At Surlingham in order to develop children as genuine and skilled writers we believe it is important to engage them in the process of writing as well help them to learn the technical aspects of grammar and spelling. We want our students to take ownership of their own work and to develop their own voice with confidence and pride. As a means to develop these aims we find an approach advocated by Prof. Donald Graves very helpful. Developed over twenty years by Graves and his team from the University of New Hampshire and outlined in “A Fresh Look at Writing” (Greenwood Press, 1994), his approach promotes the following conditions for effective writing:
1. Time – 4 days out of 5, 35 – 40 mins from Yr.1
2. Choice – ch need to learn how to choose their own topics. When ch choose their own topics we can expect more from them
3. Response – Your responses can help ch. Respond during writing… Other ch’s responses: 10 min short conferences, sharing ch’s writing at the end of sessions. “In this class we experiment & learn.’
4. Demonstration – DG: ‘YOU the teacher are the most important factor in creating a learning environment.’
a. Writing is a craft is needs to be demonstrated – the classroom is a studio.
b. The ch need to see you writing and struggling from choosing a topic to final draft.
‘Every mark on the page is an act of meaning.’ ‘I demonstrate a mood of discovery & experimentation.’
5. Expectation – ‘What are we working at in order to get better?’
6. Room structure – A high degree of structure. Everything must be predictable…
In collaboration with the children we have been developing these conditions in class from Year 1 to Year 6, using writing activities and conventions appropriate to their age. The results and responses of the children have been very encouraging. If you would like to read our training notes from Prof. Graves book as a pdf please click here.
Below is a short summary of the main points:
• Have students write each day. If students miss a day or don’t know when they will write again, they are losing a sense of structure and predictability.
• Establish a basic structure for the student to follow at writing time, such as, “First, get your folders containing all your writ¬ing, write, then share writing.”
• Set up procedures for solving problems. Basic procedures have been posted telling students what to do when they don’t have the right supplies, are stuck for a topic, need to confer with another student, need help proofreading their writing.
• Circulate among the students. The teacher contributes to structure by moving through the class conferring with stu¬dents, so that students feel the teacher’s listening presence.
• Negotiate class management problems with students. When issues such as noise or how to work with others arise, the teacher discusses new ways to solve these problems with the students.
The char¬acteristics of the lifelong writer, I look for the follow¬ing elements in the children 1 will call lifelong writers:
- Initiates writing: The child chooses to write in order to recount, then understand experience. The child has a sense of “topic” and seeks to tell the story his way.
- His sense of the power of writing: The child recognizes what writing can do. She knows that her text can affect what other people will do.
- His sense of history and of the future: The child senses where he has been and sees the past as basically healthy and founda¬tional to the future. “See, 1 used to write this way and on these things, but now I’m going to do this and I’ll get better at it.”
- Has a sense of audience: “I know the kids will like this” or “I wonder if he’ll get this.”
- Initiates writing at home and to affect others. When children write at home, on their own and to affect others, they demon¬strate the best of the “lifelong” characteristics.
- Senses the appropriateness Of writing in a variety of genres: If I have shown children some of the uses of writing in their lives well as in science, math, and social studies, then 1 know they will be able to put writing to use. Now I look for signs that they do this on their own.
Teaching the Fundamentals
Learning Conventions –
Frank Smith: “Every act of putting marks on a page is an act of convention.”
Key Ideas:
1. Point out the conventions as the ch are already using them
2. Once they understand what they do: GD: “I want the ch to aspire to add more to their repertoire.”
Key Action:
• Short, small group or whole class
• About one convention at a time
• Mini-lessons are compulsory for some, voluntary for others
• Ch can help conduct mini-lessons
Help ch read their own work
A series of actions which can help teach ch to read their own work.
When Revision Is Difficult
There are many reasons why revision is difficult for some children. It depends on the circumstances and the child involved. Here are some signs to watch for:
• Lack of knowledge about the subject: If children are uninformed about their topic and unable to discuss content, they need to remedy the situation by finding out about their topic before they can consider revision.
• Lack of understanding about the uniqueness of writing: Writing is intended to transcend the writer in space and time. Unless children realize they may refer to this piece at another place and time, or understand that they will not be present when another person reads it, revision will not make much sense. Young children often believe they will be available to supply the extra information their readers may need. If your stu¬dents have this problem, set up projects that involve writing letters or sending a written piece to another class. (See Graves 1991, Chapter 4.)
• Lack of audience sense: “Why do I have to do anything with this? 1 know what it means.” In this instance the writer doesn’t necessarily care if the audience understands; she is merely writing for herself. Or the situation could be one in which the author is sure readers will understand what he means. It takes a great deal of practice before the writer can shift her point of view and play the part of reader of her own text. This is one reason why teachers have children share their own writing with a variety of audiences and act as audience for others. The teacher deliberately has children shift back and forth between the two roles of writer and reader.
• Motor problems: Some children, particularly boys, do not wish to rework a piece because the task is long and tedious. If this is a problem, I try to reduce the amount of writing that needs to be inserted. Using the computer is a great help to children with this problem. I find, however, that when children are genuinely interested in what they are writing (and write daily) problems in fine motor control are greatly reduced.
• Lack of time to write: When days pass (even only two or three) between one writing session and another, children lose inter¬est in a piece. Picking up the lost trail of an old idea can be a frustrating experience.
• Writes too much: How easy it is for children to lose control of a piece when it gets too long. This is particularly true in fiction writing. Some children, particularly girls, get caught up in a plot, lose sight of their characters, and simply don’t know what to do to help themselves. They wish to abandon the piece and start another. Workshops on character early in the process can help them gain control of their writing.
• Is unfamiliar with the genre: When children are not used to writing reports, poetry, or fiction, they do not know how to reread their work and revision is difficult for them. Work¬shops on these specific genres can begin to remedy this problem.
