Helping your child with writing
Writing is often a weakness for some children: expressing ourselves on paper is something that as adults, we take for granted; however, for younger people, there are fears of how it will be received, what mistakes there will be and often a fear of failure. How can you support your child at home?
During KS3, pupils are taught to write within the following groupings, or 'triplets':
- Writing to argue, persuade or advise
- Writing to imagine, explore or entertain
- Writing to inform, explain or describe
- Writing to analyse, review or comment.
For a longer piece of writing, your child may be given a National Curriculum level, just like the one they received at the end of KS2. If you wish to help your child aim towards a particular level, it would first be helpful to look at their traffic lights (if your child is already in school, these are given in November, February and May), to ascertain what their target is and how they are currently performing in English (remember that this is decided from their reading, writing and speaking and listening). Once you know what they are aiming for, take a look at the targets for that particular level .
Writing Homework
When your child is given writing homework, help them to plan this. Planning is one of the most important parts of their work but is often neglected. In the SATs, at GCSE and at 'A' Level, pupils are reminded of their planning time; it is a great idea to start them off with this now. They should be considering the audience, purpose and form for the work - who it is supposed to be written for, which of the writing purposes within the triplets does it fit into and how should it be presented. Then they should prepare by using a mindmap or spider diagram for their ideas and ordering them. Finally they should consider the language they are going to use to achieve particular effects. Only now are they ready to begin writing.
Once their writing is complete, please get your child to check their work through thoroughly. You could use the following checklist for them, helping them at first but encouraging them to do this independently in readiness for their work higher up in the school.
Things to consider when you write |
Things to help you improve |
Have I always thought about my reader, considering the purpose, audience, form and formality of the text I am producing? |
Always think about PAFF (purpose, audience, form, formality). Why are you writing? Who are you writing for? What form should it take? How formal should it be? |
Have I planned thoroughly, ordering the paragraphs? |
Use a mindmap or spider diagram to plan, placing ideas in groups and numbering them. |
| Have I used paragraphs to structure my work? | If not, insert // where a paragraph should be and write np in the margin. |
| Are the paragraphs ordered correctly? | If not, go through and number them. |
| Do the paragraphs link properly? | Add a sentence if necessary to make sure your paragraphs are hooked together throughout your work. You might want to link them by numbers, for example:
Or, try linking paragraphs through phrases: On the other hand....Although many people think......Nevertheless.......In spite of this...In contrast...... |
Have I used a topic sentence in each paragraph? |
A topic sentence is usually the first sentence and makes it clear what the paragraph is about; other sentences support it. |
Have I varied the length of my sentences? |
A variety of sentence lengths creates interest, gets you higher marks and can build tension (use of short sentences). |
Have I varied the ways in which my sentences begin? |
Try beginning with a verb: Walking along the road, I suddenly.... or an adverb: Slowly, I picked myself up.... In this way, you can create interest and gain extra marks |
Have I used a mixture of simple, compound and complex sentences? |
If you're not sure about the difference between these, check them out here . |
Is my spelling, punctuation and grammar correct? |
If you're unsure about some things, check them out here. If you're more sure, check out your grammar knowledge on this site. |
Have I made my vocabulary as exciting as possible? |
Some words (nice, great etc.) are very unhelpful; try using the thesaurus in Word or an online one like Chambers to help you improve your vocabulary. From year 7 to year 13, better vocabulary will get you extra marks. |
The only way you can be sure that you have made as few mistakes as possible is by proof-reading. The BBC offers some advice here.