凱斯英語推廣閱讀，建立閱讀素養的同時，也在英語學程中，規劃許多英文寫作的練習與應用，穩固扎根孩子的英文寫作能力。這次我們特別專訪4位擁有豐富教學經驗的資深教師，透過Q&A的問答方式，分享在教學現場中常見寫作相關的問題，例如：當孩子抗拒英文寫作時，要如何激發孩子對英文寫作興趣的方法？或是在寫作訓練當中，有哪些實用技巧能幫助孩子克服英文寫作障礙？
凱斯英語推廣閱讀，建立閱讀素養的同時，也在英語學程中，規劃許多英文寫作的練習與應用，穩固扎根孩子的英文寫作能力。這次我們特別專訪4位擁有豐富教學經驗的資深教師，透過Q&A的問答方式，分享在教學現場中常見寫作相關的問題，例如：當孩子抗拒英文寫作時，要如何激發孩子對英文寫作興趣的方法？或是在寫作訓練當中，有哪些實用技巧能幫助孩子克服英文寫作障礙？
凱斯英語教學團隊設計不同的教學方式及專案計畫來延伸孩子的英文寫作訓練：天母分班創辦「Cat's Talk的課程」，讓孩子不成為只會應試的紙筆高材生，而是能夠具有思考力、演說力、競爭力並與國際接軌。
為了能夠讓凱斯的孩子們更有想像力及創作力，在暑假特別規劃「Cat's Summer Snapshot 凱斯創意寫作計畫」，激發孩子們自我認識與探索的能力外，進而培養創作與寫作的手作素養！
凱斯英語教學團隊設計不同的教學方式及專案計畫來延伸孩子的英文寫作訓練：天母分班創辦「Cat's Talk的課程」，讓孩子不成為只會應試的紙筆高材生，而是能夠具有思考力、演說力、競爭力並與國際接軌。
為了能夠讓凱斯的孩子們更有想像力及創作力，在暑假特別規劃「Cat's Summer Snapshot 凱斯創意寫作計畫」，激發孩子們自我認識與探索的能力外，進而培養創作與寫作的手作素養！
Cat's Wonders Curriculum
凱斯英語 Wonders 學程
Cat's Global Visionary Program
凱斯英語 GV 青少年學程
Cat's Wonders Curriculum
凱斯英語 Wonders 學程
Cat's Global Visionary Program
凱斯英語 GV 青少年學程
A Deep Dive into Writing in the Cat's Wonders Curriculum
text by Mr. Leo / 凱斯教育機構教學部
Students at Cat's start with only the basic English foundation. How do Cat's teachers get them to start writing with such limited language ability?
Think of writing as a way to create or express. Before students at Cat's have enough word bank or know enough sentence structures, Cat's teachers use picture journals so that children can draw their ideas and thoughts without worrying too much about their vocabulary. There is also model writing in the Cat's textbook that stimulates what children of their age would write so that Cat's students can learn and model after it.
If a word bank is key to writing, how does Cat's help their students prepare one on their own?
It's true that the number of English words a student knows is helpful in some aspect of their English ability, such as reading; however, knowing is only half the battle - HOW to use the words is particularly crucial in writing. That's why at Cat's, teachers go the extra mile to get students to make their own word wall. These words only come from the story they are reading, so that they can see how the words are used in a sentence. Students are also asked to draw the meaning of a word and make a sentence with it on their word wall. This is to ensure that they are able to comprehend and express the meaning of the word with drawing while also able to apply and use it in a sentence correctly.
It is said that reading is key for writing; however, many Taiwanese children excel at reading, listening, and even speaking, but fall short on writing. How do Cat's teachers prevent children from the same predicament?
Reading can significantly improve writing if the amount of reading is on par with that of a native speaker's; however, achieving this level can be challenging for young learners. In addition to offering an extensive range of reading materials, Cat's focuses on skills and strategies that help students develop strong cognitive abilities and writing habits. One such tool is the use of graphic organizers. At the beginning of each story, students are guided in employing graphic organizers to organize ideas, like when analyzing characters or settings. This approach is particularly beneficial in fostering good writing habits among EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students.
Other than developing good writing habits, what skills or strategies does Cat's curriculum offer to help with writing?
