5.+Teaching+Writing

Teaching Writing...

 When teaching students how to write there ar e several different approaches as there is when teaching reading. There are five main approaches which are as follows; modelled writing, shared writing, interactive writing, guided writing and independent writing. However, before I discuss these in more detail I will first explain the initial things which are bestowed upon students when they enter Prep and are just beginning to learn how to write. Obviously, students at the age of 4 or 5 at the beginning of Prep will not have had much if any experience with writing. Of course they will most likely have dabbled in this area perhaps whilst learning to draw, for example attempting to write their own names, however the experience with writing sentences and joining words together properly will be very limited. It seems obvious that students will know simple things such as we sit in our chairs with both feet on the ground and our backs up straight when writing. However, during these early years commands and reminders such as "pencil grip", "paper placement on the table", and "is that where you should start that letter Johnny?" are extremely common. Students need to be constantly reminded about all sorts of things however here are what I feel are the main points; starting point and directions, shape, size, proportion, placement, spacing of letters and words, joining, speed loops, pencil grip, sitting position and paper placement. All these things seem simple but students in the early years will need to be taught all of this before they can become sufficient writers.

 As I mentioned before there are five main ways to approach teaching writing in the early years. Although they all involve students improving their writing skills they are all carried out in different ways.

I will begin with **Modelled Writing** which is similar to that of modelled reading. Basically, this consists of the teacher modelling how a sufficient writer goes about planning and writing a piece of work. The teacher thinks aloud and demonstrates how he/she jots down their ideas and eventually brings them together to create a plan. The teacher has ownership of the writing process and the children simply observe and ask questions where appropriate.

**Shared Writing** basically means that the teacher writes, but students can still incorporate their own ideas into the piece of writing. The teacher holds the pen/whiteboard marker and the children sit on the floor in front of the teacher. The students can put up their hands to make a contribution to the piece of writing and it will be incorporated into the story or piece of text. The focus for this approach to teaching writing is to iron out any confusion students have regarding planning, revising and proof reading. If a piece of text is created in front of their own eyes and they can see exactly how it has come about it will make writing their own pieces much easier. Also, if they are allowed to have input into the story this will engage them and make them feel like they have contributed to the overall result of the finished product.

**Interactive Writing** is quite similar to shared writing in that it involves the teacher and the students working together to create a piece of text. Interactive writing however provides the children with more of an input than shared writing does. During interactive writing, the children and the teacher both have equal input into the text created, probably the students more so than the teacher. This can be done with either a small group of students or with the whole class. Basically what occurs is that the teacher and the students jointly create a text based on an experience that they have all shared. This could be based on a number of topics including school excursions, swimming and athletics sports days, special class days such as ‘Teddy Bear Day’ or other related things. Once the teacher and the students have collectively decided on a topic or event to write about the teacher begins to choose students to come up to the board one-by-one and make their contribution to the piece of writing. This is mainly done by students recording individual words describing their feelings about the event or perhaps familiar vocabulary which could be used in the text. After everyone has had a chance to contribute, students should be asked to attempt at spelling any difficult or unfamiliar words to them. The same goes for sentence structure, punctuation and paragraphing. This is an effective way of teaching writing as the teacher is still in control, however the students are in-putting most of the work and information. Because a familiar and most likely enjoyable event is being recorded, this will further motivate the students into wanting to contribute.

**Guided Writing** is often used when working with a small group of children. The purpose of this approach is usually to focus on a specific part of writing, whether that be hand-writing, spelling, punctuation or some other aspect. Once the groups have been distinguished, the students all write individually. The teacher provides assistance when necessary, much the same as guided reading. Always remember that when grouping students together, it is much easier for the teachers and for the students if children of the same working ability are grouped together.

Finally, **Independent Writing** comes into play however this is usually used best in the later years of writing. The teacher sits next to the student and encourages the student to tell them about their piece of writing. For example, how did you come up with the idea? Were there any difficult words that you were unsure how to spell? how did you find the correct spelling? Etc. The aim of this approach is to motivate and ensure that the child knows that you’re interested in his/her writing. During this process, don’t comment on the punctuation or finer details, worry about that in the publication stage. 