Writing+Skills

Writing Skills

** Handwriting **
The automatic or foundation skills of writing are far more important than I realised as teachers. The [|Matthew Effect]shows us that without foundation skills for writing, students write less, form negative feelings about writing and themselves as writers etc. This vicious cycle is best prevented with early intervention rather than 'cured' much later when issues and problems have continued to compound over many years.

Handwriting is both a physical skill and an application of letter knowledge. Fine motor skills may need to be developed and for this learners need far more practice/exercise handwriting. They may need help and support to hold the writing tool in an effective way. The best results teaching learners to hand write come from self instruction. So just as with language concepts teachers should not tell learners what to notice (although this is more effective than leaving them to work it out without any guidance) but to ask them what they notice about the letters. How are they similar or different, watch the teacher form them, how would they explain this to others? With a few letters that are similar (formation groups) get students to identify what is similar about them that may help them to form them correctly. Once some letters are secure (automatic) this understanding can be capitalised on for learning, practicing and autonomising similar letters. Again the best 'activities' to practice handwriting are authentic meaningful writing activities, at the very least sentences generated by the learner using the letter they are trying to master as much as possible. This work may require intensive work with some learners but is necessary to prevent continued distance between the learner and their peers.

** Typing/ Word Processing **
For some learners who physically find handwriting very taxing and difficult, typing may support them to shift their attention to other demands in the writing process. Some researchers believe, the physicality of handwriting supports the development of letter/sound knowledge. It is desirable for learners to master both handwriting and typing but in some situation this may not be empowering for the student. If students are going to type to write, they should complete the entire process on the computer. Planning and research may be done on paper with the teacher/class/peer but the drafting, revision and editing should all be recorded on the computer. The process is changed by the computer, the processes for identifying spelling errors, alternative spelling and changes will be different way to the paper process. It is not logical to write a draft on paper and then word process it, we would rarely do this in the real world. This will give the writer more time to work on their work and support their attempts to write independently. While this is appropriate to scaffold the learner to independent writing during the writing process of a piece for an audience, the writer must still write on paper, especially for more informal purposes such as writing reminders to themselves, brainstorming and working with others, take notes and clarifying ideas etc.