LIT 102- SEA WRITTERS

  The Stages of Writing Development                                     This past summer, in a course called Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum, I had the pleasure of learning about the different stages of reading development (according to Jean Chall), that a child goes through. Now, in this LIT writing course, I have been exposed to the stages of development as it relates to writing, which students transition through. I have  learnt that just like with reading, each child goes through different stages of writing ability- Emergent- Fluent, at each stage acquiring new skills and abilities.     Having taught at the preschool and Kindergarten levels, and having a three year old daughter, I am most familiar with the emergent writers. I must say I had some 'aha' moments when reading about writers at this stage, because I was able to gain clarity on some of the charac...

  The Art of Persuasion We all have an opinion about something. Often times when engaging with others who have different opinions to ours, we try to get them to see our point of view or even change their opinion if possible, don't we? This is called persuasion. In writing, it is no different. Persuasive writing is where the author uses words to try to convince others that their opinion is correct or as the illustrations show, get them on his/her side. In this Lit 102 course we discussed some of the techniques that authors use to do just that. I have never had the pleasure of writing many persuasive pieces, but after learning about these, I can not wait to try them out in my writing. Apart from the well known evidence, emotional and logical appeals, I learned that I can also use alliterations, exaggeration and anecdotes to further persuade readers to my stance when writing. What this essentially does is add some flair to my writing, and makes my argument more believable. What o...

                             Zoom In                                         Think about it. What makes a great narrative or descriptive piece of writing interesting? What makes a book a 'page turner' ? It is being able to see, hear, think, smell, touch even taste with the characters in the story. Essentially, it is being able to experience mentally, everything the character does. But how is this done? Good writers do this by 'zooming in.'      Zooming in means that the writer slows down on a particular scene in the writing, and uses showing sentences to describe it. Through the use of showing sentences, the writer creates a vivid picture in the mind of the reader, almost as if he/she is right there, watching the scene unfold. This is what captivates readers. (Source:   https://www.tea...