Well, reading and writing help each other. It's a reciprocal relationship. It happens when students are writing in response of what they've read, finding text evidence in the reading, writing about what they learned, and even identifying the author's purpose. This method is called analytical writing, which is really a natural outcome when students go through the Cat's curriculum. Through analytical writing, Cat's students read texts closely and use text evidence to support their ideas and conclusions about the text, which when you think about it, is really the writing process.
What are some helpful and effective tips you want to share with teachers when they teaching writing?
One thing I used to do was to start off the lesson by asking my students to talk about their weekends. I often received responses like "I don't know," "I don't remember," or just a silent shrug. It's no mystery that students lack interest or attention in the world around them, but I wanted to break that bad habit. I started asking them questions like "Where did you go?", "What was the first place you went to?", "What did you do there?", and so on. I made sure they gave me three things they did last weekend and then created a cluster chart with their name in the center as "___'s weekend." Finally, I had them share their weekend using the chart they created. This practice may seem time-consuming and intense, but it's important to get students to pay attention to the details around them, organize their memories and thoughts, and be able to list them out chronologically. This is a good reading and writing practice drawing from students' own experiences. If a student said his or her weekend was fun, it should be suppoted with details just as how supportive sentences would be used for statements in writing.
Bridging the Gap:
Overcoming Writing Difficulties at Different Grade Levels
text by Ms. Agnes / 凱斯英語前資深老師
Bridging the Gap:
Overcoming Writing Difficulties at Different Grade Levels
text by Ms. Agnes / 凱斯英語前資深老師
What writing difficulties do students encounter in Grades 1, 2, and 3 and above? How can a teacher help students to overcome these challenges?
Before answering these two questions, there are a few factors about language acquisition that should be considered. As we all know, language acquisition starts from receiving inputs, and then outputs will come along. However, English in Taiwan is taught as a foreign language, which means that most of the students only practice English in the classroom. The limited language immersion might impact a learner’s ability to use English effectively.
The second factor is that the first-language (L1) acquisition affects the second-language (L2) learning. It is natural for learners to draw on their existing knowledge from L1 and “transfer” or “translate” to L2. It can lead to errors in the second language usage at entry and intermediate levels. For higher levels, the challenge is to bridge the gap between L1 and L2.
How are these two major factors linked to the writing difficulties that students encounter? As to Grade 1 and young learners, they most struggle with learning and developing all the skills in both of the languages simultaneously. In other words, they have to understand what they receive in listening and reading, learn new vocabulary and sentence structures, add their own ideas, and then perform the final results in writing. Therefore, the key point to success is to help young learners visualize their thoughts with substantial materials and images in oral discussions before writing. Moreover, at this stage, the main focus is to encourage students to express their thoughts in writing instead of fixating on grammar and spelling.
The major difficulty for Grade 2 students in writing is organization. According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, applying and analyzing skills come after remembering and understating. These two are the fundamental skills to produce a good piece of writing. In Taiwan, most of the Grade 2 students at Cat’s are actually Grade 3 or 4. At this stage, the students have built basic knowledge in various topics as well as possessed better comprehension skills. However, using ideas or information and then connecting the thoughts in the written form are their major obstacles. Receipts, advertisements, reposts, and changing plots of a story are good options for writing assignments or projects. In order to restructure existing content, students are required to not only understand the selected readings but also to analyze the key points and then compose a new piece.
For Grade 3 and above, students are often equipped with the essential skills to present their thoughts with clear structures in writing. The challenge for them is how to extend their writing with supporting evidence, examples, and details in a logical, creative, and meaningful way. Guided research, note-taking, and planning should be implemented in pre-writing activities. Also at this stage, students have more background knowledge in their first language. Students often struggle with how to apply the concepts they have already known to the language they are learning as well. One of the approaches to facilitate students transitioning their knowledge from L1 to L2 is to connect their own understanding or life experience with the topic they are discussing. With guidance, students should be able to foster a deeper understanding, generate ideas, and express their opinions with connected supporting details in writing.
Engaged with Writing：What You Need to Know
text by Mr. Johnson / 凱斯英語南京分班
Engaged with Writing：What You Need to Know
text by Mr. Johnson / 凱斯英語南京分班
What writing difficulties do students often encounter in Grade 2 and above, as well as GV classes? How do you help students overcome these challenges?
