A few years ago at a Manaiakalani TOD I went to a workshop with Jo Gormly from Tamaki Primary. She had been working with Jannie Van Hees on ways to develop a rich oral language classroom.
This was her Inquiry Hypothesis
Developing oral language through short high-interest topics and real-life experiences, with a focus on intensive oral language acquisition, will create an environment of language in abundance.
At the time I didn't have my own class to have a go at implementing some of her ideas and practices so now that I do have my own class I am keen to see what difference a real focus on extending the acquisition and practice of oral language vocabulary and structures can have on lifting student engagement and achievement in writing.
Over 10 years ago when I was teaching a Year 5 class, we also had considerable P.D. with Jannie Van Hees. At the time, the positive impact her programme had on writing was quickly apparent. However I noticed over the following years, as her practice became re- interpreted and morphed slightly, the focus on gifting vocabulary more in isolation (as opposed to a constant revisiting and re-using in different contexts) lead to some less positive outcomes particularly for children learning to write. I noticed that there was a trend for children to become so dependent on gifted language and the spelling of these words that they were less risk-takers. If they didn't know a word they needed to be told rather than having a go themselves. I noticed that some children were becoming more reluctant at writing.
In thinking about my inquiry for this year I realise that there needs to be a dual emphasis. - on the one hand having an explosion of vocabulary learning. and practising by using and re-using this vocab in a multitude of ways, but on the other hand there also needs to be a simultaneous focus of learning the skills for writing - the nuts and bolts for being able to write down ideas quickly and confidently through a solid knowledge of letter sounds and word parts and a bank of known high frequency words.
So next term I plan to rearrange the timetable to allow for an inquiry focussed activity in the 1st block which will also have a strong oral language focus. This activity will then become the focus for writing. Children's writing skills will simultaneously be developed through small group instruction on letter sounds, clapping words into parts, making and breaking words, using Elkonin boxes etc.
Initially I plan to carry out an oral language assessment on a targeted group of children, which along with their e-asttle writing test will be a baseline starting point. There is an oral language test that Jannie created that I would like to look into as well as doing a Record of Oral Language test.
We will plan in 2 week slots with a strong clear topic of interest for each of those 2 weeks. A bank of related vocabulary will accompany every 2 week topic. Every opportunity will be found for children to use and re-use this vocab and to practise it in different contexts with different sentence structures.
Inquiry Focus Question:
Can a focus on intensive oral language acquisition through short high-interest topics and real-life experiences, in conjunction with the teaching of sound writing skills, help to significantly improve children's writing.
