Ideas Communicated in Writing: Scaffolding Learning From 3.50

• Indicators of Progress
• Teaching Strategies

Indicators of Progress

• Students write about less familiar topics from perspectives other than their own.
• Students continue to write for the range of purposes.
• Students write on prescribed topics, expanding or narrowing their topics as appropriate.
• Students evaluate their first drafts in terms of the extent of elaboration of the topic and key ideas, their organisation of the ideas, their choice of vocabulary (including subject-specific terms and concepts) and variations in sentence structure.
• Students use these evaluations to revise and proofread their drafts in terms of the use of conventions.
• Students write texts that have the following characteristics in terms of the ideas they communicate.
  • Texts are written about topics that are either self-selected or assigned and have relevant ideas and content.
  • Texts are written for different purposes in particular content areas, for example, narratives to retell, to contextualise a set of ideas, or to entertain; expository texts to inform others, to explain ideas or state procedures; and persuasive texts to convince, present a point of view or to request.
  • Texts elaborate the main ideas for the topic, for example, by describing or by providing reasons and selecting relevant information from multiple sources to do this.
  • Texts show a clear awareness of the students’ purpose for writing and use language structures and features appropriate to that purpose, the audience and the type of text.
  • Texts organise the overall focus or orientation of the text with a clear introduction and conclusion.
  • Texts are written in a logical sequence, for example, they: (1) arrange the main ideas in paragraphs in a logical order, such as sequence ideas in a relevant time order, use pronouns and links between sentences (such as conjunctions) appropriately; and (2) specify a problem and then its solution, compare and contrast, analyse, interpret and conclude.
  • Texts select and use language relevant to the specific topic and content area, for example, when writing about ideas in history, science or technology, for example, specific vocabulary to convey precisely the intended meaning for the audience and purpose is used.
  • Texts experiment with using figurative language, imagery and metaphor and language patterns such as alliteration and rhyming patterns, and depend on the text form and show some rhythm and flow of language.
  • Texts show fluency in the sentences that are written; the sentence length and structure are varied according to the sentence ideas they intend to convey.
  • Texts identify and are written for a specific audience, for example, a student’s friends, their teacher, themselves and they select the form, details, organisation, and vocabulary to suit the readership.
  • Texts are written in a variety of forms and genres including: essays, research reports, news articles, pamphlets, graphs, and tables.

Teaching Strategies

The learning and teaching approach for writing is illustrated for students responding within the context of Scary Stories.

Organising phase

Identifying vocabulary appropriate to the context and purpose

Students imagine themselves in a scary situation. They ask themselves:  What would be a really scary situation for me? What do I think of / what pictures do I see in my head when someone says a scary situation? For our description we will use a story in which two students describe their image of walking through a park on a dark night when they heard some scary noises and saw a ghost in the air near them.

Students collect relevant ideas by brainstorming the topic. They:

• ask what might happen? and jot down ideas in point form and in drawings
• put themselves in the scary context, and imagine they actually were the scaring thing (what would they do to be scary?), and, the children being scared (what would they do, how would they feel?)
• talk with peers about the topic and
• write key words on cards that could be moved around. Their list of scary words could include:
  • white thing
  • terrifying dark lines on it
  • oozed, white gas
  • dark night
  • groaning, howling
  • tripped on a stick
  • park
  • flying and thrashing about in the air
  • grinning white teeth
  • hissed
  • rose from behind an old tree
  • heart beat faster
  • swirled
  • I couldn't move
  • legs stiff, frozen

Students share their ideas with peers and clarify them. They are reminded to ask themselves "How would I feel? What would I do?" They see this planning stage being modelled for them in group activities.

Students think about what their finished product will be like, for example, How scary are the ideas? Why will it make readers feel scared? They look back at what the authors of the earlier stories seemed to do to make people scared. They also think about films they have seen that have scared them and think about why they had been scared.

The learning and teaching approach for writing is illustrated for students responding within the context of Scary Stories.

Composing phase

Understanding the structures and features of narratives

Students identify what they have learnt about writing narrative texts, for example,