Teaching Reading Writing

1. What is a topic sentence?

Topic sentences. Every paragraph needs a topic sentence. The topic sentence is usually (but not always) the first sentence of the paragraph These are the same as adjective sentences, except here students create sentences about a given topic. (It works best to choose

topics connected to students’ lives, experiences, or other curriculum areas.)

For example, your students may be enthralled with football. They like

talking about it, playing it, and reading about it in the newspaper. Ask

them to create football sentences using words from one or more word

families. In the same way, if students are studying a unit on birds in sci-

ence, have them create bird-related sentences.

2. What is a supporting sentence? Why do we need to write supporting sentences in our essays?

The topic sentence gives the reader an idea of what the paragraph is going to be about. The supporting sentences need to be about the idea presented in the topic sentence. In a paragraph, every sentence should support the topic sentence. If a sentence does not support the main idea of the paragraph, it does not belong in that paragraph and it should be moved to a new paragraph.

3. What is peer editing? Why do writers use peer editing? How should we peer-edit?

Peer editing is a way for students to edit each

other’s papers. Editing other students’ papers is also an indirect way to

learn about spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Peer editing can also be used for developing

grammar skills. Here you would identify three to five specific grammati-

cal elements upon which to focus.

4) Why is it advisory to write at least two drafts before handing the final version of the essay?

5) What is coherence? How is it important in writing?

For a text to have coherence, it needs to have some kind of internal logic which reader can follow with or without the use of prominent cohesive devices. When a text is a coherent, the reader can understand at least two things : The writer’s purpose and the writers’ line of thought.

Coherence is frequently achieved by the way in which a writer sequence information and this brings us right back to the issue of genre and text construction.

6) What is an outline of an essay? Why is it important? An outline is a formal plan for a paragraph. In an outline, you write down the main points and subpoints in the order in which you plan to write about them. The outline can also be used as a during- or postreading activity

7. Write at least five aesthetic writing prompts. Aesthetic Response Writing Prompts 1. Record a passage or part of the story that you find interesting. Tell why you recorded it. 2. Describe a time when you had a similar situation or feeling as one described in the story. 3. Which character is your favorite? Why? 4. Which character is your least favorite? Why? 5. How are you like one of the characters? 6. What do you want to write about from your reading today? What was going through your head as your read? 7. Draw an interesting book cover for this story. 8. Create a poster or advertisement that might convince others to read this story. 9. If you were a teacher, would you read this book to your class? 10. Why? What are five interesting things that happened in this story?

8. What is a reading log/journal? For which purposes is it kept? A reading log or book journal is a great place to react to what you read. You can find out exactly how you feel about the characters; you may gain insight about the theme and plot; and you can expand your overall enjoyment of the literature. It encourages interaction with the narrative text.

9. What is academic writing? How is academic writing different from writing in high school? Academic writing is the kind of writing that you are required to do in college or university. It differs from other kinds of writing such as personal, literary, journalistic, or business writing. Its differences can be explained in part by its special audience, tone, and purpose. In academic writing, your audience is primarily your professors or instructors. Much writing instruction in high school, is based around journals, free writing, memoirs, poems and fiction.