How to raise standards in literacy

Whether it’s helping the local estate agent to sell a house, or getting the three bears to forgive Goldilocks for breaking and entering, children’s writing will flourish when given a sense of real purpose, saysGill Matthews...

When you ask children to write, what sort of response do you get? “I don’t know what to write!” How many times have we heard that cry? Well, you certainly won’t hear it in a Writing for Real classroom where children are brimming with ideas. Writing for Real is an approach to teaching writing that harnesses experiential learning and writing in role. So, how does it work?

Firstly, it gives children something to write about. Writers draw on their own experiences – both real and vicarious – when they write. What experiences can children refer to when it seems they are not playing out as much as children did 20-odd years ago? Perhaps they aren’t acting out as many imaginative games and imaginary scenarios? They are certainly not reading for pleasure as much (according to the most recent PIRLs study). Is this limiting what they can draw on when they write?

Writing for Real provides a context that links a number of writing outcomes. A context that can be lacking in some classrooms. For historical reasons, there is a tendency for literacy to be taught in its own little bubble. The content of a unit may not be linked to other areas of the curriculum or indeed to other literacy units. So, Y3 children can spend two weeks learning how to write nonchronological reports about dinosaurs, three weeks on writing myths, followed by a week on instructions for turning on the classroom printer. Perhaps life could feel a little disjointed at school when you are seven years old?

The Writing for Real approach also gives children a real purpose and an authentic audience for their writing. Children know why they are writing, for example to entertain, inform or instruct. They are clear who they are writing to and this has an impact on the style, tone and indeed the appearance of their writing. The teacher of a Y2 class developed a Writing for Real unit around Julia Donaldson’s Gruffalo books. A boy whose handwriting was normally very difficult to read produced an extremely neat letter to send to the Gruffalo. When the teacher commented on his handwriting, the boy said ‘That’s because it’s for the Gruffalo, not you. And I wanted him to be able to read it.’ That’s the power of having a real audience to write to!

Finally, Writing for Real delivers an engaging and motivating experience that makes children want to write, gives them confidence as writers and helps them to develop independence when they write. The experience starts with an event that hooks children in. It can happen in the classroom with the appearance of artefacts or letters, as described in Stephanie Austwick’s article, ‘Get Real’ (p.100), in the last issue. Or, the class could receive a visit from someone – real or virtual – who sets them a writing task. For example, a local estate agent visited a Y5 class, ostensibly to talk about his job. Just as he was leaving, he commented on a house near the school that had been standing empty for some time. In an apparent flash of inspiration, he offered the children the keys to the house and asked them to look round, measure up, take photos and then write the details for him to display in the window of his office. Warming to his task, the agent even invited the children to come and be estate agents for a morning, once they had demonstrated that they could write an effective set of house details, of course. The class rose to the challenge and, some days later, trooped down to his office to view their work. The purpose of their writing? To persuade. The audience? The general public. And, how exciting to have it on view for the whole world to see.

Unexpected interruptions

Virtual visitors can contact the class via video clips that suddenly pop up on the IWB during a deliberately dull lesson. Using animation software, such as Crazy Talk or the Morfo booth app, any image can be brought to life to communicate with the children, setting them research tasks and writing challenges. Goldilocks appeared on-screen in a Y3 classroom, asking for the children’s help in writing a letter to the three bears, apologising for her behaviour. The class wrote letters to show Goldilocks examples of the kind of things she could include in her own letter. Later that week, Goldilocks appeared again, telling the class that the bears had accepted her apology. However, they had invited her to Baby Bear’s birthday party and she now needed to write a really polite letter to say that she would love to go. Once more, the children helped Goldilocks with her dilemma.

Writing for Real experiences can also take place outside the classroom – in the playground or on the school field. Alien spacecraft landings have become quite common place events in primary schools. The discovery of a clutch of dragon eggs, an archaeological dig, finding a time capsule, all of these well documented experiences have created rich writing opportunities for classes around the country. The school trip can also become the hook into Writing for Real if it is moved from its traditional end of term slot. A Y6 class in Coventry visited a ruined castle where they met one of Robin

Hood’s merry men who showed them round and regaled them with tales of the famous man’s daring deeds. It was the perfect start to writing the legend of Robin Hood. A village primary school in Herefordshire were invited by the owner of a local National Trust property to visit his house and to write a children’s guidebook to the property. That experience certainly focused attention on writing for a real purpose and audience.

