HOW TO TEACH COMPOSITION WRITING TO CHILDREN0 To successfully compose written works, children must engage in complex thought processes

and utilize critical thinking skills. Because this task requires much abstract thinking, teaching composition to students presents a challenge. Increase the likelihood of success in teaching this skill to children by breaking down the task of writing into manageable, and teachable parts. Educate students on how to move through the process required creating a finished written work.

1. Select a writing mode upon which to focus. Each writing mode varies slightly in purpose and style, making it vital you select one on which to focus as to not confuse young writing pupils. Start with simple modes, such as narrative writing and short description essays. Advance to more complex forms, such as compare-contrast essays and research-based compositions.

2. Present clear examples of what the resulting composition should look like. If possible, use samples of writing in that mode produced by children of the same age as these samples more closely approximate what your pupils will be capable of producing.

3. Explain the concept of audience to your pupils, providing them with examples of how audience matters within the context of writing. Ask pupils to consider how the ways in which they speak varies depending upon who they are talking. Explain that audience writing is similar to this and that they should modify the way in which they speak depending on who they are trying to reach.

4. Discuss the writing process. Provide pupils with a graphic representation of this process, hanging a poster or signs depicting each step of this process on your classroom wall for students to reference as they move through the steps.

5. Provide students with graphic organizers for brainstorming and organizing. Begin with a web, asking students to place their topics in the center of the web and adding off-shoots that elaborate on the concept. Select graphic organizers appropriate for your selected writing mode to help students further organize their information.

6. Assist students in transferring information from planning sheets to the essay itself through drafting. Instruct students to lay their planning sheets out beside them and transfer the information, expanding their notes into paragraphs, to produce a complete written work.

7. Pair students and allow them to peer revise papers. If your students have no previous editing experience, practice this skill by moving through some examples before asking them to engage in peer revision.

8. Review second drafts yourself to look for additional errors in need of correction. Look over each composition yourself, allowing students to benefit from your expertise and keen eye for errors.

9. Instruct students to word process papers to create polished final drafts. If students have no experience creating word processing documents, assist them in opening and formatting one of these documents.

10. Allow for sharing of work to promote student pride in their written creations. Either give students the opportunity to share their work, or place the work on display allowing others to view each student composition.

HOW TO IMPROVE COMPOSITION WRITING0 Writing is not a mysterious process that requires born-with-it talent. It's a skill, and as with other skills, success comes from learning the basic techniques and practicing them over time. Writers who lack confidence will find that improvement is possible, maybe even inevitable, if they follow a logical, stepby-step plan and learn to spot and correct common errors.

Organization

1. Take your composition through each step in the process. Brainstorm possible topics, then choose one that can be narrowed down easily. Gather information and arrange your details in a logical order. Write the rough draft. Proofread it and revise. Write a second or even third rough draft, and continue to revise until you are confident that the final draft is ready to print. Proofread out loud one more time.

2. Include all the necessary parts of a composition: an introduction, a body and a conclusion. The body must contain adequate detail. If you find spots where you begin to ramble or repeat, it's a sign that your composition is light on substance.

3. Use transitions to move sentences and paragraphs along smoothly.

Clarity

4. Make clarity your top goal. Look for parts of your composition that are confusing because of lack of information, illogical organization or misused words. If you typically mix up certain words, such as "affect" and "effect" or "infer" and "imply," learn the difference, or check a dictionary each time you use them.

5. Make pronoun antecedents clear. "Mom said Susie will wear her silk dress to the party" is unclear, because "her" can refer to either Mom or Susie.

6. Keep verb tenses consistent. Switching back and forth from present to past tense, for example, confuses the reader.

7. Choose a point of view and stick with it throughout your composition.

Sentence Structure

8. Vary the beginnings of your sentences to avoid a monotonous or choppy effect.

9. Vary the length and type of your sentences. When writing does not flow, it's often because sentences are too similar. As you revise, look for short sentences that can be combined or awkward sentences that need to be broken up.

