Student Learning

English Developmental Continuum P–10 – Writing

English Continuum Home | Reading | Speaking & Listening | Writing

Ideas Communicated in Writing Scaffolding learning from level 5

 

Indicators of Progress

    • Students write extended narratives or scripts with attention to characterisation, consistency of viewpoint and development of a resolution.
    • Students write arguments that state and justify a personal viewpoint or convey an opinion, clearly and logically.
    • Students write reports incorporating challenging themes and issues.
    • Students write personal reflections on, or evaluations of, texts presenting challenging themes and issues.
    • Students write explanations for selected phenomena, occurrences, or processes.
    • Students take account of the needs of readers through the appropriate use of style and language selections, including analogy, similes or metaphors.
    • Students select appropriate vocabulary with increasing control.
    • Students explain by including relevant details such as data, through reasons linked in logical ways and by expressing relationships precisely. An explanatory text may include more than one explanation, with the main explanation linked clearly with a subordinate one.
    • Students present the writer’s position or point of view on an issue clearly and consistently. The main ideas or contentions are clearly identified and are supported convincingly through elaboration, evidence and links to other ideas.
    • Students use language effectively and selectively, showing control and intent, according to their purpose: (1) explanations use a range of explanatory language features, for example, consistent use of verbs to denote specific actions, comparisons and the grammatical forms such as the passive voice; and (2) arguments use various persuasive language features such as emotive words, rhetorical questions, imperatives, repetition, the passive voice, pronouns denoting inclusion, data and researched evidence.
    Back to Top

    Teaching Strategies

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

     

    Composing phase

    Updating writing strategy plans to reflect student learning

    Students comment on how writing a report was useful. It helps them to learn more about how to:

    • research a particular topic as they put the ideas together
    • say what is factual or actual about a topic, rather than what people might imagine
    • teach others such as their peers about something they have been learning about
    • remember new ideas so they can use them in the future.

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

     

    Proofreading and publishing phase

    Using a sequence of self-instructional scripts to guide editing and proof-reading

    Students discuss the editing and revising strategies they used and the values and purpose of each. They say some of the actions they used and can add the writing strategies to their list of Things I do when I edit and proofread a report. For example:

    Things I do when I edit and proofread a report
    • Paraphrasing and summarising each paragraph to check the ideas ‘hang together’ well
    • Asking myself: "Have I answered the questions needed for the report?"

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

    Back to Top

    Learning consolidation phase

    Reviewing the learning

    Students review and discuss the writing strategies they used to write a report and the values and purpose of each, for example, for planning, while writing, editing and revising, and how they take account of the readers when they write.

    They can collate the actions they used to produce an exposition on a list of Things I do when I write a report, for example:

    Things I do when I write

    When I am writing a report I can . . .

    • work out possible questions my report will answer before I begin
    • use various techniques to collate the ideas I will write about
    • put together each key idea and its supporting details
    • write a topic sentence that summarises what a paragraph says
    • say ideas in scientific, factual or technical ways, such as use of scientific language
    • say ideas in impersonal ways
    • paraphrase and summarise each paragraph to check the ideas ‘hang together’ well
    • Ask myself: "Have I answered the questions needed for the report?"

    Teachers can encourage students to use them as self-instructional strategies. Students share with peers the strategies that work and experiment with others.

    Transferring knowledge from a specific context to other contexts

    Students practise transferring what they know about writing a report to other contexts, for example, 

    • what I know about …. camels / fractured fairy tales
    • a newspaper report about … the marine life in Port Phillip Bay / local pond or lake
    • a ‘rapid report’ about … the pets that students in our class have / the football teams supported by our class / a visit to Mars.

    They explore how on-line contexts, electronic and multimedia contexts can be used to best advantage to present reports.

    Back to Top