Module 5: Self Check

Korean students feel uncomfortable for feedback. It gives them a sort of pressure and they usually feel that they should be changed and they are wrong. As one of Korean students, I have always received one-way evaluation and scores for my performances. I didn’t have any opportunity to change or develop them. However, I think giving or receiving feedback is not the biggest challenge because it is just unfamiliar, not harmful. In this module, I experienced revision stage. It was very fresh and helpful for me. Once students would be able to know that feedback is giving the opportunity for you to revise your performance and make yourself better. This procedure is useful for students because they can know what is their shortcomings and can find there is room for development.

Module 4: Self check

I don’t have any experience that I taught writing but have some that I was taught. I was given each form’s concept and characteristics and opportunities to apply them to my own writing. As I remembered, I made an effort to follow form’s shape or rule without any emphasizing my meaning or purpose. In this present time, I become to know that the most important point in writing is its content and communication with audiences. So, I can adapt this chapter to my teaching writing, especially creative writing, stressing out more how they use each form in order to express their thoughts and give audiences enjoyment rather than what devices should be showed in their writing. The purpose of my lesson would be enjoying appreciating all writing forms and experiencing them, so that students can understand each form’s characteristics and when they use specific form effectively. Through these approaches, students would be able to be possible writers.

Module 3: Self Check

The important thing is when and how. What is more or less important between both is meaningless argument because they are used with different time and different purpose. Teacher can guide students through writing strategies and skills. For example, let them to use appropriate strategies and keep up process as they are writing and to employ skills proficiently and convey his or her notion effectively. For successful writing, what teachers should focus on is “structuring meaning from texts” with “a variety tactics”(Tompkins, p.68) through direct or indirect instruction lessons in different situation.

Ch11. Poetry writing

<diverse poet forms that give students interests in it>

Although in this chapter the fact that children are instinctively in favor of poem because of its rhythm is absolutely true from the way that children love chant songs, in Korea, the poem is thought of not as exciting or interesting form, but just SHORT literature from. I assume this phenomenon is due to the absence of a variety of approaches to poetry and poet, such as poet forms or poet devices, changing one’s attitude toward enjoying and appreciating it. Students not just learn poetry, but should experience and develop a concept of poetry through many instructions such as minilesson, writing workshop, as well as reading workshop. Then, what Tompkins really stressed out and focused on is students’ own voices and its expression permeated naturally into the poetry. In this point of view, teacher can incorporate writing poetry with other units and make students understand “how writers search long and hard for words to express their meaning and the delight that comes when writers realize their poems are finished.” (p.259)

According to JaEun Kim, "The teachers tend to simply explain some common poetic forms and let the children choose any form, but this method is not effective." I think this is the most common mistakes from teachers, providing students with misunderstanding of poetry that it has just a few fomulas and we should follow that. As described in the site 'Famous Poetry', "We have already considered a limerick as one form of poetry but there are many other forms to consider such as ballads, sonnets, odes, epitaphs, elegies and many more." The biased teaching of poetry would deprive students of the opportunities to feel pleasure and delight that can be gained from diverse poetry forms and experiencing them.


Tompkins, Gail E. (2008). Ch11. Poetry writing. In Tompkins of Teaching Writing : Balancing Process and Product. (pp. 240-263). New Jersey, Pearson Education.
Famous Poetry. (n.d.). Retrieved November 9, 2010, from http://www.poetry-online.org/

Assignment #3, 4: Graphic Organizer + Problem-Solution Essay Rough Draft

Rise from the Ashes of Your Slump by Achimisul Park

Slump. I think all of you know this word and also have ever experienced. It refers to a period of decline or deterioration, which a person performs slowly, inefficiently, or ineffectively. Unfortunately, a lot of people fall in a slump and have a hard time, not being able to focus on their tasks and getting frustrated more and more by a series of disasters. However, we don’t know how we can cope with that difficult situation and what is worse is that we are so disappointed that sometimes cannot view a matter as it is. People have no idea of why a slump draws in, what it exactly is as well as when it would come round. Then, what on earth is a slump? When and why does it visit us? And how can we get over that calamity?

