PREPARATION for Writing
Children need to be expecting to write, and wanting to write. They should not share the teacher's fear that they might make a mistake! (The teacher should not be focused on that either, of course!)
The Classroom - the place where they spend a lot of their daylight hours - should be full of
Even if the teacher has to spend a little more time outside of class teaching time! However, by involving the children, a lot can be done as part of teaching.
Here are some easy ideas:
The Classroom - the place where they spend a lot of their daylight hours - should be full of
- print material
- pictures
- language - in print and heard
- ideas
- fun
- things to be curious about
- opportunities to learn
- encouragement to learn
- reassurance that it is OK to make mistakes while learning
- opportunities to share their learning
Even if the teacher has to spend a little more time outside of class teaching time! However, by involving the children, a lot can be done as part of teaching.
Here are some easy ideas:
1. Posters
The classroom walls and pin-up boards are a wonderful and under-utilised resource in many schools. Most of the materials that are there are
Even if you are not the home room teacher with the right to decorate the room, there is always a section of pin-up board for English which it is your duty to fill.
Materials should be bright, and fresh, and frequently referred to. The material could even be produced by the children themselves - something they wrote!
The children should be eager to see what new treasure you have for them. So
Here are a few of the things you could display on the wall / pin-up board:
- old
- faded
- tatty and torn
- irrelevant
- NEVER LOOKED AT!
Even if you are not the home room teacher with the right to decorate the room, there is always a section of pin-up board for English which it is your duty to fill.
Materials should be bright, and fresh, and frequently referred to. The material could even be produced by the children themselves - something they wrote!
The children should be eager to see what new treasure you have for them. So
- Surprise them with something new and interesting.
- Challenge them to take note of and use the new material - have a quiz / game
- Reward them for doing so.
Here are a few of the things you could display on the wall / pin-up board:
- Vocabulary that is new (not too many at one go) - ask children to draw a picture for each item, choose the best ones to display proudly, but make sure it's not always the same children's work that gets displayed. Every week there should be fresh items. AND there should be an opportunity (quiz or game) for children to demonstrate that they have looked at the material.
- Stories that are new. Children could illustrate stories you have told to them or read to them, and a selection displayed. For listening and speaking you could ask children to comment on the story and the pictures.
- Writing by the children - whether creative writing or just the regular informative writing from the text book. If you want them to write in their exercise books to keep as evidence, pick some of the better ones and provide some nice coloured paper for them the write it out clearly with decoration / illustration. Display it for a week or two. Have a quiz to make sure other children have read the stories. (See Creative Writing page.)
- Something curious - A fun fact, a 'did you know?' poster. Find an interesting, relevant piece of information or something in the news. It doesn't matter if the children don't know all of the words (yet). If there is an interesting picture they will be curious and want to learn. After a day or so, discuss the information, have a game or quiz, encourage them to look it up in computer class.
- A challenging task - Set a task for them to do in their own time. It could be something very practical like: "How many spoonfuls of water are there in a bottle?" No, it's not an 'English' task, but they have to read it and reply in English. Or it could be something they need to find out on the Internet. (Make sure you check for sites first.) Make sure there is a reward for everyone who tries. Change the task every week or two.
- A competition - again it could be practical. For example: "Who can throw and catch a ball without dropping the most times?" Or it could be more bookish. For Example: "Who can think of the most names of animals?" When some of the children rise to the challenge, have a play off and let them prove it. Reward all who try (not just winners), and change the challenge every week or so.
- A star chart - A simple class list with all of the children's names. The teacher puts stars (stick or draw) next to their names when they work hard / try / do something good ... whatever. Sometimes when the whole class is good you might want to give everyone a star. Make sure there is no child who has no stars - find a reason to reward them. Start a new chart every couple of weeks. Reward the children with the most stars.
preparation_for_writing.pdf | |
File Size: | 439 kb |
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2. Individual ATTENTION
Every child can really benefit from a bit of individual attention.
Too many children in the class? Find a way to see every child. This is the skill of being a teacher.
As the children are writing, walk around and look over each shoulder and comment and encourage. If you haven't got around the whole class and some have finished, let them go and look at the posters on the wall. Don't miss the children in the back corners, and the less beautiful children.
They are uncomfortable when you do that? That's only because they are not used to it.
If the children are trying to hide their work from the teacher it's because they are afraid of criticism, and not expecting encouragement. Train them to expect and appreciate your attention and hard work!
Some teachers like to sit at their desk and have the children queue up to show their work and receive a cursory tick. What happens? Fighting and pushing in the line, and some children just never join the line, and you are too busy keeping things calm to really look at what they wrote.
Give each child encouragement and attention in front of the whole class
This may seem a little awkward at first because you need to be very careful to limit embarrassment, but get children, or groups of children, to present writing on the board. Then talk about it together, being very careful to find positive points and encouragement as you correct the work. As the others are all listening, you shouldn't need to repeat yourself too many times on the same points.
