Accelerated learning in Literacy (Writing)

Over the last three weeks, I have been working with a small group of writers. These writers have identified themselves as struggling to generate ideas, add elaboration and choosing quality vocab to improve their writing.

The students were given this picture and had to label it using descriptive language.

From their labelled picture, there were able to write a short descriptive.  Here are their descriptions.

Wet slippery wood hits my feet as I step foot onto the bridge. Underneath the yuck mossy bridge, there is a crystal clear, calm river. The thick hard rope bounces as I jump. The beefy hard rope is so hard to get my hand around. The glossy wet metal shows the reflection of the sun.
Student 1

On the bashing bridge, the salty smell shattered boulders, making a bashing song. The old river is as clear as a diamond. The swaying trees that make the fresh air are whistling up the side of the mountain.
Student 2

The sound of the raging river smashing against the firm rocks. The bridge was made out of solid metal, strong wood and firm ropes. Behind it, the mountain as tall as a skyscraper. Swaying trees smashing against the rocks.
Student 3

At the strong bridge, there is a lot of huge trees and humongous rocks, that if you fall you can die. On the humongous rocks, there are lots of huge trees to climb up. If you jump off the sturdy bridge, you will get hurt because the river is shallow.
Student 4

There is a creaky bridge handing above the deadly hardcore rocks. The water is smashing up against them which is allowing an avalanche to explode causing the bridge the break in half.
Student 5

Reflection

The students have enjoyed writing lists to plan for writing. They have shown an increased motivation to participate in our group sessions, and two of the six students have shown increased confidence to participate and take risks with their learning.

My next step is to find out how I can extend their planning from creating lists to adding details to their plan.

Term 3 Professional Inquiry

What are the priorities for my target learners? How are they going in relation to these priorities?

Scanning:  Target students are not able to identify what they need to be able to improve their learning. 

Focusing: I would like my students to focus on setting goals within the writing curriculum to improve their output quality.

Inquiry Question: Will using goal setting strategies with my target writers make them able to choose sensible ‘next’ steps. How will the goal-setting look? What resources will I need to support these students to set SMART goals?

Developing a hunch:  

I will need to

• Unpack Level 3 of the New Zealand writing expectations with my students.
• Provide exemplars of what each of the expectations looks like within level 3. 
• Unpack students writing, and identify which areas they need to improve on.
• Encourage students to order their areas of improvement, starting with areas that will make the most impact on their writing.

What do I need to know/learn in order to effectively respond to these priorities?

• Expectations of Level 3 writing
• Exemplars of level 3 writing
• How to set SMART goals with students
• How to unpack the literacy progressions into kids speak with the students.

Therefore what are my development goals?

Taking action: 

• Find ‘kid-speak’ level 3 learning outcomes.
• Display their goals on pencils.
• Kid speak writing progressions from TKI 
• Find professional readings about improving writing outcomes through goal setting. 
• Setting literacy goals and recording progress

Focus for Term 3 - Accelerating Literacy Learning in Writing.

This term I have identified 6 students that need a boost with their writing development. I have never been part of the ALL programme, but with support from my colleagues, I intend to run a 5-week intensive writing programme for these 6 students.

These students have shown that they struggle to generate and develop their ideas. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be reading a variety of publications and resources to find activities, lessons and ideas I can use next term with this group. I will be sharing all the resources and ideas here and will reflect on how they were used during the term to come.

Today I came across the "success for boys" page on TKI. This was recommended to me by another colleague. The first resource that stood out for me was the story starters. These look great.  Students watch an animated short film and then have to write what they think would happen next.  This would great for students to discuss vocab, creative ideas, etc.

Another resource on the Success for Boys page was the "Game of Awesome". I have used this before in my class, but not to the extent identified on the Teacher Support Material. I like how the students are able to plan out their story using the templates provided. Once students get into this game, the next step could be to create their own cards using the templates provided. This will give the students a purpose for writing.