10. Choose active voice over passive in most cases. Sometimes passive voice is unavoidable, but it should always be used sparingly.

11. Avoid starting sentences with "there is" and "there are."

Word Choice

12. Eliminate weak words. "Wonderful," "great" and similar adjectives are vague, because they mean different things to different people. Find specific words that let your reader see what you are describing.

13. Avoid cliches. Look for fresh ways to make comparisons or express ideas.

14. Replace forms of "to be" with more interesting action verbs whenever possible. Look for verbs that are modified by an adverb and try to replace them with one stronger verb. For example, "bolted" can replace "ran quickly."

15. Eliminate redundancies, such as "10 a.m. in the morning" and "continue on." Eliminate deadwood, any wording that adds nothing to the meaning of the sentence.

WHAT ARE THE PARTS OF COMPOSITION WRITING A good composition should have the 3 basic parts 1. Beginning - Introduction 2. Middle - Body 3. End - Conclusion If you want it to be more clear, then you may use the P-R-E-P P - point (what is your point?) this is like the Introduction.

R - reason (what is the reason for your point? [Body] E - example (what example(s) can you give to support your reason?) [Body] P - point (go back to your point to conclude your composition) [Conclusion] N.B. Do not write anything in your introduction if you cannot explain it in your body. and do not wriote anything in your body which you did not properly introduce in your introduction. Same thing with the conclusion, so not write anything in the conclusion if you did not mention it in the body.

TEACHING FOURTH-GRADERS TO WRITE A PARAGRAPH CONCLUSION SENTENCE

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Knowing how to write a conclusive sentence is crucial for fourth-grade students. Being able to wrap up a central paragraph by repeating the main idea and summarizing the discussion is a vital step in compositional writing, enabling students to structure their writing and present it to readers in a clear and concise format.

Paragraph Summary
1. Conclusive sentences serve to sum up the central idea in a paragraph. A strong conclusive sentence should be a brief summary of the whole paragraph. It is similar to an introduction, but instead of setting a base for the rest of the paragraph, it provides the reader with a sense of closure. It links the information in the paragraph with the main points and the controlling ideas.

Reverse Topic Sentence

2. Fourth graders should look at conclusive sentences almost as if they were reverse topic sentences. The topic sentence and the conclusive sentence hold the main idea together. If a student had written a paragraph on his favorite "Harry Potter" character, the topic sentence might read, "Ron Weasley is Harry's best friend throughout the Harry Potter books" to open on the main points of the paragraph. The conclusive sentence should look something like "Ron Weasley remained a loyal, honest and supportive friend to Harry" which closes the paragraph nicely, in a way that sums the content up for the reader.

Never New Information

3. Tell students that the conclusion solely functions as a summary of the main point of the paragraph and works to bring the paragraph together neatly while leaving the reader with a lasting impression. New information should never be added to conclusive sentences.

Summarized Description

4. When learning how to write conclusive sentences, it is useful to present students with a subject and three or four facts relating to the subject. Ask students to summarize these facts in one sentence for practice. For example, if the body of the paragraph includes information about a German Shepherd's color, size and personality, the topic sentence might be "The German Shepherd is a large breed of dog," where the conclusion sentence might look like "The German Shepherd is an intelligent and beautiful animal."

GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF COMPOSITION WRITING0 what type of composition? this is a compare & contrast: "Through the Tunnel" by Doris Lessing describe very similar moments of crisis. The circumstances surrounding the rites of passage each main character goes through are completely different but the reasons for making the passage, the obstacles they face, and what aspects of their characters are being tested are very much the same despite the differences in culture. Jerry, in "Through the Tunnel", wants to prove to himself that he is as strong as the other boys, that he is independent from his mother; that he is growing up. When his mother insisted he come with her to the beach on the second day he feels that "It was a torment to him to waste a day of his careful self-training, but he stayed with her on that other beach, which now seemed a place for small children, a place where his mother might lie safe in the sun. It was not his beach." (Lessing). Temas, though older, also feels caught between his previous experience as a child and his desire to become a man. He is trying to prove himself to Kileghen, Medoto, his tribe, and to himself. Although his test of manhood is a public ritual of the Masai tribe, he is trying, like Jerry, to prove his courage, his ability to act and to leave his childhood with a victory over fear and physical danger. " 'I shall fail... I shall fail before Medoto and through his eyes she will see my failure. I must fail... because now I see that I am trembling' " (Markham). In this quote, he is not trembling because of his fear of the lion but because he feared failure." For both boys the greatest obstacle is fear. Temas dreads facing Medoto, Kileghen, and his tribe should he fail his test of manhood. He fears this more than he fears the lion, or any injury the lion could inflict upon him. Of course, the lion is also an obstacle, as is his fear that Medoto might tell Kileghen that he is a coward. Temas fears that Medoto could be right, that he might be a coward. Jerry fears the unknown of the cave and his ability to hold his breath, his biggest obstacles are his physical and mental limitations. He has to work very hard to get himself to the point where he can hold his breath long enough to get through the tunnel alive. He also has to trust in himself enough to believe he can accomplish his goal of swimming through the underground tunnel. The Masai ritual is testing him for courage and the ability to keep his head during

intense pressure and danger. Temas feels that he must succeed at killing the lion in order to have any respect, not only from other people, but respect for himself. "...and then they would judge his courage and his skill. Good or bad, that judgment would, like a brand mark, cling to him all his life." (Marlkham). Jerry, on the other hand, tests himself - he was not raised knowing that he would someday have to go though his 'rite of passage'. Consequently, he wasn't as prepared as Temas was for his test. A somewhat minor obstacle for both characters was the possibility of death. With Temas, it was the lion and for Jerry, the very real possibility of drowning. And although these consequences were realized by the characters, Jerry and Temas both cared enough about succeeding. to risk their lives. In Through the Tunnel, Jerry tests himself for bravery, and to see if he can act independently of his mother. His mother keeps him under her wing, and he feels that he has to match up to the older boys he sees swimming through the underwater tunnel. He tests his physical and mental strengths. He has to practice holding his breath everyday, and he has to keep his head straight while he is underwater. If he were to panic while underwater, there is a good possibility that he could have drowned. Instead, he keeps a level mind the whole time, he knew his limits. " He was at the end of what he could do. He looked up at the crack as if it were filled with air and not water... he must go into the blackness ahead or he would drown." Temas is being tested for skill and courage, as was shown in the quote mentioned earlier. His tribal ritual was meant to make sure he was worthy to be a Masai warrior. Jerry and Temus's situations were very different, a young boy vacationing with his mother and a Masai youth about to face a lion. Even so, they had many of the same motivations, obstacles, and hardships that would test their courage.

HOW TO WRITE EXPOSITORY COMPOSITIONS0 An expository composition lets a third-party author educate readers on a particular issue or experience using supportive evidence. A versatile form of writing, expository compositions appear everywhere from non-fiction books to beauty magazines and financial journals. A variety of sub-styles are acceptable within an expository composition as well, including descriptive, comparing and contrasting, as well as problem solving. Applying the rules of expository writing consistently throughout your composition determines the efficacy of your piece.

1. Record your central thesis statement at the top of your outline page. Each paragraph of an expository composition must support this thesis using anecdotal or factual evidence. For example, if the topic of your composition is bullying, your thesis statement must articulate what the paper will prove or illuminate regarding bullying.

2. Outline the paragraphs of your expository composition with your thesis as the central starting point. Divide the paragraphs by subject and assign each one two or three points of evidence. For an expository composition on bullying, for example, create three or four paragraphs with subjects such as history, national trends, current disciplinary measures and proposed solutions.

3. Arrange the evidence paragraphs in a logical order that proves your thesis. Experiment with different sequence orders to determine the most compelling arrangement.

4. Write the opening paragraph with your thesis as the concluding sentence. The opening of your expository essay must introduce the subject matter in an objective by compelling way. For example, introduce the subject of bullying by describing a recent incident within the community.

