National Council for the Teaching of English (NCTE)

August 2022

This position paper is the latest update by NCTE. This position statement is directed primarily toward the audience of school executives and curriculum writers. It provides and overview of what constitutes writing and writing instruction then discusses the challenges to authentic and culturally sustaining writing instruction. It would be a useful professional learning discussion paper with teaching staff.

Keywords: Writing  Writing instruction  Challenges to writing instruction  Diversity

Mem Fox

in Turbill, J. Barton, G. & Brock, C. [eds] Teaching Writing in Today's Classrooms: Looking back to look forward, pp 3-12 2015 published by ALEA

This chapter is an edited version of the inaugural Donald Graves Address given at the ALEA National Conference in Sydney in 2012, jointly sponsored by ALEA and the Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).
In this inspiring address, Mem shares her memories of a great researcher and writer of children’s writing, Donald Graves, and identifies five key principles of his for teachers of writing
 
Key words: Donald Graves  Authenticity   Teaching writing    History of teaching writing

Link to Touchstones: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
 

Brian Cambourne

in Turbill, J. Barton, G. & Brock, C. [eds] Teaching Writing in Today's Classrooms: Looking back to look forward, pp 26-40, 2015 published by ALEA

In this chapter Brian Cambourne shares key messages that focus on the nature of effective writing and its relationship with reading, language, and learning.
 
Key words: Effective writing  Teaching writing    Relationship between reading and writing

Link to Touchstones: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
 

Jo Padgham and Christine Topfer

in Turbill, J. Barton, G. & Brock, C. [eds] Teaching Writing in Today's Classrooms: Looking back to look forward, pp 198-217, 2015 published by ALEA

This chapter focuses on two Australian schools and how each one has approached improving and celebrating writing and writers along with developing teachers’ and students’ identities as writers.Two very different schools, Turner School in the ACT and Glenora District School in Tasmania, developed similar approaches to changing beliefs and practices in the teaching and learning of writing. At the time of publication Jo Padgham was principal of Turner School in ACT and Christine Topfer was a Network Lead Teacher, Tasmania, partnering with Glenora District School.These two stories are windows into how school leaders, academic partners, teachers, students and their communities have stayed the course with a focus on whole school improvement in writing.
 
Key words: Writing  Beliefs and practices   Authenticity   Reading and writing identities   Meaning-making   Conditions of Learning  Improvement

Link to Touchstones: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
 

Robyn Ewing AM   2021

In this short article Robyn provides useful information about what poetry is and why we should be teaching it. Robyn provides classroom examples as well as a list of resources to help teachers get started with the fun and joy of reading and writing poetry in the primary classroom.
 
Keywords:  Poetry  Teaching poetry  Responding to poetry  Writing poetry
 
 

Jan Turbill, Susan McAuliffe and Brett Sutton 2015

in Turbill, J. Barton, G. & Brock, C. [eds] Teaching Writing in Today's Classrooms: Looking back to look forward, pp 181-197 published by ALEA

This chapter reports on how three educators set up a successful Book Club, that involved students in Grades 4, 5, 6. The Book Club is a one hour highly structured session held each week and engages students in reading novels, poetry, play writing and exploring picture books. Students learn to ‘read like writers’ as they focus on how published authors use language to engage their readers. Each hour involves students reading, exploring language and writing. Book Club principles are based on sound research evidence and clearly made explicit to students as they begin to learn the many language devices effective writers use. Each session provides time for students to try these devices in their writing. Over the year students’ evaluations demonstrate their growth in confidence and skills as readers and writers.

This chapter is one of 20 excellent chapters on the teaching of writing in the book published by ALEA. The book is available from ALEA at

https://www.alea.edu.au/public-resources/alea-shop 

Keywords: Teaching writing  Book clubs  Literature  Poetry  Student writing  Picture books
 

Ralph Fletcher with Jan Turbill, 2015

in Turbill, J. Barton, G. & Brock, C. [eds] Teaching Writing in Today's Classrooms: Looking back to look forward, pp 4-50 published by ALEA

Ralph Fletcher is a well-known American writer of children’s books and teachers’ books on teaching of writing. In 2014 Ralph came to the ALEA/AATE national conference in Darwin to present the Donald Graves address. It was an inspiring one hour full of gems about the teaching of writing. To write up the address would be a book-in-itself. Thus, it was decided that Ralph and Jan would engage in a conversation about the teaching of writing, Ralph in his home in Portsmouth in the USA and Jan in Australia. This chapter is a result of the recorded conversation, written by Jan and edited by Ralph. It is full of excellent information, and teaching strategies from a writer and a man who spends endless hours with teachers and students in their classrooms teaching writing. In particular, Ralph focuses on the use of mentor texts and boy writers. 

