Teaching+Writing



__ **Teaching Writing** __ In the beginning stages of teaching children how to write, it’s important to ensure they understand that we write for many different purposes. By using real-life situations (such as a job application) as a form of teaching children how to write, the process is much more effective (Hill 2006). There are five main strategies which teachers can use to support children’s writing, as outlined below: 

** Modelled writing **  •Teaching points demonstrated are relevant to the needs of the class   •Teacher scribes   •Thinking process is performed aloud by teacher (eg. spelling of a word)   •Class observes writing process 

** Shared writing **  •Teacher scribes writing ideas generated by the class  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> •Children are encouraged to use the pen on occasions <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> •Decision-making and planning is shared between the children and teacher <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> •Collaborative process <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">

**<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #ffd200; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Guided writing **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> •Specific instructions given to small group formed on common learning focus <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> •Children scribe <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> •Is a short mini lesson

•Children choose their own topic and begin writing independently
 * Independent writing ** <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">

•Teacher scribes hard parts, children encouraged to scribe easy parts •Collaborative process between teach and children •Emphasis to put 'a press' on language of the children
 * Language experience **

(Hill 2006, p299)

During Guided and Independent writing teachers can also help develop children’s writing through individual, group and publishing conferences (Hill 2006). By asking the student questions about their work they will eventually learn to self-conference, asking themselves the questions without prompting from the teacher (Hill 2006).