Spotlight on Writing

A Teacher's Toolkit of Instant Writing Activities

Glynis Hannell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136031106
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Spotlight on Writing offers teachers a wide variety of topics and activities to stimulate, engage, challenge, entertain and extend all pupils' writing skills.

This extremely practical resource provides busy teachers and teaching assistants with a collection of worksheets that can be used as instant, educationally appropriate learning activities written specifically with the inclusive classroom in mind.

The wide variety of exercises encourages pupils to think about writing and to develop skills in writing facts and information, creative writing and editing, whilst building confidence and motivation. Teachers can use this book to develop a flexible inclusive approach, comprising individualised materials and opportunities for extended practice.

All the books in this series:

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• Promote effective intervention and inclusion strategies for teachers and teaching assistants

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• Provide materials that are solidly grounded in an understanding of how children learn and the particular difficulties of children with special needs.

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• Stimulate discussion and interaction

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• Can be used as part of an individual or small group learning programme for a child with special needs

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• Provide 'whole class' materials that can also engage older children or those with a higher level of achievement

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• Offer teachers quick, fun activities that never require additional resources, special materials or preparation.

Spotlight on Writing is an essential tool for any teacher striving to offer every pupil opportunities to maximise their own potential and develop strong writing skills.

Chapter 1
Introduction

Writing: an essential skill

Written language plays an important part in learning, socialisation and employment. We write letters and emails to friends, organisations and businesses, we prepare reports, we keep records, we answer questions and we make enquiries using written language.

Anyone who can write well can communicate effectively across a broad range of situations. This opens up opportunities in education, training and employment that are not so readily available to those who lack confidence or skills in written communication.

Poor writing skills

In the classroom writing skills are of significant importance. Much pupil learning is encapsulated in written form. Pupils write assignments, complete projects, do homework and sit tests and examinations. In every one of these situations the pupils’ abilities are judged on the basis of what they have written down. This can seriously disadvantage some pupils whose poor writing skills can disguise their true level of understanding or competence.

Poor writing skills can also be part of more global difficulties with language and literacy, and in this case the barriers to success are substantially increased. Considerable frustration and loss of confidence can result and a pupil may feel that their deficits are, quite literally, in ‘black and white’ for all to see.

Your inclusive classroom

An effective classroom writing programme will take into consideration the needs of pupils who may need individualised materials, explicit teaching and opportunities for extended practice to build their skills. An inclusive approach to the teaching of writing delivers a double advantage to pupils. First, a flexible, inclusive approach will mean that all pupils will receive appropriate teaching and make the best progress possible. Second, the advantages of good writing skills will filter into every aspect of the pupils’ lives in school and beyond.

If classroom instruction fails to be sufficiently inclusive or appropriate to the pupils’ needs, the pupils’ writing skills will fail to develop and the cycle of disadvantage and negatives increases. However, when success is experienced, confidence, interest, motivation and enjoyment often follow.

Writing is a complex skill and it follows that many pupils in your classroom will need a high level of effective, inclusive teaching, over an extended period of time, in order to be able to reach a reasonable level of competence.

What is ‘writing’?

The difference between spoken and written language

Many pupils think that writing is simply an exact replica of spoken language. However, as adults we know that skilled written language can be quite different from spoken language. In comparison to spoken language, written language usually has:

• a wider, more expressive vocabulary;
• a more careful selection of words;
• more formal vocabulary, with less use of slang, colloquialisms and so on;
• more abstract language;
• more formal sentence structures;
• better organisation of ideas;
• properly constructed sentences;
• a monologue style in which the writer is the only ‘speaker’;
• a ‘voice’, where the reader is assigned the role of listener (often with little prior knowledge of the topic assumed);
• regular use of compound sentences;
• stricter adherence to the rules of grammar;
• opportunities for editing, correction and polishing before completion;
• total reliance on the written word (no body language or facial expressions to supplement the message);
• a less spontaneous, more considered use of language;
• a need for correct spelling and punctuation.

The ability to think objectively about written language is part of the process that is called meta-linguistic awareness. Thinking about writing is an important part of the writing process. In an inclusive classroom this skill is explicitly taught and practised.

Once pupils are able to think objectively about their own written language, they are on the way to becoming writers who can use words deliberately and skilfully. In turn, this capacity allows them to use written words as a powerful communication tool, not only producing quality written language themselves, but being able to read and evaluate written language that has been produced by other writers.

This book provides you, the teacher, with many activities, all expressly designed to help all your pupils develop an awareness of how to produce good written language.

Language difficulties and writing

Although this book is all about developing your pupils’ skills in written language, it is important to remember that oral language is a crucial foundation for written work.

Pupils who have delay or difficulty in general language skills will almost inevitably run into similar difficulties with written language. Their difficulties with oral language may include:

• limited vocabulary;
• difficulties in formulating sentences;
• problems in ‘finding’ words;
• poor organisation of what they want to say.

These limitations in oral language will usually lead to a mirror image of similar difficulties in written language. A pupil who has a limited oral vocabulary is likely to use a narrow range of words in their written language. A pupil who talks in a rambling, poorly organised way will very often produce written language that lacks organisation and structure.

Conversely, pupils with strong oral language skills, who already have a wide vocabulary and use language confidently and accurately, will be well equipped to perform well in written language.

As you will know, the book that you are reading at the moment is called Spotlight on Writing: A teacher’s toolkit of instant writing activities. If you are interested in promoting your pupils’ oral language skills as well as their written language skills, you will find it useful to obtain a copy of a companion book entitled Spotlight on Language: A teacher’s toolkit of instant language activities, which is aimed at providing foundation work in oral language. The two books can be used in tandem to provide your pupils with a language enrichment programme that stretches across both oral and written language.

Spotlight on Writing: foundations of success

Using the right words

Words are, of course, the essential working materials of written language. Just as a craftsman such as an artist, engineer, carpenter or chef selects his materials and uses his tools skilfully towards a goal, so a skilled writer makes a careful and considered choice of words to obtain a particular result.

An unskilled writer may:

• write whatever words come into his or her head;
• assume that written words are a direct transcript of spoken language;
• rely on a very limited vocabulary of familiar words.

A skilled writer can:

• use words to give very exact information;
• use a range of parts of speech, such as verbs, adverbs and adjectives, as working tools;
• plan ahead to use particular words when writing;
• think about what they are writing and how they are using words;
• deliberately choose a particular word from a range of alternatives;
• consciously reject some words as poor choices;
• manipulate words to create specific effects.

Chapter 2 gives teachers a range of activities designed to promote pupils’ awareness of the way in which words can be used as working tools in writing. This helps to develop every pupil’s writing skills.

Sentence building

An unskilled writer will often:

• use words according to a prescribed formula, for example using worksheets as the basis for writing I see the boy, I see the girl, I see the dog, I see the pig;
• write one long string of words or phrases, without any structure or punctuation;
• use a long string of very short sentences;
• use incorrect grammar, for example Ken and Barry is going to work or Yesterday I go to the park.

A skilled writer will be able to:

• avoid unnec...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Using the right words
• 3 Sentence building
• 4 Writing facts and information
• 5 Creative writing
• 6 Writing fluency
• 7 Editing