Releasing the Potential for Depth in Writing

For the first year since we can remember, we are faced with having to make decisions about what children can or can’t do based upon experiences that we do – or don’t – know they might have had whilst at home. Of course, as teachers we went into the profession to make a difference to children and young people’s lives but let us not forget that this doesn’t just apply to children who are less-confident writers, it also applies to the higher attaining children. As moderators, we’re often asked the question, can greater depth be taught? Well, we would say that yes, it actually can.

We believe that the bedrock of writing is audience and purpose and ensuring that experiences feel authentic; this is important for all learners of all ages and abilities. We also firmly believe that all children need to be supported to achieve their potential. Whilst we might assume that it is the children who are less-confident writers who need to be given more in the way of tangible and manipulable resources to learn, so too do higher-attaining children. With this in mind, here are ten suggestions for supporting higher attaining children in writing – regardless of their year-group.

1.     Get to the point faster:

When planning, think about how you might get a higher attaining group of pupils onto the higher-order skill far faster. For example, if you are wanting the class of children to revise the present perfect verb form but have a group who don’t need this, consider giving the higher attaining group a set of chopped up sentences where they could create an active voice sentence (such as Forensic scientists have examined the evidence) and then could be rearranged and adapted to create the passive voice whilst also engaging the present perfect form (The evidence has been examined by forensic scientists). This could work well for a year five class at this stage in the year where the children are needing to revise perfect forms first but ensuring that the higher attaining children are stretched from the beginning rather than having to sit through the instruction around a skill they have already mastered.

 2.     Use carefully constructed resources:

It’s not only the less-confident children who need models, scaffolds, resources and images but things like sentence strips, sticky notes and chopped up bits of card are all valid and important resources to support the children with experimenting with composition for effect rather than always having to start from the blank page.

3.     Plan for exposure to objectives from further up the school:

We know that this is a curriculum of depth not breadth, but it’s also important to plan using Grammar Appendix 2 to support higher attaining writers to develop more sophisticated use grammatical structures and literary devices. Once children have mastered one set of skills, don’t be afraid to go beyond the programmes of study for a year group, or even a key stage – when they’re ready for a challenge!

4.     Remember that inclusive practice doesn't mean that everyone needs to access the same learning:

Just as it is good practice to teach less-confident writers the same content as everyone else but slightly differently, so is it good practice to give higher attaining writers different and other opportunities for writing. For example, children in year one writing in role as a character might be stretched by writing a diary entry as that character. Children in year four who are writing a journalistic piece might be extended to writing an opinion piece where high-level subject-specific vocabulary is used, perhaps in role as a scientific advisor.

5.     Be careful that children with greater depth potential don't slip through the net:

Some children who have the potential to demonstrate greater depth skills in writing won’t necessarily do so. Sometimes, these children may worry about “getting it wrong”. Therefore, these children need the same, if not more, levels of support as their peers might in order that potential be achieved.

6.     Work with teachers in your key-stage/phase:

Thinking about the big picture in all of this, we must remember that in any key stage, developing depth for the end of the key stage where the children will be assessed is everybody’s job within that key stage. This cannot just rest upon the shoulders of the year two and year six teachers. Everyone must see it as their responsibility to expose higher attaining writers in the class to a fuller range of skills.

7.     Remember that ability doesn't necessarily mean confidence:

You might find that some of your highest attaining writers aren’t actually the most confident writers. We have to be careful with these children in particular as they can either plateau or not be able to leave their comfort zones as they are simply not resilient enough. These are sometimes children who have presented as “high-flying” in key stage one then become very resistant to activities involving reflecting upon and improving their own writing. This is because such children sometimes perceive success as “getting it right the first time round”. It is for this reason that shared writing activities; activities where children get to conference with their peers; and - where possible – author visits to explore the craft of writing and what published authors go through to get a book publication-ready are so important. One of our schools that we had the pleasure of visiting recently were starting from year one talking about “learning mistakes”. Indeed, these children loved when they had the chance to say boldly to the rest of class, I’ve made a mistake! In fact, such moments were celebrated!

8.     Encourage risk-taking and use feedback to move children on through precision teaching after writing as much as you do during writing:

Higher attaining children – just as much as less confident writers – need to be taught how to efficiently edit, improve and revise their writing. These are often children who demonstrate an awareness, if not complete understanding, of concepts and skills beyond the programmes of study for their year group. Take the children’s lead from what they are telling us in their writing. For example, with a year 2 child who has used an adverbial phrase as a sentence opener, we might expose that child to the concept of signalling the end of an adverbial phrase with a comma before the sentence continues. Whilst it is clear in the assessment of the curriculum that there is no requirement to go beyond the programmes of study, if we are to ensure that learning how to write is a fluid, continual and evolving process of learning, then we shouldn’t feel bound by always staying ‘within a year group’.

9.     Facilitate acceleration through direct and explicit instruction:

Don’t ever be afraid to tell the children what you need them to get out of the session or why they might deploy a particular device. Children won’t always have the awareness to understand why something may or may not be a good idea to use and this applies to all elements of the writing process from planning and writing to editing and publishing. They will often benefit from modelling just as less confident writers will.

10.     Keep writing for pleasure at the heart of all that you do:

Above all, try and keep a sense of pleasure palpable in your teaching. Just because a child is good at something, they won’t automatically enjoy doing it. Keeping a firm focus on the idea of audience and purpose will support the enjoyment and also remembering that enjoyment can come about from something a child finds challenging is important too. Finally, remember that the best sort of book is age-appropriate in terms of content if it is going to act as a genuine stimulus for writing for pleasure. Higher attaining writers won’t always want to read texts meant for older children and they may struggle to connect with the characters, understand the themes or comprehend the nuances of language. Where a whole class text doesn’t have the vocabulary and grammatical structures you feel are needed to reach the higher attaining writers, then find a way of factoring the requisite vocabulary and structures into the context of the book but at pitch for what the higher attaining writers need.