Writing is so difficult for children. It is no surprise that many schools find that children's writing achievements tend to lag behind those in maths and science. The writing process is rather like juggling lots of balls in the air, inevitably some will fall.
Consider the complexity of the task. Children need to think about:
- what they have to write about
- creating the best sentences they can, including appropriate language
- grammar
- punctuation
- sequencing text
- layout
- handwriting and presentation
We as teachers need to take some of the pressure off children by the provision of 'props' which help them to remember key points. Teaching Key Stage 1 SATs classes has taught me the importance of focusing on specific aspects at a time and building up skills gradually. To illustrate the point I am making, with a view to improving story writing skills I begin with writing descriptions of people. These I expect to be more detailed than character descriptions in stories. However, at a later date when children are describing their characters in stories they have experience to draw upon.
To return to the issue of support for writing the descriptions of people, obviously the children will need to see the teacher modelling both good and bad examples. I always find describing a mystery child in the class is a good exercise. Children can easily see which facts are important to include and which don't help them guess the identity of the person.
The 'prop' which I have used with Key Stage 1 SATs classes is a laminated card with key words and ideas for describing people. It is important to spend some time looking at the card together and discuss with the children which things on the card are most important details about a person. This will help them to decide which facts to begin their description with.
It is important also that each child has a laminated card and that it is used every time the children need to write a description or a story where they need to include characterisation. This ensures that they are not struggling for ideas, so vital when you want children to feel positive about writing.
A good way that children can assess how well they have done is to read out their description of a mystery person in the class and see if their peers can guess who they have described.
Although I have always used the 'Describing People' resource with six and seven year olds, I have shared it with colleagues who teach older age groups. The idea can be adapted to include a wider range of adjectives and character traits for use with older pupils, or children themselves could brainstorm ideas to add to the format. Either way, the use of the resource reduces the complexity of the task. The children's confidence is boosted and even young children can become critical thinkers when they listen to the work of their peers to see if they have included key points.
Download the Describing People resource.