I personally believe that reading and writing shoud be inseparable from every literacy activity. They supplement each other and promote students' reading and writing skills. Extending reading activities into writing activities will help students to think more deeply about what they have already read, and will provide them with the opportunity to apply their critical thinking in the writing process. Many researchers agree that as students write about what they have read, they actually unravel their thinking and at the same time, elaborate on and clarify their responses.
During my tutoring sessions,I have tried to connect reading and writing activities together,by encouraging my tutee to write about 1. something interesting she learned out of a book; 2. make comparisons between one of the characters of the book and family member/or a relative, 3. describe her favorite part of the book and explain why etc. I have noticed that she enjoyes writing the most, especially when she has something to share from her personl life. She feels so excited about that, and is quite eager to quickly jot down her ideas.
As future teachers, we should be cautious about the interests of our students, expose them to books which have meaning in their lives, and best of all provide ample opportunities for them to try to make connections and incorporate them in their writing. Isn't that afterall our job, to be aware of the students ' interests, and find ways to integrate them into literacy activities that are quite relevant and meanningful to the students? What do you others think?
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I strongly believe that integrating reading and writing are essential aspects of literacy as a whole. In my own classroom last year, I did do reading and writing together. I don't think you can do one without the other. Also when you input other content knowledge into the mix, reading and writing are part of math, science, social studies, etc. My class last year did do some literature responses during centers. In one of my centers, I have a whole range of books with various topics and characters. Students could also bring in their own favorite books from home or in the school library. They had to write one ot two sentences about the book, a character they could relate to from the story, and finally their favorite part of the story. The last part of the response journal was that they had to draw a picture about the story. At the end of the week, students were given the option of sharing one of their resposes with the class in the "author's chair" if they wanted to. Most students enjoyed sharing. Eventually even the shy students ended up sharing at some point. I think having reading and literacy materials towards student interests and backgrounds is s good thing. But we also need to keep in mind that they need exposure to new content, books, stories, etc. Remember our world is literacy based, whether it is printed material or technology, or music, or art, etc. The more expereinces students have the more they will grow and become more diversified.
I believe that integrating reading and writing are essential aspects of literacy. I have to agree with not being able to do one without the other. I think after a student reads it is important for them to look back and really recall what it was that they had just read and do some sort of activity to help them with that. For example, the use of reading logs is a great way for students to be engaged with that they had just read and implement writing by doing a short summary of just a few sentences.
I think it is essntial for teachers to take the little extra time and find out what is important to certain students such as you did with your tutee. Getting to know what she really enjoys doing not only helps you with running the tutoring session smoothly but also make the learning experience more enjoyable for your tutee.
I think allowing students to choose their own books is a great resource to use inside the classroom. Sometimes it is hard to make sure that all the students are doing what they are suppose to while reading. Having them bring in their own material helps show the students that you want them to enjoy themselves while they are reading. If the students learn from a young age the importance of reading they will carry that with them throuhout their education journey.
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