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PrimaryEnglish

Struggling to find a model text for teaching reading and writing? Then why not write your own?

Once you are feeling confident, writing your own text can take minutes

Dan Hughes
by Dan Hughes
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PrimaryEnglish

Surrounded by books, magazines and sheets of A4 paper, my wife – an experienced Y5 and 6 teacher – turned to look at me and said, “I’ve searched everywhere! Twinkl, TES, the entire internet – you name it, I’ve looked! All I need is an exciting adventure narrative that has fronted adverbials, clear direct speech and three good examples of subordinate clauses.”

Seeing that she was snowed under and clearly very frustrated at being unable to find what she was after, I looked at her and replied, “Why don’t you write one yourself?”

The look of horror on her face was a picture – as if writing something of her own was the worst possible suggestion, yet she was about to ask her pupils to do the same.

If teachers feel a sense of anguish at writing, what attitude and image are we portraying to our pupils who we are expecting to do the very same?

Teachers often claim that they are ‘time poor’ and haven’t got time to find the best resources. Very often, they get bogged down with resources, trying to find the perfect model text to support their unit of work.

With the prevalence of ‘talk for writing’ in primary schools today, the need and desire for texts that meet certain criteria is stronger than ever.

By the teacher writing a text that can be used with pupils, not only can they learn a huge amount about the writing process, but the pupils will also benefit from a teacher who truly understands how they feel.

While teaching, I would regularly find writing my own text an enjoyable and satisfying experience. After practising again, and again, I could finely tune texts to meet the needs of my pupils and do this in a relatively quick period of time.

It quickly became easier and more convenient to create my own. This didn’t stop me occasionally using other sources, but it would often be my first port of call.

Having seen frustrated teachers and dull, unsuitable texts being used in class, I believe that this is the way forward and that more teachers should trust their own judgement and ability to produce a learning resource that can be used with their own classes. The benefits are numerous.

The thought process

When you begin to write, either with a pad of paper or at a computer screen, you start to appreciate the skills, knowledge and experiences required to compose those first words.

By facing this challenge yourself, you can understand what activities and work needs to be planned and taught beforehand to ensure the class will be successful when they begin the task.

This empathy will benefit your understanding of the task you are setting them and it will also help you to break down the steps in progress needed to ensure the pupils produce an inventive, creative and precise piece of writing.

Grammar time

It can be difficult to find a model text that has appropriate grammatical features to meet the needs of your pupils. When constructing your own text, you can ensure that the areas you want your pupils to focus on are included and are good examples.

This doesn’t mean shoehorning them in, but it does allow you the freedom to, for example, drop in some parenthesis, because that is an aspect your pupils need to develop their understanding of.

Providing grammar in context is vital for pupils to understand the purpose and benefits of particular grammatical structures or word choices. As you construct your text, you can tailor the grammar and provide examples of that aspect being used to enhance your writing.

It can also provide the opportunity to illustrate writing that meets the end of year expectations without losing the enjoyment of writing. It’s a win-win situation for both you and the pupils.

Time saving

Writing your own text can be quicker than searching. It can take hours for teachers to scan through old text books, rummage in the library or badger colleagues: ‘You know, that good story we used four years ago about a red dragon or something.’

Once you are feeling confident, writing your own text can take minutes. It does require practice, but the writing process can be incredibly quick.

Cross-curricular links

When working with finely-tuned curriculum topics, such as the Stone Age or the Mayans, it can be very difficult to find good fictional texts associated with these areas. They are out there, but are very hard to locate and may cost. This takes time and money.

By creating your own, you can ensure it fits the topic you are studying and makes the text more meaningful for your pupils. As most teachers are aware, linking your English and topic can save time and help the pupils to see the relevance of what they are studying.

Again and again

So, you’ve written the most fantastic story about a young girl who explores the rainforest and discovers hidden gems whilst running from a fantastical snake and saving her brother. In your eyes it’s simply genius. What a shame it would be to only use it once with your current class.

However, when writing your own texts, you can save it and use it again and again. Before you even realise, you may have 10-20 texts that you’ve written, ready to be used. Creating a bank of texts is so valuable and will save you time in the long run.

Wonderful benefits

The most important aspects of writing are the enjoyment of reflecting, sharing something with a wider audience and taking the time to escape with your thoughts and imagination.

By doing this yourself, you receive these wonderful benefits and will have the chance to share that enthusiasm and love for writing with your class. In my experience, when I have been excited about a piece of writing, this can be infectious and the pupils warm to the task at hand.

Enjoyment is at the heart of creative writing and it can be the most worthwhile activity both for you and the pupils.

Creating your own texts is a rewarding experience. A couple of years ago, during an English lesson where the pupils were analysing the latest story that I’d written, a child looked at me and said, “Seriously, Mr H, you wrote this?” “I did,” I replied. “It’s proper good,” he said, then continued with his highlighting.

The sense of satisfaction, the connection with that pupil and their subsequent progress, proved to me that a teacher creating their own texts is more valuable than buying in books and stories. I encourage everyone to give writing a go.

Struggling with getting started? Try these ideas…

Dan Hughes is an experienced primary teacher and a university tutor at the University of Worcester, lecturing in primary English and PE as part of the Primary Initial Teacher Training team.

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