This chapter is one of 20 excellent chapters on the teaching of writing in the book published by ALEA. The book is available from ALEA at

https://www.alea.edu.au/public-resources/alea-shop

We thank ALEA’s Publications Director, for granting permission for the Foundation for Learning and Literacy to include this article here.
Keywords: Teaching writing  Mentor texts  Boy writers  Writer’s craft  Writing conferences
 

Alan J Wright

Alan J. Wright is a very experienced teacher and literacy consultant with a passion for writing and the teaching of writing. He has worked in many classrooms in Australia and the USA, modelling exemplary ways to teach students to write and to develop their own passions for writing. In this document Alan shares some of his ideas about how to do this. Something that Alan values greatly about teaching students to write is that teachers should be writers too and he has devoted one of his books (Igniting Writing: When a Teacher Writes, published by Hawker Brownlow Education, 2011) to this topic and shares more ideas in his blog, Living Life Twice. Teachers might like to subscribe to Alan’s blog.

Key words:  Writing  Mentors  Writer's notebook

August 2020

This Foundation for Learning and Literacy published article is one of two partner articles on supporting struggling readers and writers and expands on Touchstone 6. The partner article is Meeting the needs of struggling readers and writers, particularly in the later primary years and secondary years.

This article outlines principles aimed to assist teachers in adjusting their literacy teaching for individual students who are experiencing some difficulty with reading and writing. They are based on what research tells us about struggling readers and writers.

Key words: Reading  Writing  Engagement  Support

August 2020

This Foundation for Learning and Literacy published article is one of two partner articles on supporting struggling readers and writers and expands on Touchstone 6. The partner article is Principles for working with struggling readers and writers- advice for teachers across primary and secondary schools.

This article draws on research and practice in order to provide teachers and school leaders with research evidence and informed instructional and organisational practices to meet the needs of those students who are struggling as readers and writers.

Key words: Reading  Writing intervention  Engagement  Support  Strategies  Expectations

Alan J Wright

In this short piece for his blog Living Life Twice, Alan J Wright; teacher, consultant and writer, writes about classroom environments where students love to write. He describes classrooms where a genuine sense of the writer's agency is apparent that is the natural consequence of a lot of mindful teaching on the part of teachers who display a commitment to building a classroom dynamic that values highly, student engagement.

Key words: Writing  Student agency  Writer's notebooks  Differentiation  Classroom environment

Claire Wyatt-Smith and Christine Jennifer Jackson

The Conversation October 19, 2020

A survey commissioned by the NSW Education Standards Authority completed by 4,306 NSW teachers, across all sectors, stages of schooling and curriculum areas is the basis for this report by Claire Wyatt-Smith and Christine Jennifer Jackson. The article outlines the findings from the survey and what the research says about the practices found in NSW classrooms. Wyatt-Smith and Jackson contend that teaching writing skills needs to be a baseline requirement for all students. The explicit teaching of these skills must be continuously revisited, building on student knowledge throughout their years of school.

Key words: literacy research, writing, effective strategies, early years writing, secondary writing, evidence for educators

Dutton J, & Rushton K. (2021) Language Teaching Research 25(1): 105-133  doi10.1177/1362168820951215 

This research explores the use of the translanguaging space (Li Wei, 2017) in confirming identity and student agency and developing a creative pedagogy. It offers insights into how the translanguaging space can be used to support English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) students from low socio-economic backgrounds to develop and use all their linguistic and cultural resources in the production of Identity texts (Cummins & Early, 2011; Cummins, Hu, Markus & Montero, 2015). Ancan be an oral, written or multimodal text but it will be a text that connects to the students’ community and disrupts a transmission pedagogy that views the student as a blank slate (Freire,1975). By producing identity texts in the translanguaging space, students are able to choose which language or languages they will use.