There are numerous issues students run into as their English level progresses. The biggest issue students have is translating their thoughts from spoken expressions to written form. This comes from both structuring their thoughts in a logical manner, as well as using punctuation and other standards to a consistent level. Students may also have difficulties coming up with the inspiration to write things on their own. Many students also have a fear of making mistakes, which makes them simplify their ideas.
According to the noted author Stephen King, “Read a lot, write a lot.” In class, I try to present lots of example writings for students to learn from. If we are writing expository text, I will look for relevant examples to share with the class before we begin. The foundation of reading that Cat’s program develops also gives them a strong basis. I also encourage students not to worry about mistakes. Mistakes are a natural part of learning that all students make and are expected. I do my best to reassure students not to worry about errors but instead, to learn from them for the future.
Students often moan and complain about long-form writing. How do you inspire your students to develop a love of writing?
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing” said Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, as well as a respected author, scientist, inventor, and scientist.
The biggest obstacle to long-form writing is finding a topic that you have enough to say about. For younger individuals, this is especially challenging because they often lack the life experience necessary to identify topics that they can describe in detail. The teacher’s job is to help them find the topics that they can write about and show them how to express themselves clearly.
Students have more to write about than they realize. They might not recognize that the trip they took to Japan with their parents can be the start of an essay about Japan. They often don’t consider using their grandparents’ experiences as a basis for a story. Their favorite basketball player is a good topic for a biography.
Long-form writing can also seem intimidating at first. I like to present writing in pieces so that students won’t worry about the eventual word count and can just focus on presenting a good idea. We then break it into smaller pieces that are more manageable for students. This prevents them from filling their writing with unnecessary details to reach a higher word count.
Reading is the core of Cat’s curriculum. How do you connect reading to writing and and how can this enhance a student’s writing ability?
“Reading is like breathing in. Writing is like breathing out” said Pam Allyn, American literacy expert and author.
Reading is the bedrock of Cat’s curriculum. The approach to learning is to instill a love of learning in students that will serve them well throughout their lives. As the above quote implies, having a good background in reading is one of the best things for an aspiring writer. Reading a wide range of genres and authors will give children the background knowledge to approach any type of writing that they want to compose.
Reading gives students a chance to explore things and ideas that they can’t encounter in their everyday lives. With a deep understanding of various topics, they can learn different and unexpected points-of-view of people, When they later write for school or other reasons, they can use these ideas to enrich their stories and essays with a wider range of ideas and experiences.
In grade 2 and above, what do you suggest your students do when crafting a 3-paragraph response?
The biggest obstacle to a good 3-paragraph response is proper organization. Students often have lots of ideas but have trouble figuring out what their main points are and what parts are not so important. They often have a hard time coming up with the right way to express the point they want to get across. There are two parts to approaching these common obstacles.
First, preparation is crucial to good writing. Here at Cat’s, we often have students analyze writing by using graphic organizers, such as Venn diagrams or main idea and key detail charts. These tools are also a good beginning for students and help them organize their thoughts. For example, if students know they want to write about rivers but are unsure of what to write about, a word web is the perfect place to start. Students can use a word web to come up with more ideas of what to write about.
The second part of getting students to craft a proper response involves coming up with a topic sentence and supporting details. When they know this, they can start organizing their writing into three paragraphs: introduction, body, and conclusion. If students have a main idea and a key detail chart to guide them, it will be obvious where to put the different parts.
Lastly, examples will help a lot. I frequently use Google to find student examples of what a proper piece of writing looks like. Following these steps provides students with the structure they need to write a great response.
AI can easily produce a piece of writing for students, but how can students utilize this tool as an aid to expand their own writing composition?
Students can effectively use AI as a writing aid by first brainstorming and outlining their ideas independently. Then, they can use AI-generated content to supplement their own thoughts, filling gaps or enhancing their arguments. This process helps them learn how to structure their writing, incorporate diverse perspectives, and refine their own skills. Ultimately, AI serves as a valuable tool for inspiration and guidance, encouraging students to develop their unique voice and composition abilities.
