Let’s set the scene.
You have 30 children in the class – of course you have a mixture of abilities and probably 3-5 children who have additional needs.
About 6 can probably write a short story, 6 can write half a page, 6 can write a paragraph, 6 can write a few sentences and 6 can just about write a sentence independently.
In these pieces of writing, there are spelling mistakes, sentences structured the wrong way round and the same 4 adjectives appearing in every book.
What is going on?! Why won’t the children write properly?
Perhaps because they live in a society where language has changed. There is much more slang kicking about and less formal ways of speaking.
Perhaps the act of sitting down and reading a book is harder and harder, especially with the distractions of technology. The number of parents who would struggle getting their children to read really increased over the last few years compared to 10 years ago.
You can tell the children who are well read because of their ability to speak eloquently and to write in a natural way.
The problem is that these are the issues we are facing. So, whilst it is interesting to think about why, we really need to know what we can do about it.
I worked really hard with the English lead at my school to find the best ways to get the best writing out of the children and to EXCITE them in doing so.
We realised that it wasn’t the children’s lack of care or interest but the fact that they just didn’t know any different.
They were unable to produce other adjectives because they just didn’t know any.
They couldn’t structure their sentences properly (despite my trying to teach them) because they spoke a different language at home and it didn’t make sense to them in English.
They couldn’t use common exception words properly because they didn’t actually know what they meant.
So, what did I do?
For the first lesson and before reading a new text, we learnt key words from it. This was done through acting, games, interactive activities and NO writing. This was to encourage a real understanding of words.
Then for the next lesson and using the words from the previous lesson, we put them into sentences that didn’t relate to the story/text. Again, I didn’t care at this point about the sentences being written in their books. I cared about the children using the words properly.
Then, in following lessons and only once I thought the children were confident in understanding the words, I would introduce the book/text we would be focussing on. What do you think it’s about? Why? Could the words we’ve looked at help us to think about what might happen?
When reading the text, we clapped when we heard the words. We stopped and discussed the meaning of those sentences or paragraphs.
I had a mat with the words on for children to hold on the carpet and then to take to their table when writing.
I wrote the words for the display wall. We used them all the time in normal conversations and in other lessons. At random points in the school day, I would point to them and get the children to tell me what they meant.
In terms of the structure of sentences, I wouldn’t let a child write anything in their book until they had said it aloud to me. I could then correct them if need be and they could write it down on their whiteboard before writing it into their books.
Every time a child spoke and they said a sentence in the wrong way, I would correct them and make them say it again.
You might feel like you’re being repetitive and/or a nag, but I can’t tell you how much of a difference it made!
No, I am not the writing guru of the century and no, I don’t have all the answers, but I can say from experience, that when you spend time on word meanings, teaching new vocabulary and taking the time to correct verbal sentences, it makes the absolute world of difference to your children’s writing.
Try it!
Getting good quality writing is proving to be more and more difficult but there are ways and answers! If you have any other strategies that helped you, please share them!
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