Have you ever experienced a storm or a hurricane?
'Ivan the Terrible' is a descriptive piece about my experience during Hurricane Ivan.
Hope you can relate!
Click on the link below!
Friday, December 18, 2020
Friday, December 11, 2020
^^Rhapsody^^ ( Week ending 27th November 2020)
To me, poetry is the most powerful and elusive forms of writing. It simply transforms the
English Language we think we know.
Have you ever read a poem before and the words you know just sounded different or even had a
different meaning?
Yup! That is what poetry does.
All poems are insights into the most intimate inner workings of the writer's mind and soul.
Furthermore, poetry is an art form that has been around for many years. It is truly a rhapsody!
As an educator and a poet, I endorse the teaching of poetry in the primary schools as it is the
art of expressing thoughts. Allowing students to express what they think or feel can improve
their lives tremendously.
Ever so often we have students write poems in schools or even read poems to them. But, do they
truly understand it? Furthermore, do they even understand the meaning of it.
I believe there is a need for poetry to be taught in a more deliberate manner.
Remember, poetry is a skill that will remain with students for an entire life. They will use it no
matter what you end up doing professionally.
Just One Year Ago!
Just one year ago, we were sitting here just like you,
An introductory assembly that made some of us blue.
Listening those teachers share their experiences made me asked “Why did I apply?”
Is it gonna be a disaster? Should I give up, should I try?
The journey began and I was given the option
Teaching or Agriculture or maybe construction.
I considered to reconsider and considered to stay
But, did I find out who shot 'Johny'? - No way!!
Pragmatics, semantics, morphology and more
Oh boy! so much to remember before I'm out the door.
Sleepless nights and eventful days and I looked so pale
College took away your freedom in a similar way to jail.
Some say college hard but I had it harder
Online classes while dealing with corona was definitely a dagger
I fought and came up with the goods,
But just when it seemed like I was out of the woods
I lost my beautiful sister- my dearly beloved Kashida!
Continue to rest in peace Babygirl!
The above is an excerpt of a poem I wrote about my first year in college. I was able to express
my thoughts and feelings through this rhapsody-coming together of words.
You too can do it! Reach for a pen, and let go of those things that have been burdening your
freedom.
And remember opening your heart to
poetry is the only way to get fulfillment from it.
Saturday, November 14, 2020
*The Tree of Life* ( week ending 13th November 2020)
https://www.netclipart.com/isee/oJRbTJ_the-kundalini-and-unblocking-creativity-colorful-tree-of/
Who am I?
- ❤I am a genre of writing; the only form that can be
used in all other forms of writings.
- ❤ I use adjectives, adverbs and figurative language to describe a person, a place or a
thing.
- ❤I show rather than tell
- ❤ I require the use of all five senses
- ❤ I create a vivid picture in my reader’s mind
Who am I?
http://clipart-library.com/clipart/1295240.html
I am 'Descriptive Writing'. The tree of life. I add life to your pieces of writing.
Bet your last dollar once you can master me you can master any
other writing…….
In a descriptive piece of writing the author does not tell the audience what they smell,
hear, see or touch, instead, they describe or show the readers using vivid and colourful
details. These authors select a set of word and phrases carefully that paints a picture in
the reader's mind making them feel as though they are part of the story or the story is
evolving right before their eyes.
https://wcedeportal.co.za/eresource/85376
The following picture tells us some of the things we can consider when describing.
https://americanlibraryinparis.org/event/workshop-descriptive-writing-ages-9-12-virtual-rsvp-required/
In light of what was learnt in class about descriptive writing and the impact it has on a
piece of writing, I will like us to put our descriptive piece to the test.
https://d2studios.net/blog/2015/08/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words/
Let us put together a descriptive paragraph on the following picture.
I'll start....
https://www.facebook.com/LaVistaStMaarten/posts/nothing-can-describe-this-sunset-that-was-captured-earlier-this-year-by-one-of-o/10156376743695480/
At dusk, the sun radiated a light that turned the sky golden yellow.
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
'Dear Educators...' (Week ending 6th November 2020)
Dear educators,
This letter serves as a means of addressing one of our grave
concerns about the right approach to teaching Literacy. Year after year
we have been asking the same questions. Phonics?.... Whole language? …..
Reading and Writing in isolation? These questions have been the heart of
heated controversy all over the world.
Well I have news for you!
During this week, my colleagues and I were privileged to have one of the
ministry officials, Mrs. Marilyn Munro- Francis, facilitate a workshop
on the Balanced Literacy Approach. This workshop was 'the bomb'!
