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ENTRY 07: Writing and Academic writing


Step 1:

Watch the videos and take down notes of KEY CONCEPTS
  • concepts are always expressed in noun phrases.
  • make sure you are able to see the parts of the writing process, the 3 steps of any written piece (most genres).

According to those videos, there are three universal steps to write properly.
  1. Pre-writing step:
    • Sub-skills building (topic, vocabulary, grammar and discourse). Some tools to develop this:
      • Associagrams/brainstorming: They provide the vocabulary needed to deal with the topic.
      • Prompts (images, music, realia): They provide a context to students think about and make easier learners to visualise the topic.
      • Interviews
        These sub-skills are chosen depending on the audience: what the writer wants the audience to convey.
  2. During-writing step:
    • Structure organisation: 
      • Write paragraphs in order to get a straight narration
      • Self-questioning about the relevance of facts in order to use them as a guide.
  3. Post-writing step:
    • Re-reading of the whole written piece.
Step 2:

  • What is Academic Writing? To answer this question visit THIS SITE from University of Leeds.
  • Choose the sections you consider KEY and highlight the most important concepts

Academic writing is clear, concise, focused, structured and backed-up by evidence. Its purpose is to aid the reader's understanding.
It has a formal tone and style, but it is not complex and does not require the use of long sentences and complicated vocabulary.

Characteristics:
  • Planned and focused
  • Structured: It is coherent and written in a logical order.
  • Evidenced: It supports opinions and arguments with evidence. 
  • Formal in tone and style: It uses appropriate language and tenses. It is clear and concise.
Key Sections
    • Define purpose and type of reader through:
      • Establishing a clear criteria
      • Taking notes
      • Planning the research and gathering information.
    • Structure organisation:
      • Introduction: background information and context
      • Main body: main points are presented, explored and developed in a logical order.
      • Conclusion: bring together the main points
    • How to incorporate evidence:
      • Paraphrasing
      • Summarising
      • Synthesising
      • Quoting
    • Build writer's argument:
      • It is the writer's viewpoint
      • It has to be persuasive and effective
      • Everything which is included has to be relevant to it.
      • Writer's voice
Step 3:
Choose an appropriate GRAPHIC ORGANISER to JOIN both sources: VIDEOS ON WRITING (in general) and ACADEMIC WRITING (in particular).
  • cite the sources, and if necessary embed them in your Portfolio.You may use www.creately.com: FREE PLAN (= 5 graphic organisers, up to 3 participants).
  • work INDIVIDUALLY or IN GROUPS.
Concept map:


(I did it individually)

Sources of the diagram:


1. Academic Writing. Retrieved from University of Lees. Last visited: May 15th, 2020.
Available at: https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/14011/writing/106/academic_writing.

2. Ana Maria Amanda Otero (July 25th, 2018). pre-writing 1. 

3. Ana Maria Amanda Otero (July 26th,2018). pre-writing 2. 

4. Ana Maria Amanda Otero (July 26th, 2018). pre-writing 3.

5. Ana Maria Amanda Otero (July 26th, 2018). during-writing.

6. Ana Maria Amanda Otero (July 26th, 2018). post writing.

Metacognitive reflection


All the information collected during this class is of the utmost importance to us as teachers. Writing is one of the most challenging skills to acquire and to teach as well, even more, when we intend that our students learn in a contextualised and meaningful way. A significant part of us indeed experienced learning to write in English as a process of filling in the blanks with the correct verb tense or writing isolated sentences applying a grammatical structure of interest. This way of teaching and learning is antique and useless because it limits our thinking skills. Nowadays, there is a new pedagogical paradigm which considers writing as a trigger to students develop their thinking skills, both higher and lower order. It places the teacher as a monitor of this process who has to encourage students to write in a meaningful way by giving them tasks to focus their reading and letting them discover a specific language item on their own. Teachers are responsible for giving students the necessary tools to write appropriately. That is why Academic writing is considered a helpful tool for students to write in a contextualised way which, as the same time, will probably be very useful in their future.



Reflection about the technological tool


"Creately" seems a handy tool and easy to use. I am sure I will use it a lot in other subjects and even to plan and organise my own school lessons. About the youtube videos, they were short but exciting and rich in content.

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