Lately, I had slipped into a slump. I don’t know exactly where the beginning of it was, but when I had a doubt that it may perhaps be a slump was the day when I left my book behind in the bus. I spilled coffee on my pants right after realizing the absence of it. In succession I fell flat on the floor, going to the toilet to remove a stain from coffee. This was not the end. In the weekend, there was a call for me that informed me that I had scratched a man’s car without care. I was so distressed that wanted to relieve stress. I thought having a party with friends would be helpful for refreshing myself, but it led me to drinking too much and brought out miserable outcome that I not only was late for the class next morning but lost my watch and new wallet. It was a matter of course that taking a taxi not to be late was not a good idea because of terrible traffic jam. I could no more be calm. I wept loudly on my bed, having rancor against Heaven. “What is happening to me? Why should I experience things of this sort? Why me? What is in the world my fault?” I totally lose control of my life. I missed the deadline of assignments, dozed over my work and shed tears for no particular reason. It was full of irritability ill humor, and lassitude toward everything. I felt like alone in the whole world. My friends were worried about me and gave me many advices. Although several of them seemed to be helpful, it didn’t last long. I was thoroughly exhausted.

One day, I got up and stared at my room vacantly. I gazed at my desk with a pile of books, a stack of clothes on floor in disorder and numerous dishes put one upon another, all of confusion. I stepped foot on a toilet, looked at the woman in a mirror and very surprised at the haggard face. Immediately, I took a shower and started cleaning my room. After that, I went out with only a piece of paper, a pen, and no cellular phone. I had a seat in the coffee shop and looked at lots of busy people out of the window. I became so clear. I started writing down my circumstances including affairs which I was involved in, purposes that I initially participated in them for, and my goals and objectives for them. I turned into calm. I closed my eyes and recalled a chain of events that happened to me. This time I wrote those events that bothered me, realizing that they were just small part of my life, could happen to anyone else, and didn’t aim at especially me.

Where does a slump come from? No one say that you are in a slump. One who calls it a slump and submits oneself to its will is just YOU. A slump reaches you at the very moment you believe it is a slump and because you believe it. “You, and only you, have control over your attitude. You must make the first move to a positive attitude” (Marvin, 2008). When you fall down, when you lost your watch, when you fail the exam, when you quarrel with friends, you can be baffled and make yourself a loser. Otherwise you can accept them as a trifle passing through the life and make yourself a winner. That is your choice about how you look at your life and live it. “If you are down on yourself, you are certainly not relaxed and not even heading in that direction” (Jeff, 2008). It’s up to you whether fill your time with full of fortune or full of misfortune. Then, do you think you are still in a slump?

Module 3: Writing skills - structuring skills

Writing skill(Achimisul Park)

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This is my presentation about the writing skill, structuring skills. And it is especially in terms of expanding sentence.

Ch 3. Writing strategies and skills.

   In this chapter, Tompkins describes what is writing strategies and skills, when they are needed, why they are important, how we can teach them, and so on. In fact, students already know and use some strategies and skills in their writing process, waiting for our suitable and precise instruction about them “including why they are important and how and when to use them adequately” (p.56) which helps students be capable writers. Teaching strategies that make writers “take conscious and deliberate control of the writing process”, and skills that can be applied to authentic reading and writing, are no optional but compulsory. They not only enable a writer to produce a writing that is reflective and able to communicate with its audiences effectively, but affect other areas and offer active learning in them. This is supported by Matthew Wibaker’s saying that “literacy is central to all learning and literacy is learning through the work of dedicated and caring teachers at every grade level. (Teaching word recognition, spelling, and vocabulary, 2000) For those reasons, both of strategies and skills are important and especially beneficial for ESL/EFL students, making them “understand the connections between mechanics, craft, style, and meaning” (p.62) though combination of a variety of direct and indirect instructions.

   According to Sunmi Kim, “rather than imposing traditional skills-focused instructions in EFL writing classes, teachers need to experiment with an array of heuristics and techniques to provide a more effective and balanced guidance.“ I agreed her opinion that teachers should provide students with the balanced guidance and think that the reason why the traditional skills-focused instructions were not successful was not balanced, but biased. What is important is not whether strategies or skills are in order of priority. We should only focus on which methodology can work well in improving their understanding of writing and actual writing and making them like and enjoy writing.


Tompkins, Gail E. (2008). Ch3. Writing strategies and skills. In Tompkins of Teaching Writing : Balancing Process and Product. (pp. 52-72). New Jersey, Pearson Education.
Timothy V. Rasinski. Teaching word recognition, spelling, and vocabulary : strategies from The reading teacher. Newarek, Del. : International Reading Association, 2000.