On the Write Track: A Practical Guide to Teaching Writing in Primary Schools

by James Clements

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367695965
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/13/2022
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

On the Write Track: An introduction 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 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 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 4 . Using language for effect Introduction 18. Grammar and syntax for writing 19. Punctuation for clarity and effect 20. Vocabulary for expression 5.Putting it into practice

Editorial Reviews

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

From the Publisher