Posted on: 12/11/2020
Whether it be for fictional or non-fictional purposes, writing is a creative process and, like any other creative process, it can be frustrating – infuriating at times – but ultimately joyful and gratifying.
We want children to enjoy knitting together words and crafting sentences - as they might enjoy picking out a trail through a forest or building a sandcastle or dribbling a ball through a crowed court – with a deepening sense of playfulness and creativity. It goes without saying that schools must build a culture where children enjoy and are enthusiastic about reading and writing. Here are six tips to ensure this happens!
It will come with a big price tag but what better provision to spend money on as quality books. It seems obvious but books need to look attractive and be in good condition, their spines standing proudly on well-ordered shelves and display tables. There needs to be an exciting array of the classics alongside up-to-date literature to hand. The literature chosen also has to be representative. We all need protagonists that we can relate to and see ourselves and our families reflected back at us on the page.
We would always recommend inviting authors and illustrators to talk at schools, so children have a range of role models to look up to and feel inspired by. This will not be possible in our “new normal” but find videos of authors discussing their work instead and message them on social media on behalf of the class – they would love to hear from you and children will love their hard work acknowledged.
Find ways to bring books to life for children and immerse them in the world of a text. It doesn’t need much: some mischievous footprints along the corridor; a mysterious suitcase with clues about the main character; some hazard tape around an unusual object in the playground. A bit of extra effort at the beginning of a unit of work can make all the difference. Children will be intrigued and the classroom, like the Tardis, can travel in time and space and invite all sorts of guests.
Children should have a clear sense of context when writing so that if a visitor to the classroom asked a child, they would know why they were writing and who they were writing to. Even if a child is at the mark making stage of writing development, they can still explain to any enquirer their intended audience and purpose. Children are writing because they are at a point in the text where their writing could make a difference - what we at the Literacy Tree call “writing by stealth”. In order to enhance this, use resources with “real word import”. If they are writing a letter, use real letter paper and envelopes. If they are writing a company letter, use letter-headed company paper. Children enjoy sensing the importance of writing, not just as an academic exercise, but as a way to make their mark.
A kinaesthetic, nuts ’n’ bolts way of modelling grammar and punctuation for children daily enhances a strong sense of creativity. Let’s move away from worksheet heavy lessons, and instead use sentence strip to model sentence creation and post-its to harvest and explore vocabulary in context. Create opportunities for children to investigate punctuation and grammar and model the writing process live in the lesson.
The performance of writing is key in order to give children confidence and a realisation of the value of their word choices and syntax. The grammar and punctuation they learned in previous lessons can be put into practice by speaking aloud. The words jump of the page from theory into practice. To see the impact of their words on an audience can be hugely motivational. Remember to model reading for children daily so they can hear the drama and pathos in your voice. In our ‘new normal’ let’s utilise recordings, videos, vlogs and blogs to share in assemblies and across bubbles.
We have to foster a culture of creativity and excitement for literate - for its own sake. This will however have an inevitable affect on assessment data and Ofsted reports. Dalman Primary, a Literacy Tree flagship school, has created such a culture and what a joy to have this acknowledged and a child’s poem quoted in their most recent report!
Pupils are exposed to a range of high-quality literature that extends their vocabulary and understanding of grammatical structure. They transfer and sustain this understanding in the wide range of writing seen in their literacy books and in the high- quality displays across the school. Younger pupils write with increasingly descriptive language. Older pupils are confident to write in a poem: ‘You feel like a toy, abandoned on a shelf. Be patient. Your time will come.’ The teaching of writing is a strength. – Ofsted Report 2019, Dalmain Primary School
Posted in: Curriculum