Interactive, engaging and informative are some of the words I can use to
describe the session.
By now, you may be wondering what this approach is about. Don't get too
perturbed. I will tell you about it in a nutshell.
According to Lynch (2018), the Balanced Literacy Approach (BLA) is a
best practice framework that guides students towards a proficient, life-long
reading and writing.
In layman terms let's just say it is a method which strikes a balance
between skills and knowledge, reading and writing and phonics and whole
language and allows students to maximize their potential.
Traditionally, teachers treated language Arts as a disjointed subject.
However, this approach emphasizes that Language Arts be taught as a whole
subject during a block of uninterrupted time of usually 60 minutes or more.
This approach allows for daily read aloud, shared reading/writing, word study,
independent reading/ writing, guided reading/ writing.
In my opinion, this is the best method thus far. Simply because it follows a
gradual release of responsibility. It doesn’t force the teacher to ‘fit it all
in’ and it allows the teacher to differentiate learning. Isn't that awesome!
Moreover, this is just an appetizer for you. I have included two videos at
the end which delved deeper into the different aspects of the BLA. These
videos elaborated that the Balance Literacy Approach is a great tool for
helping students to learn and read well.
I do hope we can collaborate in using this best practice so we can effectively
and expeditiously address the cries of our students.
Yours Truly,
Jael
Brathwaite
Teacher- student
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb9fWNiizYk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibAYZRv2oLM
Thursday, November 5, 2020
-The Life of the Party- (Week ending 30th October, 2020)
The Life of the Party!
A thesis
statement is like the life of the party,
Without it there's
hardly any harmony.
It is there at the
very beginning,
And must be restated
at the ending.
When DJ writer says testing 1, 2, 3,
Without a shadow
of a doubt, the thesis you would see.
When the writing
is concluding, and it’s the last song to go
Like a party
animal, the thesis is still on the floor.
The thesis is what
guides the writer,
Don't have it and you'll be like a child without diaper.
So, ensure a
thesis is part of your writing,
For without it, your
writing will be far from dancing.
- Jael Brathwaite
https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/focus-point.html
Monday, November 2, 2020
^^Top Secret Recipe ^^ (Week ending 30th October 2020)
https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/top-secret-recipe.html
How to make ‘Better writers’
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/204984220520581966/
Ingredients
1 lb. Ideas
2 cups Voice
2 tsp Word choice
½ lb. Sentence fluency
1 tin Convention
A dash of Presentation
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/204984220520581966/
First, mix 1lb
ideas in a bowl with 3 tbsp organisation. Stir for 5 minutes.
Next, add 2 cups
voice to the mixture and let it rest for 1 hour or until it starts to rise.
Roll out the dough
with a little tip of organisation to help keep it together.
Then, spread ½ lb. sentence
fluency, 2 tsp word choice and 1 tin conventions onto the dough.
Finally, sprinkle a
dash of presentation.
Bake on 250
degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes.
P.S Let your ‘better
writers’ cool off before packaging.
The six ingredients
inherent in ‘Better Writers’
Organization- the
internal structure of the piece (Beginning, middle and end).
Voice- the
personal tone and flavour of the author’s message.
Word Choice- the
vocabulary a writer chose to convey meaning.
Sentence Fluency-
the rhythm and the flow of the piece of writing.
Convections- the mechanical
correctness of the piece.
Presentation- the overall appearance of the author’s work.
These key components (ingredients) provide teachers and students with a
common understanding for composing, revising, and assessing all types of
writing. Therefore, upon return to my classroom I will engage my students
in mini lessons that focuses on the writing traits. Also. I will provide them with
opportunities to write daily using the 6+1 writing traits.
Monday, October 26, 2020
‘Order in the Court! - A Strategy for Introducing Persuasive Writing!’ (Week ending 23rd October, 2020)
Court case no.1: Dispute between students and persuasive writing.
Persuasive writing- a critical skill that is seen as intimidating
to primary school students.
From past experiences, some students easily tune out when
it is time to write a persuasive paper.
Is it because
it requires them to use up more brain cells? or are they just afraid of the
term
persuasion?
As educators, we ought to be very creative when introducing
this genre of writing to our
students. Additionally, we should help them to
understand that the art of persuasion is an
important aspect of our everyday lives.
On Tuesday 20th October, I had an aha moment. The lecturer was very skillful in helping us to bridge
the gap between students and their fear for persuasive writing.
She did not simply tell us how we can help the students
in our classroom. She made us act the part.
Furthermore, a wise man once said,
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.”
-(Benjamin Franklin, 1986).