5. Write your supporting paragraphs of evidence using the order outlined in steps two and three. Explain individual points or anecdotes as though the audience knows nothing about the subject. Educating and informing the reader is critical when writing an effective expository essay.

6. Write the concluding paragraph of your expository composition. This section must summarize the main points or examine the issue from an alternative angle. For example, an expository essay examining how school administrations handle bullying would conclude by explaining how students could protect themselves and others from bullying.

FORMAL THEME WRITING ACTIVITY FOR THE THIRD QUARTER FORMAL THEME WRITING NO. 3 TOPIC: The Joys and Pains of Growing-up DATE WRITTEN: January 13, 2006 (Friday)

AIM: To write an essay on the joys and pains of growing-up using clauses properly and effectively ___________________________________________________

THE JOYS AND PAINS OF GROWING-UP By Genevieve Sadaya

Growing up must be the most difficult thing that everyone has to go through. It is when one experiences a lot of changes physically, mentally, emotionally and socially in preparation for adulthood. A lot of those I wish I didnt have to experience. The strange growth that happens in our bodies is new and sometimes freaky. The awful lot of things that we need to learn and understand is stressful. The funny feelings which we develop towards others, our awareness to the world around us and the sudden change in our interests can be heartbreaking, hurtful and confusing. The coming and going of people in our lives is a bit sad and depressing. Thinking of these things, I often find myself reminiscing my childhood. I catch myself walking down memory lane, longing for the good old days of laughter and innocence when the realities of life touched me so lightly and problems were a world away.

Looking back, I see myself before preschool when I would sing a song that I made up on the spot about absolutely random things wherever I was, whenever I felt like it. Especially when my dad took me with him to buy pandesal in the nearest bakery, I would sing my heart out from the time we went out the gate of our house to the time we get back not caring if anyone heard or if the song even made any sense. But now of course after learning about that little thing called shame, I wouldnt be able to do that and many other things in public again. Now I realize how hilariously cute or how annoying it might have seemed to whoever heard me.

Then there was Peter Pan, my imaginary friend. He was my best friend and he was with me wherever I went. We played every hour of the day and because I was the only one who was aware of his presence it must have looked as though I had my own world. We shared a lot of happy, adventurous playtimes together which makes me wonder how silly I must have looked to the adults at home or if they even might have thought that I was losing my mind. May it seem ridiculous but I must admit that I first learned about friendship through him. And this may seem a lot more ridiculous but I miss him and all of those adventures we had together as if they really happened. I wonder whatever must have happened to him. I made my first unimaginary friends in preschool, though it had not been easy because I rarely talked to anyone back then, and I still recall the games we played while we were on the swings where we pretended to be our favorite characters from our favorite anime. Too bad those days had to end and we had to part ways as soon as we finished preschool. I went to UPIS where I met a whole bunch of new people and made a lot more friends. There was my best friend until grade two whom I was always with but now we barely have something in common and have our own groups of friends. The next best friend I had was in grade 5 but it didnt work out the way we expected because of the things I did to her all caused by feelings I had for someone. I told her how sorry I was after realizing how horrible I had been to her and how unworthy the reason was, making her one of my friends again. My first barkada which also started in grade 5 didnt last long either since the change in sections tore us apart after a few awful fights. Although after moving on each of the five of us has lives almost independent from one another, I would always treasure the moments we had together. I have my own friends now whom three of them I consider as my best friends.

I have known about crushes a little earlier before kindergarten after having one on my cousin three years older than me. Then upon entering elementary, I had a few more on some of my classmates each year on a different person. The last one I had which started in grade 5 and still has not ended yet, I think, lasted the longest. I figured it might not have been a mere crush since I have learned because of him how painful getting hurt feels like and what jealousy makes people do.

