Educating students on ways to express themselves through writing allows them to clarify their thoughts. Students recognize what they know and what knowledge they still need to gain through writing. Writing offers empowerment, improves understanding and retention, promotes intellectual growth as students link prior knowledge with new information. Therefore teachers need to assist students in finding an effective academic way to express themselves to others.
After reviewing Kayian’s case study and reading through the excerpt provided, Kaynia’s writing is unorganized, damaging the flow of her paragraphs. Also, Kaynia struggles to provide a substantial argument in her persuasive essay hence losing her point of view. While the writing process can be challenging, multiple writing strategies can assist students in self-regulate and employing efficient and effective procedures to enhance their writing. Kaynia could benefit from POW+ TREE writing strategies alongside STOP and DARE writing strategies.
Using POW + TREE methods intends to help the student form diverse types of writing and arrange her ideas. The POW method would include picking ideas, organizing and generating notes and ideas, and writing the story (Baghbadorani & Roohani, 2014; Berry & Mason, 2012). The approach will integrate TREE into the organized segment within the POW approach. The TREE method entails a topic sentence, reasons to support the topic sentence, explaining the reasons detailed, and finally ending, which entails a paragraph of statement to summarize the topic statement (Berry & Mason, 2012). Educators using this method also teach students to edit and revise their essays before submission.
The second approach is STOP and DARE. STOP method entails suspending judgment hence taking a position that considers both sides of an argument. T involves picking a side that one feels provides the best argument, while O entails organizing a powerful argument. P is planning more while writing (Ennis et al., 2013). This writing strategy will assist her when she encounters challenges picking a side and providing a founded argument. For example, suppose she is unable to decide on her favorite pets. In that case, she can employ the STOP approach to detail why she likes the two pets and picks the pet with a strong argument and more information. DARE means developing a topic sentence, detailing supporting points, objecting the other side, and completing with a conclusion.
The third strategy is Think-pair-share (TPS) which entails a collaborative approach where students work in teams to answer questions (Raba, 2017). The techniques require students to think individually about a topic then share their ideas with classmates. This approach would allow students to discuss ideas orally before writing. It would help an educator predict what each student intends to put in writing alongside assisting those struggling to develop ideas. Also, assist students in organizing their thoughts.
After evaluating the three writing strategies, the best option for Kaynia would be using the POW+ TREE method when she is writing her persuasive essay. Through these two strategies, Kaynia went given a writing prompt she would clearly articulate her points and provide a substantial argument. She will be able to note down all her ideas and decide which one has a strong argument interesting to write about and has more information (Berry & Mason, 2012). For example, the strategies would direct her on ways to pick her favorite pet and detail reasons why she chose that pet. This approach entails all significant parts of writing while keeping the writing process simple to plan, organize and write (Baghbadorani & Roohani, 2014). Kaynia would articulate her argument.
On the other hand, employing the TREE approach should rationally choose her topic statement, providing founded reasoning for supporting her reasons by noting at least three points. Finally, she would summarize her viewpoint. This strategy allows her to edit and revise her work before submission. Through this strategy, Kaynia would develop a persuasive writing style. She would be able to develop her topic, clearly support her arguments and create a strong conclusion. Through this approach, she would meet her goal by organizing her work to be readable to others.
Personal Reflection
In order for learning to take place in a classroom, an educator has to employ effective teaching strategies. Using personal reflection is fundamental in developing conceptual understanding and knowledge as students get an opportunity to put in writing what they comprehend. This method assists a teacher in gauging the student’s understanding alongside assisting students to check if their writing is within the topic assigned. Using this strategy assists students in the long run. They form a habit of revising their papers and reflecting on ways to improve their writing in the next assignment. Personal reflection is crucial as it fosters growth. It is a good technique to assist students in understanding their work identify their mistakes and areas that need improvement. Through this, the student can build their writing confidence.
As an educator, these are some of the strategies I intend to prioritize when teaching my students because they provide an efficient basis to articulate their viewpoints. As an educator, if I can assist students in clearly conveying their thoughts through writing, I am empowering them and giving them the power to impact others and the world.
References
Baghbadorani, E. A., & Roohani, A. (2014). The impact of strategy-based instruction on L2 learners’ persuasive writing. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 98, 235-241.
Berry, A. B., & Mason, L. H. (2012). The effects of self-regulated strategy development on the writing of expository essays for adults with written expression difficulties: Preparing for the GED. Remedial and Special Education, 33(2), 124-136.
Ennis, R. P., Jolivette, K., & Boden, L. J. (2013). STOP and DARE: Self-regulated strategy development for persuasive writing with elementary students with E/BD in a residential facility. Education and Treatment of Children, 36(3), 81-99.
Raba, A. A. A. (2017). The influence of think-pair-share (TPS) on improving students’ oral communication skills in EFL classrooms. Creative Education, 8(1), 12-23.
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