I used Chat GPT for the above answer. As you can see, it is incredibly accurate and concise. It is also a great place to go for inspiration. I have used AI in class to generate the first paragraph of a story. The students then use this as a starter to write their own stories. They then compare their stories with each other to see how they developed the story differently.
The main problem that can arise is students using AI instead of writing things themselves. By showing students different ways they can develop a story, I hope they will see that their own thoughts and creativity can make a difference. With enough skills and knowledge, AI can be an amazing tool.
A Peek Behind the Curtains of Cat's Academics
text by Mr. Michael / 凱斯教育機構教學部
A Peek Behind the Curtains of Cat's Academics
text by Mr. Michael / 凱斯教育機構教學部
How do you leverage a great reading program into a great writing program?
At Cat’s there’s an assortment of reading forms and types, with fiction & non-fiction texts and classic & contemporary works, this way students have a diverse pool of stories and texts from which to read.
A question I often find myself thinking about is, how can I translate this reading into a satisfying writing experience? Well, short answer is, besides trying to craft the perfect paragraph or essay, there are many fun ways to help develop writing skills.
Is there academic writing in the Cat’s Global Visionary (GV) program? What do you think is the most impactful part of academic writing?
Writing is implemented in all of Cat’s programs and it grows in importance up to the GV levels, where it's commonplace to produce academic-quality works.
Besides the "basics" of writing grammatical sentences and such, research and organization has much to do with great writing and both parts get hammered home throughout the GV program; to be more precise, students need to get their points across; hence connecting to the reader then becomes central.
Organizing content in a well-thought-out way is key to that success. Quality content is valuable, but the structure in which it is formed is truly invaluable.
The ability to be motivating and persuasive in writing is said to be a work of art. What writing strategies do you implement in your writing programs to help students paint the perfect picture?
I think the ability to engage a reader is a beautiful thing. It's a tall task to ask of students, but that shouldn't intimidate them - or their teachers - from trying.
Impactful literary strategies such as figurative language, modes of persuasion, tone, imagery, should be studied in-depth to increase a student’s ability to motivate and persuade the reader.
Good writing makes connections - with the sentences in a work itself, but more importantly, with the reader. If a writer can make a reader clearly feel and understand what is written on a page, that's a job well done.
In light of advancements in AI technology well into the Information Age, how important has topics such as research, sources, and referencing become to a writing program?
Research, sources, and referencing are all side journeys of the big picture of writing, and they incrementally grow in importance throughout a student’s life.
Ever since AI has shown to be capable of writing original works, institutions have been scrambling for ways to promote and protect academic integrity.
As such, there’s an accelerated need for students to understand best practices in solid research, credible sources, and standardized referencing formats.
One of the primary goals of the GV program is to equip students with the tools they need to succeed in high school and beyond, and in light of AI advancements, we’re very pleased that we've already prioritized research, sources, and referencing as key cogs in the writing process.
“Reading is like breathing in.
Writing is like breathing out.”
Pam Allyn
凱斯英語推廣閱讀，建立閱讀素養的同時，也在英語學程中，規劃許多英文寫作的練習與應用，穩固扎根孩子的英文寫作能力。這次我們特別專訪4位擁有豐富教學經驗的資深教師，透過Q&A的問答方式，分享在教學現場中常見寫作相關的問題，例如：當孩子抗拒英文寫作時，要如何激發孩子對英文寫作興趣的方法？或是在寫作訓練當中，有哪些實用技巧能幫助孩子克服英文寫作障礙？
凱斯英語教學團隊設計不同的教學方式及專案計畫來延伸孩子的英文寫作訓練：天母分班創辦「Cat's Talk的課程」，讓孩子不成為只會應試的紙筆高材生，而是能夠具有思考力、演說力、競爭力並與國際接軌。
為了能夠讓凱斯的孩子們更有想像力及創作力，在暑假特別規劃「Cat's Summer Snapshot 凱斯創意寫作計畫」，激發孩子們自我認識與探索的能力外，進而培養創作與寫作的手作素養！
Cat's Wonders Curriculum
凱斯英語 Wonders 學程
Cat's Global Visionary Program
凱斯英語 GV 青少年學程
A Deep Dive into Writing in the Cat's Wonders Curriculum
text by Mr. Leo / 凱斯教育機構教學部
Students at Cat's start with only the basic English foundation. How do Cat's teachers get them to start writing with such limited language ability?
