Teaching Writing

Teachers can use different teaching strategies to help students develop and practise their writing skills through the use of writing strategies.

The PLP-R/W (KS1) through the units of work incorporates the use of the teaching strategies listed below. Their use provides for the diverse needs of all students and even though there is a focus on writing, they also allow for the learning and teaching of the other literacy skills – listening, speaking and reading.

Teaching Strategies Shared Writing

• It is a powerful teaching strategy and the principal means of teaching writing

• It is much more than the teacher merely scribing for students, writing down their ideas like an enthusiastic secretary

• The whole class and the teacher compose the text collaboratively.

(ELCG, 2004)

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• Introduction

• Before the Writing

• Shared Writing

• Independent Writing

• Conclusion.

Within this sequence, the nine steps for the teaching of Shared Writing are embedded.

Introduction

During this part of the session, teachers will revisit the songs, chants and rhymes, phonics, and high frequency words with the students. Specific strategies such as Look, Say, Name, Cover, Write, Check are introduced.

Before the Writing

During this part of the session, activities are used to focus the students on the target language structure(s) and vocabulary that they will need to do their writing in the later parts. The Shared Writing steps are:

Step 1: Share read a text (e.g. book, recipe, poem) - Introduce book cover

- Picture walk - Read once.

Step 2: Identify the purpose and audience, and structure of the text

- Ask students questions to establish the purpose of the text, e.g. What do we use a recipe for?

- Ask the students who will be reading the text (the level/content of text reflects the reader, e.g. different text for P.1 or P.6 students, informal/formal letter)

- Ask the students about the structure of the text, e.g. orientation of a narrative;

address, salutation, and date for a letter

- Display the text structure in the classroom for students’ reference.

Step 3: Deconstruct the text by identifying the language features - Share read the text

- Highlight the different aspects of the text

- Display in the classroom for students’ reference.

Shared Writing

The teacher models the writing while interacting with the students and ‘shares’ the pen. The Shared Writing steps are:

Step 4: Gather and share information, ideas and language by using strategies such as brainstorming, building mind maps, listing

- Examples of strategies for gathering information are: brainstorming, building mind maps, listing of notes or reminders, sequencing pictures/diagrams, timelines, pictures of one or more characters with labelling, setting/character using models and puppets, writing frames

- Ask students questions that remind them of the previous language structures and vocabulary that they have learnt

- Display in the classroom for students’ reference.

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- Use the information gathered to decide which vocabulary/language structures (e.g. character, setting, adjectives, food) will be used in the Shared Writing.

Step 6: Rehearse text orally and record

- Ask students to suggest opening sentences/phrases - Continue recording ideas to build the text

- Teacher chooses words to write or teacher selects students to write - Ask students to suggest how to complete the text

- Remind students to refer to the writing plan and classroom environment to support their suggestions

- Record the text on strips of paper (to support logical sequencing of the text).

Step 7: Arrange the text in a logical order, using the shared text to support - Display the strips of paper

- Build the text by asking students to sequence the strips through rereading - Display the newly sequenced text on the flip chart and read.

Independent Writing

Students work individually to apply and practise the taught language structures in their writing.

Students are encouraged to self check their writing using the Writer’s Checklist. Teacher interacts with the students to further support their writing development. The Shared Writing steps are:

Step 8: Revisit, revise and edit the text - Revisit the text through rereading

- Revise the text by asking students to extend the text using vocabulary from the mind map/environment (e.g. colours, size)

- Teacher may need to identify SOME errors that have not been taught and show students how to revise

- Edit by encouraging students to read the text and identify any errors (e.g.

punctuation, plurals, pronouns, etc.)

- Use a different coloured pen for revising and editing.

Step 9: Publish

- Students MUST be given the opportunity to produce a published version of their writing

- This can be in a variety of formats (e.g. whole class book, origami book, class display, whole-school display, school website sharing)

- Every student’s work SHOULD be displayed over a period of time.

Conclusion

Students are encouraged to share their writing with their peers. This is the time when they celebrate their achievements. The session may conclude with a song, chant, rhyme, or reading aloud.

Process Writing

• It focuses on the development of writing skills through the various steps involved in drafting and redrafting a piece of work

• Teachers need to develop students’ skills in the various steps of the writing process, i.e.

pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing.

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- Strategies that teachers can use to help students generate ideas include brainstorming, free writing, questioning, role-play, reading, listening, and interviewing - For organising a piece of writing, students can be engaged in listing, mind mapping,

outlining and identifying the purpose and audience.

• Drafting

- Students focus on getting the content right and leave matters like grammar, punctuation and spelling until later

- They can be involved in class or peer conferencing, during which they share ideas about the content and the development of the writing, i.e. the beginning, ending and the relationships between the parts

- Examining the text structure of a relevant text type that students have come across may be useful

- Students will then write their text developing their ideas through sentences and paragraphs using cohesive devices.

• Revising

- The teacher and other students respond to individual students’ writing, helping them to rethink, revise, and edit

- Individual students or the group re-read(s) the draft, concentrating on how to convey the content effectively

- Students combine ideas and rearrange their order, add or delete details and substitute words or phrases with more appropriate ones to make the writing clearer.

• Editing

- Students proofread the draft, focusing on grammar, spelling and punctuation

- They make necessary changes, using available resources such as dictionaries, word books or glossaries

- They can also seek support from the teacher or peers

- They then write the final draft to present their ideas, using the appropriate format, conventions and language features.

Guided Writing

Guided Writing is introduced in the Implementation Stage of PLP-R/W (KS1). In Guided Writing, groups of writers are taught and/or revise strategies and skills those writers need at that particular time. These specific skills and strategies include learning to write different text types through selecting and applying the appropriate language structures.

Guided Writing:

• enables the teacher to tailor the teaching to the needs of the group

• provides the teacher with the opportunity to extend and challenge the Early Fluent students

• enables Emergent students to revisit skills and strategies previously taught

• allows the teacher to observe the learning progress of students and respond accordingly

• encourages students to participate actively

• builds confidence

• allows the teacher to give immediate and effective feedback.

There are opportunities for writers to:

• revise and extend their writing according to their abilities

• practise writing strategies

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• monitor their own writing

• move their writing forward

• move towards independence.

In PLP-R/W:

• students produce a draft

• teachers analyse the students’ draft writing

• teachers decide on a teaching focus for a group based on the needs identified for that group

• teachers decide how to scaffold the class/group(s) to develop the specific focus.

There is a focus on promoting learning behaviours that will support students’ further learning, which is necessary for independent writing.

Teachers can:

• observe and evaluate the writing process in action

• give writers time to employ known strategies and skills to support their own writing, e.g.

seeking information from the environment

• encourage students to apply the previously learnt sentence structures and vocabulary to new contexts.

The PLP-R/W units of work provide teachers with suggestions for possible teaching focuses for the different text types and writing tasks.