Talk for Writing
Mount Charles Primary School implemented the Talk for Writing approach to teaching Writing in EYFS from September 2020 and in Year 1 during the academic year 2021-22.
Talk for Writing starts with enjoying and sharing stories. Throughout the school we place a strong emphasis on children reading stories and enjoying a range of literature.
Talk for Writing enables children to imitate the key language they need for a particular topic orally before they try reading and writing it. Through exciting and engaging activities that help them rehearse the tune of the language they need, followed by shared writing to show them how to craft their writing, children are helped to write in the same style.
Talk for Writing has three key phases which work together to develop knowledge, confidence and independence in writing:
Imitation
During this phase the children create actions to accompany the oral re-telling of the story. They also create story maps, using pictures and symbols, to depict actions and events from the text. The key to success for the children is that they internalise the text type through repetition and rehearsal. They also begin to look closely at the language and text features that have been used.
Innovation
During this phase the teacher and the children begin to change aspects of the model text using their own ideas. They explore the text using different characters, settings or events and new ideas for descriptive language whilst sticking closely to the underlying structure. This process enables the children to write their own versions through developing their ability to generate effective words and phrases.
Independent Application
During this phase the children plan and write their own text based on the writing genre they have been learning. They experiment with the ideas and begin to explore their own style of writing using sentence types from the model text before finally writing their version of the text.
The Talk for Writing approach was developed by Pie Corbett, an educational writer and poet. He is well known for promoting creativity in the classroom and has experience as a teacher, head teacher and OFSTED inspector. He regularly lectures on education around the world and the UK government consult with him as an educational advisor.
The video below is of Pie Corbett explaining more about Talk for Writing.