bright_ideas_writing

Contents

NAPLAN Must Do’s 2

Writing

Assessing the Writing Task for NAPLAN 3

Teaching Writing 4

Writing Ideas from NT Teachers 4

Writing Ideas from the Web 5

Teacher Feedback from 2007 CWT Marking Panel 6

Language Conventions

Grammar Ideas 7

Punctuation Ideas 8

Literacy Resources

Bibliography 9

Websites to use for preparation 10

Appendices 11

For further information contact: Ellen Herden Manager Assessment and Reporting Phone: 8999 3784 Email: [email protected] Fax: 8999 4200

Natalie Ede Project Manager Literacy Assessment Phone: 8999 4176 Email: [email protected] Fax: 8999 4200

For Further Information

www.naplan.edu.au www.det.nt.gov.au/education/teaching_and_learning/assessment_standards_reporting

Writing

Preparation

and

Bright Ideas

2009 National Assessment Program

Literacy and Numeracy

Assessment and Reporting www.det.nt.gov.au/education/teaching_and_learning/assessment_standards_reporting

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Contents

NAPLAN Must Do’s 2

Writing

Assessing the Writing Task for NAPLAN 3

NAPLAN National Achievement Bands 4

NAPLAN Writing Criteria NTCF Alignment 5

Teaching Writing 10

Writing Ideas from NT Teachers 10

Writing Ideas from the Web 11

Teacher Feedback from previous Marking Panels 12

Language Conventions

Grammar Ideas 13

Punctuation Ideas 14

Spelling Ideas 15

Literacy Resources

Bibliography 16

Websites to use for preparation 17

Appendices 18

For further information contact: Ellen Herden Manager Assessment and Reporting Phone: 8999 3784 Email: [email protected] Fax: 8999 4200

Natalie Ede Project Manager Literacy Assessment Phone: 8999 4176 Email: [email protected] Fax: 8999 4200


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NAPLAN Must do’s Listed below are recommended actions to enable a smooth and successful implementation of the testing program. Before Testing

� Have the NAPLAN national web site and the DET web site addresses displayed on your staff and parent notice board:

http://www.naplan.edu.au/

http://www.deet.nt.gov.au/education/teaching_and_learning/assessment_standards_reporting/nap/index.shtml

� Use practice tests or other NAPLAN resources. Make up similar questions for units of

work.

� Use the new national Writing Marking Rubric when explicitly teaching or assessing the narrative writing genre.

� Read the Information for Teachers Book and School Administrators Handbook to ensure

familiarity with the testing process.

� Meet with other staff to check understanding and/or ring up the Assessment and Reporting with any queries, (see p1 for contact details).

� Ask ‘What’s the best way to administer the test?’ ‘Do I need support from my

colleagues, school administration or Teaching, Learning & Standards officers?’ During Testing

� Administer the test in the students’ usual learning environment however teaching charts e.g. times tables charts, spelling and word lists must be covered or removed.

� Remember numeracy questions can be read to students – however no reading of

number digits, elaboration of terminology and/or concepts is allowed.

� If you are absolutely sure that the test is far too difficult and not accessible for some students then encourage them to complete the first couple of questions and leave the rest of the test, rather than just guessing and filling-in random bubbles.

� Encourage students to complete the writing task, low level students should at least

attempt a picture or a word – this gives baseline data for the next test. Students can only use the three pages of the writing booklet, extra pages will not be marked.

After Testing

� No marking of the test is required, but photocopying the writing sample before returning is recommended.

� Photocopy the Student non-participation form before it is returned with test booklets.

� Unused test materials can be kept and will be useful for test review with students. The

materials must remain secure for one week after the testing.


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Assessing the 2008 NAPLAN Writing Task A common writing stimulus will be provided to students in years 3, 5, 7 & 9, along with three lined pages for students to write a narrative. Note : Students must only use the three pages provided, additional pages will not be marked. The writing will be assessed on ten criteria shown in the table below. Sharing this rubric with the students and further explaining and expanding each of the criteria is an ideal way to improve their narrative writing skills and encourage assessment as learning.

