I've got something to say - Gail Loane

Recently as part of my professional readings I have been reading the book "I've got something to say" by Gail Loane.  Below are things that I have read and that have captivated my interest and which I will both continue to do and also try to include into my practice.

We demonstrate how readers and writers think and behave - even when we are not consciously modelling it.

Every student has something to say -they might not always realise it though so it is our job to believe it and have our students believe it also.  We need to include a variety of ways of doing this - it is important to provide time for reading, talking, listening, non verbal communication and writing daily - all of these aspects form literacy and communication not just one of them.

Lev Vygotsky (1978) describes language as a socially mediated process - where interactions with others play an important role in language development.  When we transfer this to our classrooms it is clear that collaboration between students can help provide a way forward - indeed research demonstrates that when students respond to the work of others and seek feedback on their own work they show more definitive progress.  Effective ways of applying this within senior classrooms include things such as partner conferencing, peer response, whole class sharing.  These ways of working together are effective as they allow immediate feedback, the opportunity to make amends whilst writing, a wider range of opinions not just the teachers, a greater awareness of what works, a less threatening small group audience, chance to take risks and not just try and please the teacher - an opportunity for everyone's voice to be heard.

In order to teach writing effectively we need to ensure that we start with the whole and its meaning, draw out the teaching point for exploration and then return it to the whole.  When we are deconstructing texts over a number of days it is important to acknowledge the context of the whole text - yes we may need to put a magnifying glass on a particular aspect of it but we then need to zoom back out for children to truly appreciate the effect of that aspect.