Reflection on Unit 5 (Promoting Writing in the Primary Grades) & Unit 6 (Designing Writing Assessments and Assignments for the Primary Grades) by Matrisha Williams

Its a pleasure to be back here again to share what I have learnt with you!

I learnt that each type of writing severs a different purpose, audience and genre. It should be the teachers aim to transform the primary classrooms into safe havens for writing. Writing can be promoted by self- expressions and communication as well as a source of pleasure and relaxation.

There are different types of genre of writing which serve different purpose.

Expository- this piece of writing is done for children to collect and synthesize information for informative writing. Children use the informational writing to give directions, sequence steps, compare one thing to another ; explain causes and effects or describing problem solution.

Persuasive-  the purpose of this genre of writing is to win someone to your viewpoint or cause. Children present their position clearly then support it with examples and evidence.

Narrative- the purpose of narrative writing to let children retell familiar stories, develop sequels, write stories called personal narrative about events in their own lives, and create original stories.

Descriptive- the purpose of the descriptive piece is to let children become careful observes choose precise language when they use description. They should take notice of sensory details and learn to make comparisons in order to make writing more powerful.

Sonnet Poem- the purpose of the sonnet poem is to let children create word picture and play with rhyme  and other stylistic devices as they create poems.

In the different styles of writing teachers should use several strategies and activities.

Students should use the Four general revising strategies during their writing such as adding, replacing, reordering ad revising.

Create an environment that helps children to learn to write. Students should use materials to support their writing also, tools for revising , materials for bookmarking and rubrics. The use of the rubric is very important because it helps students to keep track of their progress in writing, whether is is improving or needs improvement. To promote writing in the primary grades as an approach the teacher can display students writing, host reading sessions (students read their writings to an audience) and publish students' writing in class, magazines, newsletters, etc.

Teachers can track students writing progress by letting students complete journals, portfolios and writing for pleasure. Teachers can use the results of assessments to diagnose students writing difficulties, use results of diagnosis to plan for writing instruction, Assess writing using the 6+1 traits and assessment of writing through computer based methods.



Remember the main goal is to let students develop a love and appreciation for writing. Master their writing skills since its a weakness in the students writing development. It is the aim to let students capture thoughts and ideas during their writing since the 21st century requires good writing