A snapshot of Teacher Practice Data Collation:
Effective writing practice across the curriculum-June 2013
The purpose of this report is to collect baseline data to inform the next steps for professional
learning and development with a focus of writing across the curriculum.
This data collected is a snapshot of the day and can only be analysed as such. On another day
the profile might look completely different, however it does give us a snapshot of the tasks
and instructions delivered to students on one day. If I observed an instruction or task linked
to the effective writing principles then I recorded it as observed. The two classes followed
were a year 8 and year 9 class. Subjects observed were: English x2, health, science x2,
mathematics, Spanish, social studies (technology & P.E. had practical sessions and their data is
not included).
Effective Writing Practice
Effec ve Wri ng Prac ce: A snapshot yr 8/9 ACG, June 2013
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Make literacy learning explicit for every wri ng task
Ac vate students' prior knowledge
Make deliberate links between reading & wri ng
Make deliberate links between speaking & wri ng
Develop vocabulary & vocabulary solving skills
Support students to generate ideas
Support students to structure their wri ng
Give feedback/feedforward
This bar chart represents how many times I observed each of the 8 principles of effective
writing instruction. NB: I would not expect to see all of these principles reflected in one
lesson however it does allow us to identify what writing instruction teachers already use and
what areas we could develop.
Time spent on task
Speaking
13%
Listening
45%
Reading
17%
Wri ng
25%
Time spent on task
This pie graph represents
the amount of time
students spent learning
through the four different
modes: speaking, reading,
writing & listening. Most
tasks were individual
100%
worksheets where students could read and write to show understanding. In one class
students were working collaboratively with the worksheet so opportunities for clarification
was available. The sector of the pie that represents speaking was mainly in the form of whole
class discussion with the teacher.
Student voice
I do a lot of writing in all my subjects. I am not very good (at writing) because my mum
picks up a lot of errors in my writing. (A goal I have is) I want to use more meaningful
words, in well-structured sentences and improve my grammar. This is my own goal –
nobody has told me that. Teachers help me by writing the question on the board getting
everybody’s ideas- so I have lots of ideas to write with.
How do you know if you have done this worksheet to an excellent level?
I don’t know- I guess no blank lines.
How does the worksheet help you answer the question?
It specifies the detail to look for.
If you had a similar research question, would you need this worksheet next time?
Probably not- I need to find information that not everybody knows.
I find Science hard-it is the writing. We have to write scientific explanations and I just
write random stuff and hope that it is right. It is hard work and takes brainpower!
I am so lost it is unbelievable.
What makes it hard?
The scale- everything has to be exactly right.
I learnt that Hydrogen is diatomic.
If you had to explain what that means how would you do it?
Look at the periodic table and find the diatomic atoms.
We did lots of writing (in technology) in the first Term. Lots of analysis and stuff. The
hardest part was the really unusual words, which I can’t even remember).
My English teacher shows us examples in writing so we know what excellence in writing
looks like. (For structure in essay writing, I have used) Point, Explanation, Example, WIT
(WHAT I THINK)