Recipe for success

Successful Writing for Real units contain a number of key elements. The opening event has to be exciting and motivating enough to hook the children in, to make them want to write. The context of the unit needs to be lively and interesting and sustainable over a number of weeks. It should offer opportunities for a range of different types of writing. Some of these will be new to the children who then spend time learning how to craft and write them. Others will be types of writing with which they are already familiar, and so become incidental writing opportunities. All of the writing tasks will have authentic purposes and audiences. The audience needs to respond to the writing, setting up further writing tasks for the children. This leads to an unfolding narrative that underpins the whole unit. The final key element is that children are writing in role. Perhaps they are investigative journalists, historical experts or scientists. Writing in role seems to take the anxiety out of writing for some children, allowing them to be more adventurous, confident writers.

Speaking of roles, you may well be asking what the role of the teacher and teaching assistant is in the Writing for Real classroom. Well, they might be in role themselves, as the real or virtual classroom visitor. Children are more than happy to suspend disbelief and accept that the teacher clad in a fleece and cap is really the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, or that the teaching assistant sporting head scarf and curlers is really Mrs Bloggs whose house has just been destroyed in an air raid. And it goes without saying, the teacher’s role is also to teach. So, when the children are asked by the Secret and Ancient Society of Dragonologists (SASD) to apply to become dragonologists, the teacher discusses the purpose of the writing task with them. They suggest looking at examples of effective persuasive texts, analysing how they are organised and the language features that are used. The teacher sets up drama activities that give children opportunities to find out what it is like to be a dragonologist and to explore words and phrases they could use in their writing. They then demonstrate, using shared writing, how to write a successful application letter before the children respond to the SASD’s request and write their own letters.

The big question is, does Writing for Real actually work? Research with 30 classes in 15 primary schools in the West Midlands shows that it does. Data collected before and after children had taken part in a Writing for Real unit indicated that just over 70 per cent had made at least one sub-level of progress. Pupil perception surveys revealed a 12 per cent increase in the number of children responding positively to the question ‘Do you like writing?’ Teachers reported on the increased motivation and confidence of children, with some saying that attendance had improved because children were so keen to find out what was going to happen next. So, why not give Writing for Real a go? Dust off your role-play skills and throw yourself into it! Goodness, is that an alien spacecraft I see hovering over your school…?

The PLC is running Writing for Real conferences with the National Literacy Trust in the spring term 2013. More details are available on the NLT website, literacytrust.org.uk

Writing for real

THIS FRAMEWORK SHOWS HOW A Y4 EXPERIENTIAL UNIT ON STORIES SET IN IMAGINARY WORLDS MIGHT DEVELOP…

OPENING EVENT

The pupils visit a local forest school, conservation area, park, or simply walk around the school grounds. They have been asked to help by clearing the litter and so go armed with litter-pickers, black bags, etc. Eventually they discover a well hidden glass bottle. Initially the teacher is suitably horrified that someone has thrown a glass bottle into the pond, but on closer inspection the children discover a note inside, which is taken back to the classroom for further investigation. Unfortunately the ink has run and only a few words are decipherable, leading to all sorts of speculation.

NARRATIVE IDEAS

Further notes begin to appear in the same area, gradually building a picture of an imaginary world e.g.

• Further clues about the character who has written the notes
• Information about the fantastical ‘world’ in which they live
• Introduction of other characters
• Introduction of a dilemma/ quest/ evil character. Perhaps the main character needs help to solve mystery, etc?
• A director wants to make a film set in this amazing world
• A final letter from the character, thanking them for their help

WRITTEN OUTCOMES

• Character profiles
• Setting descriptions
• Instructional writing – offering advice, e.g. how to trap a Gramador!
• A story set in the imaginary world using the characters, setting and info
• A play script, using the characters, setting and information, could be turned into a short fillm, an animation or a puppet show

CROSS CURRICULAR LINKS

Science – the environment
Art – drawings/ paintings of the characters and settings
DT – models of characters or worlds
Drama – act out play-scripts
ICT – film plays, or animation using plasticine characters/ puppets and paintings of settings

CELEBRATION OF LEARNING

Make fillms/animations of stories set in imaginary worlds. Hold a premiere to show the short fillms. Invite other classes to dress up and attend. Set up an art gallery, showing artwork of the characters and settings.