Criteria Score Description

Audience 0 – 6 The writer’s capacity to orient, engage and affect the reader

Text Structure 0 – 4 The organization of narrative features including orientation, complication and resolution into an appropriate and effective text structure

Ideas 0 – 5 The creation, selection and crafting of ideas for a narrative

Character and Setting

0 – 4 Character: The portrayal and development of character

Setting: The development of a sense of a place, time and atmosphere

Vocabulary 0 – 5 The range and precision of language choices

Cohesion 0 – 4 The control of multiple threads and relationships over the whole text, achieved through the use of referring words, substitutions, word associations and text connectives

Paragraphing 0 – 2 The segmenting of text into paragraphs that assist the reader to negotiate the narrative

Sentence Structure 0 – 6 The production of grammatically correct, structurally sound and meaningful sentences

Punctuation 0 – 5 The use of correct and appropriate punctuation to aid the reading of the text

Spelling 0 – 6 The accuracy and range of spelling

For expansion and explanation of the above criteria go to

http://www.naplan.edu.au/test_samples/writing/writing.html


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NAPLAN National Achievement Bands Writing Score Ran ge

For each of the assessed aspects of literacy and numeracy there is a continuous scale of student achievement across ten national band levels. Outlined in this table are the raw scores accumulated from the writing rubric aligned with the National Achievement Band levels (not to be confused with the Northern Territory Curriculum Framework bands).

Students whose results are of minimal standard have demonstrated the basic skills of writing at that year level. The Australian Mean identified in this table is the average achievement score of all students in each year level for 2008.

Writing Total Raw Score

National Achievement Band

Minimum Standard Australian Mean 2008

0 - 8 Band 1

9 Band 1/Band 2

10 – 12 Band 2 Year 3

13 Band 2 / Band 3

14 – 15 Band 3

16 Band 3 / Band 4

17 – 19 Band 4 Year 5 Year 3

20 – 22 Band 5 Year 7

23 Band 5 / Band 6 Year 5

24 – 26 Band 6 Year 9

27 – 29 Band 7 Year 7

30 Band 7 / Band 8

31 – 33 Band 8 Year 9

34 Band 8 / Band 9

35 – 37 Band 9

38 – 47 Band 10


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NAPLAN Writing Criteria aligned with the NTCF

The following table aligns the Northern Territory Curriculum Framework (NTCF) bands with the criterion set out in the NAPLAN Writing Rubric.

The purpose of aligning the writing criteria with the NTCF is to assist teachers in identifying explicit teaching points for each criterion and develop teaching plans that will enable students to progress in their learning. It is not intended to assess students writing against the outcomes of the NTCF nor for reporting purposes.

Score Criteria NTCF Band

ESL Level

Audience

0 Symbols or drawings which have the intention of conveying meaning.

KGP2 BL1

1 Contains some simple written content. KGP3 BL2

2 Shows awareness of basic audience expectations through the use of simple narrative markers.

Band 1 BL3/Level 1to Level 2

3 An internally consistent story that attempts to support the reader by developing a shared understanding of context.

Band 2 Level 3

4 Supports reader understanding.

Attempts to engage the reader.

Band 3 Level 4

5 Supports and engages the reader through deliberate choice of language and use of narrative devices.

Band 4 Level 5

6 Caters to the anticipated values and expectations of the reader. Influences or affects the reader through precise and sustained choice of language and use of narrative devices.

Band 5 Level 6

Text Structure

0 No evidence of any structural components of a time sequenced text.

KGP3 BL2 to Level 1

1 Minimal evidence of narrative structure, eg a story beginning only or a ‘middle’ with no orientation. A recount of events with no complication.

KGP3 to

Band 1

BL3/Level 1

2 Contains a beginning and a complication. Where a resolution is present it is weak, contrived or ‘tacked on’.

Band 1 Level 2

3 Contains orientation, complication and resolution. Band 2 Level 3 to 4

4 Coherent, controlled and complete narrative, employing effective plot devices in an appropriate structure, and including an adequate ending.

Band 3 to Band 4

Level 5 to 6


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ESL Level

Ideas

0 No evidence or insufficient evidence. KGP2 BL1 to BL2

1 Ideas are very few and very simple.

Ideas appear unrelated.

KGP3 BL3/Level 1

2 Ideas are few, not elaborated or very predictable. Band 1 Level 2

3 Ideas show some development or elaboration.

All ideas relate coherently to a central storyline.

Band 2 Level 3 to Level 4

4 Ideas are substantial and elaborated.

Ideas effectively contribute to a central storyline.

The story contains a suggestion of an underlying theme.

Band 3 to Band 4

Level 4 to Level 5

5 Ideas are generated, selected and crafted to explore a recognisable theme.

Ideas are skilfully used in the service of the storyline.

Band 5 Level 6


0 No evidence or insufficient evidence. KGP2 BL2

1 Only names characters or gives their roles, eg father, the teacher, my friend, we, Jim.

AND/OR

Only names the setting, eg school. Setting is vague and confused.

KGP3 BL3/Level 1

2 Suggestion of characterisation through brief descriptions or speech or feelings, but lacks substance or continuity.

AND/OR

Suggestion of setting through very brief and superficial descriptions of place and/or time.

