Slayingtan Tench Abby Nasha : October 2019

Friday, October 11, 2019

At the edge of your seat.

A writer is not someone who just simply put words on paper. Writing is an art. Like the art pieces at an art gallery that provokes oos and aaahhhs when viewed. When writing a piece, your aim should be to get your audience at the edge of their seats. Most times we forget that and deprive readers of the excitement that is supposed to be received from reading our pieces of writing. Today, in class I felt as though writing brought out the artistic side of me. All thanks to my lecturer. Not only did she model writing, but she encouraged my classmates and I to write and develop a love for writing. I can’t say that this was an easy task, but I am certain that I am much closer to becoming a super writer.

Throughout the past few classes we have been focusing on narrative writing. The lecturer taught us the elements of narrative writing, the writing process, had us develop a story map together and in pairs and we also wrote a class piece together. These topics were done with much clarity and excitement as we wore our grade 3 thinking caps and went into character really well. Pretending to be grade 3 students helped us highlight some difficulties that students may have when writing narrative pieces and ways in which we can guide them which includes teaching them acronyms such as FAST and STEAL that they can use when writing. In addition to that it helped build on our confidence in writing our own pieces that we can use in the classroom during instruction in various subjects or when modelling narrative writing.

The highlight of class was hearing the stories that my classmates and I prepared and shared. I liked the sharing exercises because it was interesting hearing my peer’s stories and it helped with receiving feedback which is good for improvement. My group wrote a story entitled “When Johnny broke my heart”. The title not only had my classmates anticipating the plot of the story but also my lecturer. This increased my eagerness to share. They assumed that the story would be about love. The twist in the story, having nothing to do with love or relationship brought laughter and applause. Although it was in the drafting stage it felt like a job well done. And like I was a good writer I was able to get my listeners at the edge of their seats.

Hope you enjoy !

Written By : Tench, Abby & Nasha

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Modelling Narrative Writing

A good teacher is like a candle, it consumes itself to light the way for others. This is exactly what my lecturer exhibited as she pretended to be a Grade 3 teacher and my colleagues in turn pretended to be Grade 3 students, as she modeled the steps of narrative writing. This was the hallmark of the lesson. We first choose a title for our piece of writing “My Worst Nightmare”. Who knew Narrative writing would be so fun when done together as a class? Literacy class was very amusing and interactive as we listened to each other’s ideas. This portrayed that knowledge became more feasible when done together as a class. Brain storming ideas enabled us to be appreciate of each other’s thoughts and to understand that everyone’s input is just as important.

When a lecturer models it is a uniquely powerful strategy. It enables students to emulate what was modeled with remarkable accuracy. Modelling allows students to picture themselves in such a way that causes a precise path created by the lecturer. Modeling the steps of narrative writing has now broaden our knowledge and skills which will prepare us effectively when writing our individual narrative piece. This class activity was centered around the entire class participating fully helping the lecturer come up with sentences , which lead to paragraphs in order to successfully complete the piece of writing.

Because my lecturer has modelled to the class it proves that, independently we can perform the task when given. We are now excited as we are looking forward to writing an exceptional piece of course not as third graders. 😉