Signature teachers
March 2014
The session will focus on identifying ways to
develop specific aspects of writing, particularly
use of vocabulary and sentence structure, with
a focus on actively engaging children in the
process of recognising and using “good” writing
techniques.
Writing structure
Detail
Modelled Writing
Teacher or adult writes for the child, group or
class, modelling the skill being taught
Shared Writing
Child or children actively engaged in writing
with the teacher or adult, again with a focus on
the skill being taught
Guided Writing
In guided writing the teacher will often have
identified different expectations, intentions,
success criteria for different groups, although
generally related to the modelled and share
focus. Guided writing can be part of the
classroom routine in the same way as guided
reading is.
Independent writing
Child applying skills taught within a purposeful
context, usually without teacher direction, but
is likely to include assessment guidance such as
learning focus
The ACCS document identifies four strands for
assessment of writing :
 Planning
 Ideas/ language development/ description/
author voice
 Use of forms and formats
 Accuracy – structure/ punctuation/grammar
and handwriting
Level
ACCS skill
2
Pupils can: express thoughts,
feelings and ideas from within their
experience using a general
vocabulary
3
Pupils can: provide supporting
detail, using expanding vocabulary
4
Pupils can express meaning clearly,
using an appropriate vocabulary
and level of detail
(strand 2;: communicate
information ,meaning, feelings,
imaginings and ideas ……)
What do you teach for ?
Alfred Noyes has done a great job in making the
highwayman a very interesting poem that has
something for everyone, like action, death,
romance and tension. The main characters are the
highwayman and Bess the landlord’s daughter who
are madly in love. In the poem he is quoted saying
‘One kiss, my bonny sweetheart’. However Tim the
ostler also is in love with Bess and is jealous of the
highwayman, so jealous that ‘his eyes were hollows
of madness’. He decides to betray them by telling
the Redcoats where to find him. ‘ King George's
men came marching, up to the old inn-door.’ The
Redcoats tied Bess up ‘They tied her up to
attention, with many a sniggering jest.’
There was a boat and I was on it. There were hundreds of other
people on it as well. Everyone was going to Blackpool and I was
getting something to eat. Then the people on the boat told me
to put on a life jacket so I did what I was told. Then I ran round
to my family. I asked what was happening but they didn’t no
eather and they had life jackets on as well. About five minutes
later everyone had them on and the captain told everyone what
happened. One of the perpellors broke off when the boat was
leaving and he said it would not be able to go much ferther.
The captain sent for help. They were giving signals and a boat
that was nearby got their sign for help. The rescures would still
be too late even if they were to go full speed so some people
got to go on small boats and there was only one boat left. So I
jumped on it and my family got on as well. And we stayed on it
until a big boat come and took us on.
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When I was at after school club I triped over a
mat and I hit my hand of a metel bar, broke my
arm it was like a banana sheap. Mr daz got
Miss cruin she took me to the hospital I waited
5 mins I saw a nurse she saw it and said it was
broke and took me to the childrens ward when
I went for an x-ray ther took it to time. after
the second x –ray I went to ward 32 at 10.00 I
went up to straight my arm I woke up at 11.40
I went to at 12.00. When I woke up I had
breakfast I had toast cearal and Tea.
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Importance of familiarisation –studying quality
author text to identify how the author is using the
sentences; use a “good” sentence to innovate
Don’t just have good words on the wall – put
them into sentences
Avoid over description – less is more with
adjectives
Teach the move from “and” to other connectives
Plan for sentences – when to use longer
sentences, when to go for short sentences
Teach punctuation orally so children can hear
purpose
Important to actively teach particularly through
problem solving in good text :
Simple sentencing – one clause, one event:
I like tea.
Compound sentencing – two clauses of equal
weight often joined by “and, but, so”:
I like tea and I like coffee.
Complex sentencing – a main and a subordinate
clause ( dependent on main clause to make sense) –
eg causal connective, relative clause eg who, which
I like coffee because it keeps me awake.
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Super Sentences
Grammar Dance
Just a minute
Bring the Noun Alive/Find the nouns
Sentence of three
- Not “tricks” but good ways to get children
actively engaged in self assessment
Seven ways to change a sentence:
 Add words
 Drop in chunks
 Add at the beginning
 Add at the end
 Reorder or change words
 Add a simile
 Special effects
Add words
The tiny bird flew down the busy road.
Drop in chunks eg ing/ed
The bird, struggling against the wind, flew
slowly down the road.
Add at the beginning
Struggling against the wind, the bird flew
slowly down the road.
Add at the end
The bird flew down the road, its wings
flapping slowly.
Re order or change words
Down the M1 flew the small green parrot.
Add a simile
Screeching like a barn owl, the tiny bird
flew down the road
Special effects
Flapping furiously, the bird flew down the
busy bypass.
Add words
Drop in chunks eg ing/ed
Add at the beginning
Add at the end
Re order or change words
Add a simile
Special effects
Focus : use of adverbs to extend description
Give a context eg “circus”. Children work in
pairs to create an image following specific
guidance eg with a focus on alliteration.
We are snakes, slithering slowly.
We are tigers, prowling proudly
Focus : use of adverbs to extend description,
extension focus on use of similes
Trolley (sound) : crashing…..
Man whose bag has burst (mood) :
Lady with two crying children ( action) :
Checkout assistant ( facial expression) :
One minute challenge – how many ways can you
describe a dog ?
angry
dog
The dog :
The dog barked.
The brown dog barked.
The scruffy brown dog barked
The door ate the king as the doughnut knocked
at the wolf.
Adjectives
small
scary
worried
Verbs
jumped
fell
smiled
Nouns
dog
girl
teacher
Adverbs
slowly
fearfully
happily
Choose one adjective, one verb, one noun and one adverb to
make a sentence – you can choose “A” or “The” to start your
sentence eg
A hairy monkey screeched
(adj) (noun)
(verb)
loudly .
(adverb)
For sentences where you are looking for detail
and description – also helps to avoid overuse of
“and”
Three action clauses - He raced down the road,
jumped over the gate and ran crazily.
Now try to follow on from :
She skipped out of school, _______ and ______
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What can you take away from this session?
Pick one activity you will try