Band 1 to Band 2

Level 2 to Level 3

3

Characterisation emerges through descriptions, actions, speech or the attribution of thoughts and feelings to a character.

AND/OR

Setting emerges through description of place, time and atmosphere.

Band 3 Level 4

NAPLAN Writing Criteria aligned with the NTCF cont.


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ESL Level


4 Effective characterisation. Details are selected to create distinct characters.

AND/OR

Maintains a sense of setting throughout. Details are selected to create a sense of place and atmosphere.

Band 4 Level 5 to Level 6.

Vocabulary

0 Symbols or drawings. KGP2 BL 1

1 Very short script. KGP3 BL 2

2 Mostly simple verbs, adverbs, adjectives or nouns.

May include 2 or 3 precise words.

Band 1 BL3/Level 1

3 Precise words or word groups (may be verbs, adverbs, adjectives or nouns).


4 Sustained and consistent use of precise words and phrases that enhance the meaning or mood.

Band 3 Level 4

5 A range of precise and effective words and phrases used in a natural and articulate manner.

Language choice is well matched to genre.

Band 4 to Band 5

Level 5 to Level 6

Cohesion

0 Symbols or drawings. KGP2 BL1 to BL2

1 Links are missing or incorrect.

Short script.

KGP3 BL3/Level 1

2 Some correct links between sentences (do not penalise for poor punctuation).

Most referring words are accurate.


3 Cohesive devices are used correctly to support reader understanding.

Accurate use of referring words.


4 A range of cohesive devices is used correctly and deliberately to enhance reading.

Band 3 to Band 4

Level 5 to Level 6



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ESL Level

Paragraphing

0 No use of paragraphing or only a beginning sense of paragraphing.

No reference to paragraphing.

1 Writing is organised into paragraphs that are mainly focused on a single idea or set of like ideas that assist the reader to digest chunks of text.

Level 3

2 All paragraphs are focused on one idea or set of like ideas and enhance the narrative.


Sentence Structure

0 No evidence of sentences.

KGP3 BL 1

1 Some correct formation of sentences.

Band 1 BL3/Level 1

2 Most simple sentences are correct. Band 1 Level 1 to level 2

3 Most simple and compound sentences correct.

Some complex sentences are correct.

Band 2 Level 3

4 Simple and compound sentences are correct.

Most complex sentences are correct.

OR

All sentences correct but do not demonstrate variety.


5 Sentences correct (allow for occasional typos, eg a missing word).

Demonstrates variety in length, structure and beginnings.

Band 3 Level 5

6 All sentences are correct.

Writing contains controlled and well-developed sentences that express precise meaning and are consistently effective.

Band 4 Level 6



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ESL Level

Punctuation

0 No evidence of correct punctuation.

1 Some correct use of capital letters to start sentences.

OR

Full stops to end sentences.

Band 1

No reference to punctuation.

2 Some accurately punctuated sentences (beginning and end).

Some noun capitalisation where applicable.

Band 1 BL3/Level 1 to Level 2

3 Some correct punctuation across categories (sentences mostly correct with some other punctuation).

OR

Accurate sentence punctuation with no stray capitals, nothing else used.

Band 3 Level 3

4 All sentence punctuation correct. Mostly correct use of other punctuation.

Band 3 Level 4

5 Writing contains accurate use of all applicable punctuation.


Spelling

0 No conventional spelling. KGP2-3 BL3/L1

1 Few examples of conventional spelling. KGP3 Level 1

2 Correct spelling of most simple words and some common words (errors do no outnumber correct spellings).

Band 1 Level 2

3 Correct spelling of most simple words and most common words (errors do no outnumber correct spellings).


4 Correct spelling of simple words, most common words and some difficult words (errors do no outnumber correct spellings).

Band 3

5 Correct spelling of simple words, most common words and at least 10 difficult words (errors do no outnumber correct spellings).

Band 4

6 Correct spelling of all words, at least 10 difficult words and some challenging words.

Band 4 to Band 5



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Teaching Writing

To help avoid student disengagement when teaching the narrative text, it is important that lessons to teach structure and technique are not taught in isolation. Remember to make the teaching of narrative purposeful and enjoyable by ensuring that there are strong links with your ongoing classroom program.

An additional resource has been created to provide teachers and students insights into the assessment of writing. The NT 2008 Australian Writing Standards booklet available at: www.det.nt.gov.au/education/teaching_and_learning/assessment_standards_reporting contains samples of student writing that illustrate how judgments can be made about the needs of individual students from the evidence found in their work. It provides teachers and schools with evidence that can inform teaching and learning programs to better meet the literacy needs of students.

Using the 2008 Australian Writing Standards booklet can also assist students to analyse writing and apply their skills and understandings in a more meaningful way. Sharing the rubric with the students and further expanding and explaining each of the criteria is an ideal way of enabling students to become more self-regulating, reflective and independent writers.

Listed here are just a few great teaching ideas contributed by our NT teachers and sourced from the web.

Writing Ideas from NT Teachers o Stimulus Pictures

Cut out and glue a variety of interesting pictures or collages of pictures onto card and laminate. Students can help with this and keep adding to it during the year. Schedule a regular time, where students choose a picture card and write a text in response to the stimulus (narrative, poem, newspaper article, letter etc).

o Fast Write

Following a discussion on a topic, students are encouraged to write freely and uninterrupted for a certain period of time (use a timer or stopwatch). Build up the time, from 5 to 10 to 15 minutes and occasionally allow students the opportunity to polish, produce and share the piece of writing.

o Personal Writing Book

Provide the students with a private writing book. Only the student looks at the writing and as the year progresses they can look back and reflect on their progress.

o Story Circle (Hot Potato Story)

Students sit in a circle, one student begins a story then everyone takes a turn to build onto the narrative. Students are encouraged to think quickly and creatively.

o Peer or Buddy Conferencing

Students help each other to correct and improve their stories using a checklist that includes criteria such as punctuation, vocabulary, sentence structure, spelling etc. (refer p3 Writing Rubric)

o Independent Time

Schedule regular times during the week when it is ‘All by yourself time’ or ‘Independent Work Time’. During this period, the students must attempt a literacy (or numeracy) task without help from the teacher or their peers. This becomes an excellent assessment for learning opportunity as students reflect on their strengths and weaknesses.


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Writing Ideas from the web

Make sure you visit this excellent website: http://www.primaryideas.co.uk/literacy.html . It is packed with some great ideas for teaching writing. A few of these have been included in the list below and as Appendices.

o Planning writing

Appendix 1 would be great printed off and used as a wall chart.

Appendix 2 is a simple Story Planning Mat that could be printed, laminated and used as a regular tool by students.

o Writing Support Pyramid

Appendix 3 provides the template for constructing the Writing Support Pyramid and supports explicit teaching of punctuation. Look at each face and work your way down the pyramid. Simply cut out the 4 triangles and paste together. There are 5 ‘bands’ on each of the 4 pyramids and the lower down the pyramid you go, the more sophisticated the writing should be. These can then be used as a desk-top reminder for students.

o Sentence- Maker

Appendix 4 is another great tool to support the explicit teaching of sentence structure. Using this as a model the class can construct their own sentence maker and then use the sentences in their story writing.


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Teacher Feedback from previous Marking Panels

Training Process

Feedback from teachers included: - The organisation, rigor and professional nature of the training was excellent. - The training package, rubric expansion and glossary are extremely valuable. - The training and control scripts throughout the week and the discussion that accompanied

these ensured consistency of marking and deeper understanding of the marking rubric. - Participants gained a broad overview of student achievement across the Territory. - The marking experience highlighted valuable teaching points that were taken back to their

schools. - Once back at school, participants plan to share the training concepts as well as the insights

gained into the teaching, learning and assessment of student writing. - Throughout the panel, teachers felt comfortable and supported. Explicit Teaching Points

Ideas and strategies to take back to schools: - Discuss interesting story beginnings, start a class list of alternate beginnings, use a variety

of example texts, or a box/set of story starters (see large Literacy Dice ideas book). Encourage students to not always start with ‘Once upon a time . . .’

- Ensure that students don’t spend more than 5 minutes on planning. Walk around and check that students have commenced writing when requested to do so.

- Explore different ways of indicating time and try to discourage using dates for ‘When’. - Character descriptions don’t need to have to occur as a long list of adjectives, eg “Mary has

sapphire blue eyes and long locks of curly blonde hair’. This kind of description was observed in many scripts.

- Feelings – How did they feel, scared words/phrases e.g. I felt my stomach turning over, I had a lump in my throat, my palms went sweaty, I froze . . .

- Using the ‘senses’ for descriptive words, so that the reader is able to visualise and imagine. - Work on extending a simple good idea into a great elaborated idea. - Focus on sentence beginnings. Encourage students not to always begin sentences with

‘AND’. Don’t let the ‘AND, AND’ Monster take over the story (or the ‘THEN, THEN’ Monster). - Advise students to read their story out loud in their head to see what effect it has, or read

out loud to demonstrate the impact of vocabulary. - Poor punctuation or no punctuation at all was observed in many stories. There is a need for

explicit teaching of punctuation. A good technique is to role play with students reciting dialogue or have words and punctuation on cards and peg a sentence up on a clothes line. Encourage students not to use too much direct speech as this limits the ability of the story to create visual images.

