Unit 5-The Reading-Writing Connection

SUMMARY OF THE READING-WRITING CONNECTION

       Writer's workshop uses the literature-based approach to foster the reading-writing connection in students.Generally,  reading precedes writing and as we write we read. But why should writer's do this?What purpose are they aiming to achieve? What is the teacher's role in all of this?The answer is that teachers need to foster the reading-writing connection in students because it leads students to create writing pieces with the audience in mind and in the guise of a writer.In essence, when students realize that they write for readers and readers write because of writers their attitude toward the writing process will be forever changed.The literature that is used during classroom sessions or writer's workshop serve as models of writing in particular genres. Students are reading to learn so that they can make informed decisions about satisfying the needs (efferent, aesthetic etc) of the reader as they write.While reading students take note of effective uses of writing conventions, organisation (for e.g elements of a short story), presentation techniques (work that it error free in terms of font size, spacing etc), text features  (italics, illustrations, captions, quotations etc), text structures (cause and effect, description, problem-solution etc) and ideas and content (using 5 senses to add descriptive detail that shows and does not tell) among other things.However, there is need to move away from the basal readers and other literary texts to allow students to analyse samples of their writing and that of their peers. This has the benefit of students wanting to read aloud their essays to a peer or the whole class so that they can refine their ideas, identify structural gaps in their writing etc based on feedback generated from their audience  (teacher and classmates).Both shared reading and writing promotes discourse, build learner confidence and generate positive and negative feedback.  For this reason, peer editing and revising is an important component of the writer's workshop model.
     
       Reading evokes psycho-social and cognitive responses in the reader. Through reader response activities that require written expression students get opportunity to analyze and explore meaning of text; discover implicit meaning and to communicate meaning to others.Hence, it is assume that better readers become better writers and better writers become better readers.Examples of writing tools to process reading include: learning logs, reading logs, graphic organizers, note-taking and summarizing. However, the teacher in fulfilling the role as facilitator and guide rather than "sage on the stage",will use the gradual release of responsibility model to facilitate the use of any of the aforementioned reader response tools. Firstly, the teacher models the use of the tool using authentic samples; students can follow along with similar tools,come up to blackboard to   fill in details, respond to questions about tools etc. Rules can be provided implicitly through questioning or explicitly through brief note-taking or recall. Thereafter, teacher places students in small groups or pairs to try out what has been taught. She monitors and provides guidance while students work together. Thirdly, it is only when the teacher is satisfied with demonstrated performance of requisite skills that students need to work independently, would scaffolding be removed and independent practice begins. The only foreseen obstacles in implementing any of the above is lack of materials but students can be encouraged to make their own graphic organizers in a drawing book (they will retain information better as it is their own as opposed to teacher giving them computer-made graphic organizers).Yet another option is to encourage students to use scrap paper from offices or to form groups of three or four  to buy one packet of computer paper to create the graphic organizers as well as learning logs.