Using Authorship to promote better writers – Part 11

WHAT?

The lesson started with the children forming a circle on the mat and having their spider diagram ready. I discussed what we had done in the previous lesson and how the children needed to have recorded 2 ‘whens’ – how did they know the event was over, the event, and a listing sentence showing the reader what was there.

I modelled on the whiteboard my ‘spider’ diagram to show them how to use it to begin writing their poem. By making the children reread the exemplar I asked them to help me imitate the style and structure from the author. I was explicit in saying to the class that we were only working on writing only one stanza at a time. The children were again wobbly on the correct name of the ‘verses’ so recapped this as well.

I again lead the children to share the text type and its purpose before modelling my own piece of writing called ‘Bridge’. I used ‘think alouds’ and deliberately asked the children to suggest any ideas that they had to develop the writing. The children were then asked to visualise once more to make sure they hadn’t forgotten any important details of their event.

The children were then able to write and share with a partner their success for the first stanza of their holiday poem. Some of the children did struggle with creating a simile but as they were sat in a circle, there were many suggestions from their peers to help. There were a couple of children who wanted to write their listing sentence for the second stanza so I let them get on with writing.

I worked extensively with my more reluctant writers in order to get them on board to understand that their message was just as important as the others in the class. One child needed me to scribe for him as he struggles to get his actual ideas recorded in a timely fashion. I used a whiteboard marker and wrote directly onto the table for the other children who worked on the teaching table with me.

The next day most of the children recorded their listing sentence with little intervention and the class were ready to finish the poem using the exemplar and the last part of their spider diagram. I again modelled using the structure of the exemplar and told the children I was imitating the ideas from the last stanza as I only wanted to change one line about the part where I still have much to learn about playing Bridge.

As part of my behaviour management in my class I am trying to promote children leading the learning so I encouraged the more able children to help the less able in order to finish their poem using the structure modelled and what they had finished. The final part of this writing lesson was for the children to share their ‘holiday’ poem with the rest of the class.

SO WHAT?

By making the writing more do-able the children are more willing to get writing although there are a couple who still don’t follow the structure and success criteria. One child in the class who is always quick to understand the concepts asked if he could publish his poem using keynote. I had to encourage him to use his expertise to help and lead others.

When marking I was generally pleased with their efforts and the poems that they have produced are great way to record a holiday experience without relying on the usual.

NOW WHAT?

My next steps are to be more specific still on what the structure looks like and not assume that everyone has it. I need to make charts that show the type of language feaures and vocabulary, we have used and refer back to these when teaching and to create a bank of scaffolds for the children.

I now need to find an exemplar that will build on the children’s experiences and still continue to build on their new knowledge but in another written form not a poem.

“Even the longest book is read and was written one word at a time.” 
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana