The Writing Network Connect #2
Our Second Network Connect session
Thursday, September 2, 2021
7:45 PM
A key goal of the Think Forward Writing Network is to open a conversation about writing in the classroom, using research, trialled techniques, assessment and data collection.
Recording
JOIN THE DISCUSSION NOW
Read the blog post from convenor Jeanette Breen and continue the discussion after the session!
Other resources
Next time, join us for another Network Connect Session
In this free, dynamic Professional Learning and Networking opportunity we delved into the big ideas in writing as well as the incremental small steps that you can use in your classroom every day to make a difference to your students.
One of the questions we have had from members of the TFE Writing Network has been related to genre teaching. Teaching writing in the context of genres is a common practice in Australia particularly due to our curriculum progressions that specify across several year levels: an expectation that students will be able to produce ‘imaginative, informative and persuasive’ texts. In Victoria this is first mentioned in Year 1.
This was highlighted when a friend recently called me during one of our lockdowns, frustrated at watching her Year 2 daughter cry during an online writing lesson where she was required to come up with a problem, solution and list of characters. Why was this so hard for her and why was I not surprised having seen this many times in an early years classroom? An understanding of genres is important. We know it makes a difference and students need to be able to write about different topics and create specific compositions. So perhaps the problem lies in the way we teach it.