Creative Ways to Teach Literacy

Ideas for Children aged 3 to 11

Virginia Bower

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781446292389
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching Methods for Reading

Shortlisted for the UKLA Academic Book Award 2013!

Covering the essential areas of practice, this book suggests ways to make your literacy teaching as creative and engaging as possible. Children get the most out of their learning when it is exciting, and this book offers great ideas for classroom practice, whilst making careful links to research.

Sections advise on teaching narrative, poetry and non-fiction, and each chapter contains case studies and ideas to try out in practice. The authors cover a broad range of topics, including:

- exploring traditional tales

- writing from experience

- using playground games as a foundation for literacy

- performing poetry.

Written for teachers working with children aged 3-11 years, this book gives you the opportunity to develop children?s literacy in enjoyable and interesting ways.

Section 1

Narrative

1

Enhancing children’s writing

Virginia Bower

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Chapter Overview

In this chapter I suggest that the study of the works of a single author not only fulfils a range of objectives but can also provide a deeper insight into how children’s engagement with texts might ‘empower’ them and thereby influence their independent writing. It is therefore a ‘way in’ to literature for all age groups and abilities, and places the emphasis on the importance of the texts themselves, how these texts can be utilised as scaffolds and how texts can be used to contextualise the technical aspects of writing. The chapter emphasises the importance of a flexible and creative approach when planning to use the works of a single author, demonstrating how, given the time and opportunity, children can use the words they hear and read to find their own distinctive voice. The ideas and examples I use are taken from lessons taught during units of work which focused upon stories by Kevin Crossley-Holland. These lessons, and the resulting conversations with children and the work they produced, revealed the unique ways in which individuals reacted to the study of texts by a single author. For some it gave them a ‘voice’ which provided a scaffold for their own written work. For others, however, it merely provided them with the freedom within which they were able to play with and subvert existing textual structures, manipulating them for their own use. It is hoped that as this chapter is read, three key themes will emerge, which are all inextricably linked. The first of these is the power of text and how children can be empowered through reading to find their own ‘voice’. The second theme relates to the impact of powerful literature on children’s writing, and finally the third is the idea that ‘texts can teach’ –a recognition of the implicit nature of contextualisation in the teaching of all aspects of writing.

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The power of text

One of our roles and responsibilities as educators is to appreciate the power of texts and recognise how, when children are given the opportunities to engage more deeply with texts, they can use this power to find a voice, both oral and written. As practitioners working within a classroom setting, I feel it is vital that we find keys to help unlock children’s writing potential, not simply to raise attainment with regard to national assessment, but to provide children with the essential tools for life:

The spoken and written word are vital to life in the world outside school, and provide the medium for nearly all teaching and learning in the primary school and beyond. (Cremin and Dombey, 2007: 14)

It is often said that reading and writing are inextricably linked, developing in children as ‘a holistic package’ (Flynn, 2007: 143). A general assumption might be that ‘what children write reflects the nature and quality of their reading’ (Barrs and Cork, 2001: 35). It could therefore be concluded that the better the reader, the better the writer. Martin (2003) recognises that children are labelled as strong or weak readers and suggests that the focus should be placed more on whether a reader is experienced or inexperienced in relation to reading and that it is this which will impact on writing. He questions whether the difficulties connected with raising writing standards are based on children not reading enough:

They are not experienced enough as readers to write like a reader. (Martin, 2003: 15)

It is therefore essential that pupils have the opportunity to hear, and read for themselves, a wide range of texts from the chosen author, so that they are able to become ‘experienced’ readers (even if only within this narrow field). One of my concerns with using a single author was that some children might not enjoy the work of Kevin Crossley-Holland and would therefore be subjected to literature which did not interest them. (Fortunately, this never emerged as an issue, as the children thoroughly enjoyed the literature.) Although there is no guarantee that the work of a particular author will engage and stimulate an entire class of pupils, there are a number of strategies you can employ to promote an appreciation of the chosen author:

• Select an author who has the potential to inspire and engage young readers and find websites/magazine articles/autobiographies and biographies relating to the author so that children can get to ‘know’ them.
• Choose an author who has written a wide selection of books, including short stories (which could be translated for children with English as an additional language), picture books and, illustrated stories, where the words are reinforced with powerful images enabling all children to access the meaning more easily, and more complex and demanding stories to engage the more able.
• Choose texts which are strong models for children’s own writing, where the author’s voice permeates the pages and where language is used effectively.

