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Part I
Supporting the Young Writer
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Chapter 1
āThatās how I used to write my name when I was littleā: under-fives exploring writing
Robin Campbell
When Alice was 4 years 10 months old she produced a drawing and a piece of writing which included a few words written conventionally, a string of five letter-like shapes and her own name. When asked about the unrecognisable writing of letter-like shapes she indicated: āThatās how I used to write my name when I was littleā (Campbell 1999, p. 147).
Figure 1.1 āThatās how I used to write my name when I was littleā
That piece of writing was completed at home. It indicated that Alice was able to write a small list of words. It was not unlike the genre of writing a shopping list of words that she produced on other occasions ā although that would be written in a vertical line rather than on the horizontal. Alice was also able to indicate the marks that she might have used previously as she attempted to create her own name. Inevitably her name had been written in a number of invented formats before the conventional was achieved. Finally, in this writing, her name was written at the bottom of the sheet denoting both ownership and achievement.
That simple vignette suggests a number of points about young childrenās exploration of writing in their first five years. Those include: the opportunities for writing at home and in preschool settings which encourage children to become writers; the early marks made by children; the childās own name as a bridge to literacy (Davies 1988); invented spellings in childrenās writing; and, as an extension of those matters, young children writing in different genres.
Opportunities for writing at home
Children need to be provided with many opportunities for writing at home and in preschool settings. It is during those explorations with writing that children learn about print. To paraphrase Smith (1978, p. 5): To learn to write children need to write. The issue is as simple and as difficult as that. Of course, Smith was debating learning to read. But children also need to write in order to learn about writing and to learn to write. That was exemplified by Casbergue (1998) who noted that it was through exploring and experimenting with print that enabled Emily to use written language confidently by the time she was 6 years old.
At home it is helpful if there is an availability of writing materials. With a variety of papers to draw and write on plus pencils and crayons the child is well placed to explore mark-making. However, it is also the opportunities provided by, and the encouragement from, significant adults to use those materials, which is important. Sitting alongside the child, talking with them about their marks and taking an interest in what they are attempting supports their understanding of literacy (Clark 1976).
The parent who makes a note while on the telephone or who creates a shopping list is providing a model for the child about writing for a real purpose. If, in addition, the parent can find time to wait while the child makes a note or a list then that helps the child to differentiate between drawing and writing and to see a purpose for writing. Of course at other times the child will determine what needs to be recorded. So the excitement of seeing a swan, a truck, a plane, etc., sometimes needs to be followed by a drawing and/or writing by the child, in whatever form that they are able to achieve at that time.
As children begin to note and understand the use of writing they will occasionally want to include some form of writing in their play activities. After a trip to the dentist or doctor they might want to write a prescription or fill out a note pad just like the medic. Of course, that free use of writing materials during play does lead to the occasional mishap. Children gradually acquire an understanding of where to use writing equipment. Initially many surfaces might be seen to have the potential for mark-making!
Reading and writing are linked so the child learns about writing also during engagements with reading. In particular, noticing environmental print and participating in story readings supports childrenās writing. In various studies we learn of children as young as 2 years old who recognise the logo and therefore the first letter of McDonaldās, e.g. Baghban (1984) and Laminack (1991). Furthermore, when stories are read aloud regularly and frequently with young children they begin to perceive that the squiggles on the page have meaning and importance. That is especially so in the one-to-one adult/child story readings where the child is next to the adult and close to the book. The pictures of such interactions in Taylor and Stricklandās (1986) text on family storybook reading demonstrate the variety of contexts where that occurs. When children can see the print, in that way, they begin to wonder why the adult from time to time follows the print with a finger as the story is read. That leads children towards making their own marks and they have the model of writing from the environmental print and the story print to help in their endeavours.
Opportunities for writing in preschool settings
The opportunities for writing at home are reflected, although typically developed further, in preschool settings. So writing during socio-dramatic play, creating classroom print, modelling writing, encouraging the writing of own name and a writing centre will all be evident (Campbell 1996).
