Orally plan stories in pairs and groups so that students know what they are going to write about before they write.
Write with children as well as for them e.g. help them with their story plan and ‘open out the story’ where possible. If the story falters, ask the student to dictate that section to you and then you leave them to finish off the story according to the discussed plan.
Encourage students to write stories that are close versions of known stories. This allows them to get into the habit of writing without also having to think too much about what to write.
Suggest students write themselves into an existing plot. How do the other characters react? What role do they play in the unfolding of the plot?
Set the task of writing the dialogue for a scene which is told in authorial voice.
Encourage ‘writing partners’ who write for and with one another, becoming the ‘absent audience’ that young writers find so difficult to cater for.
Give students the experience of orally creating a story and recording it. (This is where their phones might come in handy.) They, can then write their story as a dictation from the recording.
They should complete a story plan (with your support) and use the plan as a prompt for the storytelling. If the storytelling falters you could prompt with questions e.g. So what did you do then?
Give very short writing tasks (e-mails, postcards, memos) which stress the communication rather than the entertainment aspects of writing.
Give clear guidance about the importance (or lack of importance) of spelling in any particular writing task. If it is a learning objective then ensure writers are equipped with spelling support – useful subject words, high frequency word lists, a bank of useful phrases. Also give the child strategies for indicating a spelling attempt e.g. leaving a line. Encourage the use of invented spelling.
Write with children as well as for them e.g. help them with their story plan and ‘open out the story’ where possible. If the story falters, ask the student to dictate that section to you and then you leave them to finish off the story according to the discussed plan.
Encourage students to write stories that are close versions of known stories. This allows them to get into the habit of writing without also having to think too much about what to write.
Suggest students write themselves into an existing plot. How do the other characters react? What role do they play in the unfolding of the plot?
Set the task of writing the dialogue for a scene which is told in authorial voice.
Encourage ‘writing partners’ who write for and with one another, becoming the ‘absent audience’ that young writers find so difficult to cater for.
Give students the experience of orally creating a story and recording it. (This is where their phones might come in handy.) They, can then write their story as a dictation from the recording.
They should complete a story plan (with your support) and use the plan as a prompt for the storytelling. If the storytelling falters you could prompt with questions e.g. So what did you do then?
Give very short writing tasks (e-mails, postcards, memos) which stress the communication rather than the entertainment aspects of writing.
Give clear guidance about the importance (or lack of importance) of spelling in any particular writing task. If it is a learning objective then ensure writers are equipped with spelling support – useful subject words, high frequency word lists, a bank of useful phrases. Also give the child strategies for indicating a spelling attempt e.g. leaving a line. Encourage the use of invented spelling.