- Spelling strategies and lists of everyday words. - Choose creative, engaging or humorous topics for your piece of writing, too many violent

episodes, film recounts and events of a sexual nature (from the older students). - List and discuss alternate endings. Too many of the following were observed: ‘happily ever

after...’, ‘then they all died’, ‘then I woke up’, you don’t need to write ‘The End’. - Handwriting needs special care. The feedback from teachers who marked the writing was

that some scripts were very hard or almost impossible to read due to poor or very small handwriting.


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Teaching Grammar Punctuation and Spelling

Grammar, punctuation and spelling help to assist the communication between the writer and the reader. They go hand in hand with teaching students about writing. It’s difficult to convince students that it is important for them to know the correct rules and even more difficult to get students to apply them. This is why it is helpful for teachers to have some fun activities up their sleeves to make it a little easier for their students to be successful with spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Grammar Ideas The following grammar ideas have been sourced from:

http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/index.shtml o Grammar Comic Man

This mysterious hero defends Verbo City from the enemies of grammar, whenever they show their ugly faces. He has the ability to detect errors - just like Spiderman can sense when danger is near.

o Mystery bag

This is a fun way to introduce describing words. Place an object in a paper bag. Have a student feel the object in the bag and without looking at it, describe the object. Have another student or teacher record the words stated on the board. You can continue this activity by changing the objects in the bag.

o Grammar Rap Students learn and perform the words in the form of a rap. The class can add body percussion to help keep the beat. The rap can be made into a display for the class wall.

A noun is the name of a person, place or thing, like Sam in Sydney with a ball of string. An adjective describes a noun, like a big, wide smile on a painted clown. Verbs, verbs, are doing words, they like to move and fly like the birds, running and jumping, you can often add an ING like, dance and laugh and hop and sing! An adverb likes to add to a verb and tell you more about the word, it often has an LY on the end, like slowly walk or quickly bend.

o Roll Out Run-ons

After teaching students how to correct run-on sentences, type or write a huge, zany run-on, with eight to ten sentences, on long strips of paper. Laminate the strips. Have teams of two to four students use punctuation and proofreading symbols to correct the gigantic run-on sentence. To correct the errors, students can use white board markers. As a variation, make multiple copies and engage students in a Great Run-on Race.

o Battle on the Board

Organise students into two teams (you may wish to make up more teams depending on class size and capabilities) in front of the board. On the board have two (number of teams) sets of sentences split into half. The focus can be on punctuation and/or subject- verb agreement but should be centred around current classroom teaching. The team members take it in turns to correct one sentence at a time. Teachers could put a time limit on how long each member spends at the board but this would depend on the skill level of the students. First team to finish with all sentences correct are awarded bonus points; every team receives points for each correct sentence.


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o Subject –verb Agreement Create sentences with subject -verb agreements. Break each sentence in half and place onto flash cards. Have students take a card and wander around the room reciting their half of the sentence to each other. When two students think they have their match they may confirm with the teacher (you may like to leave the correction to the discussion). When all pairs are matched discuss the sentences and why they work (or not). Examples: The President, accompanied by his wife, is travelling to India. All of the books, including yours, are in the box. These scissors are dull. For more advanced students, or as students become quite skilled, you may choose not to colour code the subject verb agreement.

o The cat sat on the mat Give students a number of simple sentences e.g. The dog ran. or The horse galloped. Have the students turn these boring simple sentences into Super Sentences by adding: • new vocabulary words • bonus words • synonyms • antonyms • using a thesaurus • class made lists of vocab and bonus words.

Punctuation Ideas

o Invent Punctuation Hand Signs Teach students hand signs for air quotes. Challenge them to come up with hand signs for other punctuation marks or to make up their own. As a class begin a discussion using the punctuation hand signals or read aloud a piece of text and use the hand signals to show the class punctuation applied in the text.

o Punctuation Flash Cards Activity In a class circle, place flash cards with the parts of sentences and different forms of punctuation in the centre. Have students create sentences with correct punctuation used. Have the class confirm if punctuation has been correctly used. This helps to generate discussion about why some punctuation is or isn’t correct.

o Speech Mark Sandwich This activity helps students to remember what and where to put the punctuation when using speech marks. Using large colourful paper create parts of the sandwich. The 2 pieces of bread are the speech marks, the filling (ham, cheese, etc) is the speech, and the sauce is the punctuation. These are labelled on the sandwich parts. Explain to the students that if BOTH “pieces of bread” are not around the filling then it is not a complete sandwich. Then explain that the “sauce” has to be in the sandwich and not on the outside. This clears up many misconceptions and mistakes about where the punctuation is applied after the last speech mark, and to always remember to include both speech marks – like you would a sandwich. Sourced from: http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/index.shtml

o Traffic lights An effective way of demonstrating where and when to apply full stops and capital letters is to use the 'Traffic Light' concept. Green means ‘go’ which is when a capital letter is required to start a sentence. To stop the sentence a red full stop is inserted. Having students use a red and green pen to apply this to their writing can add a little colour to this exercise. Further extensions of this activity for more advanced punctuation can be sourced from: http://www.pacwcbt.pitt.edu/Curriculum/315BasicWritingSkills/Handouts/HO11PunctuationRules.pdf


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Spelling Ideas Sourced from Bolton & Snowball (1993) Teaching Spelling: A Practical Resource, Heinemann.)