Many children will have written during socio-dramatic play at home. In the preschool that is extended as the adults create and arrange the home corner in a variety of ways to facilitate the childrenās play. Morrow and Rand (1991) and Hall and Abbott (1991) describe the organisation of the home corner or play area into various settings. A post office, veterinarianās office, travel agency or airport are merely a few of the possibilities. Within those settings there will be numerous opportunities to provide for mark-making and writing. The message pad by the telephone, appointment cards, a variety of forms, note pads as well as key boards, typewriters and perhaps computers are indicative of the possibilities. In one observation of a preschool the adults had organised the post office in one corner of their large hall. In that setting the children filled out forms, made a mark to indicate the cost of stamps and used a telephone pad to make a record of their telephone conversations. One child was content to sit at a typewriter and type the alphabet. In doing so she scanned the keyboard for the required letter, typed each letter, checked her typing to make sure it was the right letter, recalled the sequence of the alphabet and sang an alphabet song to herself. She was enjoying her play, but developing her literacy knowledge at the same time
Children learn about writing from the environmental print. As Whitehead (1999) indicated we need to bring that print to the childrenās attention, make collections of it and read it with them. She also suggests that children should be encouraged āto play with the print, taking it apart and reassembling it, or making copies of it for their play areasā (p. 131). However, it can be useful if the children move beyond that to creating their own classroom print with support from the adults. In one preschool the teacher worked with the children to create a notice reminding the parents to close the latch on the gate into the playground (Lally 1991). The teacher talked with the children about the notice, and modelled the writing of it with them. Over the next few days many of the children produced further notices for other purposes in the classroom during their play.
We have just noted how effective the modelling of writing can be for young children. Adults can use that to link to other activities. So when a nursery rhyme has been enjoyed by the children a shared writing of that rhyme can be helpful. In one preschool the teacher and children worked together to produce a nursery rhyme on a big sheet of paper:
Teacher: | So if I write Humpty Dumpty Now what comes next? |
Children: | sat on a wall |
Teacher: | Iāll write sat on a... |
Children: | Wall |
Teacher: | wall |
(Campbell 1996, p. 34ā5)
As that process continued the children were able to see their contributions being written on to the sheet. They watched as each word was written and saw the letters being formed. They were learning further about writing. Later they had a piece of classroom print, which they returned to from time to time as they recited that nursery rhyme.
One feature of writing in the preschool classroom will be the childrenās writing of their own name. Adults will encourage the children to recognise and also to write their name. Indeed a wide range of activities are likely to be provided (Campbell 2001). Finding name cards each day, posting them, looking at an alphabet book of class names, writing of names on paintings and drawings, and creating their own name in various media are all possibilities. In some classrooms the children, as young as 3 years of age, are encouraged to sign in each day (Harste, Woodward and Burke 1984). Of course, that demands that the adults are ready to accept what the children are able to achieve and to support them as they move towards conventional writing. However, this is such an important aspect of writing for the child that we shall consider it in more detail below.
A writing centre is often just simply a table with a variety of paper of different sizes, colours and together with pencils, crayons, chalk and felt-tip pens. Some preschool teachers suggest it is best to vary the writing implements on a regular basis to create an interest for the children. It is important too that the adults visit the centre to model writing āI think Iād better make my shopping listā, or āWe need a notice to keep the pet box tidyā. In addition the adult can act as an audience for the marks and writing made by the children. Given that environment for writing and the acceptance of what the child is able to achieve then a variety of products will be evident.
In one preschool classroom the children produced scribbles, linear scribbles, pseudo-letters, actual letters, own name, invented spellings and conventional words (Campbell 1996) at the writing centre. They learned from the modelling of writing by, and support from, the adults. However, they also learnt from each other as they talked about what they were producing. And their learning was facilitated because the opportunities to explore writing were regular and frequent.
Making a mark
We have just noted how at one writing centre a group of children produced a variety of marks, letters and words. That gradual development from apparently unintelligible scribbles to conventional writing is common (Temple et al. 1992). A key role for the adult is to accept what the child is able to offer and to provide appropriate support and guidance to encourage the learning.
A major step for children, in their development, is when they begin to differentiate between drawings and writing. For instance Martens (1996) noted that her daughter Sarah began to distinguish between drawing, with various circular forms, and writing, with a number of horizontal parallel lines, when she was 2Ā½ years old. Similarly, Alice began to differentiate between drawing and writing at that age. Her picture of āGrandad smilingā (Figure 1.2) could be recognised (Campbell 1999, p. 52). And her marks alongside that picture indicated very clearly that she had an understanding of writing.
Figure 1.2 āGrandad smiling and d, d, b, i, d.ā
Although for Alice the writing indicated ād, d, b, i, d.ā they appeared as relatively similar marks on the paper. Nevertheless, the importance of those marks was substantial. Alice was writing. The conventional pre...
