On the Write Track
puts teachers’ autonomy and their knowledge of what is right for their pupils at the heart of teaching writing. It explores a set of research-based principles, before illustrating these with case studies and examples of classroom practice.
Writing is about communication. Learning to write gives children a voice that others will listen to – a voice they can use to share their ideas, articulate their feelings, amuse and delight their readers and argue for what they believe in.
While every child, every teacher and every classroom are different, approaches to teaching writing can sometimes feel prescriptive, whether they are based on a particular curriculum model, commercial scheme, assessment system or underlying philosophy.
This book provides freedom and choice by introducing a series of ‘tracks’ for writing teaching, including practical approaches to:
Building a community of writers in the classroom
Employing a process-led sequence for teaching writing
Encouraging children to write for pleasure and share their own interests
Exploring the use of rich and diverse texts as fuel for writing
Drawing on spoken language and oracy to develop written communication
Teaching grammar and punctuation to support writing
Utilising feedback to help children develop their writing voice
Using drama and play as starting points for writing
Through considering these different tracks and thinking about how to weave them together into a coherent whole, teachers can help every child to make the journey to being a confident, skilled, keen writer.