The following practices are activities that may be used in the classroom to assist students with reinforcing their spelling knowledge and encourage students to integrate this knowledge in the appropriate context.

It is not just important to teach knowledge about words but to include teaching of strategies of how to learn words. Students must be taught how to learn words and how to check spelling of words they have attempted.

Students have strategies that they have developed during their school years. Brainstorming these ideas with the class can assist others to learn new words. Give time and practice to develop some of the following strategies. o Questions to help you learn how to spell new words:

Does the meaning of the word help you with the spelling? Is it a word you can break into parts (or syllables), such as 'temp/er/a/ture'? Is it a word you can use a spelling hint (Gimmick) for, such as: 'a piece of pie', Does the word have other words inside it? Is it compound word, such as 'football' or a base-word with added letters, such as 'dresser'. Can you sound the word out easily? Can you change the pronunciation of the word to help you with the spelling? For example, emphasising the 'n' sound in the word 'government' would mean that you would be less likely to leave the 'n' out. Is it a word that you may just have to learn by using the Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check method?

o Create a wall chart Place class ideas onto a wall chart and display in the classroom. Listed are some ideas:

• Picture the word in your head. • Paint the word on your eyelids. • Look at the word:

Say the letters/sounds as you write the word. • Break the word into syllables. • Look, say, cover, write, check. • Look closely at the tricky parts. • Make a story up about the word e.g. was "What a surprise". • Freckle words - look for the word in your reading and writing.

o Mnemonics Mnemonics are memory triggers which are useful for learning high frequency words which are difficult to remember, or easily confused with other words. Have the class make up their own mnemonics. It is important to ensure students understand the meaning of mnemonics as they can cause confusion, particularly ESL students. Examples of mnemonics are: There is a rat in separate

You hear with your ear You’ll always be my friend till the end

o Derivation Charts Explicitly teach students the derivation of words from other languages. Set up around the room charts where students add suitable words as they find them. Words suitable for this activity come particularly from Classical Greek, Latin and French. For example the Greek root photo, meaning light, is the base for photograph, photogenic, photosynthesis, Photostat and telephoto.


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Literacy Resources

The following resources are full of ideas to assist teachers with the technical and engaging aspects of teaching Literacy to students and assisting teachers with their own professional learning.

1. Trischitta A. (2000), Meeting Writing Standards: Narrative Writing 3 – 6,

Hawker Browlow Education: Cheltenham, Victoria 2. Trischitta A. (2000), Meeting Writing Standards: Narrative Writing 6 – 9,

Hawker Browlow Education: Cheltenham, Victoria

3. Rozmiarek R. (2001), Meeting Writing Standards: Descriptive Writing 6 – 9, Hawker Browlow Education: Cheltenham, Victoria

4. Gibbons J. ( 2003), 101 Stories To Tell and Write, Curriculum Corporation: Carlton

South, Victoria 5. Kent V. (2002), Exploring Narrative: A Guide to Teaching ‘The girl who married a fly and

other stories’, Australian Association for the Teaching of English: SA

6. Sadler R and Hayler. (2001), English Experience: Exploring Language and Texts 1, MacMillan Education: South Yarra

7. Education Department of Western Australia. (1994), First Steps Writing Resource Book,

Longman Australia

8. Kiddey, P. and Waring, F. (2001) Success for All – Selecting Appropriate Learning Strategies Education Department of Western Australia (Stepping Out, Curriculum Corporation)

9. Kiddey, P. and Robson, G. (2005) Make their Heads Spin! Education Department of

Western Australia (Stepping Out, Curriculum Corporation)

10. Hancock, J and Leaver, C (2006) Teaching Strategies for Literacy ALEA:SA

11. Fox, Mem & Wilkinson, Lyn (2006) English Essentials – The wouldn’t-be-without-it guide to writing well, MacMillan:SA


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Websites to Use for Preparation

National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy Test information website has all the latest details, samples, parent information, FAQS etc: http://www.naplan.edu.au