Ask children to come to the front and read aloud or present their written work to the class while you make sure you encourage and correct them, and give them personal attention. Make sure not to embarrass, and not to miss out any children.
Keep a record. Know what you are looking for.
If you regularly carry and use a smart phone or tablet you can record quick notes or mark a check list as you go around the class.
For the more old-fashioned teacher, a notebook works fine.
You are a good teacher, so you will have considered what outcomes you are hoping for.
In this piece of writing are you looking for
Don't try to look at and correct everything every time. Keep a checklist and mark whether or not they have mastered whatever it is you are looking for.
Don't miss any children. Don't embarrass any children.
Later you might look at your checklists and notes and realise that there are some children who need special attention in particular areas, or maybe there is a lesson you need to reteach.
Too many children in the class? Find a way to see every child. This is the skill of being a teacher.
As the children are writing, walk around and look over each shoulder and comment and encourage. If you haven't got around the whole class and some have finished, let them go and look at the posters on the wall. Don't miss the children in the back corners, and the less beautiful children.
They are uncomfortable when you do that? That's only because they are not used to it.
If the children are trying to hide their work from the teacher it's because they are afraid of criticism, and not expecting encouragement. Train them to expect and appreciate your attention and hard work!
Some teachers like to sit at their desk and have the children queue up to show their work and receive a cursory tick. What happens? Fighting and pushing in the line, and some children just never join the line, and you are too busy keeping things calm to really look at what they wrote.
Give each child encouragement and attention in front of the whole class
This may seem a little awkward at first because you need to be very careful to limit embarrassment, but get children, or groups of children, to present writing on the board. Then talk about it together, being very careful to find positive points and encouragement as you correct the work. As the others are all listening, you shouldn't need to repeat yourself too many times on the same points.
- Surprise them by asking them to put their work on the board.
- Challenge them to do the best they can, or to work together.
- Don't forget to encourage and reward them for anything that is correct, or just for trying.
Ask children to come to the front and read aloud or present their written work to the class while you make sure you encourage and correct them, and give them personal attention. Make sure not to embarrass, and not to miss out any children.
Keep a record. Know what you are looking for.
If you regularly carry and use a smart phone or tablet you can record quick notes or mark a check list as you go around the class.
For the more old-fashioned teacher, a notebook works fine.
You are a good teacher, so you will have considered what outcomes you are hoping for.
In this piece of writing are you looking for
- certain vocabulary,
- interesting ideas,
- use of capital letters,
- use of a particular grammar form
- neat handwriting
Don't try to look at and correct everything every time. Keep a checklist and mark whether or not they have mastered whatever it is you are looking for.
Don't miss any children. Don't embarrass any children.
Later you might look at your checklists and notes and realise that there are some children who need special attention in particular areas, or maybe there is a lesson you need to reteach.
individual_attention.pdf | |
File Size: | 311 kb |
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3. Create a PICTURE DICTIONARY
This is something that you need to prepare for, it doesn't just happen by itself.
All of those items that you are putting up fresh each week on the pin-up board? Collect them into a folder. (Put them in alphabetical order).
Not just the average, everyday words that the children learn in the vocabulary in the text books, but some exciting, maybe even big words, ones that the children would be interested to know. Something different they might feel like writing about or including in a story.
So when they are writing that interesting creative writing, and they come to you with their 'Have a Go' book, you could ask them to check the class picture dictionary too.
When you read to your children, or tell them stories (which you should be doing every lesson, it only needs to be a few minutes ...) and there are one or two interesting words in the story - make a picture dictionary page for them.
Challenge them to grow the classroom dictionary. Have a competition with another class to see who can have the best (most entries, most colourful etc). Ask every child to contribute every week. Let one or two of the children be monitors for the dictionary file. Reward them for their excellent work.Give others a turn.
All of those items that you are putting up fresh each week on the pin-up board? Collect them into a folder. (Put them in alphabetical order).
Not just the average, everyday words that the children learn in the vocabulary in the text books, but some exciting, maybe even big words, ones that the children would be interested to know. Something different they might feel like writing about or including in a story.
So when they are writing that interesting creative writing, and they come to you with their 'Have a Go' book, you could ask them to check the class picture dictionary too.
- When you come across interesting pictures on the Internet, print them out, write a word or two next to it, and include it in the folder.
- Ask the children to bring in pictures of interesting things they find - magazine, newspaper, advertisement, Internet - and include it in you dictionary.
When you read to your children, or tell them stories (which you should be doing every lesson, it only needs to be a few minutes ...) and there are one or two interesting words in the story - make a picture dictionary page for them.
Challenge them to grow the classroom dictionary. Have a competition with another class to see who can have the best (most entries, most colourful etc). Ask every child to contribute every week. Let one or two of the children be monitors for the dictionary file. Reward them for their excellent work.Give others a turn.
picture_dictionary.pdf | |
File Size: | 310 kb |
File Type: |