Teaching writing in the Foundation Phase

“One writes to communicate, that is, for a specific purpose and with a reader or readers in mind (Kilfoil & Van der Merwe, 1997) .”

Children are surrounded by print – the boxes holding their toys, TV advertisements, supermarket products, road signs, books and magazines at home. As they meet these many different varieties of print, they come to realise that the meaning is constant and that writing has distinctive structures.

When they begin to produce their own forms of writing they demonstrate their understanding that the marks on paper stand for separate words and that they can be read.

All children are writers. They are creative artists who have both the idea and the language ability to communicate through their writing. They start off with squiggles and it progresses into meaningful renderings of ideas and thoughts. Writing is an instrument for metacognition and reflection.

Children’s writing develops best when they are engaged in authentic written language tasks for a variety of purposes that are clear to them.

When teaching writing, you as the teacher should keep in mind that thinking and reasoning as well as language structure always form part of the writing process. Your classroom should foster a desire in the learners to write. Have interesting books to read and display their work. The learners will feel that their work is being appreciated, it will be their drawings, but later their real written work. There should also be examples of different forms of writing, such as poems, letters, rules, etc. on the wall. Large examples of letters and words on the walls will help the learners with letter formation.

Writing phases.

The Pre-Writing phase. In this phase, also known as emergent literacy, children write what they see others writing. They learn that they can convey a message through a drawing or a scribble. Initially these concepts are the same to them. The learners become aware of and experiment with writing when:

· Drawing and explaining the message of their drawings.

· Drawing a picture and dictating a caption to the teacher, who then writes it above or below the picture and the learner “read” it repeatedly.

· Attempt to write the caption to their drawings. At first it will just be scribbling, but, as the learners become more skilled, they will start using letters.

· Tracing the letters they recognize with crayons.

· Copying labels.

The main aim of the pre-writing phase is for learners to become aware that drawing can be used to convey a message and that “writing” entails placing certain letter images in a sequence.

However, writing has another dimension: learners must learn to form the letters, the fundamental building block of writing, and be able to this legibly and at a reasonable speed.

The progression of the writing process. When the writing process entails creative writing, it broadly comprises the following subdivisions:

· Pre-writing activities

· The actual writing task

· “Publishing” the text

This concentrates on the broad principles involved in guiding learners through the process of writing.

The pre-writing activities. Very few adults can start a writing activity without doing some preparation first. Just like their adult counterparts, Foundation Phase learners cannot be expected to start a writing task without doing the pre-writing activities. These activities include; understanding the task, gather ideas about what to write and to organize the ideas.

The actual writing task. Once the learners have organised the information and are clear about the course of events, the can start writing. The teacher should divide the work into manageable parts, so that the learner will have enough time to complete the task, and do not fell rushed to write just to finish. There are 3 steps of writing the actual task. The first step is to write a draft. The second step is to revise and edit the text and the last step forms part of “publishing” the text, where you write the final draft and “publish” the text.

“Publishing” the text, meaning that the text has to be “published” or presented to the audience it was meant for. Learners can write letters to their parents, put them in envelopes, address and post them. They are excited by the experience and can learn a lot from it. Some of their written work can be put up in class for everyone to see.

We should always remember that not all children or learners learn at the same pace and should not pressure them to finish writing or reading just because their peers are finished.

Here are some tips to Teach Effective Writing and Model Effective Writing for all teachers…

1. Writers are the Best Writing Teachers

To teach effective writing, we must be effective writers ourselves. We can't teach what we don't know, and when it comes to writing, it's important to continue honing our craft. If you haven't engaged in much formal writing since college, you will remain a less effective writing teacher. No matter what subject you teach, try starting a blog, writing articles, or developing short stories -- all terrific ways to engage the mind and keep your skills sharp. Reading is important but reading alone isn't enough to strengthen your writing skills, or to make you a credible authority on the subject. I am not proposing that every teacher write online every day (though if you do, that’s excellent). But even if just once or twice a month, in some way, shape, or form, teachers should produce writing to be read by others. It's at least that important to practice what we preach.

2. Write for Your Students

No matter what you teach, write in front of students. When marking the students work or writing a caption for their picture, do it in front of them. They will start to recognize the letters and words. This will also allow the learner to look at how the letter is formed when you write it.

3. The Writing Workshop

Create workshop environments, with multiple stations focusing on different aspects of writing. Have a station where they see a letter and have to trace it. There could be another station where they sound out the letter and using their finger and making the letter in the air. Also focus on holding the writing tool in the correct way.

4. Seeking Feedback

Urge students to share their work with each other. As the teacher, I know that my opinions carry significant weight. But the same is true of what others think, especially one's peers. In an increasingly flat world and a digital age, students must feel comfortable and confident about sharing their work. Put the learners work on the classroom walls for everyone to see. When the parents come to fetch their children, they will also see the work and progress.

5. Real-World Writing

Most importantly, teachers must do whatever they can to convey the importance and usefulness of writing more effectively. Helping the learner at a young age with writing, and writing properly, will make them feel more comfortable in the future when it comes to writing.