Bingo! We were involved in a mini debate.
For this session we were tasked to work in cooperative groups of three to brainstorm ideas and organize
them into a cohesive paragraph to be presented to the class. Topics were given to us. And guess what?
They were current or trending topics. What a way to get students excited about persuasive writing.
Moreover, we were asked to use some of the techniques we learnt in the previous session to enhance our
paragraphs.
These are the topics we worked on. Interesting right?
Below is the product of my group’s
persuasive paragraph on closing the Maurice Bishop International
Airport.
I must say Kudos to Mrs. Laz! She really deserves a trophy. This experience will certainly stay vivid in
the minds of my colleagues and I. Proud I am to be a beneficiary of this technique. I can now return to
my classroom confident enough to employ this effective strategy that will encourage my students to
enjoy writing persuasive pieces.
importantly,
it will give them a boost or a drive to write. Students will no longer struggle
to get ideas,
but they will be able to unlock knowledge they never though they
had.
Saturday, October 24, 2020
~The Power of Persuasion!~ Week ending Friday 16th October, 2020
https://www.123rf.com/photo_58632660_words-have-power-businessman-work-on-white-broad-top-view.html
hthttps://wikiclipart.com/student-thinking-clipart_36171/
This week’s lectures were remarkable. We covered quite a bit on narrative and persuasive writing.
However, I particularly enjoyed the sessions done on persuasive writing. Persuasion, Persuasion!
Oh how I'm excited about persuasive writing!
This video retrieved from YouTube gives a great explanation of what is persuasive writing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD9arWXIddM
While sitting in the sessions done on persuasive writing, I vividly recalled my days in secondary school
as a debater. I felt that rush of excitement flowing through my veins as I anticipated receiving the topics
for writing.
As I reflect, I believe persuasive writing plays an important role in our everyday lives.
From the ads on television telling us to buy Kentucky Fried Chicken because it is finger lickin' good
to the magazine article detailing why we should eat healthy.
The art of persuasion is a critical skill for our students to master. Furthermore, it must be noted that inherent in a piece of persuasive writing is power- the power of words. Students
need to understand that being able to provide a point of view and backing it up with strong supporting
facts is enough to convince your audience. Furthermore, during a child's personal or professional life, he
or she will rely heavily on being able to
express their ideas and opinions in a constructive and creative
way.
Hence, on returning to my nest I will use the techniques learnt in this course to assist my flock of birds
to spread their wings in persuasive writing.
Additionally, I equip them with the necessary techniques for 'spicing up' their writing, making it
powerful enough to be considered and attain favourable responses.
In addition to the techniques we did in class, there are some others I found online that we can use in
our classroom. See pictures below.
 |
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/persuasive-techniques-lessons-and-activities-6008894 |
 |
https://www.teachwire.net/news/persuasive-writing-worksheets-and-resources-for-ks3-and-ks4-english
In my next blog I will be sharing about an engaging teaching and learning strategy used to introduce
persuasive writing. Go check it out!
And remember 'Persuasive Writing'… Connect! Consider! Convince!
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
**The ‘Fabulous’ Writing Process** (Week ending -9th October 2020)
" Writing is the painting of the voice.” - Voltaire
When you read a book, do you see the problems the writer went
through before publishing it? I guess not! I am definitely certain that
what you see in any book is not the first plan, nor the second or the
third. The author must have written several times before the story
reaches to the point where it is ready to be published. Furthermore, there
are many great books with awesome stories, but we do not see the time
and effort that was placed into it.
ar.pinterest.com/pin/681802831062162274/
Writing is a skill, which means it can be improved.
All it takes is a great deal of effort and practice.
I have fallen in love once more. This time it is with the writing process. This process includes five
stages: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, publishing. It is imperative to note that these stages are
recursive and not linear. Thus, almost all writers have gone back and forth before publishing.
With this clearer vision
of the writing process I am more than elated to return to my classroom where I will
effectively teach this process to facilitate my students in becoming excellent
writers.
Although avid about writing, I must confess that I sometimes experience ‘Writer's block’.
For example, the task
given to write a piece of narrative entitled ‘caught’ thrilled me. I was eager to
get the job done. While brainstorming during the planning stage (prewriting) ideas
flew from left to right inside my head. I wrote the plan and was ready to follow
it. However, at the point of writing my first draft, I experienced ‘writer's block’. I did not know where to begin.
I will really need some tips on how to deal with this phase in the event it reoccurs. More
importantly, I will be able to use these suggestions to assist students who may be
suffering from the same.
ar.pinterest.com/pin/681802831062162274/
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