Real-World Writers: A Handbook for Teaching Writing with 7-11 Year Olds

Ross Young, Felicity Ferguson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781000074338
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Real-World Writers shows teachers how they can teach their pupils to write well and with pleasure, purpose and power. It demonstrates how classrooms can be transformed into genuine communities of writers where talking, reading, writing and sharing give children confidence, motivation and a sense of the relevance writing has to their own lives and learning.

Based on their practical experience and what research says is the most effective practice, the authors share detailed guidance on how teachers can provide writing study lessons drawing on what real writers do and how to teach grammar effectively. They also share a variety of authentic class writing projects with accompanying teacher notes that will encourage children to use genres appropriately, creatively and flexibly.

The authors' simple yet comprehensive approach includes how to teach the processes and craft knowledge involved in creating successful and meaningful texts. This book is invaluable for all primary practitioners who wish to teach writing for real.

PART

A

1 Why Real-World Writers?

Real-World Writers is the difference between children writing ‘like’ a writer and writing ‘as’ a writer.

Welcome to Real-World Writers. This book has come about because the teaching of writing continues to be a mystery for many teachers. Both of us, as teachers, had very little training or preparation for teaching writing and we as teachers can be inundated by a variety of approaches and training, all promising a lot but often lacking the necessary grounding to be successful in the long term. This is why we have ensured that our book is based on the following:

• Extensive scientific research into the most effective writing instruction.
• Case studies of what the best-performing teachers of writing do that makes the difference.
• Our own research into a Writing For Pleasure pedagogy (Young 2019).
• The wisdom of professional writers.

Real-World Writers provides a consistent teaching model which is simple, rigorous and structured. It encourages the whole class to see themselves as apprentice writers who every day write together in what feels like a combination of a creative writers’ workshop and a serious, professional publishing house. Teachers who use the Real-World Writers approach recognise that what is offered to children in school must feel real, relevant and meaningful to them if they are to achieve their maximum potential. We believe children don’t have to wait until they are older to appreciate the pleasure and satisfaction of being a writer. They can feel it now. Real-World Writers calls attention to the importance of children’s lives outside the classroom as valued and legitimate sources of knowledge. As teachers we know that, when children’s thoughts, interests and experiences are acknowledged and celebrated as valuable subjects for writing, they are highly motivated to engage at a high level. Children will attend with gusto to every aspect of the writing process and as a result produce truly outstanding pieces.

Real-World Writers ensures that children feel part of an authentic writing community where together they learn about the writer’s craft and the processes writing goes through, which genres best serve their purposes, and how grammar works as a tool to enhance what it is they want to say. Children quickly understand that attention to transcription is essential if they are to write well. Much more than this, Real-World Writers allows children to identify themselves as genuine writers, see their writing intentions ‘get to work’ through publishing and achieve exceptionally well academically.

The power of a reassuringly consistent approach

We know from research that schools do best when they have a reassuringly consistent approach to teaching writing. Real-World Writers can contribute to your school’s improvement plans, drive up attainment and help you tick those all-important curriculum boxes. Our consistent approach saves teachers time so they can focus on the things that help children learn. Importantly, once the approach is embedded in your school, you can begin to make it your own. Real-World Writers comes in two parts. Part A of this book is about how to teach Real-World Writers, while Part B provides teachers with a variety of different class writing projects and accompanying resources.

Why are children moved to write?

Writing touches every part of our lives.

Frank Smith

Children write first and foremost for themselves. Like all writers, children share part of themselves in anything that they write. They write because they are moved to. They write to find out whether they have something to say or because they most definitely have something to say! They write because they are moved to move others. They like the social interaction writing affords them. Children learn that by being a writer, like having a chemistry set, their writing can cause lots of different, amazing, dangerous and significant reactions to occur. Their writing is an artefact that presents their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, values or actions. Their writing says ‘this is who I am’. So what moves children to write? It may be to:

Teach others by sharing their experience and knowledge or teach themselves by writing to learn.

Persuade or influence others by sharing their thoughts and opinions.

Entertain themselves or others by sharing stories – both real and imagined.

Paint with words to show their artistry, their ability to paint images in their readers' minds, to see things differently, to play around or to simply have fun.

Reflect in order to better understand themselves, their place in the world or their response to a new subject.

Make a record of something to look back on that they don’t want to forget.

