Group Discussion - Week 4

This week I will lead the reading group discussion. The task is to:

·         Facilitate the discussion about the pre workshop tasks that are described on the website.

·         Post the summary of the key discussion points and any issue raised on the blog. 

The first part of the preparation for the week was to complete Activity 2 out of Winch et al book (p.269). The activity asked us to read a piece of writing by Kate, which she wrote at the age 9, and answer questions around the piece. 
1) We all agreed that the paragraph is largely recount however partially narrative element to it and it is written in past tense. 
2) We all agreed that some of the things that need attention are:
 Capital letters (daddy – used as a name), spelling, punctuation, quotation marks, joining words to make more complex sentences, change of tense
3) We all could see that she was excited and really like it however found it hard to express due to not having the vocab to express. She used words like “Terrific” and “Good fun”.
4) We all had different thoughts about what should come first, if learning how to write a story or things like capital letters. However many different ideas and ways came out of the discussion:
 - To help with the writing, she should read aloud her story and by reading it, may be able to tell if the story flows, etc.
 - For spelling words, to focus on certain types of words every week, for example, one week looks at different words for said, the next week could be focussed on words instead of good, etc.
 - Instead of just working with Katie on certain aspects, explain aspects to the whole class, so that everyone can learn a little bit more about it and it doesn't single Katie out in any way.