In this blog entry I am going to discuss the importance of teaching writing and representing in the Elementary School classroom. Discussing writing in school brings up an interesting memory for me. I remember entering university and taking my first English class. It was after receiving my first graded essay, which was almost twenty percent lower than what I normally received in High School, that I realized I did not have a proper writing technique. This was a huge eye opening moment and I had to work incredibly hard to conquer this obstacle. It also made me reflect about how writing is taught throughout the Elementary, Middle, and High School years.
Learning to write is an extremely important area of our schooling process. There is hardly any possible career where having a proper writing technique is not needed. Therefore, teaching students to write as early as possible can only be beneficial to their overall writing development. The sooner they are introduced to aspects of writing, the more time and experience they will have to work at it. Since writing is such an important skill, it is also vital for students to develop an interest in their writing. Taking advantage of creative writing opportunities and incorporating draw can help children enjoy writing rather than viewing it as a boring school task. It is also important to remember that drawing is a form of language and can be very beneficial to younger children who are not capable of writing yet since it allows them to communicate and develop their sense of language.
The importance of writing/representing is expressed in the IRP with the following: "Learning to write assists children in their reading; in their learning to read, children also gain insight that helps them as writers. But writing is more than an aid to learning to read; it is an important curricular goal. Through writing children express themselves, clarify their thinking, communicate ideas, and integrate new information into their knowledge base" (IRP, p. 5). As you can see from this quotation, writing/representing is an essential skill that is needed in everyday situations throughout the entire life course. Thus, developing writing skills in early years can help children develop their creative expression, how they interact with others, and allow for greater understanding of new concepts they encounter throughout the years.
The key concepts taught regarding writing/representing varies from grade to grade. Since this blog is focusing on Grade 1, this is what I will be discussing. In addition to the topics focused upon in Kindergarten (creating messages using pictures and different symbols, copying words and using invented spelling, and printing letters and simple words), Grade 1 also involves writing short passages, using simple sentence construction and punctuation, and printing legible words and letters (IRP, p. 6). I think that all of these concepts are incredibly important to teach to students since they can all be built upon as they increase grade levels. In Grade 1, there will be a wide range of writing abilities, with some students writing clear, precise sentences, while others can hardly print their own names. By getting students started with journal writing, they are able to practice their basic writing techniques and use previous entries to view their progression. Since only 20-40% of the curriculum is dedicated to writing/representing only so many key concepts or practices can be included in each grade level.
The progression of key concepts throughout the Elementary and Middle School years follows a model of writing development proposed by James Moffett (1979), where a hierarchy of levels is described. These levels are as follows:
- drawing or writing; where children are struggling to understand the system of written language by attempting to replicate it
- children copy from models; the focus is on learning how to correctly form letters and sentences
- paraphrasing; children take someone else's words and write them in their own
- crafting; the generation of meaning by focusing on the structure of a piece and using the most effective way of communicating meaning to the reader
- revision of inner speech; involves expressing and shaping one's own thoughts.
The inclusion of all of these levels of writing will lead to the ability to write proficiently and develop a technique that will continue to be beneficial through the High School and Post-Secondary years. Moffett (1979) maintains that with the inclusion of these five levels of writing in the classroom, children are more likely to be successful and skilful writers (Bainbridge, 265). As mentioned earlier, I think it is really important not to disregard drawing when teaching writing/representing, especially in the younger grades. Some children, who do not consider themselves strong writers, may need drawing to communicate their thoughts. Drawing is a great starting point for writing language and developing ideas.
I also think teaching the strategies of writing is an important topic to cover in Elementary School. These strategies include: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and presenting. These are essential steps that increase our understanding of how and what to include in our written work. By working with writing in these steps it also allows for some social interaction in the writing process. For example, after finishing a first draft this is a good opportunity for students to peer-share their work and give one another feedback. This allows for conversations where ideas can flow and develop between classmates, thus assisting in the next step of the writing process. This overall idea involves a great quote from my Language Arts textbook: "When children work collaboratively in the writing process they have opportunities to explore the gap between thought and speech" (Bainbridge, 288). Sometimes we need to vocally discuss an idea in order for it to develop since it can be difficult to put a thought into words. Working together and discussing their writing is an important area of ELA that needs to be included as much as possible in order for students to continue their writing/representing development.
In my Language Arts class I read an article by Jennifer Savage where there were a few activities I would love to use in my classroom to support writing/representing. One of these activities involved the use of Beanie Babies in a writing project. Students choose one of the animals and write information describing it on a card without stating what animal it actually is (i.e., It lives in a jungle, has a long neck, etc.). After writing out their descriptions, students attempt to guess what animal is being described on one another's cards. I absolutely love this activity because it is fun and motivating for students and it satisfies many of the Prescribed Learning Outcomes, described in the IRP, which must be incorporated into classroom lessons. Another activity described in Savage's article involved "Think Pads." Here students use their think pads to attempt writing words they do not know how to spell. I think this is a great idea for helping students learn to spell, as well as encouraging them to be more independent in their school work. Lastly, Savage explains how she added picture cues to poems, charts, and words in order to assist a child in her class who had special needs, and used these cues in her everyday lessons. I think this is a wonderful idea to assist in learning different words, helping students who are visual learners, as well as meeting the needs of students with limited speech or other special needs.
Personally I love to write, whether it is in the form of creative writing or academic essays in my university classes. One of my top objectives when I begin teaching is to help students develop a similar love for their writing so they can be successful in all their writing endeavors!
*References:
- Bainbridge, J., Heydon, R., & Malicky, G. (2009). "Constructing Meaning: Balancing Elementary Language Arts." Nelson Education.
- Savage, J. "How can I effectively use the First Steps Writing program in my classroom?"
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