I remember my experience of menarche, a little thrilled that I was no longer a child, a little sad that I was growing older, a little freaked out for not being prepared, followed by the horrible realization that my height was doomed to being an inch shorter that five feet. I have and am still experiencing the pressure of nagging from parents, going to school and maintaining the grades necessary to pass UPCAT as well as the stress of not sleeping and eating due to cramming requirements a few hours before the deadline. Though these changes are tough and slightly unwanted, the excitement they bring and the memories they leave are irreplaceable. And I, having been finished living only fourteen years of my life, will still be going through a lot of these changes as the rest of my classmates and friends are. _____________________________________________________

GROWING-UP IS A SPECIAL PART OF MY LIFE By Marianne David

Experiences from the past leave marks of its lessons that should be learned and remembered. It happened because of a reason; to improve ones self and be a better person. There are two kinds of my experiences; the ones that brought joy and the other that brought pain yet thought me a lesson.

Joys of growing-up are the ones that made me laugh and feel complete. It gives me a feeling of courage, joy and love. The first time I felt that I was in love is when I was in Kindergarten. We were all knew in class, when a cute boy with twinkling eyes and a perfect smile caught my attention. He became my first crush ever since he became my seatmate in Math. Until now, I really got a crush on him though many events changed him.

On the other hand, tears of my pains became the occupant of my thoughts and feelings when I first got a grade of 67. I remembered that I cried a lot because of having a low grade. I even felt more

disappointed when my Mom came to school to get my grades. So I tried to work harder to improve my performance in school.

Now, I learned that all of these joys and pains that I had encountered in life are all part of growing-up. They all thought me to be brave and strong in encountering problems physically, emotionally and mentally. They also thought me that nothings wrong to admire somebody else. And that is why I consider growing-up as a part of my life. _________________________________________________________

TREASURES OF GROWING-UP By Paula Cammayo

Great or painful experience can be considered memorable. For fourteen years I have kept and treasured all of those experiences so that today and for years to come I could share them. One of my great experiences is when my grandmother surprised me on my birthday by coming home all the way from California. It was such a great celebration as if it was my debut already. Her present for me was something I have been hoping to get. It was a new painting set. We had a reunion and my cousins who rarely come to my birthday party were also there. I consider it as one of the most unforgettable birthdays I have due to the fact that most of my relatives are busy during Valentines Day since I was three.

The most painful experience I ever had is when I got my 1st line of 60 specifically the grade of 69 in Math when I was still in grade 5. I had never gotten a poor grade before until my fate was changed. If I had only stick to where I have started on keeping my eye on my studies and to ask for the teachers assistance I should had been able to keep track of my scores. Telling my parents about my grade in Math was even worse as if I had to confess a crime that I did. They took pity on my grades as I continuously heard a lot of sermon. For this experience I promised to do my best to keep my grades high.

These memorable experiences thought me a lot of lessons like taking actions for mistakes I have already faced. And so, I would continue to treasure these experiences as I continue to go on with my life.

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MEMORY BOX

By Jethro Paguio

Growing up can supply plenty of experiences to everyone. I, for instance, had heaps of cherished moments in my voyage to maturity. Growing up is a lengthy time providing more than sufficient space for events to take place. Joys and pains are included in my memorable scenes as if my mind were a gigantic umbrella, meaning little shadow in English translated from Latin; the phrase sounds weird, imagine replace the umbrella with little shadow then it would be gigantic little shadow, sheltering all of those moments moments that cannot be rubbed out from my mind.

Ill, first, put in the picture my happy moments; unforgettable happy moments as if they were glued to my memory by tears of joy, even though in real life tears are not sticky at all. Once in a sun-drenched summer day, something came into our home, altering everything- our schedules, our habits, our expenses. Youll probably think this is a big thing but in reality that something is just a *drum roll* kitten. Its just a small furry animal needing to be fed, cared for and esteemed. It seems as if providence has made this fur ball my pet. We had great times playing together until it was ran over by an unknown vehicle. We just saw it early in the morning lying lifelessly at the middle of the road. The two statements before this is one of my dreadful memories as if it were vandalism on my beautiful memory wall which I cannot erase even though I put good memory paint over it. Some memories are too good you wouldnt let them out of your memory box but some memories are so bad they come in the shape of a boomerang that you always throw away only to find out its still there. Well, the real boomerang wouldnt come back if you throw it incompetently but reminiscences are not real boomerangs.

