Tag: writing

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on writing …

was watching an episode of NIE Education Launchpad (thanks rab for introducing this newly launched site to me), and this was what Dr. Anitha Devi Pillai said in chapter 3:


“Every single writer I know, has this mantra. It’s mine too. Write and revise. Write and revise. Revision is such an important part of writing. You never get it right in the first draft you know. It is a draft. It’s just a draft. You write, you think about it, walk away from the text, come back to it, revise it.”

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LEGO与论说文的启示: an object lesson

this is my first ever ‘object lesson’, and it’s about the lessons LEGO (bricks) can bring to argumentative writing (论说文 aka 议论文).

things needed for the lesson:
1. 5x LEGO bricks per student; any colour except RED; ideally of different size and/or length
2. 2x RED bricks per student
3. recently completed student essays
4. a model essay (can be a student’s work)

students are given 2 minutes to freely create a 5-brick structure using the given LEGO bricks.

and the 启示 are: #4IdeaImprovement

  • LEGO有长有短：各段落有长有短，各段内容的量可能不同（e.g. 例子的了解、把握度）
  • （越）大块的LEGO：（越）有分量的段落内容
  • 分开的LEGO块 ：（零散的）内容（cf. 篇）
  • 连在一起的LEGO块与块：议论文中的各段与段（开头+分论点一至三+结尾）
  • LEGO块与块之间的稳固联系何来？突起的不起眼的”connectors” （即顺序副词）
  • 当LEGO块多的时候，只看得见的是吸睛的头尾红色bricks（即开头段写得好的重要性；结尾的红起首尾呼应之效）
吸睛的红色LEGO bricks

that’s all for now (:

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writing, marking

saw this article via a fb post/link this morning:

2016-02-17_082902Responding to Student Writing — and Writers

and i thought what the author pointed out are indeed in line with the spirit of social constructivism (meaning-making occurs in discourse/dialogue), and assessment for learning. 6 ideas to get it write:

  1. Differentiate comments on drafts from those on final essays.
  2. Give grammar lessons their own time and space.
  3. Create a partnership with students across the drafts.
  4. Extend these writing-based partnerships by having a class-wide conversation about commenting.
  5. Establish a class language for comments.
  6. Be encouraging.

the ideas assumed that composition writing is a process that involves drafts before finals. process writing is in the true spirit of developing writing competencies in our students. i must confess that i did not do this in the past. but if i were to be back in the classroom, this would be a must-do. otherwise, how can i expect my students to improve in their writings when (1) a one-off marked and return exercise may have too many issues to tackle (字、词、句、段、篇 all 5 areas add up is A LOT A LOT A LOT), not to mention this turns every essay into (2) a summative assessment in disguise.

development takes time for the learners. and in this case, it would most likely take up more time of the teachers. one thing that must definitely be looked into: the number of essays to be written as stated in the SOW. it would probably make a good experimental study to compare a class of students who completes only 4 (let’s say) ‘formative’ essays vs. a class of students who completes the usual 8 (let’s say) ‘summative’ essays.

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