What strategies have you tried so far in relation to your inquiry?
I have used a variety of exemplars with my students. I have shown my students an example of writing at each level written by the students in the class. From here we have identified what the student can do well, and what they need to do next in order to move up a level. We have focused on structure, impact, language features etc.
We have also used some exemplars of writing at a high level or at a higher level than them and as a group we have broken down the writing and highlighted the different features of it- this has been particulary helpful with teaching the structure of both persuasive and procedural writing. We have used different colour highlighters to emphasis different features of the writing and this exemplar gets glued into their book which they can refer back to for a constant example of what their writing should replicate.
I have also a few examples of my own writing- this is done through shared writing.
We have also used student exemplars to edit writing as well- and done this as a class. We have put a piece up on the projector and fixed spelling, punctuation and grammar, as well as looking at sentence structure, general structure and impact.
We have also started to level writing as a class- this involves giving the students a kid speak matrix, sharing work, and then giving justifications as to what level they think the writing is. I have only spent one session on this but it was very beneficial and I will definitely be doing it more often.
Most definitely gluing in the exemplars that have been dissected and highlighted has worked really well because it can serve as a type of success criteria for the students, once they think they have finished they can refer to the exemplar to see if their writing follows the same structure as the exemplar.
Using student exemplars from our class has meant that the students are generally more interested because they can relate to the writing. I have also noticed that students want to be like the top students in the class and they most definitely see the difference between their writing and other students writing in the class. Using shared writing to edit work and share my example has worked well because students often notice more or have more ideas once they are exposed to a few to begin with. When one student suggests something that
could be changed or altered it seems to lead on to other things- like a snowball effect. Much more effective than having students work on editing work or dissecting work individually.
I would say what I have done so far has benefited the lower writers in my class who can see examples of higher levels of writing and what they need to do to achieve them. I feel it does not benefit my top writers as much.
What have you done to make a difference?
I think I have put a lot more focus on the students identifying good examples of writing as apposed to me identifying the good writing. This has meant that the students have taken ownership and responsibility over their learning and are more switched on to what they need to be doing.
If there has been no change or difference made, what next? While I can see a difference in my student's writing, it is not as significant as I would like. I think what i have been doing is successful, it just needs to be reinforced for the remainder of the year so students are constantly exposed to a range of exemplars. I would now like to work on my conferencing skills and providing my students with clear next steps because I feel confident that I have achieved what I set out to do, all I need to do now is continue to implement it in my teaching so that significant progress can be made.
