By Zarela Cruz
I absolutely believe that giving our students the tools to write
successfully is a must. Let’s start by knowing the names and uses of punctuation marks, then let’s give them functional phrases they can work with.
Is that it? Not at all. Providing a model
text would be very helpful as well as reviewing connectors. And last, but
not least important, do share with them the correction
rubric. That way, our students will be aware of what must be taken into
account when performing the given task. The rubric must comprise a suitable assessment criteria for the
level you are teaching.
Expanding sentences inserting
extra information is a very useful way to teach students to write. It also
helps when you provide a model text
in your class to be corrected by everyone. Keep in mind that spotting somebody
else’s mistakes is always simpler than spotting our own.
During the
workshop at our congress, teachers were really cooperative and came up with
interesting proposals; all of them were really valuable. One particular point
they made was identifying all the mistakes, even the ones that were not
penalized in that particular task. In their opinion, it works as an alarm
clock, since students will be aware of them from then on.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Do you find these strategies useful?
Have you tried different ones?
Do let us know! Visit us on:
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Zarela Cruz graduated from Ricardo Palma University as a translator. She also finished her master’s studies in Linguistics and took some specialization diplomas in English and Spanish. She has also completed a number of online certificates: Teaching the Working Adult, Online, Hybrid and Blended Education, among other self-study courses. She has taught different courses, programs and levels and has been a teacher trainer, a lecturer and online instructor. This article aims to reflect on the Assessment of Writing.
