Reading, Writing, and Portfolios

I have a lot of interests, especially related to engineering and technology. Today I will write about the questions I have regarding helping students build their reading and writing skills. At the HCT, students usually make big promises, and then at the end of a semester find ways out of their work. One area that is of particular interest to me is how to help students keep motivated to improve and develop their reading and writing skills since this is the area many have most difficulties. Let me express my basic views on reading, writing, and portfolios to assist both.

Reading is something you need to do, and do a lot of it in order to improve. As a second language speaker of English you need to spend time reading English if you want to improve the skill. It takes time, but the time you spend will open doors for you later. To get good – you need to read. You need to read a lot about things that 1) interest you, and 2) build you general knowledge about the world we live in.

Writing is something we also need to develop. It is my feeling that one (and just one way) to help build our writing skills is to write a lot. We can write about what we are reading – and this will help you communicate what you are learning from readings. Most importantly writing will help you build long-term memory from what you are reading about and the act of writing will help you build the skills you need related to literacy in English.

A portfolio should be something you are interested in. I feel you can all develop reading and writing is you have a portfolio of readings which are accompanied by written reflections. You should review the portfolio daily. This is where I see things go wrong – daily. At the beginning of last semester we all agreed that there were more than 4 months in the semester or about 120 days. This is a long semester. We agreed that 20 readings (from Google Alerts) would be easy – at in the end some could do it. Most did not. Most copied 20 articles at the end of the semester and handed them in. This is NOT an effective way to develop and I think you will probably agree.

So today your task is to tell me, what three area you hope to read about. If you know of more areas please tell me. Make three Google Alerts from you list and tell me which three you have selected and why. State if you agree that the goal I have (a better portfolio) is a good idea or not.

I am interested in hearing from you. You will reflect here frequently.

Research & Writing Development

Here is a page for Ras Al Khaimah Men's College Students to post their weekly and daily writings. For starters, what are three areas that interest you? OR, what are some questions you have and would like to research them more on the internet?

Also, feel free to respond to others posts.

Steve