teaching writing what is essential
TRANSCRIPT
Teaching Writing
What is Essential?
2015
1.Clear vision of what you expect students to achieve as writers.
This means knowing what:
• The curriculum requirements of teachers/students
• Deeper/surface features of writing skills are needed to meet the curriculum requirements
• Writing achievement looks like.
http://literacyonline.tki.org.nz/Literacy-Online/Student-needs/National-Standards-Reading-and-Writing/National-Standards-illustrations
2. Knowing your students well.This means:
• Gathering & analysing current and past achievement information
• Using this information to learn about students strengths and weaknesses and set and share learning goals with students
• Getting to know the students as unique individualsReference: Effective Literacy Practice –Chapter 3
3. Understand the processes that writers move between to generate success.Reference: Effective Literacy Practice –Chapter 5 –
Starting page 136
This means:
4. Providing an effective programme mix regardless of year level or ability level.This means:
• Shared writing – explicit teaching/modelling/explanation
•Guided writing – students practice supported by the teacher/other students
• Independent writing – students practice independently
Reference: Effective Literacy Practice –Chapter 4 – starting page 102
5. Writing programme is placed within an authentic, meaningful, interesting and challenging context.
This means writing tasks:
•Have an identified & understood purpose and audience
•Are personally significant
•Occur across the curriculum
6. Recognising that sound instructional practice (pedagogy) makes the most significant difference.This means:
• Sharing the learning/journey
•Explore prior knowledge/scaffold
•Explicit teaching
•Time to practice
• Self or peer assessment
• Feedback
•Active reflection
7. Knowing about text
This means teachers hold the knowledge of:
• Text forms and features in general
• Features of particular text being taught
What are your reference documents as a school?
8. Recognising that today’s students are learning within a wide range of new literacies. They may respond better to visual rather than written text
and are more adept at text messaging than traditional pen-and-paper. Using the internet effectively is a huge challenge students face.
9. Ensuring students can explain what they are learning and how. – metacognition
This means:
• Students can explain what they are learning
•Why they are learning
•What they learning needs to look like
•How they are solving their writing problem/strategies they are using
10. Promote the links between writing and reading.
This means:
• Students write like readers and read like writershttp://literacyonline.tki.org.nz/Literacy-Online/Teacher-needs/Writing-hub#tkibar-Links%20between%20writing%20and%20reading-0
http://literacyonline.tki.org.nz/Literacy-Online/Teacher-needs/Instructional-Series/Ready-to-Read/Ready-to-Read-in-literacy-programmes/Connections-between-reading-and-writing
11.Hold a passion /enthusiasm for writing
This means you need to:
• Communicate this to students through your interactions with them at a class, group and individual level
How are you going to start the year so your students develop a passion/enthusiasm?