Research School Network: Check it makes sense Highlighting why pupils find writing so challenging and how they can become overwhelmed by the writing process

As a leader and Year 6 teacher, I know that writing is a complex skill and within the classroom it is common for Year 6 pupils to struggle to juggle all the skills of writing. The simple view of writing highlights why pupils find writing so challenging and how they can become overwhelmed by the writing process.

Based on ​‘The Simple View of Writing’ developed by Beringer et al. (2002).

As ​‘The Simple View of Writing’ highlights, writing is a complex task because it requires pupils to coordinate a number of different processes at once:

• text generation — which involves thinking of ideas and using oral language skills to put those thoughts into words and sentences;

• transcription — which enables the writer to move oral language into written language;

• executive functions — such as self-regulation (controlling one’s own behaviour, thoughts, and emotions), planning, problem-solving, and monitoring writing.

This blog focuses on the developing executive functioning through monitoring and reviewing writing alongside the editing process.

It can be tempting in a busy primary classroom to say ​‘Check it makes sense!’ but do all pupils really understand clearly how to edit their own writing and the impact this can have on the intended audience?

The evidence base around the writing process, according to the EEF’s ​‘Improving Literacy In Key Stage 2’ guidance report, can be broken down into 7 stages: Planning, Drafting, Sharing, Evaluating, Revising, Editing and Publishing. This was a starting point within the school and enabled us to refine how we teach writing and led us to developing a shared understanding around the seven stages of the writing process.

Editing focuses on making changes to ensure the text is accurate and coherent. At this stage, spelling and grammar assume greater importance and pupils will need to recognise that their work will need to be accurate if readers are to engage with it and extract the intended information from it.

My Year 6 class needed help to edit their work for a range of different reasons. For some pupils there was a lack of key foundational knowledge and for others it was around lack of independence around re-reading and checking for understanding. As a class they had limited experience of routinely editing work.

As a Year 6 teacher, I focused on explicitly teaching pupils how to edit, as these improvements would impact on the quality of writing produced.

Within this edit stage, I used a structured approach of the I do/​We do/​You do sequence.

I do

This involved having a ​‘bad example’ of a drafted piece of work which was shared with the whole class. This live modelling ensured that I could explain my thinking aloud and model the impact of misconceptions or errors made and how to correct these. I modelled the use of a blue pen to directly edit straight on the piece of writing.

Within the summer term, I used a bad example of an introduction to a suspensive narrative based on the novel ​‘When Sky Falls’. Alongside basic punctuation, a common misconception within the class was the consistency of tenses. This was highlighted by myself in the below example. Using this bad example, I could draw attention to the inconsistency of tenses and clearly articulate my thinking.

We do

In pairs the pupils would read aloud from the modelled text and discuss any errors and ways to address these. I would invite pupils to share and reason which would be the better editing option and why their chosen alternative vocabulary was most appropriate.

You do

After explicit modelling and an opportunity for pupils to discuss the ​‘bad example’ in pairs, we move into the ​‘You do’. This is where pupils continued to edit the modelled example independently.

While the class are independently working, there is then the opportunity for myself to check in on targeted pupils to reinforce, remodel and reexplain.

Due to the staged writing process being implemented in school, and the focus on explicitly teaching editing, I have seen a significant impact on the quality of writing produced. Pupils have taken more responsibility for editing what they have written and are independently applying editing skills. It is now much more commonplace to hear pupils reminding themselves and each other to please check it makes sense!

Reflection points:

How do you plan for editing within your writing process?

Which approaches might help pupils develop their editing skills?

Further Reading

Improving Literacy in Key Stage 1

Improving Literacy in Key Stage 2