BIG WritingBIG WritingBIG WritingBIG WritingA Ros Wilson StrategyA Ros Wilson Strategy

The Big Writing Philosophy

• Big Writing is the development of the ‘writing voice’ through fast, fun, lively and predominantly oral activities

• Pupils talk the ‘writing voice’ in a dedicated ‘Big Writing’ session & at other points in a week

• Based on the premise, IF A CHILD CAN SAY IT, A CHILD CAN

WRITE IT

Philosophy Continued ….

• The talking voice is not the same as the ‘writing voice’

• BOYS LOVE TO TALK!• WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE BOYS IS

GOOD FOR THE GIRLS

The Four Generic TargetsVCOP Summary

Vocabulary

Connectives

Openers

Punctuation

The range of ambitious vocabulary a pupil knows; WOW words.

The range of ways pupils have of joining ideas, phrases & sentences

The strategies pupils have for opening sentences; especially the 3 key openers: connectives, ‘ly’ words & ‘ing’ words

The range of punctuation a pupil can use & the accuracy with which they use it.

Level1 .

Level2 . ?

Level3 . ? , !

Level 4 . ? , ! … ’ “”

Level 5 . ? , … - ! ’ “” : ; (

)The Punctuation Pyramid

BIG WRITING – The Method• One & half hours per week, plus daily

stocking fillers• Time comes from one literacy hour,

plus extra half hour devoted to extended writing at some other point.

• Time should be split into 2 x 45 min sessions across morning break[Only 1 hr, split into 2 x 30 min in Y1]

Method continued• Focus & text type will have been

introduced the day before • First 45 mins = 35 mins of fast, fun,

lively oracy based activities linked to what’s expected in their writing.

• Followed by 10 mins of planning time• Planning time used to refocus the

pupils’ thoughts on the stimulus & text type for writing

• Second 45 mins is for writing

ACTIVITYUplevel this sentence.

The boy ran.In pairs, discuss why I like this sentence:The light dimmed. I took a glance at the beast, whilst I still had time.Identify the parts which have been uplevelled.

Week

NLS Unit Plan Possible ‘Big Write’ text type

12345678910

Narrative 1Narrative 1N-F 1 InstructionsN-F 1 InstructionsPoetryPoetryNarrative 2Narrative 2N-F 2 InstructionsN-F 2 Instructions

Revisit text type – RecountNLS Unit Outcome – oral or written retellRevisit text type – RecountNLS Unit outcome – simple instructionsRevisit text type – story with simple settingNLS Outcome – Class anthology of poemsRevisit text type – Informal letter or X-C writeNLS Outcome – storyRevisit text type – Informal letter or X-C writeNLS Outcome – Instructions + diagrams

Possible links with NLS Units – a Y2 example

BIG WRITING - Resources

• Pupil Portfolio• Special Pens• Special Paper• Three ‘goals’

BIG WRITING – Teacher’s Role

• To maintain the silence• To provide 10min brain breaks• To prompt pupils to build in VCOP

[These are known as time prompts]

10 minsCheck your

punctuation!

20 minsCheck your WOW

words!

40 minsCheck your

targets!

30 minsCheck your openers

and connectives.

45 MINS

 

Time Prompts

A clock should be visible to all pupils, ideally colour coded in 10min intervals.

1. ‘You have had 10 minutes. Count how many sorts of punctuation you have used?’

2. ‘You have had 20 minutes. How many WOW words have you used?’

3. ‘You have had 30 minutes. Look at your openers. Have you opened with connectives…’ly’ words, ’ing’ words?

4. ‘You have 5 minutes left.’

Stocking Fillers

• Every day aim to finish one lesson 5 minutes early to do some quick VCOP activities.

• Encourage the children to ‘steal’ good examples of VCOP from authors.

The Criterion Scale

Write on Target• Chapter 1 – What is BIG Writing?• Chapter 2 – The Long Term Strategy• Chapter 3 – FS Contribution to BIG

Writing• Chapter 4 – What is effective target

setting?

• Chapter 5 – Target Setting process• Chapter 6 – Methods & Motivators• Chapter 7 – Gender Differences• Chapter 8 - Basic Skills• Chapter 9 – What really does raise

standards in writing?

• Chapter 10 – Case Studies

Next StepsIn phase groups, discuss how you will take this forward. Consider if you will adopt the whole process or just part. Consider the BIG Write session.When? [Day/time] How often?Timescale? When introduce?