My Philosophy of Writing

"My philosophy can only be explained by me"- Gisele Antoine.

This is my personal quote which I have formed based on my lesson in LIT102 on the the knowledge of philosophy. So basically, what is a philosophy?

A philosophy is a set of reflective statements of your personal views and beliefs. 

Basically, a philosophy speaks volume to what a person believes in.Only this person is able to define and explain what he or she believes. My philosophy may not necessarily be another person's philosophy. Therefore, what is my philosophy of writing?

I have been guided by a set of questions from my LIT102 writing class, in order to explain my philosophy.

Some of these questions are:

What do I mean by writing?

How do I perceive writing instruction?

What role do I see myself playing as a teacher in the teaching-learning process?

What instructional approaches, strategies, activities and experiences must I utilize to enhance writing in the classroom?

What goals will I set for myself as a teacher of writing?

For the most part of my life, writing has always been a passion for me. From time to time, I would write about any topic or experience by which I am inspired. To me, writing is composing words on paper with a pen or a pencil. In my opinion, what words cannot do through the mouth, writing can do with the pen. No one can tell me how to think or feel. They may not think or feel like me, but with the pen I know that I am in total control.

My perception of writing instruction is quite simple. To me, it involves careful planning. In the planning stage, learning outcomes and objectives must be realistic, measurable and can cater to students, writing needs. Teachers ought to use the Language Arts Curriculum as a guide, so they are knowledgeable about what to teach and which activities are appropriate for specific writing lessons. Furthermore, teachers can gain a better insight of writing instruction by attending workshops, having professional development activities, attending lectures by Curriculum specialists and other relevant officials in the Ministry of Education. When I actively engage in proper planning as a teacher, this is determined by the adequate activities to be used, the realistic learning objectives to be met, the resources to be used, the development of my lesson and so on. Therefore, the planning process plays an integral part in writing instruction.

Most importantly, I have a great role to play in the writing classroom. To enhance the teaching-learning experience, various strategies and approaches must be utilized. It must be taken into account that each student’s learning style be it kinesthetic, visual or auditory must be in incorporated into the strategies and approaches in providing writing instruction. Such strategies and approaches include scaffolding, teacher demonstrations, literature based approach, process based approach, drama and the student centered learning approach. Albert Bandura (1971) posits that “most human behaviour is learnt observationally through modelling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed…” To support this view, I totally agree that teacher modelling helps students gain a complete understanding of how to express their ideas and how to structure their writing.

Based on my philosophy of writing, I intend to use the aforementioned initiatives in my future classroom to help students evolve into strategic and independent writers. On a professional level, I also intend to seek advice from mentor teachers, attend writing workshops, become academically certified in different areas of writing, just to name a few. With these said, perseverance, hard work and patience, along with specific knowledge and skills in writing are a stepping stone to helping students become better writers for the classroom and for their future goals.

Once again, my philosophy is what I believe in, what's yours?