I have a reluctant writer in my brood. He has the most amazing imagination, stories are bursting to be told, but put pen and paper in front of him, and he immediately starts the bum-seat jump and shuffle. To see his reluctance, and so early in his writing journey, makes me a nervous Nellie.

As we take baby steps in his writing activities, I am conscious to think a little outside the box. I want to encourage my reluctant writer and will share some strategies as we continue working things out.

Writing activities, especially in a classroom setting, is usually a teacher-focused, solitary event, usually done in silence. This makes the task of writing a story overwhelming for my reluctant writer.

So, we changed our writing approach to one that stressed the social practices of literacy and writing. To encourage my reluctant writer, we:

• Do not work in isolation
• Provide opportunities for verbal interaction and communication with an audience
• Emphasise social sharing and presentation of written work.

How Writing Buddies Works:

Younger writers will talk with their writing buddy about possible characters, plot and setting for a story, and the more experienced writer will then write out the story.

The Benefits of Writing Buddies:

Writing buddies shifts the task of writing from an independent task, to a shared experience.

By letting younger writers tell the story before writing it, they are given time, and encouraged to think of the details of their story. It gives them a chance to express themselves and to be in control of the material that they are conveying.

Writing buddies also takes the pressure of writing off the reluctant writer. They are however, still given an opportunity to be actively and happily engaged in a literacy activity. 

These social practices of literacy and writing don’t just benefit reluctant writers. When younger writers get to tell their stories, and have their stories recorded, they feel that the ideas that they offer are valued; essential baby steps in growing their confidence and joy as writers.

What are your tips for encouraging reluctant writers? 

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To help kids learn to write, I have found using planners in writing activities to be invaluable. For starters, it helps kids overcome that blank page because there’s something on the page; a framework to help them make a start. The planner also helps by making more explicit, the various language structures and patterns, in different types of writing. Eg. the way a recipe is written is different to the way a journal entry is written.

For older children, these planners would be typically followed by the other stages of the writing process: drafting, revising, editing and publishing. As N&M are just starting to learn to write, in our writing activities, we’ve worked on only the planning stage of writing.

To help kids write, it is helpful to keep a family journal; add something at least once a week – write about special days, achievements, activities, jokes, etc, and read the journal regularly.

In our writing activities, as part of our family journal, this is how we’ve used our journal recount planners:

1. Model writing the journal recount. We would talk about an event or activity that we would like to write about in our family journal. I would go through the planner: what is this journal entry / recount about; what happened first; what happened next; lastly, what happened; what would we like to say about the whole event? As we talk, I would put together sentences for each part of the planner. I would pause when I write key words and sound out the intial or end sounds of those words and let the have the opportunity to figure out what those letters may be; or I would pause for common sight words and let them have the opportunity to spell out those words.
2. Let them have a go at writing. The boys would then have their own planners and attempt writing certain words or sentences. E.g. I may write part of the sentence and leave out certain sight words or key words that they would like to write, and they would then write those words.
3. Illustrate the various events their journal recounts (optional). At this stage of N&M’s development where they can’t write very much yet, allowing them to draw the different events is helpful, as it reinforces the concept that sequencing the events in the right order is important in journal recounts.
4.  Allow children space to creatively extend upon their work. Listen to them and follow their lead. In this particular recount about our morning activities at a park where they collected rocks, N&M were very keen to draw some of the rocks they collected. They did so by tracing around the rocks.
5. Lastly, and importantly, re-read the journal recount, share it with others. You may choose to display it or place it in a folder or book that is easily accessible to them so that they can easily share their journal recounts with others.

 If you would like to use our journal recount planner as part of your writing activities, click HERE.

Remember, with any writing activity, try and focus on the good things rather than the mistakes. When children are encouraged and feel successful in their writing, they are willing to take risks and extend themselves.

After this particular journal recount writing activity, M (5) wrote this label; I helped him segment the sounds, but I didn’t model the word for him. 

Writing for authentic purposes using play. I love my job. #playmatters #mummy

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The post Writing Activities: Journal Recount Planner by Pauline appeared first on Lessons Learnt Journal.

My kids are nuts about birthday parties. It doesn’t matter if the birthday party is a real event or a play event, it’s always met with a smile. I am often able to bring tantrums to a halt with the mere suggestion of having a (pretend) birthday party. Tears stop as we gather friends around. There’s the busy scuffle as we sort out the party food. There’s always cake, of course, but not before we all sing the “Happy Birthday” song.

There are as many definitions of play as there are people. I most definitely believe in the importance of free play. However, I also believe that structured play has its’ place.

In this series, writing through structured play, you will find structured play scenarios with various literacy opportunities. Literacy is often confined to reading and writing.

However, literacy includes talking, listening, visual literacies (eg viewing and drawing), and critical thinking.
Structured play gives an excellent opportunity to build on a child’s previous experiences. Today, we’re all about birthday parties. Creating structured play of a birthday party provides opportunities for a number of literacy events. This may include:

• Decisions about the party: lists of we need / plan of layout
• Invitations: letters/emails/phone/video invitations.
• Getting help for the party: letters / emails / phone invitations for help from friends and family.
• Cooking for the party: recipes/information about allergies of guests/shopping lists for food
• Shopping for party supplies: searching for suppliers/shopping lists for supplies

Writing through structured play, e.g. a birthday party, gives children a real purpose for writing and provides a readily understood context for the introduction of new text forms. Scaffolding your child through the literacy events of structured play may include:

• Modelling a text
• Jointly constructing a text
• Working alongside children who are writing independently
• Providing a framework that structured the content and format of the text
• Drafting, editing and re-writing, depending on purpose and audience.

A pretest: N & M (4y.o.) write birthday invitations.They displayed an understanding of some print conventions i.e. writing from left to right; starting from to top of the page and working their way down as well as some letter shapes.

Structured play offers many learning opportunities. Follow a child’s lead. Use discussion to help them question taken for granted ways of thinking. Help them think beyond themselves. Spend time playing with children and getting down to their level, because #playmatters.

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