​Katherine Chandler Callicutt

The task I am assigning to students is to develop a short story as part of a larger unit on fictional narratives.  This mini-unit will help students develop the skill of forming characters through dialogue and detailed language and forming an organized and clearly flowing piece of writing.  My approach to teaching this unit involves immediate feedback, both group and individual work, and scaffolding.  Immediate feedback is provided through group discussion in which each student can gauge how successful he or she was in his or her writing. This helps students understand what they did well and how they could improve their writing.  By providing this immediately, students are not delayed in recognizing their mistakes and this helps hinder them from making those same mistakes again.  Group discussion helps students get new ideas from their peers as well as feedback on their own work.  However, individual work promotes independence and encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning.  In addition, students who feel uncomfortable in group settings can thrive during this section of the lesson.  Finally, scaffolding is achieved by starting with knowledge that students already have.  For instance, by having students describe their favorite food, they can work off of things that they already know about in order to expand their knowledge of descriptive writing.  All of these strategies work together to form a well-rounded unit that fits each student and their learning style.