These purposes are often interconnected. For example, you can teach whilst also being entertaining. One can often enhance the other. When we paint with words, it can often create a more vivid reflection about an experience. These purposes often rely on each other to be at their most potent and most meaningful. This is always something worth remembering when teaching writing.

Ultimately, writing is a means for children to develop a sense of self, find meaning in the world and impose themselves upon it. Think of the children in your class. What do they want to teach others about? What do they try and convince people of? How do they like to entertain each other and themselves? What do they fantasise about? What sorts of things do they draw or paint when given the opportunity? How do they play and have fun? What do you hear them reflecting on? What stories do they tell? The things children like talking about can often be the same things they are moved to write about.

If children aren’t moved to write, you’ve got a problem. The most important part of teaching apprentice writers is showing them how to find the things they are moved by. Once this happens, they will have the necessary motivation to write to a high standard all the way through to publication. When children have an emotional investment in their writing, they write with more care, passion and attention. They write so that they can say what they really mean, but also who they really are.

What is writing for pleasure?

Teachers must help children to perceive themselves as writers before children are able to write for themselves.

Frank Smith

The notion of writing for pleasure is at the heart of Real-World Writers. We know that children who enjoy writing and are motivated to write are eight times more likely to achieve well academically (Clark 2017). Therefore, Writing For Pleasure, as a pedagogy, is a vital consideration when teaching young writers. Our working definition of a Writing For Pleasure pedagogy comes from our own research:

Writing for pleasure is a volitional act of writing undertaken for enjoyment and satisfaction. Therefore, a Writing For Pleasure pedagogy is any research-informed pedagogy which seeks to create the conditions in which writing and being a writer is a pleasurable and satisfying experience. It has as its goal the use of effective writing practices with young apprentice writers and the promotion of the affective aspects of writing and of being a writer.

(Young 2019 p. 13)

The specific sources of enjoyment and satisfaction in and of writing are many and varied and will be different for individual writers in different contexts. However, we argue that there are two types of pleasure in writing, namely, writing as pleasure (enjoyment) and writing for pleasure (satisfaction).

Writing as pleasure

• Feeling a need to write and experiencing the fun and enjoyment in practising the craft of writing.
• Feeling confident and happy when engaging with the different processes of writing.
• Enjoying being part of a writing community, discussing their own writing and how it feels to be a writer.

Writing as pleasure is pleasure gained from practising the craft of writing, from engaging in the process or in particular parts of the process, whether it be generating ideas, dabbling, getting the words down on paper or screen for the first time, revising a section till you get it just so, editing to perfection or publishing the final product with care. Joyce Carol Oates and Ernest Hemingway both recorded that, for them, the pleasure was all in the revising. For some, pleasure ends with the completion of the act of writing. The idea that it may be seen by others can fill them with dread!

Writing for pleasure

• Having a sense of purpose fulfilled.
• The expectation of a reaction and a response.
• Sharing something to be proud of and feeling you’ve achieved something significant.
• The discovery of your own writing voice.

Gene Fowler would sarcastically say that writing was easy: all he had to do was stare at his blank piece of paper until drops of blood fell from his forehead. T.S. Eliot claimed that writing is like an intolerable wrestle with words and their meanings. Writing isn’t always pleasurable. So why do we put ourselves through it? Perhaps it is sometimes with the view of writing for the pleasure of a purpose fulfilled rather than the act itself.

This type of pleasure is the satisfaction that comes after the act of writing. It’s knowing that you will receive a response from your audience and that your writing will be put to work – sharing your memories, knowledge, ideas, thoughts, artistry or opinions with others. There can also be a pleasure in hearing the meanings other people take from your text. It can also come from listening to your own writing voice, from knowing you said what you meant to say or from achieving what you wanted your reader to feel. Writing for pleasure therefore gives children a feeling of empowerment and that their writing has enriched their life and the lives of others.

The affective domains

If what we do instructionally achieves the instructional end – A learns X – we have succeeded instructionally, but if A hates X and his teacher as a result, we have failed educationally.

Nel Noddings

When we teach our young apprentice writers, we must bear the sources of enjoyment and satisfaction in mind and teach with a view to giving them the opportunity to feel pleasure in the craft of writing and in seeing their hard work achieve its intended outcome. If we don’t consider these things, our writing teaching suffers and children’s wri...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Part A
• Part B
• About the authors
• Index