Chapter 12 (Tomkins): Persuasive Writing

Persuasive writing intends to convince the reader of a stated opinion or belief and it appears in and is not limited to speeches, letters to the editor, editorials, advertisements, award nominations, pamphlets, petitions, scholarly writing, and opinion pieces (Tomkins, 2008). Spencer (2005) describes that the difference between writing subjectively (when we express only feelings) and objectively (when we present only facts) is the difference between persuasive and informative writing. In Persuasive pieces, the author’s feelings and opinions, when supported by research, are used to influence a reader’s attitude toward the subject.

Learning persuasive writing is important, because it helps to refine written communication and critical thinking skills. Persuasive writing skills can also cross over into speech, helping people build stronger and more coherent oral arguments so that they can hold their own in a discussion.

Response: With persuasive writing, the goal is to try and convince people to agree with you. It is important to understand that persuasive writing relies heavily on facts- not opinions. Kyounchun referred to the statement by Dedalus that Persuasive writing, also called argumentative writing, is a type of communication that seeks to influence or alter a reader's opinion. That’s right. We encounter persuasive writing everyday in school, at home, and other places so persuasive writing plays on important part in our everyday life.

Tompkins, Gail E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Spencer, L. (2005). A step-by-step: Guide to persuasive writing. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group

Chapter 4 (Tomkins) : Assessing Children's Writing

It is said that assessment provides information about what writers know and what they can do (Tomkins, 2008). Procedures for assessing writing include observing children, using a writing performance checklist, building portfolios, using holistic, analytic, and primary trait scoring, peer assessment, and self-assessment. Grading writing requires a purpose, criteria for defining good writing, and fair guidelines. The most popular system today is the “Six Traits” approach, which encompasses six features, with a plus-one facet added recently: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation (Graham, et.al, 2007). Among those assessments, most teachers should be aware that how teachers assess a piece of writing depends on the writing project and on teachers’ reason for assessing it. The most important is that over the grading period, teachers should use a variety of assessment measures for a more complete picture of children as writers.

Response: JaEun Kim described the efficiency of the self-assessment since it could encourage students to reflect on their learning and results in their consciously improving how they learn. I totally concur with her. Among some assessment ways, it might be a great opportunity for students to evaluate their own work by themselves.

Tompkins, Gail E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Graham, S, MacArthur, C.A, & Fitzgerald, J. (2007). Best practices in writing

Chapter 11(Tomkins) : Poetry Writing

According to Tomkins (20008), it is said that through writing creatively, students learn to experiment with multiple word meanings and word order. Many children have problems getting started when writing a poem; however, this should not be the case. In the book, it is suggested that children can write poetry successfully using poetic formulas by beginning each line with particular words, and five types of poetry: formula poems, free-form poems, syllable-and word-count poems, rhymed poems, and model poems.

Poems can serve as excellent material in language teaching as long as the teacher knows how to make the utmost of it. If the teacher can adapted the integrated approaches presented in this article to teach the poems in the textbooks, students will be stimulated not only to take an interest in language learning but also to love literature (Chao, 2006).

Response : Juhyun indicated haiku which it has been widely accepted in western country. The use of haiku poetry to teaching practices in a variety of contexts. In a sense, I agree with it but it might be adapted for higher students. If young learners write poetry with fixed rhyme like haiku, it may bother their creativity thinking.

Tompkins, Gail E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Chao, L. (2006). Teaching poetry in EFL class. Retrieved from http://www.dcsh.tp.edu.tw/eng/methods/4.%20Teaching%20poetry%20in%20EFL%20class.doc