Making Good Writing Even Better Taking Able Writers to Where they have Never Been Before! Geoff Dean School Improvement Adviser, MK Herts G&T Conference Thursday 21 st February 2008

Making Good Writing Even Better Main Recommendations

Making Good Writing Even Better TALK – at all stages - discuss before writing – be really clear - check, re-read and probe during writing - encourage explanation of what was being attempted, what effects were intended, and how improvements might still be considered – even after concluding writing

Making Good Writing Even Better BE SURE of what you and your writer(s) are trying to achieve Set up WORTHWHILE WRITING EXERCISES Try to PROVIDE REAL AUDIENCES

Making Good Writing Even Better Make your writers as SELF-CONSCIOUS AS POSSIBLE about their work Engender a true sense of PRIDE and TOTAL OWNERSHIP in their writing Encourage PLAYFULNESS and the UNUSUAL

Making Good Writing Even Better Study carefully the ways in which OTHER WRITERS WORK EXPERIMENT with language, style and form – go beyond normal expectations Help writers to establish a PERSONAL WRITING VOICE

Making Good Writing Even Better Give SUFFICIENT TIME and ALLOW WRITING TO GROW AGREE DETAILED CRITERIA ENSURE COVERAGE OF A BROAD RANGE of known text types, forms and genre NEGOTIATE PERSONAL TARGETS based on previous results and achievement

Making Good Writing Even Better Never be afraid to encourage your best writers to work from a tightly controlled format – urging more and more effects, widening from the original brief, as their confidence and ability grows

Making Good Writing Even Better Develop A SENSE OF CRAFTING– techniques and effects come with regular practice Try to maintain a feeling of FUN IN WRITING – continual interest and attention cannot be maintained when writing is associated with drudgery Be CREATIVE – think DIFFERENTLY

Making Good Writing Even Better More Specific Ideas

Making Good Writing Even Better 1. Write a story, report – or whatever – on a post-it; then write it again and improve it; 2. Write a sentence (or paragraph) leaving out a nominated vowel; 3. Write on a computer, changing font colour for different word classes; 4. Write a piece that is sustained across three or four genres or text types 5. Write a piece that commences in the past, present or future, and that then projects backwards / forwards etc; 6. Write in a genre or style never before attempted; 7. Bring all your more able writers together for a shared writing event;

Making Good Writing Even Better 8. Write a piece in only simple sentences, or only compound sentences or only complex sentences; 9. Write a piece in which the sentences are all the same length, deliberately different lengths, (e.g. a short followed by a long); 10. Write and develop the GD 4 sentence model; 11. Write sentences of no more than four words, no fewer than 20 words; 12. Write as a reporter, a script writer, a lawyer, a police officer, a teacher, a columnist, a novelist, a reviewer etc; 13. Write about the same scene or event as a prose piece, a poem or a dramatic script; 14. Write about the same scene or event from different points of view

Making Good Writing Even Better 15. Write subversively: e.g. a science explanation as instruction or description; 16. Mix the writing of fiction and non-fiction; 17. Write, on behalf of the class, to adults in the school for different purposes; 18. Encourage different starts, developments and conclusions to the same piece of writing; 19. Allow writers to devise their own language and play with words in a variety of ways; 20. Seek writing partners on the internet, or through schools’ collaborative arrangements; 21. Challenge your writers to construct a more interesting, lively, engaging or otherwise better piece of writing than yourself!!!