I would not desire my dismal memories to pour into this paper, well it was a paper earlier until now that it is being put on a computer monitor unless someone prints it out then it will be in paper once more, because it might get out again and flood the readers room with crying droplets of tears; in case that happens, theres an emergency gigantic umbrella at the first paragraph which you can use as a cover from the tears or a boat for the flood. The last line might be an exaggeration but I think that is what makes it colorful.

A happy memory I recently had is talking and having fun with friends every afternoon. I am keeping this memory as a music box I know I will open again when I get old. Whoa, another problem comes, getting old means getting weak and getting weak means being near to death. Oh well, its just a cycle of life.

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JOYS AND PAINS

By Southlyn Ramos

I have had experiences in my life that may be joys or pains. In the past 15 years, living is the best experience for me. I have encountered stages in life that are very challenging. One of which is when the feeling of being in love comes up. In this stage, I felt strange feelings that I have never felt before. There are times when all that is running through my head are questions, questions that are until now unanswered. Growing up, being the best experience, brought me up but also brought me down. Before, I had no idea that love really is until it happened to me. It woke me up and made me different. Like the feeling of a bird flying freely up in the air like no one can ever stop it. It was just the same feeling that I felt, that no one could ever stop me for what I want to do. But, I can not always be sure of it. Through this experience, I have learned many lessons which made me a better person. Being what and who I am now is more fun than when I was younger. As I widen my mind with lessons learned through my experiences, I realized how great it is to live when people around me make changes in my life, great changes. I know there are moments when I get to be immature in deciding whether to follow what I know is right. Sometimes pain happens when I fail. In love, to be mature is a must because not all the time you know everything. Until now, I am facing challenges that may come to be memorable experiences when I grow older. And as soon as I remember all these, I will surely be happy and contented that I have experienced everything that Im destined to.

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A VERY TOUCHING MOMENT

By Jessica Jacar

Last fourteen years, I had been faced with many challenges and problems. Experiences that are very inforgetable and are shameful sometimes. Rejecton and jelousy were what I felt when confronted with varied experiences.

My most unforgetable experience is when I wrote to my mother. My father was not at our home at that time because he had a job. But the letter is for them. The letter says that I'm so thankful for being their daughter, for loving and supporting me all the time. At the end of the letter, I say that I love them so much and I promised that I will be good daughter as I can. As soon as my mother finished reading the letter she cried, I looked at her and I cried also. After the crying scene, my mother was so touched that she hugged me and said thank you! That day was truly the most unforgettable and touching day i have ever had.

My bad and painful experience is when I was in grade six. I had a dilemma or a feud with my classmate. I didn't know why she felt bad at me. As soon as she got mad at me, all my friends were avoiding me. I felt so sad at that time and was so lonely. In a positive note, I became independent person that day on. I tried to do my stuff alone. However my not so good experience with my classmate made me feel a loser as my classmates kept on avoiding me. I talked to my mother about it and she patiently came to shool to speak to my adviser. My adviser talked to me and my classmate. The problem was solved but the pain was still there. After what she had done, I always stick to my friends and conscious of my actions. I fear that she would take again my moves against her. These are my most umforgetable experiences that really touched my life and thought me a lesson.

What is informal writing? Why do we write it? What's it often used for?

Informal Writing is usually used in the classroom to help you to learn through the process of consistent and varied forms of writing. Informal writing assignments often include: essays, book reviews, freewriting, journal writing, course evaluations, etc.

Informal Writing is used to engage all students, whether it is in a large or small class. In short form, such assignments often are not weighed very heavily in grading, and are meant as a way for you to explore ideas. You will often be asked to expand upon what you have already written in these shorter bits of informal writing for a larger essay at the end of the course (or several times during the course).