Think of writing as a way to create or express. Before students at Cat's have enough word bank or know enough sentence structures, Cat's teachers use picture journals so that children can draw their ideas and thoughts without worrying too much about their vocabulary. There is also model writing in the Cat's textbook that stimulates what children of their age would write so that Cat's students can learn and model after it.
If a word bank is key to writing, how does Cat's help their students prepare one on their own?
It's true that the number of English words a student knows is helpful in some aspect of their English ability, such as reading; however, knowing is only half the battle - HOW to use the words is particularly crucial in writing. That's why at Cat's, teachers go the extra mile to get students to make their own word wall. These words only come from the story they are reading, so that they can see how the words are used in a sentence. Students are also asked to draw the meaning of a word and make a sentence with it on their word wall. This is to ensure that they are able to comprehend and express the meaning of the word with drawing while also able to apply and use it in a sentence correctly.
It is said that reading is key for writing; however, many Taiwanese children excel at reading, listening, and even speaking, but fall short on writing. How do Cat's teachers prevent children from the same predicament?
Reading can significantly improve writing if the amount of reading is on par with that of a native speaker's; however, achieving this level can be challenging for young learners. In addition to offering an extensive range of reading materials, Cat's focuses on skills and strategies that help students develop strong cognitive abilities and writing habits. One such tool is the use of graphic organizers. At the beginning of each story, students are guided in employing graphic organizers to organize ideas, like when analyzing characters or settings. This approach is particularly beneficial in fostering good writing habits among EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students.
Other than developing good writing habits, what skills or strategies does Cat's curriculum offer to help with writing?
Well, reading and writing help each other. It's a reciprocal relationship. It happens when students are writing in response of what they've read, finding text evidence in the reading, writing about what they learned, and even identifying the author's purpose. This method is called analytical writing, which is really a natural outcome when students go through the Cat's curriculum. Through analytical writing, Cat's students read texts closely and use text evidence to support their ideas and conclusions about the text, which when you think about it, is really the writing process.
What are some helpful and effective tips you want to share with teachers when they teaching writing?
One thing I used to do was to start off the lesson by asking my students to talk about their weekends. I often received responses like "I don't know," "I don't remember," or just a silent shrug. It's no mystery that students lack interest or attention in the world around them, but I wanted to break that bad habit. I started asking them questions like "Where did you go?", "What was the first place you went to?", "What did you do there?", and so on. I made sure they gave me three things they did last weekend and then created a cluster chart with their name in the center as "___'s weekend." Finally, I had them share their weekend using the chart they created. This practice may seem time-consuming and intense, but it's important to get students to pay attention to the details around them, organize their memories and thoughts, and be able to list them out chronologically. This is a good reading and writing practice drawing from students' own experiences. If a student said his or her weekend was fun, it should be suppoted with details just as how supportive sentences would be used for statements in writing.
Bridging the Gap:Overcoming Writing Difficulties at Different Grade Levels
text by Ms. Agnes / 凱斯英語前資深老師
What writing difficulties do students encounter in Grades 1, 2, and 3 and above? How can a teacher help students to overcome these challenges?
Before answering these two questions, there are a few factors about language acquisition that should be considered. As we all know, language acquisition starts from receiving inputs, and then outputs will come along. However, English in Taiwan is taught as a foreign language, which means that most of the students only practice English in the classroom. The limited language immersion might impact a learner’s ability to use English effectively.
The second factor is that the first-language (L1) acquisition affects the second-language (L2) learning. It is natural for learners to draw on their existing knowledge from L1 and “transfer” or “translate” to L2. It can lead to errors in the second language usage at entry and intermediate levels. For higher levels, the challenge is to bridge the gap between L1 and L2.
How are these two major factors linked to the writing difficulties that students encounter? As to Grade 1 and young learners, they most struggle with learning and developing all the skills in both of the languages simultaneously. In other words, they have to understand what they receive in listening and reading, learn new vocabulary and sentence structures, add their own ideas, and then perform the final results in writing. Therefore, the key point to success is to help young learners visualize their thoughts with substantial materials and images in oral discussions before writing. Moreover, at this stage, the main focus is to encourage students to express their thoughts in writing instead of fixating on grammar and spelling.
