VELS Level 4 – Genre Teaching and Learning Cycle for Writing

This section includes information for teaching students how to construct their own texts both with and without the aid of the teacher.

• Joint deconstruction
• Joint construction
• Individual construction
• Genre teaching and learning cycle: in depth

This cycle can be used for any piece of writing related to any domain of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards.

The genre teaching and learning cycle has three steps:

• joint deconstruction
• joint construction
• individual construction.

Joint deconstruction

The teacher uses a selected text to guide the students to recognise:

• the purpose of the text and the intended audience
• the stages in the text (e.g. for narrative – orientation, complication, resolution)
• the language features.

There are many ways teachers can support students in joint deconstruction. This is a suggested procedure:

Procedure

Begin with a model of the target text

Teachers may use an excerpt from relevant reading materials, a published model, write the model or use a student text from a previous year.

Cut the model into paragraphs

Teachers need to consider stages in the text and discuss with students which paragraphs make up each stage. Below are stages in text for different text types:

• narrative: orientation orientation, complication, resolution
• drama: setting the scene, listing of characters, backdrop and lighting, prologue, orientation, complication, series of events, resolution, reorientation or coder
• expository: statement of position, argument, reinforcement of position
• procedural: goal or aim, material or equipment, steps, explanation
• explanations: title, general statement introducing or identifying the phenomenon, series of sequenced statements, concluding statement, labelled diagrams and flow charts
• information report: general opening statement or classification, description, conclusion with visual elements of diagrams or charts
• discussion texts: statement of position, supplying necessary background information, arguments for and supportive evidence, arguments against and supportive evidence, recommendation or conclusion.

Ask students in groups to reconstruct the text in correct sequence

Students who are experienced readers will work from implicit understandings about how texts work or will have a well developed understanding from previous learning. Students who struggle with this task will require additional support through clarifying discussions.

Provide common terms for the class to use when talking about the text and write them on the board

If a student were to say ‘we know this comes next because it says later’, the teacher can rephrase this as ‘so it’s sequenced in time’ and write that on the board and then ask students to identify other words and phrases that indicate the time sequence.

This procedure for modelling the whole text can be repeated at the paragraph level by cutting paragraphs into sentences to work on features such as topic sentences, connectives and technical terms etc.

Joint construction

The teacher and students engage in the joint construction of a new text talking explicitly about:

• the purpose of text and the intended audience
• their language choices
• the development of the stages in the text
• if the purpose is effectively achieved.

To do this the teacher and students draw on:

• previous knowledge about texts gained from reading and writing
• new knowledge gained from the joint deconstruction of the model text.

There are many ways teachers can support students in joint construction. The following is a suggested procedure.

Building knowledge

• building field or content knowledge
• identify students’ prior knowledge
• introduce new subject specific terminology, concepts, and relationships between ideas
• use a variety of approaches: reading, viewing, researching and note making.

Observation, research, note making, discussion, rehearsing and role play to can be used to engage a student and develop their knowledge of the domain. This will allow them to practise locating, gathering and organising appropriate information for the construction of a new text.

Possible strategies to build content knowledge and skills to locate, extract and organise information for text creation:

 

data chart modelling and joint construction of texts summarising a text cognitive organisers gathering grid dictogloss

concept maps note making brainstorm KWL glossary taxonomy structured overview

Text creation

The teacher usually acts as a scribe. Students contribute to the construction of the joint text with teacher guidance.

Students draw on:

• their knowledge of the target genre developed during the deconstruction phase
• their field knowledge developed through activities in the preparation stage of this phase.

Students:

• group information collected into paragraphs
• order their paragraphs logically
• link their sentences coherently
• link their paragraphs explicitly
• use ‘starting’ or ‘topic’ sentences which contain key words.

Polishing up

Strategically incorporating other information into the text such as tables, diagrams or photos and ensuring it meets the requirements of the purpose of the particular genre is done in preparation for publishing or sharing.

This stage of joint construction requires teachers to explicitly teach students how to select and place additional multi-model information which is central to the purpose and function of a particular genre.

Individual construction

Students use their knowledge of stages in the text, language features and the purpose of the text and intended audience, to write their own.

Reference: Rose 2005.

Individual construction of new texts in the same target genre is the final phase. Students further develop their field knowledge and draft their own texts.

Students then critically evaluate their writing looking at the purpose, stages in texts and language features. This process should involve discussion with peers and the teacher using the metalanguage developed.

Genre teaching and learning cycle: in depth

Genre teaching and learning cycle

When approaching a topic for study teachers need to plan for the development of student knowledge, skills and behaviours of the domains as well as literacy development or demands.

Once the topic is chosen the writing task must be set with a clear understanding of the most appropriate genre for students based on purposes that are appropriate to the topic; age of the students and prior experience with different genres.

When producing discussion texts students need to be aware that they must write the explanations and arguments for and against a given issue.

Students need to be exposed to a number of texts that exemplify the genre in question. Teachers need to consider the relationship between the genres students will read while developing their field knowledge and the genre in which they will need to write.

• Sometimes students read information reports and are then asked to write one, so excerpts from the reading can be used to provide models for writing.
• Sometimes students are required to read information texts to produce an argument or read a narrative and write a text response. In these instances teachers will need to source or develop text response models of writing for deconstruction.

By following the steps in the cycle student writing can successfully be scaffolded.

As students are repeatedly scaffolded through successive cycles of increasing complexity, they become skilled at independently producing the range of texts required for a range of learning contexts.

Professional learning

To complete this activity you will need to:

Watch the video: Joint deconstruction phase of the Genre Teaching and Learning Cycle (Marie) file path unknown

In helping students recognise the functions of the classification stage of their information reports, Marie also supports them in identifying the language features that achieve this function. One of the most significant language features is the choice of ‘being’ and ‘having’ (relational) verbs, which are crucial in the process of classification in any information reports.

While viewing the video, note how the teacher:

• works from students’ observations about the occurrence of these verbs
• relates this feature of language to the classification functions in the information report
• supports students with two key language features of information reports, technical terms and personal pronouns.

 

Related Materials

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