This week our school has spent two days at workshops with Gail Loane to enhance our writing programmes. I have her book 'I've got something to say' and hoped after going to her workshops the book would make more sense - I was not disappointed.
We began by being reminded that writing is an important and deeply satisfying skill and that all children have something to say - they all have their own experiences to share. As teachers we want to build independent writers.
There are four areas we looked at - personal - what is going on in their lives; local - what is going on in my community; national - what is going on in our country; global - what is going on in our world. As teachers we need to be aware of what is happening around us - be more observant.
We were introduced to 'quick write' and a jottings notebook. A quick write is an opportunity to jot down what you think about something that is happening. It is a tool for thinking and something to build on. A jotting notebook is just that - a notebook children use to write down thoughts, ideas, wonderings, opinions or draw. These 'jottings' can be turned in to a larger piece of writing at a later date.
Gail showed us how to use 'other authors' texts for our models when designing lessons. Having a model is really important in all aspects of writing. We learnt about 'helping circles' and always referring back to the author asking them to elaborate on what they are saying.
She talked about 'storytelling' and how it is an important part of writing as it enables children to get images in their head. This is something to work on in my junior class - sharing a story orally rather than shared writing and getting them to visualise before writing.
The workshop focused on the process of writing and the question was asked about punctuation - the dreaded capital letter and full stop. Again having models and talking explicitly about punctuation is needed. Children need to notice and become aware of punctuation. Punctuation is a courtesy for the reader.
I gained a lot from the workshops having come away asking myself how am I going to implement some of these ideas into my class programme. I need to be more explicit in my teaching of writing - focus on making the story they write enjoyable for the reader.
I am a learner writer alongside my students. Children need to know writing is about them and their life - a memoir - real life, real reason.