DET NT site has a variety of administration details, forms, updates, practice tests and other support materials: http://www.deet.nt.gov.au/education/teaching_and_learning/assessment_standards_reporting/nap/index.shtml

DET Vic site has a variety of practice materials from Year 3 to Year 9: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/prep10/aim/index.html

DECS SA also has a selection of practice materials from Year 3 to Year 9: http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/accountability/pages/Andrews

Various educational websites with a plethora of teaching, learning and assessment ideas:

Curriculum Corporation, Assessment for Learning: http://cms.curriculum.edu.au/assessment/

Assessment Training Institute: http://www.assessmentinst.com

Assessment is for Learning (AifL), Scotland http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess/index.asp

Department of Education, Victoria http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/blueprint/fs1/assessment.asp

Great UK site, lesson plans, scope and sequence www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary

Teaching literacy ideas for your classroom can be found

http://www.primaryideas.co.uk/

http://www.primaryideas.co.uk/literacy/punctuation.doc

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/

http://www.senteacher.org/

http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/

Reading practice using http://www.starfall.com/

Spelling Practice using http://www.spelling.hemscott.net/

Rubrics Construction http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/

Fun Interactive Websites

http://www.funbrain.com/verb/index.html

http://www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/curriculum/Literacy.htm#KS2%20On-line%20Activities%20NEW

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills

http://www.gamequarium.com/punctuation.html

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Appendix 1 –Story Mountain wall chart

Story MountainStory MountainStory MountainStory Mountain Dilemma

Build-up Resolution

Opening Ending

Opening – catch the readers interest, begin with the main character, begin with describing the setting or begin with an interesting event.

Build-up – get the main character doing something, drop in a clue as to what might happen, use a hook to make the reader wonder but don’t rush

into the exciting bit too soon.

Dilemma – introduce a problem either a person or event, make things go badly wrong or make something exciting happen that needs to be solved.

Resolution- write a series of events that sort out the problem, solve the problem so the main character is alright.

Ed? How has the main character changed? What is life like now? Link back to the opening with a similarity or difference.

Created by Julie Stone. Available at: www.primaryideas.co.uk/literacy


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Bring the setting alive • Choose a precise place and name it.

• Pick one detail that the character could see, smell, hear or touch if they were there e.g “On the corner of Froggats Lane, a spider’s web glistened in the sun.”

• Decide what time of day it is and what the weather is like.

Openings

• Time, name, exclamation, question, dialogue, warning, wish, scene-setter, traditional, a new arrival, dramatic action, a statement open to debate.

• Good openings catch the reader’s interest

and make the reader want to read on.

Structure • Story Mountain – opening build-up,

dilemma, resolution, ending.

• Ending – how has the character changed?

• Useful tricks:

o Flashbacks if story launches straight into action.

o Suspense – lull into false sense of security, element of unease, use empty words, use ominous sounds, use questions to make reader wonder and use a But or short sentence for impact.

Style: choice of words • Use precise nouns e.g rottweiler

instead of dog.

• Use adjectives that tell the reader something new about the noun that they need to know but be careful of overusing adjectives.

• Use powerful verbs for impact.

• Use adverbs carefully in the same way to add something new

to a verb.

Style – Sentences • Writing needs long sentences to give rhythm and

description. Short sentences should be used for drama.

• Vary sentence starters– use adverbs, verb with –ing, verb with –ed, prepositional phrases, similes, connective.

• Use a mixture of compound sentences (two or more clauses of equal weight) and complex sentences (main clause and one or more subordinate clauses) e..g. “Although the Mercedes was parked carefully, Tim was worried that it could

still be seen from the road.”

Create a colourful character • Interesting name

• Striking detail to introduce.

• Powerful verbs to reflect how the character feels.

• Show rather than tell through describing action e.g. “she hastily pulled her unbrushed

hair into a ponytail” or through speech, e.g ‘Get out!’ she snarled.

Appendix 2 – Story Planning Mat


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TAB The … My … I …

First… Then… Next.. So.. Last… But… Another thing… The last time… Soon… At last…

If… Another time… Because… After… Another thing… After a while… Although… Afterwards… Before… Eventually… Sometimes… Often… Never… Always… Besides… Even though… Before the/the Meanwhile… Before very long… However… In addition… Despite… I discovered… Having decided… I actually… Despite… Due to… An important thing… We always… If/then… I felt as… Although I had… As time went… Use of adjectives eg. The golden sun… The grumpy old man…

Having… Use complex sentence structures appropriately.

Vary sentence length and word order to keep the reader interested.

