1. Claire Ridsdale, Teaching & Learning Adviser (Literacy
Guided Writing
This is South Gloucestershire Council’s standard PowerPoint presentation format.
Version 1 issued March 2004
Claire Ridsdale, Teaching & Learning Adviser (Literacy

2. Intended Outcomes To understand the purpose of guided writing
To know how guided writing fits into the teaching sequence
To identify the features of effective guided writing and how these can be used to support groups of pupils in school

3. Task What are the features of effective guided reading?
Write each idea on a post-it note

4. Why Guided Writing? Allows tailoring to the needs of the group
Facilitates the teaching and learning of individual children
Allows the teacher to observe & respond to the needs of individuals within the group
Provides the teacher with the opportunity to extend and challenge
Encourages children to be active participants in discussions about writing
Builds confidence as all are grappling with the same issues
Allows immediate feedback to be given
- on successes
- on further areas for improvement

5. How Do You Do It?
Assess and identify the learning needs of the class using SSW and other relevant information
Group children with similar needs
Identify targets for the group linked to the AFs (relate to curricular targets)
Plan a series of sessions to address the learning focus
Structure each session using the teaching sequence
Review progress, assess and identify next steps

6. The Teaching Sequence: Unit of work
Exploration of the text through quality
experiences that support the transfer of
patterns, structures and cadences of
the text into their spoken language
Sometimes referred to as ‘talk for
writing’

7. Activate prior knowledge
The Teaching Sequence: Guided Writing
Activate prior knowledge
Modelled writing
Shared writing
Independent writing
Reflect and review

8. Planning & Organisation
The number of groups in a class will vary but must be manageable
The number of children in a group will usually be 6 to 8
Groups should be flexible
Guided writing may be used to provide support at different stages
of the writing process
Different ability groups will require support with different elements
As children develop their independent written work they should be
supported to:
- transfer ideas from plans into writing
- apply strategies and skills gained as readers to meet the needs
of an audience
- draft their writing for meaning and content

9. Before Writing Support children’s planning and drafting of their work
Support as children formulate their ideas, (may incorporate drama or role-play)
Review objectives for writing and targets;
Teacher modelling the process of planning and drafting
Develop sentence construction and punctuation
Re-tell a known story in the correct sequence and as a writer
Plan a piece of writing drawn from a model discussed in the shared session
Oral rehearsal: in particularly for those children who have poor literacy or poor language skills

10. At the point of writing
Support provided to groups as they begin to write or when they have
already started to write independently
Write the first or next paragraph of a text and read it aloud to the group
Re-read for clarity and purpose
Use alternative vocabulary
Use greater precision: choice of phrases, complex sentences
Use greater cohesion: connectives, consistency of tense, time, person
Assessing writing against the success criteria
Acknowledge and praise in order to facilitate constructive discussion with the intention of improving the writing

11. After Writing Feedback sessions
Pupil peer and self assessment of their writing
Support to check their writing against success criteria
Edit, proofread and reflect on the impact on the reader
Review progress and targets
Discuss next steps in writing (set new targets where appropriate)

12. A

13. Links with AfL
Creating the conditions for learning that will support AfL
Routines and behaviours established – children clear about organisation for guided writing and how to learn as part of a group
Using curricular targets
Group curricular targets are informed and identified by analysis of children’s writing and through discussion
Children are fully aware of their targets and understand the process of reviewing them
Designing opportunities for learning: planning
Clear focus on learning objectives, which feed into curricular target setting
Success criteria are clear and understood by the children
Teaching is adjusted to take account of ongoing assessment

14. Links with AfL Day-to-day assessment strategies
Effective use of questioning, observing, discussing, analysing, marking and assessing writing with the children, checking children’s understanding
Feedback on learning
Providing effective oral and written feedback to children in the group
Developing peer-assessment.
Developing self-assessment.
Ensuring children are clear about the next steps needed to improve their writing

15. DVD Watch the Y3 guided writing lesson
What strategies does the teacher use?
Which are most effective?
What are her expectations of the children like?
What learning takes place throughout the lesson?

16. DVD - Group Tasks
Group 1
The children have completed their story, they are working with response partners using the school drafting code and a checklist to redraft their own writing.
Group 2
Middle ability group. The children are secure, independent writers but the sentences in the opening of their story are repetitive, beginning either with ‘The’ or ‘John’, the main character’s name.
They have previously worked with powerful verbs but they are not yet applying this knowledge in their independent writing.
Group 3
The children in this group are in the middle of their story. The focus of the previous day’s drama lesson was to dramatise verbs and adverbs and to understand their role in describing character. Today this group are to go back over their work, looking at their use of verbs and adding an adverb
to support character description.

17. Our Results 2007 Level 2b+ G B Level 3 Level 4+ G B Level 5 G B
English
Reading
Writing

18. Plenary
Think about the Wave 2 children in your class (working just below
national expectations)
What does your assessment show the children are struggling with?
How is your curricular target layered for this group?
At what point of the writing process would they most benefit from support?