Key Words: English  Literacy  Translanguaging  Cultural Identity

Touchstones 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10

Alan J Wright

Presentation given at the ALEA/AATE National Conference Darwin July 8 2022

The invitational plenary Donald Graves Address began shortly after the passing of Donald Graves in late 2010. ALEA decided that in honour of the legacy that Don left us, we would have a plenary address at each National council to keep that amazingly rich legacy alive. Don had visited Australia several times in the 1980s and built a special relationship with many educators and children across the country. The inaugural Donald Graves address was given at the ALEA National Conference in Sydney in 2012 by Mem Fox. Mem’s address can be found in the Research and Practice section in the Foundation for Learning and Literacy website
 
At the most recent ALEA/AATE National Conference Alan J Wright was invited to present the Donald Graves Address. Alan shares many gems about the teaching of writing from his own writing, his many workshops and from the words of Donald Graves. It is an engaging presentation, and one feels as if he is right here speaking to us. Enjoy and learn.
 
Keywords: Teaching   Writing  Donald Graves teachings  The writing process  How to write  Poetry

Conversation October 21, 2021 by Brett Healey

Brett begins this Conversation piece by suggesting that we ask  child why they write and you might receive a common response: .’ He suggests that we need to give our students opportunities to learn writing techniques but also equally important we need to give them ‘freedom over their writing with little teacher intervention’. Brett’s research explores Year 6 students views when they have been able to ‘write creatively’. While Brett agrees that students need to be taught explicit skills and techniques of writing, he argues we need to also teach them to ‘think more like authors’ and therefore they need to be given opportunities ‘’.

 Keywords: Learning to write  Creative writing  Explicit writing  Writing like an author

Alan J Wright

Alan J. Wright is a very experienced teacher and literacy consultant with a passion for writing and the teaching of writing. This short piece Alan argues, ‘Teachers’ writing identities tend to shape the delivery of their writing instruction. This in turn affects attitudes and values, ultimately passed to student writers.’ He strongly suggests teachers need to be writers as this changes the ways they teach writing. Teachers might like to subscribe to Alan’s blog - https://livinglifetwice-alwrite.blogspot.com

Key words: Teachers as writers  Teachers’ writing knowledge  Student engagement

Lisa Kervin and Jessica Mantei

in Turbill, J. Barton, G. & Brock, C. [eds] Teaching Writing in Today's Classrooms: Looking back to look forward, pp 87-103, 2015 published by ALEA
This chapter explores the ‘marks’ that children make in order to revisit the important relationship between drawing and emergent writing. It presents a case study of one child’s drawings and the surrounding talk in order to offer insights for teachers of writing

Key words: Emergent writing  Talk drawing and writing 
Link to Touchstones: 2, 3, 4, 5, 10

Frank Smith, Language Arts, 1983 Vol 5, No 5 pp558-567

In this seminal article Frank Smith questions ‘the myth that one could learn to write to diligent attention and practice’ (p.558). Smith asks: ‘Where do people who write acquire all the knowledge they need?’ The conclusion Smith reaches is that it can only be through reading that writers learn all the ‘tangibles that they know’. He claims that ‘to learn to write, children must read in a special kind of way’ (p558). Smith clearly and logically shares his reasoning, discussing the complexities of writing, learning as a collaborative activity and how readers collaborate with the author whose writing they are reading. Finally, he outlines what this means for teaching writing.

Key words: Reading  Writing  Reading writing connection

Jo Padgham  Principal, Turner School 2017

This poster provides ten compelling points to consider in order to inspire all students to be writers. It highlights the connection between reading and writing and the importance of providing authors with choice. 

Each point is accompanied by an inclusive illustration by Rachel Roberts. This poster would make a welcome addition to any classroom searching to engage readers and writers.

Key words: Writing  Early Childhood  Primary

R.D. Walshe 1981

This article was originally Chapter 2 in his book Every Child Can Write (1981, PETAA). In 1999 Bob edited original 40 pages into a stand-alone article. It is a clear succinct exploration of ‘writing as a process’: a concept that many today take for granted without fully understanding what it means for the learner of writing and its teaching. It is a must read for all teachers of writing.

Key words: Writing  Writing process  Conferring  Response  Evaluation