From Little Hazels……
Story Writing in Glyncollen
“The washing machine goes around and around. It is
full of soap and water. The washing machine takes all Daddy’s clothes and takes
the spots off them. The washing machine is naughty and hides everything at the
back. It hides spots, tissues and wipes, all at the back. We need to buy a new
one I think!”
I love this story! It was written by a
three year old boy, dictated and scribed.
It is one example of the myriad of amazing stories the children in my
school have produced this year as a result of a story-telling project. Let me tell you my story.
I’ve been the Head Teacher of a primary
school with 248 children for just over a year.
In September, as part of a drive to improve the quality of writing and oracy
in the school, I introduced a story-telling project. I am not one for laying down the law with
teachers, especially when it comes to experimenting. I want them to have the
courage to take a risk and see results for themselves. I know what I believe about literacy and
having completed research into narrative understanding and children’s writing
with my own classes, I invited my long-time friend Sue to introduce a
story-telling project to the staff. Sue had original been my Masters tutor and
had inspired me to want to inspire. That’s why I took the bold step out of the
classroom and into Headship. Making the difference is what counts.
In one two-hour training session, Sue
introduced the theory that narrative understanding is the primary meaning making tool and that we must
capitalise on this with our children.
Secondly, following Kieran Egan’s work, she explained that children from
3-7 are highly imaginative and that we must encourage and give opportunities
for them to use their imaginations through role-play, drama and
story-telling. Sue also introduced the
work of Vivian Paley, the award-winning, retired kindergarten teacher. Vivian
encouraged her children to tell their stories and made sure an adult was
available to scribe them. The children’s stories then became part of the class
reading and drama as either the teacher or children read their stories to the
class and other children acted them out.
Finally Sue asked teachers to ensure the children were immersed in
stories – each day they should hear traditional fairy tales, picture books,
oral stories and stories the children have written themselves.
In the year two classroom, excited about
the project, and free of the pressures of CDAP, the teacher embraced the ideas
and couldn’t wait to start. That week
she told the children about the project and asked the children to help her set
up a writing table in the class. The
children were told that if they wanted to tell a story they could go to the
story table and someone would scribe it for them.
Sian had my full support. Everyone tells
stories and everyone has a story to tell. We just need someone to listen.
Children are no different. They just need the opportunity, the time and the
encouragement and will do it naturally.
If we truly want children to be authors, we must treat them as such,
through motivation not force; through purposeful creativity not pointless
tasks.
I was challenging the entrenched views that
children can’t write unless we teach them the skills first; that these should
be taught step-by-step in a sequence and that all the class should learn
together in a series of tick-box lessons. They might tick our boxes but
certainly not theirs. Years of SATs have been engrained on literacy mentality –
So many teachers today might feel lost without the lists of things to cover. The
concept of giving children an opportunity to write whenever and whatever they
want, acquiring the skills they recognise they need, as and when they need
them, is a big ask in a data driven world.
I reinforced Sue’s message to the staff –
that in order to tell stories children need imagination, to see story telling
as an opportunity to intrigue, excite, emote;
I want to feel the emotion in children as they tell their stories, not
see them glazed over because they don’t get their capital letters and full
stops right!
By asking the teachers to give the children
an oral platform to tell their stories; to feed their imaginations by providing
a literature rich environment in which to work I knew I was taking a risk – we
weren’t entirely sure where it was going to go. They asked questions: at what
point, if any, did we ask the children to put their stories on paper? We decided to ‘stick with it, see where it
goes’, wait and see if children ask if they can write them down. Don’t force them to write before they are
ready. We needn’t have worried.
It is almost a year now and wonderful
things have happened. In Sian’s class,
during the first week of introducing the project only four children asked to
dictate a story. By week two when Sue
came back to see how things were going she was presented with a book of stories
the children had dictated that had been transcribed and punctuated by a variety
of adult volunteers, a book of stories
some children had scribed themselves and a book they had spontaneously dictated
at home. The first thing we noticed was
that all the stories had character, setting, plot, rift and resolution. Sian hadn’t
taught this – the children just knew it.
The second thing we noticed was the influence of the literature-rich
environment – inter-textual referencing, playing with genres, using rhetorical
devices for effect, repetition of character, twists and humour.
Responding to the stories was
important. Sian
held her daily story-telling and sharing and children had the chance to either
read or have their stories read. Peer
assessment was encouraged – what do we like about this story? What would make it better? What would you like more of? What’s missing from this story? Sian would share the written stories with
each child; as they read back or heard their own stories they could see the
purpose of punctuation for themselves. Children’s progress was monitored on an
individual basis as they went along.
Other things happened as a result of the
project. It became apparent that parents scribing for their children created a
bond between them and gave them a ne awareness of their child’s ability and an
insight into their world – significantly Dads from all backgrounds became
really involved in the project. Parents in
homes where books are thin on the ground became absorbed as they saw the
children able to write amazing stories.
We held a literacy experience
evening when the parents came to see what was done and they saw how brilliant
their children are – how creative.
Within a term the majority of the children
had started to write for themselves and became even more absorbed in it. Through reading their stories to each other
they were able to learn about authorial techniques. The best writers in the class are now writing
a standards close to Level 4! Both oracy and reading have also been positively
affected.
Now, when children, boys in particular, and
those prone to mischief, when given the chance to choose an activity as a reward,
will choose to cosy up in the book corner with a good book. They are having so much time to read, be read
to, to hear each other read, and they love to do it. Really proficient readers
read with feeling, correct intonation, expression, excitement, pause for
effect, and provide a marvellous peer role model for the class.
The class as a whole is a very mixed bag;
some are confident, some not so confident, some are receiving support for a
variety of reasons, but they have become a learning focused class – and they
are so absorbed in what they are doing there are far fewer behaviour issues.
It’s not just in Year 2 that change has
occurred. Sue came back for another session focused on Key Stage two and we
shifted our curriculum to a thematic approach incorporating drama, Mantle of
the Expert and other approaches. It’s really
working here too – the children are enthused about writing and we have story
books of evidence from nursery to Year 6 – but this would be the subject of a
whole other blog!
We’re not a year down the line yet, and standards
have risen for sure. But it’s more than that - it’s about instilling that love
of lifelong learning. The children are writing because they want to write. The teacher is the facilitator, not the font
of all knowledge, nor the ticker of boxes. The children choose how, where, when
and what to write – there are no constraints.
Now they go to year 3 with a love of story-telling and writing and a
whole load of skills to boot. It’s been
a great year.
Anna Bolt, Sue Lyle and Sian Davies
