November 14th, 2017

LIT REFLECTION #7

“Write. Rewrite. When not writing or rewriting, read. I know of no shortcuts.”

—Larry L. King, WD

We found this quote appropriate to what we were doing over the past months. This shows the importance of reading and how it relates and works hand in hand with writing. Additionally, rewriting to us, indicates the writing process, in that, writing is a process, rather than the product. Our outlook on writing have positively changed over these months and as prospective teachers, our aim is to help our students develop a love and appreciation for reading and writing.

Last week, we delved into the topic of narrative writing. This genre is one we are very much familiar with since we have been doing it since primary school. However, we were eager to learn new information and to get reinforcement on prior knowledge. This session began with  the reading of a piece entitled “the Necklace”. We really enjoyed this story. The story was very interesting and well written which provided a good example of what a well written narrative piece should sound like. Importantly, as prospective teachers we were reminded to always model to our students and also to provide an interesting and entertaining introduction to the day’s lesson.

From this session, we learnt that narrative writing is used basically when writing a story. A narrator is involved, however, stories can be told from the first or third person. Additionally, We learnt of the elements found in a story. First element is the plot. The plot is the sequence of events involving the characters in a conflict situation. The plot has various parts which include: a beginning, middle, and an end. It also contains conflict and there are various types of conflicts. The plot also contain a climax and resolution. Another element in a story is the setting, and this is when and where the story takes place. It tells of the location, weather and time. The setting gives rise to the plot.

Additionally, a story must have characters, and these are all the persons in the story. Another element is the theme, which is the meaning of the entire story. There can be multiple themes in one story. Moreover, there is the element of point of view which states the perspectives or point of view in which people see the world. Stories may be written to relate the point of view of a person, narrator (I) or a third person narrator (he, she, they). Furthermore, a good story must contain narrative devices such as: similes, metaphors and imagery.

In all our years of writing stories, we never really consider most of these elements. When we wrote our stories we just wrote what came to mind. We knew it had to have persons or animals or things that acted as humans, it had to be in a place and something wrong had to happen. We solemnly planned how we would write the story, thus at times they were not always well done. We liked how this session was informative and the lecturer did not assume we knew the information, rather explained the information.

As simple as these elements may sound, these are what make the story, thus we should pay close attention and ensure they are well thought out and that each connects and make sense. We believe as writers, when writing our story, we must ensure that we plan before, being cognizant of the fact that these different elements and what information we would use so that they will be tied in together rather than list a series of event that is not linked.

Indeed, this session helped us to reflect on our narrative writing over the years. As we had problems, especially in at the primary level, so would our students, thus we should be mindful. We learnt that we would meet problems such as: students listing a series of events without tying them together, they omit the middle part of the story, they describe a character without creating a story and their story lack interesting lead or introduction; all of which we were guilty of doing. Therefore, when we go into the classroom, we would be able to relate to the students and know that as teachers, we have to put in the work, ensuring that we teach writing to the best of our ability. Teach so that our students would understand and would be able to apply what was taught.

As prospective teachers, we would definitely teach narrative/story writing. We cannot assume that students previous teachers taught writing, because as big as we are, this session provided information that would improve our story writing skills. We would use exemplary/mentor text when teaching writing, that is, we would teach the element of story writing by using actual stories and allow students to identify the elements in these actual stories. In addition, we would use mini-lessons to explain what each element means and how it should be used in a story. We would allow our students to use story maps to organize their thoughts and ideas. Importantly, we would allow time for the students to do independent writing and have them engage in sharing and critiquing of each other’s writing. Moreover, we would use gradual response, by modeling and explaining, then allowing the students to create work in groups, finally having them work on their own.

Furthermore, this generation is becoming more technologically advanced, thus as teacher we would have to cater to their interest and provide activities that they would enjoy. We learnt that when students are engaged, they tend to produce better work. So as teachers we would incorporate technology into our writing class. Students would be given the opportunity to type up and edit their work using a word processor. With this software, they can add multimedia such as: pictures, videos and clip arts to make their work more creative. Students can create digital stories in which narration, visuals and music are combined and either posted online or save on a DVD.

Additionally, wikis, vokis and podcasts can be used by students to create and share their stories. Story writing does not have to be tedious, rather should be use for self expression and to provide entertainment to other. We wish we had all these opportunities when we were in primary school, we would have had a greater appreciation for story writing. Who knows, might have already written a collection of books. In fact, as prospective teachers, the information learnt can be used to create stories for our students. The more our students read, the better it is for them.

This session was very enlightening for us as prospective teachers. We suggest that next session we get the opportunity to write short narratives and share them with other. This would be a form of entertainment and we will also get to apply what we learnt. This would give us an idea of the do’s and don't's when writing narrative as we provide positive criticism to each other.