Innovative ways of improving and implimenting productive skills

- The prewriting stage: The preparation and brainstorming stage.
Students were required to research the topic they will be working on the next meeting outside the class hours using one of the search engines, Yahoo or Google. In the First Session, Students were asked to browse the web page containing the lessons where they worked independently to study the lesson set for the task of writing and thus learning writing skills for thirty-five minutes. Then, students were asked to sign in to the text-based chat room which is linked in the homepage to share and exchange ideas and opinions on the topics they are to write about in groups of four. This activity lasted for fifteen minutes.
- The While Writing Stage: (The drafting Stage).
At the beginning of the second session, students were encouraged to read a sample model on the topic they were to write about. After that, students were asked to organize the information and ideas they have generated in the pre-writing stage and put them in an essay according to the task of writing for 50 minutes.
- The Post Writing Stage: Revising, Editing, and Publishing
Students shared their first drafts with other peers using text-based chat to get feedback. This stage allowed time to reflect upon what had been written to rethink, reconsider, and reshape ideas. Students received the comments, discussed them further with peers and decided what to incorporate in their final drafts. Students were requested to send their final drafts only to the instructor by posting them through the e-mail.
Understanding different types of writing assignments is given below:
The first step is reading and understanding your writing assignment. Read your assignment carefully. Then, reread your assignment, asking yourself these questions.
What is my topic?
■ How much am I expected to write? How long should my finished paper be?
■ Who is my audience?
■ How long will I have to complete the assignment?
■ What is the main purpose of the assignment? Is it to show that I learned the material for a particular class, to analyze a piece of literature or situation, or to showcase my writing ability?
Some writing assignments give you a question or a topic on which to write. Others are more open-ended and you have to come up with a topic or question that you will address in your writing. What do these different kinds of writing assignments look like? Here are some samples. [2].
When the Topic is provided. When a topic is given, your writing assignment might look like these examples. These are the types of writing assignments you will often find on standardized tests and other timed exercises. You are also likely to find these types of exercises in your non-English classes. It’s typical for humanities, science, and social science classes to expect you to write about the material you have covered in class.
■ Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper explaining your point of view on year-round schools.
■ Your state is considering building a prison in your community. How do you feel about having a prison near your home?
■ Is it a good idea for schools to incorporate technology in the classroom? Why or why not?
■ Nuclear energy avoids the mining and pollution problems of traditional fossil fuels, but it also poses contamination and health risks. Do you think governments should build nuclear power plants? State your opinion and support it with convincing reasons.
■ Explain how your local recycling program works.
■ How did the Korean War differ from the Vietnam War? What were the causes and results of each war?
■ Compare the goals and achievements of the French Revolution with those of the American Revolution.
■ Identify three main causes of disease. What are two causes of infectious diseases? Give an example of a disease caused by each factor you discuss.
When a Topic is not provided. When you are expected to develop your own topic, your writing assignment will be open-ended as the following examples are. Usually you will be given more time to complete these types of writing assignments, and you will often find them in English and composition classes. These types of questions are also common on school application forms.
■ What would you do if you were President for one day?
■ Write an essay about a childhood memory.
■ Describe your ideal partner in life.
■ Write a five-page research paper about a subject that interests you.
■ Write an essay giving advice on a topic you are familiar with.
■ Describe a social problem in your community and suggest ways to address it.
■ What are your three greatest accomplishments?
■ Write an editorial on an issue about which you have strong feelings.
■ Describe a specific work of art and discuss how it makes you feel.
Example: Explain how your local recycling program works. Trace the movement of cans, jars, and newspapers from your home to the point where they are recycled. Give examples of products that can be made from the materials you put in your recycle bin at home.
SUBJECT DIRECTIONS
how your local recycling program works Explain

the movement of cans, jars, and newspapers from Trace

your home to the point where they are recycled

of products that can be made from the materials

you put in your recycle bin at home Give examples
Example: Assume that you have just completed a unit in your biology class on genetics, and your biology teacher has given you the following writing assignment. Break the writing assignment into its subject and direction words. (Don’t panic if you don’t know the answer to this question). Describe gene therapy. Explain how it has been used to treat cystic fibrosis. Discuss why gene therapy is not yet considered a cure for cystic fibrosis.
SUBJECT DIRECTIONS
gene therapy Describe
how gene therapy has been used to treat cystic fibrosis Explain
why gene therapy is yet not considered a cure for cystic fibrosis Discuss
P r a c t i c e:
Assume that you have just covered the material requested in each of the following writing assignments. Remember, your task is only to break each writing assignment into its subject and direction words.
Mapping. [1,3].
Mapping is also called clustering or webbing. When you map your ideas, you make a visual diagram about a topic. Often the topic is circled in the center of a page. From there, the writer draws spokes linking ideas together. Mapping helps you generate new ideas and relate them to one another. A map can be very simple or more involved like the one on the next page.
Example: This writer used mapping to explore his ideas about legalizing drugs when given the following writing assignment.
Should drugs be legalized in the United States? Why or why not?
The writer generates a number of different ideas and approaches when looking at the issue of drugs and the consequences of legalizing them in this country.
P r a c t i c e:
Use mapping to generate ideas about the following topic.
Each of us has unique abilities, aptitudes, or personality traits that makes us special in some way. What makes you special?
Listing- When you list, you make a column of words or phrases.
Example: Assume you are given this writing assignment.
Describe a social problem in your community and suggest ways to address it.
You might start by listing all the problems you’ve read about or heard in the news lately. Here’s one possible list.
■ Animal rights
■ Violence in schools
■ Poverty
■ Hunger
■ Crime
■ Unemployment
If you already have a topic in mind, you can use listing to generate supporting details and examples to include in your writing.
Visualizing - This is putting yourself in another situation and describing the situation from your point of view. Visualizing can be especially helpful when you are trying to write about another place or time or provide a creative perspective for a topic. For example, you could use visualization to help you explain a technical topic, such as how the human heart works, by visualizing the flow of blood through the different parts of the heart. You could also use visualizing to help you imagine another historical period or for creative writing assignments.
Using charts - Like word maps or webs, charts are ways to group your ideas visually. Some different kinds of charts you might find helpful include:
■ Pro and con chart—to show both sides of an issue or an action plan
■ Five senses chart—to break an event or situation down into observations
■ Comparison and contrast charts—to show how things are alike and different
■ Timeline—to show the chronological relationship between events
■ Flow chart—to show the steps in a process
Here are some examples of these different kinds of charts.
Example: The pro and con chart below was used by a student to develop ideas in answer to the following writing assignment.
Nuclear energy avoids the mining and pollution problems of traditional fossil fuels. It also poses contamination and health risks. Do you think governments should build nuclear power plants? State your opinion and support it with convincing reasons. [2,5]
PROS CONS
Once the plants are built, they can provide Sometimes they melt down with horrible low-cost electricity for a long time. consequences. (Chernobyl is one example.)
They can allow us to meet our growing energy needs. Communities near have risk for nuclear contamination.
Nuclear energy avoids the pollution problems of fossil Nuclear wastes build up over time and
Fuels and won’t add to global warming problems have to be stored for millions of years
Safety features and protocols can prevent Nuclear energy causes other kinds of contamination problems pollution—thermal pollution to nearby
Nuclear power is virtually unlimited waters, which harms fish