| Writing
- We will give them the forms of sentences and, if they have any ideas, they will know how to write them. But that is preposterous ... To learn to write is to learn to have ideas
(Robert Frost, 1995, p.724).
- General knowledge of how to perform a writing activity will not ensure that students will be able to carry out the task
(Grabe and Kaplan, 1996, p.244).
Writing is the hardest language mode. Its challenges fall at the levels of composition (the text), and transcription (the sentence, and the word). In particular, young writers need help to bring active reflection, or metacognition, to bear if they are to break out of the ’what next’ trap (Sharples 1999), to make the vital transition from speech-like writing to coherent texts, and to control the essential writing genres, and surface accuracy, independently.
Perhaps the commonest mistake we make, especially with low-achieving writers, is to prioritise their surface errors. Accurate transcription, no matter how important, is never the point of a writing task, except in school. Failing and underachieving students know all about their surface errors; it is often why they are reluctant writers. First, they need help to find writing the purposeful and rewarding activity that it undoubtedly can be.
Schools that have been most effective with the writing of low and underachieving students have:
- prioritised the text level, making writing activities real with:
- relevant purposes
- real readerships
- ‘publication’
- supported planning (and the ready revision of plans) with:
- graphical approaches (mind maps, spider diagrams, columns, boxes...)
- IT programmes
- grouped planning activities
- displaying and discussing plans
- writing frames
- hamburger paragraphing for argument (proposition=bread bun; evidence= meat; discussion of evidence and implications etc = bread bun) http://parentpals.com
- distinguished sharply between re-drafting or revising (text level) and proof-reading (word and sentence level)
- giving both explicit attention
- using buddy systems and IT for revising
- placing proof-reading last, but
- promoting independence with prompt sheets, cue cards, paired work, and IT.
 
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