Talk for Writing

The Philosophy for Our Project

The philosophy for our objectives are linked to theory and have been developed through creativity and thoughtful reading. As the children in this Year 6 class displayed signs of being reluctant writers, in some regards, we have tried to engage the class in writing activities which have a genuine purpose (Riley, 1999). The concerns from the class teacher were not isolated as the report from Ofsted 'English at the Crossroads' (2009) found; children's overall ability in writing is far lower than their ability in reading, and as such the government has responded to this lack of attainment. 

We decided to survey the class to seek reasons for their lack of motivation and then set goals with their interests in mind (Chamberlain, 2007).  A central feature of the project has been to develop 'Talk for Writing', however it is noted that effective and confident talk can only prosper in a climate where children feel able to make mistakes when thinking aloud (Dass and Kaur, 1999). Despite the factors that limit effective talk it is "...widely regarded by educators as an indispensable base for reading and writing" (Crowhurst, 1993, p. 24). When children have an open dialogue with one another they can become partners in engaging critically with their ideas (Cox, 2011). The children highlighted that they wanted to share their ideas with partners more often in class. In response we designed and produced a selection of literacy warm-up games. These starters are intended to be used to fire children's brains up and are developed by Pie Corbett. An example is provided from the 'Everybody Writes' website. 

Ink Waster  

To warm up the brain and get into a creative mood - give the children a topic and ask them to write as much as they can in, say, one minute.  Time them and ask them to count the number of words then try again with another topic. They should write as rapidly as possible. This limbers up and frees up the mind.