Accelerating
progress in writing
Beliefs underpinning effective
teaching of writing
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Students will use their writing to think about, record and communicate
experiences ideas and information to meet specific learning purposes
across the curriculum.
Writing is one of the ways that we explore our understanding of the
world and discover the meaning of our experiences.
Writing contributes in its own special way to the growth and realization
of self, and enables us to discover, make clear and interpret events and
ideas. We therefore write for a purpose. (Dancing with the Pen, 1992)
Every student’s identity, language and culture is respected and valued.
Reading and writing are closely related and both are based on oral
language.
Oral and written language is imbedded in the competencies that are key
to learning in every curriculum area.
Students are learning to write to communicate a
range of ideas choosing relevant language,
content and detail.
“Every child has something to say – it is our job
to believe it and have our students believe it
too” Gail Loane, 2010
What do we mean by acceleration?
• Faster learning progress than normal than
student’s expected progress;
• Learning at a faster rate than their
classmates;
• Rapid rate bringing achievement
closer to standards.
• In order for this to happen something
has to change!
Focusing on:
• Ramblers who overuse repetition, often
with no link to audience and purpose
or;
• Students who often have the ideas
and knowledge but inaccurate
encoding or;
• The reluctant writer.
Am I designing lessons, tasks, and activities that align
what my students know now and what they need to
learn?
Do my students understand what they need to work on,
and what they have to do to improve?
Knowledge of literacy learning
Engaging learners with texts
• Improve your knowledge of language and text
forms
• Collecting models of text
• Developing expertise in deconstructing texts
• Understanding the process of writing
• Making links between reading and writing
Teacher Support Materials
Three aspects
of planning:
• Curriculum
• Context
• Students
What does this mean in
practice?
Lessons that are relevant, practical, illustrative & purposeful – across
all elements of writing
• Lessons about topics: ways to help writers develop ideas for
pieces of writing that will matter
• Lessons about principles of writing: ways to think and craft
deliberately to create meaningful, literary writing
• Lessons about genres: how to observe and name the qualities
and features of specific text forms & purposes
• Lessons about conventions: how marks and forms give writing
voice and power and make reading predictable and easy
Our students who find writing difficult do not
want to be faced with a task that seems long
and hard; they need to see how they can use
writing to record and communicate their their
ideas quickly and often - many times a day.
Short bursts of practice will develop skills as
they progress along the continuum, towards
being independent and strategic writers.
Support material
• Ramblers who overuse repetition, often with no
link to audience and purpose or;
• Students who often have the ideas and
knowledge but inaccurate encoding or;
• The reluctant writer.
Use this to inform your specific planning for
target students – aligned with teacher inquiry/
target review and “What the student can do”
chart.