that teachers can use as a guideline to help their students become better writers. Teachers can also use this model to identify students’ weak areas of writing. The model can also be used to provide students with direct and specific feedback after assessing their writing piece.  Learning about this writing model I became a little hopeful. Why hopeful? When I attended school I hated writing and as an adult I grew with a block on writing. However, in learning about this traits of writing model I myself can use it to model the writin...

  I was extremely excited to write about the 6+1 traits of writing. This topic was quite intriguing and informative for me as it provides me with techniques that can assist me in helping my students improve with their writing. From my understanding, the 6+1 Traits are a technique for teaching, modeling, and assessing writing instruction. There are 7 traits of writing, however, I've discovered the acronym "VIP COWS" that helped me remember these traits. V -Voice I -Ideas P -Presentation C -Conventions O -Organization W -Word Choice S -Sentence Fluency 6+1 writing traits These traits provides an appropriate vocabulary and rules for teachers to utilize with students to familiarize them with writing ideas. Also, it fosters consistency across grade levels. Moreover, as teachers I believe that we should build a foundation for writing for our students. However, in order to do this we should properly teach and guide students through each traits. The first trait is idea . The wri...