Handout Pack: Improving Writing Quality Modelling questions/ statements for strategy selection Modelled question Modelled response Who is my target audience? “I am writing for a ‘Z’ audience, a class that has not yet learned about ‘Z’. I should be sure to explain terms that the audience may not know.” What goals am I trying to accomplish in my writing? “I need the reader to understand the similarities and differences between X and Y When planning my writing, I need to think about all of the things I know about X and Y. What strategy could I use to accomplish my goals? “I could make a Venn diagram to organise my thoughts and compare and contrast. The headings from the diagram could then be separate points in an outline.” How should I carry out the strategy? “I think I will list the similarities first and then focus on the differences.” teachfirst.org.uk Page | 1 Registered charity, no. 1098294 Strategy Think Aloud Cue Words Predicting I predict… In the next part I think… I think this is… Questioning Why did… What did… How did… Where was… Should there… Visualising I see… I picture… Personal Response I feel… My favourite part… I liked/disliked… Clarifying I got confused when… I’m not sure of… I didn’t expect… Summarising I think this is mainly about… The most important idea is… Reflecting I think I’ll… next time. Maybe I’ll need to… next time.
Transcript
Handout Pack: Improving Writing QualityModelling questions/ statements for strategy selection
Modelled question Modelled response Who is my target audience? “I am writing for a ‘Z’ audience, a class that has
not yet learned about ‘Z’. I should be sure to explain terms that the audience may not know.”
What goals am I trying to accomplish in my writing? “I need the reader to understand the similarities and differences between X and Y When planning my writing, I need to think about all of the things I know about X and Y.
What strategy could I use to accomplish my goals? “I could make a Venn diagram to organise my thoughts and compare and contrast. The headings from the diagram could then be separate points in an outline.”
How should I carry out the strategy? “I think I will list the similarities first and then focus on the differences.”
Create a Do/What chart to thoroughly examine a writing prompt before beginning an assignment. Circle all verbs in the writing prompt that describe what you are being asked to do. Underline the words that describe what the task is. Then, create a chart to generate a roadmap for the writing assignment.
Select one historical event to write a newspaper article about. Describe what happened during the event, who was there, and when it occurred. Your lead statement will communicate the most important points to the reader. Use quotes from eyewitnesses to support your reporting.
Have I written an interesting introduction?Have I used interesting vocabulary?Have I used a selection of different connectives?Have I used complete sentences?Does my conclusion make sense?