Cut Corners off tabs for a better fit

Appendix 3 Story Pyramid Created by Katherine Dobbie. Available at: www.primaryideas.co.uk/literacy


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First.. So.. because.. next..

exciting.. afraid.. lonely.. interesting..

beautiful.. awful.. enormous.. fierce.. adventure.. accident.. magic.. gigantic.. weird.. freezing.. quietly.. silently.. bravely.. happiness.. joy.. sadness.. fear.. transport.. shelter.. baggage.. companion.. vehicle.. thunderous.. fearful.. marvellous.. attractive.. generously.. echo.. nervously.. worriedly.. patiently.. feelings.. courage.. experience.. peak.. patience.. wasteland.. container.. furnishings.. robe.. sensitive/ly.. timid/ly.. aggressively.. imaginatively.. unfortunate.. murderous.. echoing.. doubtful.. emotion.. anxiety... longing.. progress(noun).. system.. communication.. ingredient.. vibration.. prefer.. nourish.. demonstrate.. enjoy.. leap.. outstanding/ly.. tender/ly.. biological/ly.. formidable.. outspoken.. stern.. comical.. pathetic.. yearning.. dwell.. dine.. progress(verb).. create.. adore.. foreboding.. speculation.. silhouette.. terrain.. apparel.. vision.. atmosphere..


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and but so then because when if after while as well as although however also besides even though never the less in addition to contrary to despite so as to Use complex sentence structures appropriately. Vary sentence length and word order to keep your reader interested


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Capitals •

Capitals • ?

• ? , !

• ‘ , ••• ? ! “ ”

“ ” ; , ••• ( ) ? • !


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Articles Adjective Noun Verb Adverb Preposition Determiner Noun

1 The 1 emerald 1 fox 1 swam 1 busily 1 about 1 the 1 flat

2 A 2 primrose 2 snake 2 took 2 gently 2 after 2 a 2 castle

3 An 3 scarlet 3 shark 3 thought 3casually 3 above 3 an 3 cottage

4 This 4 azure 4 dragon 4 burst 4 finally 4 at 4 this 4 cave

5 That 5 turquoise 5 eagle 5 dream 5 simply 5 below 5 that 5 tent

Set 1 6 Each 6 ivory 6 unicorn 6 won 6 readily 6 between 6 each 6 tower

1 The 1 tall 1 ant 1 growled 1 slowly 1 by 1 the 1 box

2 A 2 thin 2 frog 2 snarled 2 easily 2 during 2 a 2 envelope

3 An 3 slim 3 bear 3 yelled 3 calmly 3 beside 3 an 3 key

4 This 4 large 4 coyote 4 groaned 4 heavily 4 on top of 4 this 4 mirror

5 That 5 skinny 5 mouse 5 jumped 5 moodily 5 inside 5 that 5 surprise

Set 2 6 Each 6 miniature 6 wolf 6 leapt 6 angrily 6 before 6 each 6 parcel

1 The 1 soft 1 giant 1 grabbed 1 loudly 1 in 1 the 1 cage

2 A 2 hard 2 knight 2 gripped 2 softly 2 off 2 a 2 prison

3 An 3 rough 3 prince 3 grasped 3 funnily 3 across 3 an 3 trap

4 This 4 cold 4 princess 4 seized 4 honestly 4 through 4 this 4 room

5 That 5 icy 5 woodcutter 5 clutched 5 neatly 5 to 5 that 5 cell

Set 3 6 Each 6 warm 6 thief 6 held 6 spitefully 6 under 6 each 6 tunnel

1 The 1 funny 1 goblin 1 walked 1 hungrily 2 during 1 the 1 city

2 A 2 sad 2 pirate 2 trotted 2 thirstily 3 beside 2 a 2 town

3 An 3 weary 3 ogre 3 tip-toed 3 crazily 4 on top of 3 an 3 village

4 This 4 ancient 4 troll 4 crept 4 amazingly 5 inside 4 this 4 market

5 That 5 crazy 5 elf 5 galloped 5 cautiously 6 before 5 that 5 inn

Set 4 6 Each 6 cunning 6 sprite 6 climbed 6 slyly 1 in 6 each 6 bridge

1 The 1 gentle 1 fairy 1 shivered 1 noisily 2 off 1 the 1 gum tree

2 A 2 harsh 2 vampire 2 shook 2 silently 3 across 2 a 2 rose

3 An 3 spiteful 3 ghost 3 froze 3 explosively 4 through 3 an 3 dagger

4 This 4 mean 4 witch 4 dived 4 foolishly 5 to 4 this 4 crystal

5 That 5 sharp 5 wizard 5 fled 5 intelligently 6 under 5 that 5 heart

Set 5 6 Each 6 cruel 6 stranger 6 trod 6 swiftly 2 during 6 each 6 wood

Appendix 4 - Sentence -maker Created by Jo Coghlin

bright_ideas_writing

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