The major difficulty for Grade 2 students in writing is organization. According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, applying and analyzing skills come after remembering and understating. These two are the fundamental skills to produce a good piece of writing. In Taiwan, most of the Grade 2 students at Cat’s are actually Grade 3 or 4. At this stage, the students have built basic knowledge in various topics as well as possessed better comprehension skills. However, using ideas or information and then connecting the thoughts in the written form are their major obstacles. Receipts, advertisements, reposts, and changing plots of a story are good options for writing assignments or projects. In order to restructure existing content, students are required to not only understand the selected readings but also to analyze the key points and then compose a new piece.
For Grade 3 and above, students are often equipped with the essential skills to present their thoughts with clear structures in writing. The challenge for them is how to extend their writing with supporting evidence, examples, and details in a logical, creative, and meaningful way. Guided research, note-taking, and planning should be implemented in pre-writing activities. Also at this stage, students have more background knowledge in their first language. Students often struggle with how to apply the concepts they have already known to the language they are learning as well. One of the approaches to facilitate students transitioning their knowledge from L1 to L2 is to connect their own understanding or life experience with the topic they are discussing. With guidance, students should be able to foster a deeper understanding, generate ideas, and express their opinions with connected supporting details in writing.
Engaged with Writing：What You Need to Know
text by Mr. Johnson / 凱斯英語南京分班
What writing difficulties do students often encounter in Grade 2 and above, as well as GV classes? How do you help students overcome these challenges?
There are numerous issues students run into as their English level progresses. The biggest issue students have is translating their thoughts from spoken expressions to written form. This comes from both structuring their thoughts in a logical manner, as well as using punctuation and other standards to a consistent level. Students may also have difficulties coming up with the inspiration to write things on their own. Many students also have a fear of making mistakes, which makes them simplify their ideas.
According to the noted author Stephen King, “Read a lot, write a lot.” In class, I try to present lots of example writings for students to learn from. If we are writing expository text, I will look for relevant examples to share with the class before we begin. The foundation of reading that Cat’s program develops also gives them a strong basis. I also encourage students not to worry about mistakes. Mistakes are a natural part of learning that all students make and are expected. I do my best to reassure students not to worry about errors but instead, to learn from them for the future.
Students often moan and complain about long-form writing. How do you inspire your students to develop a love of writing?
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing” said Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, as well as a respected author, scientist, inventor, and scientist.
The biggest obstacle to long-form writing is finding a topic that you have enough to say about. For younger individuals, this is especially challenging because they often lack the life experience necessary to identify topics that they can describe in detail. The teacher’s job is to help them find the topics that they can write about and show them how to express themselves clearly.
Students have more to write about than they realize. They might not recognize that the trip they took to Japan with their parents can be the start of an essay about Japan. They often don’t consider using their grandparents’ experiences as a basis for a story. Their favorite basketball player is a good topic for a biography.
Long-form writing can also seem intimidating at first. I like to present writing in pieces so that students won’t worry about the eventual word count and can just focus on presenting a good idea. We then break it into smaller pieces that are more manageable for students. This prevents them from filling their writing with unnecessary details to reach a higher word count.
Reading is the core of Cat’s curriculum. How do you connect reading to writing and and how can this enhance a student’s writing ability?
“Reading is like breathing in. Writing is like breathing out” said Pam Allyn, American literacy expert and author.
Reading is the bedrock of Cat’s curriculum. The approach to learning is to instill a love of learning in students that will serve them well throughout their lives. As the above quote implies, having a good background in reading is one of the best things for an aspiring writer. Reading a wide range of genres and authors will give children the background knowledge to approach any type of writing that they want to compose.
Reading gives students a chance to explore things and ideas that they can’t encounter in their everyday lives. With a deep understanding of various topics, they can learn different and unexpected points-of-view of people, When they later write for school or other reasons, they can use these ideas to enrich their stories and essays with a wider range of ideas and experiences.
In grade 2 and above, what do you suggest your students do when crafting a 3-paragraph response?
