Over the past two weeks I have been setting up a writing tool folder for each students, as well as a class writing tool box, to support students learning. While I am still at the point of needing to remind students to use these tools, the impact of having them available was noticed immediately.
It was encouraging to see students taking the time to read through the tools they could use, and think about whether they were right to apply to their writing. Punctuation pyramids, conjunction pyramids, sentence starters, synonym charts, fancy word wall, and essential spelling word lists, are just a few of the items we are beginning to use each day when we write. These tools have multiple purposes including prompting when stuck, reminding if unsure, and can be used for generating ideas.
The range rich descriptive vocab that students are beginning to use from the tools they now have, has made a huge impact to the quality of the detail in their writing. When the students read their work aloud to a buddy, or when I read their work aloud to them, the smiles on their faces as they hear how good their work sounds is so empowering for them. The student's confidence and self-esteem is boosted because they now have a range of tools right in front of them that they can use to help record their ideas with greater accuracy and for improved audience appeal, because they don't have all the stress and worry of not knowing what words to use to add details and description.
While I am still constantly prompting students to expand their ideas by asking a range of open ended questions to get them to think about what they have written; overtime as they get used to writing with more precise detail and exciting descriptive words, I will hopefully see the need for as much prompting decrease.
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