1st Edition
On the Write Track A Practical Guide to Teaching Writing in Primary Schools
On the Write Track puts teachers’ autonomy and their knowledge of what is right for their pupils at the heart of teaching writing. It explores a set of research-based principles, before illustrating these with case studies and examples of classroom practice.
Writing is about communication. Learning to write gives children a voice that others will listen to – a voice they can use to share their ideas, articulate their feelings, amuse and delight their readers and argue for what they believe in.
While every child, every teacher and every classroom are different, approaches to teaching writing can sometimes feel prescriptive, whether they are based on a particular curriculum model, commercial scheme, assessment system or underlying philosophy.
This book provides freedom and choice by introducing a series of ‘tracks’ for writing teaching, including practical approaches to:
- Building a community of writers in the classroom
- Employing a process-led sequence for teaching writing
- Encouraging children to write for pleasure and share their own interests
- Exploring the use of rich and diverse texts as fuel for writing
- Drawing on spoken language and oracy to develop written communication
- Teaching grammar and punctuation to support writing
- Utilising feedback to help children develop their writing voice
- Using drama and play as starting points for writing
Through considering these different tracks and thinking about how to weave them together into a coherent whole, teachers can help every child to make the journey to being a confident, skilled, keen writer.
On the Write Track: An introduction
Section 1. Theory and principles
1. What can we learn from the research around teaching writing?
2. Finding the right track: a personal philosophy for teaching writing
Section 2. Assembling tracks: practical approaches to teaching writing
Introduction
3. Starting with children’s interests
4. Starting with children’s experiences
5. Starting with imagination
6. Writing and poetry
7. Children’s literature and writing
8. Using and creating film, multimedia and multimodal texts
9. Starting with knowledge
10. Spoken language and writing
11. Drama, play and writing
12. Collaboration: working and writing together
Section 3. Building a process-led sequence for teaching writing
Introduction
13. Pre-writing: Laying the foundations
14. Planning: Organising and playing with ideas
15. Drafting: Putting words onto the page or screen
16. Revising: Evaluating, editing and polishing
17. Creating outcomes: Producing something to be proud of
Section 4. Using language for effect
Introduction
18. Grammar and syntax for writing
19. Punctuation for clarity and effect
20. Vocabulary for expression
Section 5. Putting it into practice
Biography
James Clements is an experienced teacher, researcher and education writer. He has worked with groups of schools, education organisations and governments in the UK and across the world to support the teaching of English. Prior to this, James was a primary teacher and school leader in central London. He is the author of Teaching English by the Book and co-author of' Understanding and Teaching Primary English.
Winner of the UKLA Academic Book Award 2023 - judges noted, 'On the Write Track thus seems likely to be a staple for many years to come, not just for early years and primary teachers but also secondary English teachers, initial teacher education students and teacher-researchers. Children learning to write in the classrooms of anyone who engages with this publication will undoubtedly benefit from its benign but robust advice.’
"In On the Write Track, James Clements offers writing scheme-weary primary educators something refreshingly simple, sensible and well-researched. He argues for several pathways (or in his words, a number of ‘tracks’) teachers can choose to take with their students, responding and using their professional judgment wisely... On the Write Track is worth reading and using for all primary teachers due to its equal balance of depth and accessibility." - Robbie Burns, Schools Week
