In ten years of being a late trained Primary teacher, I’ve struggled with the seemingly impossible demands of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy. As I think I’ve alluded to before the Literacy Strategy has caused more heartache and lost sleep than numeracy but then I haven’t got A level English but an engineering background. I’ve been ill with CFS for eighteen months and gradual recovery, finally brought me in front of the Pie Corbett ‘Talk for Writing‘ DVD yesterday in a CPD session.
TOTALLY INSPIRING! A BLOODY GREAT SEARCHLIGHT OF GOLDEN UNDERSTANDING IN THE GLOOM OF A TANGLED MASS OF LITERACY DIRECTIVES, TARGETS, CRITERIA AND ALL THE OTHER ASSOCIATED DROSS WE’VE HAD TO PUT UP WITH.
YES! It’s the LANGUAGE!
Imagination and enjoyment of use of language is at the centre of his work.
There was so much and we still didn’t watch it all. There’s a sense perhaps in which he’s rewritten the teaching of English for us more right brained people because I know some are happy with grids and charts.
But perhaps my notes will convey a flavour.
Be a Magpie – Alert to the world of language. I went home and made the classroom poster
The powerpoint on ‘Why Magpie’ comes later.
Name things – Not dog. Rotwieler, Dachsund…….
Alliteration – a butterfly or a princely Peacock
Book Talk – How do you develop the ability to be critical about books.
All things are accepted. You must be prepared to change your ideas.
Teaching Styles
Stand back, let the kids do it.
Tell us more – mirror back.
Using pictures
Write what you can see. Then try to recreate the picture in words. Overtly checking spelling as he goes, registering if he’s not sure of a spelling …. Reading out loud as he goes, checking the language for the threads.
Response partners learn how to comment – A variety of ways of encouraging response partnering. Author has the final say.
Storytelling very important – A basis of culture. Fundamental to being human. Can’t stress this enough. Jack Zipes and Augusto Boal give real meat to these ideas.
When teaching be constantly aware of the language structure as we teach. Make it explicit.
Learning Communal Stories – Cultural memory, story bank.
Call and response gradually fading out as the teacher so the children know it for themselves. Independence.
Audience & purpose – Go and tell it to someone else.
Storytelling and Writing
Imitation
Innovation
Invention
Working in pairs – retelling the story – opposite each other
Working on story plan – secure the plot, then add detail and flourish.
Turning into a written piece of work.
Reading as writer – What effect has the writer created? How did he/she do it? Reading as a writer.
Not Grammarians
Which is roughly as far as we got yesterday.
I hope my notes can begin to convey the roundedness of the ideas.
I wish he could write some of the exemplars for the literacy strategy . For me, he opens up the world with possibilities whereas rereading an exemplar or two yesterday, it closed me down again. They’re too dense, strangled in the weeds of ‘do this, do that.’
His focus on nurturing imagination also hit a nerve to do with art. I rediscovered Marion Richardson the other day. For those of you of a similar age we learnt to write using her patterns. But I then discovered she was highly influential in art education.
In essence a focus on imagination and memory in nurturing the ability to create art. And that’s not to say you don’t also teach, how to do it. No babies and bath water for those who like that scenario.
It ties in with focus of visualisation and memory that is need to encourage the mental abilities in maths.
Vision
Gosh I’ve used the word twice now. Perhaps a little old fashioned but isn’t this what we’re about.
If you haven’t already found it, a soupson ( remember to check spelling) of Pie Corbett can be found here from the everybody writes site.
You have it all there…. the focus has to be on composition – having something to say. Writing is about making meaning and communication – the struggle to make sense. The classrooms I visit seem to have too much of a focus on the bits rather than the whole – I’m more interested in developing the imagination, creativity and the importance of story as a primary act of mind. Hope your teaching flourishes. Im on facebook if you want to keep in touch with a group of likeminded teachers.