During a single author study, children need to be immersed in a wide range of high-quality literature, within which familiar themes, rhythms, structures and linguistic patterns can be identified and explored. I chose Kevin Crossley-Holland, not only because of the range of literature he has written, but because I consider his stories to be ‘strong’ and ‘powerful’. To define this type of text might be to see them as those which ‘challenge and make demands on readers; they require readers to become active and involved in the world of the text’ (Barrs and Cork, 2001: 36). This activity and involvement can be further encouraged by reading aloud –‘bringing the text alive and lifting it off the page’ (Barrs and Cork, 2001: 72) –and this is a vital ingredient of successful and creative literacy teaching and learning. When I talked to children in my class about this, they specifically referred to my voice –the voice of the reader of the stories, ‘We love it when you do the voices!’ They felt that having the stories read to them helped them with their writing; one child explained this as follows:

Well, you say good words and you speak the persons out and you describe the setting.

According to Barrs and Cork, reading aloud to children allows them to ‘take on the whole feeling and rhythm of a text’ (Barrs and Cork, 2001: 116) and it is possible that when this child says ‘and you speak the persons out’ he means that the characters are made real by the very act of reading their words aloud. Being able to hear these voices is seen by some as having a significant impact on children’s writing:

‘Our written voices are intimately linked to the oral voices of others’ (Grainger et al., 2005: 25). The ‘voice’ might be the voice of the author, that of his characters, the voice of the person reading aloud, or perhaps the child’s own voice inside their head which reflects the material of the text. The oral text can facilitate a ‘way in’, providing ‘the stimulus and motivation to explore printed texts’ (Reedy and Lister, 2007: 5) and makes the young writer considerate of potential readers of their own work. In this way, they can be made aware of the communicational implications of their own writing; that they are writing for an audience for whom the text needs to make sense and who need to be stimulated.

It is vital that you, in your role as teacher, are aware of the considerable impact that reading aloud can have upon children and therefore it is a skill that needs developing. Here are some important issues to consider when reading aloud:

• Wherever possible, choose texts which you enjoy –your reading will be much more animated!
• Use a range of voices for different characters so that children are aware of who is speaking at any time. This does not mean that you have to be able to speak in different accents (I am hopeless with this!) –you can make your voice higher or lower, louder or softer, bossy or mild, etc. I was always amazed when children asked me to ‘do the voices’ because I did not feel that I was particularly skilled in this area, but the small changes I made to my voice clearly made a big difference to the children’s understanding and enjoyment.
• Practise in advance so that you feel confident with the material and can choose places where you might pause or ask the children to predict or perhaps introduce some process drama to explore a particular aspect of the story.

The impact of powerful literature on children’s writing

According to Benton and Fox:

Writing and reading are indivisible. The writer’s sense of audience and the reader’s sense of textual voice complement each other and form a social bond. (Benton and Fox, 1985: 20)

If this is the case, then literature could be seen as the key to quality writing. Children need access to what Margaret Meek would describe as ‘texts that teach’ (Meek, 1988). These kinds of texts provide a model of quality language and composition, while allowing the reader opportunities to interpret the text in their own very personal way. In my discussions with children following reading aloud sessions, they would often quote directly from the text they had been listening to. In one particular instance, a child recited the phrase ‘slice of moon’ from a Crossley-Holland story, because this use of language had appealed to her. However, when the child then went on to complete a piece of writing linked with the story she had heard, rather than just reproducing the phrase, she manipulated and reinterpreted it to satisfy her own requirements (see below).

She looked back to see if Storm was still there but no he had disappeared but yet the slim slice of moon had not changed position! It seemed she hadn’t moved till Storm arrived! But where did Storm go?

The insertion of the word ‘slim’ has two effects: it subtly alters the meaning of the sentence and it uses alliteration to lend the sentence cadence. This indicates an ability to recognise the prosodic element within written composition and points towards a growing awareness of the power of language and the personal power imbued upon an author as they take control over somebody else’s words. The ideas and writing have clearly been influenced by the language of Crossley-Holland, providing the child with the necessary literary equipment to enable her to transform her knowledge and produce her own original creation.

A single-author study should ensure that children have constant exposure to high-quality texts. It is also vital to leave time to discuss what they have heard or read for themselves and to make any relevant links to their own life experiences. As a result of these strategies you should start to notice some significant influences upon their writing. These might include any or all of the following:

• Hearing your own voice (as the reader) in their written words. This can be quite disconcerting! If, for example, you have allotted a ‘gruff’ or ‘squeaky’ voice to a particular character, young writers will often use this in their direct speech, i.e. ‘Help!’ she cried in a high-pitched squeaky voice.
• Hearing the voices of the characters within the narrative. If the texts used are of a high quality with well-drawn characters with whom children can relate, then you will ‘feel’ their presence within children’s writing.
• Hearing their own very personal and unique voice, reflecting their experience of life. If children have the opportunity to identify and discuss any links between the literature presented and their own lives, this will emerge through their writing. I shall explore this further below.

To create effective and meaningful pieces of writing, children need to draw upon their own e...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgement
• About the editor
• Introduction
• Section 1 Narrative
• Section 2 Poetry
• Section 3 Non-fiction
• Index