At Hallsville Primary, teachers have found that there is not one magic ingredient for creating quality independent writing, but many. What do they think is the most important? Reading: “We have found that the longer you linger with the text, the better the independent outcomes are”.
Getting to the end point – real, quality independent writing
Emma Mann, from Penn Wood Primary, tells us how they get their pupils to the end point – real, quality independent writing. The stages of Talk for Writing support ‘the end point’, i.e. getting children to write well independently. In order to do this, we follow ‘imitation, innovation, independent application’.
Winds in the North West – a Mary Poppins inspired unit of work
Following Talk for Writing training, Headteacher Sue Jackson invited an enthusiastic staff to plan a unit of work based on a creative hook and quality texts. This unit of work in Year 4 is based on Mary Poppins and exemplifies some key aspects of the Talk for Writing teaching sequence in action.
Teaching languages through iLanguages and Talk for Writing
Louise St John explains how Victoria Road Primary School is using iLanguages and its links to the Talk for Writing approach to enhance the children’s ability to communicate in French and Spanish.
Teaching science at Selby using Talk for Writing
Tom Wrigglesworth, Year 6 teacher at Selby Community Primary School, explains how the Talk for Writing approach can enhance learning in science and develop vocabulary across the curriculum.
Talk for Writing saves the day in Thailand!
A Foundation Stage teacher working at Penn Wood in Slough employed Talk for Writing methods when called upon to unexpectedly teach English to children living in a Thai village. By the end of the session they all understood the plot of The Gingerbread Man and were able to use the English words.
Story Songs CD ROM
Pie Corbett has collaborated with Early Years music expert Steve Grocott to produce the Story Songs CD ROM. This collection is about how to bring the story out of your songs and how to put music into your stories. Emphasising the musical elements of a story is a very good way of calling forth active engagement from a young audience.
The Three Little Pigs at Highbank Primary
Highbank Primary and Nursery School posted a video on Twitter of a child in F1 (Nursery 2) telling the story of The Three Little Pigs to her peers. She is sat in the storytelling chair and is using key language and occasional actions to assist the flow of the story – she has the other children completely hooked.
Storymapping in China
Cara O’Connor, a teacher at Robin Hood Academy in Birmingham, tells us how she took Talk for Writing to the Chinese capital: “It was brilliantly received. The class teacher loved seeing a different way of teaching literacy especially the idea of story mapping and using the actions. It worked brilliantly”.
What is iLanguages?
iLanguages is a new scheme of work based which is ideal for non linguists. It employs a Talk for Writing approach with active and collaborative learning.