Writing frames
and thinking skills
Steve
Higgins
Writing frames
can help pupils by asking them to select, and think about what they
have learnt. By encouraging pupils to re-order information and demonstrate
their understanding rather than just copying out text all pupils can
be helped to achieve some success at writing, a vital ingredient in
improving self-esteem and motivation. Writing frames also help some
pupils by preventing them from being presented with a blank sheet
of paper - a particularly daunting experience for those for whom sustained
writing is difficult. Writing frames also give pupils an overview
of the writing task. Writing in primary schools before the introduction
of the National Literacy Strategy had traditionally concentrated on
narrative - writing frames can extend the genres of writing that pupils
are introduced to and which they learn to master.
Writing frames
and ICT
Completing writing frames on screen usually increases pupils'
motivation. They are more easily engaged in completing and printing
the frame than when the task has to be completed on paper. Additions
and changes can be more easily incorporated in to the task. For the
teacher it is easy to create templates for pupils to use on screen
and to differentiate either by the structure of the frame or the supporting
vocabulary that is supplied. ICT also makes it easier to withdraw
the support of the frame by progressively simplifying the structure.
If you have access to a projector, then modelling writing on a large
screen makes it much easier for all pupils to see.
Teaching with
writing frames:
- teacher
models or demonstrates using large version of the frame or with
a digital projector
- joint
construction by teacher and pupils using writing frame as an interactive
activity
- supported
'scaffolded' activity (i.e. pupils' use of writing frames which
is treated as a draft, writing on a computer can be easily edited
and improved)
- independent
activity: the genre and its language features are added to pupils'
writing repertoir
- debriefing/plenary
discussion of how writing frames help make the process of writing
explicit
It is important that writing frames are always
used within appropriate curriculum work rather than in isolated study
skills lessons. In other words, the use of a writing frame should
arise from the pupils having a purpose for undertaking some
writing and an appropriate frame introduced if needed.
They can be used
simply as a way to support explicit teaching of writing in different
subjects. This works by breaking down the writing process into stages
where the frame maintains the cohesiveness of the text and pupils
can concentrate on the content and coherence of the text. Pupils see
that there are separate small chunks to complete, this makes the task
more manageable
The teaching thinking
slant on writing frames is then to make the mastery of this process
explicit, to discuss how the writing frame has supported the teaching
and learning so that the pupils see that writing is something that
you learn, rather than something that you are just 'good at'.
Writing frames
can be used across the curriculum. There are 3 examples of writing
frames designed for use on screen (with drop-down forms) as well as
a range of writing frames to print out (using text boxes). These have
been provided by GridREF 2000, a North East based NOF provider. Two
teacher activities from their training materials for primary teachers
are also included. The first is a guide to creating writing frames
using Word 2000 (TableFrames.doc), the second is a guide to using
drop-down forms (DropDown.doc) to make these frames easy to use on
a computer.
Further information
Furtner Information about the theory and practice of using writing
frames see Writing Non-Fiction (Chapter 4) in Extending
Literacy by Maureen Lewis and David Wray, (1995) Routledge
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