Reading and writing in the primary school: focus on narrative writing

Abstract

Chapter objectives To explain the structure of stories. To explain how reading links to writing. To explain how to instruct a pupil to write a story. This chapter examines the research evidence on the powerful reciprocal relationship that exists between reading and writing development, the teacher’s role in supporting pupils’ emerging reading and writing abilities, ideas to inspire pupils to use reading as a springboard for writing, and the secrets of success in effective story writing. Setting the scene You are a teacher of a Year 1 class. Where do you start in teaching writing? Many teachers connect their teaching of writing to productive talk where the pupils talk together about a topic and generate ideas. Children and teacher talk together about a topic and this leads to writing. The following is an example where the teacher is sitting in front of the class and the class is sitting on the mat. Example 13.1 A Year 1 class (fi ve-year-olds) writing a story after oral discussion Time: 9:30 Teacher: ‘Today we are talking about “My family”. Whose family?’ Class: ‘My family!’ Teacher: ‘Talk with the classmate sitting next to you about your family. Who is in your family? Share your ideas.’ ...