11 For example, a young student might apply this strategy to their work on fairy-tales like so: Cinderella had to leave the ball because the magic wore off at midnight. Cinderella had to leave the ball, but she dropped her slipper on the way down the stairs. Cinderella had to leave the ball, so the Prince sent all of his servants to find the owner of the slipper so he could marry her. The exact same strategy could then be utilised by a Year 10 student studying Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet: At the beginning of the play, Romeo sees love as a ‘madness’ and a ‘disease’ because his unrequited feelings have completely taken hold of him. At the beginning of the play, Romeo sees love as a ‘madness’ and a ‘disease’ but completely changes the language he uses to describe love when he meets Juliet for the first time. At the beginning of the play, Romeo sees love as a ‘madness’ and a ‘disease’ so Benvolio suggests that he forget about Rosaline and attempt to ‘examine other beauties.’ You can see that the rigour is increased in the second example purely because of the content the student is being asked to process. The writing strategy is identical and this is the same for all of the strategies we will teach. Students are exposed to each of the strategies in a deliberate and explicit manner, with each one being revisited and practised recursively within the year, and each year that follows. Of course, paragraphing is also a focus and we are utilising The Writing Revolution strategies for both single and multiple paragraph writing. Explicit writing instruction using The Writing Revolution will help students and teachers at Bacchus Marsh Grammar in many ways. Some of these are outlined below. We all know that making lasting change can take time. We want to ensure that we are implementing the strategies with fidelity, and making tangible improvements to our writing instruction within our classrooms. To help achieve this, we are putting groups of staff through comprehensive and intensive professional development led by The Writing Revolution team in person, direct from New York. We are implementing changes strategically throughout the English curriculum in stages, to ensure that we are focusing on embedding the strategies within high-quality resources that remain consistent across all classes at all levels. We need to get it right. Our students deserve that. I look forward to reporting to you again on our progress in a future edition of the Grammarian. Mrs Kelly Dilges - Assistant Principal Director of Literacy Education and Development Benefits for Students Benefits for Teachers Boosting comprehension: When students learn to use more sophisticated syntax in their own writing, they become better able to understand it when they encounter it in reading. Enhancing speaking abilities: As students begin to use more complex terms and sentence constructions in their written language, they begin to incorporate those features into their spoken language as well. Improving organisational and study skills: TWR activities and strategies teach students to paraphrase, take notes, summarise and make outlines. These techniques help them absorb and retain crucial information. Developing analytical capabilities: The process of writing requires even young students to organise their ideas and sequence information. As they move through the grades they often have to sift through multiple texts, deciding for themselves what’s important, which facts and ideas are connected to one another and how to organise their thoughts into a logical progression. When done in a systematic and sequenced way, teaching students to write is equivalent to teaching them how to think. Helping to identify comprehension gaps: When students are asked to write about what they are learning, teachers may uncover significant gaps in their knowledge and comprehension – in time to do something about them. Quality Feedback: We know that feedback is most useful to students when it is timely and targeted. By explicitly teaching the TWR strategies, teachers will be able to provide very specific feedback quickly to their students. Common Language: As TWR strategies are to eventually be taught from Junior School through to Senior School, students and teachers will share a common language year-to-year, regardless of who is teaching them. This commonality will ensure smooth transitions from teacher to teacher and give students and their teachers the tools to effectively communicate about writing expectations and performance.
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