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Say itwith
plasticine
Ask pupils to convert a text into a different
form– e.g. a chart or diagram, a poem, a
cartoon, a set ofmodels, etc. This is effective
in helping pupils to remember the information.
To test or consolidate their understanding,
youmight ask themto present it in a formthat
would be accessible to a very young child, or
someonewho doesn’t speak English. Getting
pupils to use plasticine to tangibly represent
themain points – and then removing the
original text and using only themodels to
makewritten notes is oneway of showing
pupils the difference between copying
and actually condensing and transforming
information.
12
Quizmasters
Instead of asking pupils to answer questions
about the text, ask themto devise useful
reading comprehension questions to test
someone else’s understanding of the text.
(They should also have the answers ready
prepared!)
13
Fill in theblanks
Display a text and ask pupils to read it.
Remove the text for awhile and then replace
it with a version that ismissing important
words, phrases or whole sections. Ask pupils
to attempt to “fill in the blanks”. This act of
information retrieval will help themto recall
the informationmore easily at a later date.
14
Picture the reader
It helps to have a purpose and audience in
mindwhen you arewriting – even if you’re
simply recounting ‘what you did at the
weekend’ (thatMondaymorning classic!). Help
children to have a picture in their head of their
intended reader so that they can consider
how to capture that person’s interest. Pupils
can then be required to adapt style, structure
and vocabulary appropriately. Youmight even
display a picture of the imagined reader.
15
What not todo
Give pupils a good or really bad example
of thewriting they are being asked to produce.
Pupils can then be encouraged to identify
what theywill need to do in order to produce
a high-quality piece of work. Together you can
create a checklist that pupilsmust refer to
and assess their work against.
16
Secondary
objectives
Regardless of the topic, announce a particular
literacy focus (e.g. writing in paragraphs,
writing in sentences, checking spellingwith a
dictionary, using interesting adjectives, etc.)
at the beginning of the lesson – alongside the
primary learning objective.
17
Ghostwrite
Use the ‘ghost writing’ technique tomodel
excellent form: give pupils a good example
of this type of writing (report, explanation,
instructions, recount, persuasion, description,
etc.) and ask themtowrite ‘over’ it – i.e.
retaining the phraseology, structure and form
but changing the coremeaning by swapping
in the correct topic vocabulary.
18
That’s
anorder!
For each different
subject, be aware of and
focus on the subject-
specific imperative
verbs that pupils
will encounter. For
example, compare,
calculate, describe,
predict, explain, argue,
discuss, demonstrate,
etc. What exactly
does each verb entail?
Can the children
explain the difference
between them?
TEACH READING & WRITING
9
IsabellaWallace is
co-author of the best-selling
teaching guides, PimpYour Lesson
and Talk-Less Teaching and has worked
formany years as anAdvanced
Skills Teacher.
In association with
