Gather Evidence:
With my target group selected, I went about gathering evidence: I used the 2017 Analysis of end of year writing data to look at trends in achievement and the barriers to achievement. I took note of high achievers who need to be provided extra support to further enhance their achievement levels.
2017 Analysis of end of year writing data (Senior School)
I also looked at the e-asttle results of these students, checked their attitude to writing from the e-asttle writing scripts. This gave me an idea of where these students were at, in their writing. I even looked at each target group student's end of year 2017 writing sample that these students had identified as their best pieces of writing and why they thought those pieces of writing were the best.
Term 1 data
Identify Trends:
Attitude of boys to writing is good but girls show much better attitude to writing.
Achievement Level of e-asttle writing (Females within level 4 and males within level 3)
Girls persevere to complete their writing and respond to feedback
Boys struggle to complete writing task and responding to feedback
Hypothesise:
Boys need to be motivated to write
Topic / prompts need to cater for boys' interests to motivate boys to write.
Girls write on any given topic or prompt
Research:
At our staff meeting we read the following articles and unpacked them to make ourselves aware of how students need to be taught "Writing" in the junior, middle and senior school at Glenbrae.
Teaching Writing in Years 1–3: Building a Strong Foundation
Teaching Writing across the Curriculum in Years 4–6: Increasing Progress
Teaching Writing in Years 7 and 8: Accelerating Progress
The Writing Book by Sheena Cameron & Louise Dempsey A practical guide for teachers -
I read the chapters - Catering for different learning needs, How to support students to build a 'toolkit' for writing and reviewing editing and celebrating writing. These are really useful for planning and teaching students in my target group.
