Teaching writing in Year 3
Writing is taught in daily literacy lessons through whole class teaching and independent work where children apply their knowledge and skills. Teaching and learning is reinforced and extended as children write for a range of purposes and audiences across the curriculum.
The teaching of writing fits into a sequence that begins with oral work and shared reading and moves into sentence level teaching involving active investigation of grammatical features and their effects. Teaching then moves on into teacher-led shared writing and this provides a framework for children’s independent writing. This sequence takes place alongside the systematic teaching of spelling and handwriting. (See sections on: Teaching reading; Constructing a unit of work – the teaching sequence; Teaching word reading skills and strategies; Teaching sentence structure and punctuation.)
Literacy lessons
Shared writing is the principal means of teaching writing in literacy lessons and scaffolds independent writing. The aim is always to help children move towards greater independence in their writing so children have regular opportunities to apply what they have learnt and produce finished pieces of writing.
Shared writing
· Rationale and organisation: The teacher works with the whole class to demonstrate and explore the decisions that writers make in the process of composition. It is a powerful teaching tool because teaching is at the point of writing rather than through correcting children’s errors at the end of the writing process. The teacher writes on a whiteboard (or IWB) as the children observe. The teacher explains the choices that they are making and ensures that the children are actively involved through questioning and discussion. Shared writing scaffolds learning. The teacher takes responsibility for spelling and transcribing allowing the children to focus on composition.
· Focus for teaching: The teacher is not simply writing ideas suggested by the children in shared writing but has a clear focus for teaching. Shared writing sessions focus on particular objectives to demonstrate and explore aspects of learning at text and sentence level. These objectives are shared with the class and children learn how to identify success criteria for their own writing.
The teacher makes the links between reading and writing explicit by using structures from reading, e.g. for narrative structure or to organise a non-chronological report. During the year the teacher demonstrates how to decide on a form that suits the audience and purpose for the writing, e.g. using elements of different non-fiction text types when presenting information from research.
The teacher models the process of grouping material into paragraphs to organise the text effectively. Children learn how to apply sentence level learning about the use of connecting words and phrases to link a series of paragraphs. Shared writing also provides the context to put learning about sentence construction and vocabulary choice into practice. The teacher models the process, and children are involved in a variety of ways so that they develop their confidence and understanding.
· Teaching techniques: There are three broad teaching techniques used during shared writing. They form a sequence that supports children’s increasing independence and this sequence is used over several literacy lessons.
Teacher demonstration: The teacher begins the sequence by demonstrating how to write a particular text. They have planned this in advance and do not take contributions from the class about the content at this stage. The teacher thinks aloud, rehearsing sentences before writing and explaining choices about improving sentence construction or word choice. They constantly and cumulatively re-read to check for improvements and errors. Demonstration is usually limited to about 3-4 sentences and focused on the teaching objective.
Teacher scribing: The teacher continues to write building on the initial demonstration and inviting the children to make contributions. They are asked for suggestions on how the text should be written. Children frequently use dry-wipe boards in these sessions either individually or in pairs. They can note down their own ideas in answer to a question and then hold up the boards. The teacher uses the children’s suggestions in different ways, e.g. to make assessments of children’s understanding; initiate discussion about making the best choice; correct misconceptions; choose a suggestion that will move the lesson on.
Supported composition: The children take over the composition, working individually or in pairs to write a limited amount of text focusing on a particular objective. They use whiteboards or notebooks, write quickly and hold up their sentences so that the teacher can make an immediate assessment. They discuss successful examples and correct misconceptions so that the children will make quick progress and be confident to apply the objective when they write independently.
Independent and Guided Writing
· Scaffolding independent writing: The sequence of teaching techniques in shared writing prepares children to write independently and can provide a scaffold for their writing, e.g. by preparing a plan for a narrative that the children then follow; beginning a dialogue between two characters for the children to complete; making notes to expand on when writing a non-chronological report.
· Increasing autonomy: In Year 3 children will work towards increasing autonomy in their independent writing and will gradually need less scaffolding to support them, e.g. by the end of the year they will plan a narrative with a clear beginning, middle and end and a logical sequence of events.
The aim is for Year 3 children to bring together all that they have learnt about composition, transcription and spelling as they write independently. They will apply skills demonstrated in shared writing such as cumulatively re-reading their writing, checking and improving as they go along. They will use a neat and legible handwriting style and apply their knowledge of word structure and spelling as they attempt unfamiliar words.
The teacher provides regular opportunities for children to use the skills they have learnt and make their own choices about the content and presentation of their written work.
· Guided writing: Children may receive additional support in ability based groups to focus on developing particular aspects of the writing process. The teacher supports and prompts the children and they write their own text. Guided writing focuses on: supporting children with planning and drafting; supporting the process of editing and revising work in progress; providing differentiated support for particular groups of children.
Feedback on learning
Children are given regular feedback about their writing so that they can evaluate their own success and understand what they need to improve.
· Sharing learning objectives and success criteria: The teacher explains the objectives at the beginning of shared writing sessions, focuses on specific objectives in supported composition and discusses what the children will need to remember when they are writing independently. The children then have success criteria for their writing and can check that they are meeting these criteria as they draft, check and revise their work.
· Oral and written feedback: As children are writing independently, the teacher monitors and gives oral feedback about their learning. If they are encountering difficulties, the teacher encourages them to see the challenge as an opportunity for new learning. At intervals, the teacher involves the class or a group in marking a piece of writing, e.g. in a plenary session. Children analyse and discuss the work using the success criteria.
Marking focuses on the learning objective for that particular piece of writing. The teacher identifies examples of success and focuses on one or two areas to improve. Children have time to carry out the suggested improvements and this helps them to then apply then to their writing in the future.
· Peer and self-assessment: Children learn how to discuss their work with a partner, building up routines during the year as they identify strengths and make suggestions about one another’s work. Children have opportunities to review and evaluate their own writing. They are aware of the progress they are making and know what they need to do to improve.
Beyond Literacy lessons
Writing across the curriculum
· The writing skills that children learn in literacy lessons should be applied automatically in their independent writing across the curriculum. Although skills are demonstrated and practised within literacy lessons, children will develop confidence and autonomy as they apply the learning consistently in different contexts, e.g. in PE lessons children have explored a selection of invasion games and they are asked to record the rules for a particular game. They organise and present the rules using what they have learnt about instructional texts.
Source material/further information[1]
Teaching Literacy and Mathematics in Year 3 DfES 0495/2003
Grammar for Writing DfEE 0107/2000
Excellence and Enjoyment: learning in the primary years – Assessment for Learning DfES 0521-2004 G
[1] Any references to the NLS ‘searchlights model’ in these documents need to be interpreted in the light of the recommendations of the Rose review.