How can I improve the achievement of struggling writers?

Over the past few weeks it as become alarmingly apparent that more than a third of my class are well below in their writing.  These writers are struggling in all areas of their writing and with only two years left of primary school, I need to do something to meet their needs and raise not only their confidence in writing but also their achievement.  In our last team meeting, this problem was noted across all four year 5 classes.  It was a very motivating meeting and I came away from it feeling positive that I could make a change with these writers and trial a new approach with them.  The approach is going to be taking the key ideas from ALL that Leanne shared with us.
Before I began the new way of teaching these struggling writers, I identified who they were based on past assessments as well as what I had seen during writing over the past three weeks.  I complied some simple questions that each student answered outside independently and my teacher aid recorded what they said.  The students comments were very interesting.  Below are the questions and their comments:
How do you feel about writing?

• "I feel okay.  I like describing things"
• "Sometimes I like it depending on what I'm writing"
• "Happy when I get to write about what I'm interested in"
• "I find it boring.  I just want it finished"
• "I like writing, it makes me happy"
• "I like writing because I get to use my imagination"
• "I feel awesome.  I get to write new stories"
• "I feel happy because I like to write stories"

What feelings do you have when working with the teacher and using pencil?

• "I feel negative because when I rub out words I lose track and forget all my ideas"
• "Annoys me when I write something good and the teacher rubs it out"
• "Easier because the teacher helps when I'm stuck"
• "I feel worried that it's not perfectly correct"
• "I don't like my work being rubbed out. It makes me feel mad"
• "I feel it's easier to write in pencil because you can rub out your mistakes"
• "Feel pretty good, it's easier using a pencil and I know where to put my fingers.  Easier because the teacher shows me what to do"
• "I feel annoyed.  I like how I do my work.  Too much of the teacher telling me what to"

How do you feel about writing in pen?

• "Working on my own is hard because I have to think"
• "I feel nervous and when I cross a word out it looks bad.  I don't like to make mistakes"
• "Easier because even though I make a mistake I can still track the story"
• "Writing in pen is better because your work is not rubbed out"
• "I try harder and want to get things right because I'm working by myself"
• "Harder because I want it to be perfect but the teacher can see all my mistakes"
• "It feels easier"
• "Harder because you have to correct everything yourself and its not as neat and tidy.  It's better to keep your mistakes because you learn from them"

How would you like to learn/be taught writing?  What would your ideal sessions be like?

• "No rubbing work out.  Work on a paragraph then get it checked by the teacher not every session"
• "Always write in pen so I can see all my work"
• "The teacher writing example plans and sentences and then we can go and do the work on our own"
• "Writing about what I'm into"
• "Do what they want to write.  To be funny and entertaining like Mrs O'Callaghan"
• "Before we start writing go through examples first so we can go and do the work ourselves".

Having taken on board the students opinions, today I tried a new approach to planning our writing.  My low group had the choice to either write about 'How beavers build dams' like the rest of the class, or write about our recent trip to the Blue Lake.  Interestingly everyone wanted to do the same topic.
We started off by watching several clips via the interactive whiteboard on how beavers build dams.  We then orally discussed a few of the key points noted from the videos.  I then gave the students a pile of sticky notes then in working with the people at their tables, the students had to list one point per sticky note which either described the beaver or a point about how they build their dam.  These were all anonymous.  Once the students had done this, they were asked to place their sticky on a chart: one was the introduction -  define topic, what is being explained... the second chart was for the body of the explanation: how, cause and effect...
Once all the sticky notes were placed on a chart I read all the points out to the class.  I continually gave the class praise for their thoughts and efforts to help build their confidence throughout this process.  By reading the points out aloud, the class quickly were able to identify key points that had been missed out so they quickly wrote these down then added them to the charts.
The next step involved splitting the class into two groups.  My teacher aide supported one group who were asked to group all the sticky notes with similar points together then place the groups into a logical, sequence on the chart.  The other group worked with me.  We divided our chart into three sections.  We also grouped the sticky notes with similar points together then placed them in the section on the chart which represented either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd paragraph.  Once this was done the students checked over the chart and ensured that the notes were correctly arranged in a logical sequence.
This is all we had time for today.  After we had finished I asked the students to give either positive or negative feedback about today's planning session and also what they think we should do for the next step in planning.  The positive response was fantastic.  The students loved working together and learning from each other.  They found this way of planning really helpful and were able to identify a lot more ideas they could use as opposed to them working alone.  Students hope to continue planning together by filling in an example of the graphic organiser together before they go off to complete it by themselves.
It was great to see students feeling motivated about their writing and to have many of my identified struggling writers giving feedback about todays session.