The Writing Process
Ben modeling the use of graphic organisers using the interactive whiteboard.
'Active Listening' is a basic skill needed by all learners.
Thinking and talking with a learning partner is a crucial stage in the development of good writing.
True collaborative learning develops as skills are taught, modeled and practiced.
Everybody co-operates in the learning process in order to be the best that they can be!
Graphic organisers are used to help children develop and plan their ideas
Developing the Writing Process in the Co-operative Classroom
Ben Brunwin and Chris Holland
Introduction
A major focus of the Education Action Zone is the development of teaching and learning across the curriculum and in all Key Stages. This has become a key national focus, being developed through the Literacy and Numeracy strategies and more recently the advent on the Key Stage 3 Strategy and the Primary Strategy, "Excellence and Enjoyment".
Teaching and Learning can be seen as an extremely broad area for development but the EAZ has focused on what it considers to be two extremely important elements. The EAZ considers the development of children’s speaking and listening and their ability to write, as the foundation stones for learning and expression.
The schools within the EAZ are already developing several important innovations.
Seven primary schools have introduced ‘Success for All’ as a means of raising standards. Kingswood High School has developed an ‘Accelerated Learning Programme’ to improve oracy skills and in the guise of the Network Learning Community, schools are now developing Co-operative Learning as a standard pedagogy across the Key Stages.
Various programmes have been developed to aid writing, again the ‘Success for All’ programme has introduced a structured writing scheme. Target setting has been introduced and developed in a number of ways including the ‘I Know Where I’m Going’ booklet. Training to develop the writing sequence across a number of faculties at Winifred Holtby School Technology College has taken place and work is being undertaken to develop Interactive Whiteboard resources to support writing across all areas of the curriculum at Key Stage 3.
The EAZ has also worked closely with Ben Brunwin to develop both aspects of narrative and non-narrative writing and reading. We have done this through an annual series of ‘Laboratory Classrooms’ in which teachers from a number of schools come together to develop a greater understanding of the processes involved in writing.
We are now looking to combine the process for developing writing with the ethos and structures developed in the ‘Co-operative Classroom’
The Writing Process
The writing process described by Ben Brunwin and his colleague Mike Smith (see various publications from ‘Working With Your Children’) is based around the fundamental concept that good writing is often based around good talking. Thinking and talking before writing ensures those pupils have something to say, and have a way of saying it.
Structured talk and response is used in the writing process to develop and then internalise the use of language.
Co-operative Learning
Co-operative Learning (see www.eazhull.org.uk/nlc) is a way of working that enhances both academic and social skills and provides a platform for pupils to develop effective learning strategies. It is now a well-established and recognised procedure for teaching, based on a great deal of worldwide research. The idea was first developed by Johnson and Johnson over 25 years ago but many other researchers and practitioners have contributed to its development, notably Spencer Kagan, Robert Slavin and the work developed in New Zealand by Don Brown and Charlotte Thompson.
The main purposes of Co-operative Learning, to develop the academic and interpersonal skills of pupils fit neatly into the requirements of both the Literacy Strategy and the Key Stage 3 National Strategy.
Improving the academic skills of pupils will not only improve their performance in school but will enable them to face the world with more confidence and with improved skills. At the same time pupils learn the skills of getting along with each other while completing a task. They learn how to handle conflict, respect the views and opinions of others and deal with issues without ‘putting people down’. Skills that are needed in the world of work and society in general, and yet these are often neglected in our schools.
Establishing an effective and co-operative classroom takes a lot of time and patience as well as the will and desire to achieve this goal. It must be remembered that it is teachers who set the scene for the way students interact within the classroom and that students need to be explicitly taught the skills needed to be ‘co-operative.’ We must not assume that students have the necessary skills, as this will lead to frustration and failure.
The DfES offer guidance on the management of group talk and listening in order to help schools meet the objectives of the Framework for Teaching English and the requirements of developing literacy across the curriculum.
Knowledge
is made publicly accountable and reasoning is visible in the talk…
It
is an effective way of using language to think…
The
process of education should ensure that every child is aware of its value
and be able to use it effectively.
However,
observational research evidence suggests that very little of it naturally
occurs in the classrooms when children work together in groups.’
From Words and Minds: How we use language to think together – by Neil Mercer (Routledge [Taylor and Francis], 2000) included in the DfES documentation on Literacy across the Curriculum.
What do we mean by ‘Pupil Talk’
 |
National Oracy Project
‘Teaching Talking and Learning 1990’
Combining Process with Learning Structures
The writing process as advocated by Ben Brunwin and the effective Co-operative learning programme being developed within the Networked Learning Community (NLC) both place great value on well structured, planned and meaningful pupil talk.
It seems sensible therefore to look to see if the process, combined with the structures, would help to provide a more effective learning experience for young people engaged in writing, in any subject and in any Key Stage.
On examination and observation of the process used for writing in the classroom it became obvious that pupils are engaged in purposeful talking and thinking at all stages of the process. Talking happens in a number of ways, within pairs and within groups of four. There are a number of purposes for talking, sharing ideas, coaching, organising, encouraging and supporting the work within the group. These are all features of the Co-operative Learning model being developed within the NLC and will develop the Communicative, Social and Cognitive skills of pupils engaged in these processes.
On observation and discussion it became obvious that the various Co-operative Learning structures could be used during the writing process to make the thinking and talking process more explicit and efficient.
Structures
that are
used
3. Round Robin
4. Rally Table
5. Numbered Heads Together
Active Listening is a structure used to ensure pupils listen to each other as well as the teacher. The use of management signals is a positive way of ensuring attention is given to the speaker.
Think, Pair, Share is a structure used to ask whole class questions, of an open ended nature, allowing for paired discussion, before an answer is given. This would suite the early stages of the writing process.
Round
Robin and Rally Table are both structures
that can be used for gathering information and brainstorming ideas for
writing. This could be done immediately after a short period of Think
Time.
Numbered Heads Together is an ideal structure for groups to discuss, make choices and ensure that the group is able to feedback competently to the rest of the class.
1. Think Time
2. Group reflection
3. T-Charts
4. Graphic representation
5. Speaking your sentence
6. The use of roles within group
To
find out more about the work of Ben Brunwin in developing processes for
reading and writing please visit his website at www.workingwithyourchildren.com.