The biggest obstacle to a good 3-paragraph response is proper organization. Students often have lots of ideas but have trouble figuring out what their main points are and what parts are not so important. They often have a hard time coming up with the right way to express the point they want to get across. There are two parts to approaching these common obstacles.
First, preparation is crucial to good writing. Here at Cat’s, we often have students analyze writing by using graphic organizers, such as Venn diagrams or main idea and key detail charts. These tools are also a good beginning for students and help them organize their thoughts. For example, if students know they want to write about rivers but are unsure of what to write about, a word web is the perfect place to start. Students can use a word web to come up with more ideas of what to write about.
The second part of getting students to craft a proper response involves coming up with a topic sentence and supporting details. When they know this, they can start organizing their writing into three paragraphs: introduction, body, and conclusion. If students have a main idea and a key detail chart to guide them, it will be obvious where to put the different parts.
Lastly, examples will help a lot. I frequently use Google to find student examples of what a proper piece of writing looks like. Following these steps provides students with the structure they need to write a great response.
AI can easily produce a piece of writing for students, but how can students utilize this tool as an aid to expand their own writing composition?
Students can effectively use AI as a writing aid by first brainstorming and outlining their ideas independently. Then, they can use AI-generated content to supplement their own thoughts, filling gaps or enhancing their arguments. This process helps them learn how to structure their writing, incorporate diverse perspectives, and refine their own skills. Ultimately, AI serves as a valuable tool for inspiration and guidance, encouraging students to develop their unique voice and composition abilities.
I used Chat GPT for the above answer. As you can see, it is incredibly accurate and concise. It is also a great place to go for inspiration. I have used AI in class to generate the first paragraph of a story. The students then use this as a starter to write their own stories. They then compare their stories with each other to see how they developed the story differently.
The main problem that can arise is students using AI instead of writing things themselves. By showing students different ways they can develop a story, I hope they will see that their own thoughts and creativity can make a difference. With enough skills and knowledge, AI can be an amazing tool.
A Peek Behind the Curtains of Cat's Academics
text by Mr. Michael / 凱斯教育機構教學部
How do you leverage a great reading program into a great writing program?
At Cat’s there’s an assortment of reading forms and types, with fiction & non-fiction texts and classic & contemporary works, this way students have a diverse pool of stories and texts from which to read.
A question I often find myself thinking about is, how can I translate this reading into a satisfying writing experience? Well, short answer is, besides trying to craft the perfect paragraph or essay, there are many fun ways to help develop writing skills.
Is there academic writing in the Cat’s Global Visionary (GV) program? What do you think is the most impactful part of academic writing?
Writing is implemented in all of Cat’s programs and it grows in importance up to the GV levels, where it's commonplace to produce academic-quality works.
Besides the "basics" of writing grammatical sentences and such, research and organization has much to do with great writing and both parts get hammered home throughout the GV program; to be more precise, students need to get their points across; hence connecting to the reader then becomes central.
Organizing content in a well-thought-out way is key to that success. Quality content is valuable, but the structure in which it is formed is truly invaluable.
The ability to be motivating and persuasive in writing is said to be a work of art. What writing strategies do you implement in your writing programs to help students paint the perfect picture?
I think the ability to engage a reader is a beautiful thing. It's a tall task to ask of students, but that shouldn't intimidate them - or their teachers - from trying.
Impactful literary strategies such as figurative language, modes of persuasion, tone, imagery, should be studied in-depth to increase a student’s ability to motivate and persuade the reader.
Good writing makes connections - with the sentences in a work itself, but more importantly, with the reader. If a writer can make a reader clearly feel and understand what is written on a page, that's a job well done.
In light of advancements in AI technology well into the Information Age, how important has topics such as research, sources, and referencing become to a writing program?
Research, sources, and referencing are all side journeys of the big picture of writing, and they incrementally grow in importance throughout a student’s life.
Ever since AI has shown to be capable of writing original works, institutions have been scrambling for ways to promote and protect academic integrity.
As such, there’s an accelerated need for students to understand best practices in solid research, credible sources, and standardized referencing formats.
One of the primary goals of the GV program is to equip students with the tools they need to succeed in high school and beyond, and in light of AI advancements, we’re very pleased that we've already prioritized research, sources, and referencing as key cogs in the writing process.