Closing the Writing Gap

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With the goal of giving every teacher the knowledge and skill to teach writing with confidence, it makes sense of the history and 'science' of writing, synthesising the debates and presenting a wealth of usable evidence about how children develop most efficiently as successful writers. Slow writing’ first came to my attention when The Learning Spy began writing about them. I have used them regularly and find they are great for developing ‘the ear’ for writing and allowing children to learn how to craft sentences. There is, rightly, a lot of concern about children falling behind, but a word of caution here from SENCo, Sara Alston, warns that focusing solely on academic learning when pupils return to school will be damaging. It trains teachers to be an expert in how pupils learn to write, from the big picture of planning, editing and revising your writing, to the vital importance of grammar and spelling with accuracy. Highly practical strategies and easy-to use classroom activities are included to help teachers seize opportunities across the curriculum every school day to teach the critical writing process.

Closing the Writing Gap - 1st Edition - Alex Quigley

Novice writers, including those learning in schools, encounter teachers as gatekeepers of topics, forms, means and processes. But those teachers are often constrained by systems, including the accountability that tests and examinations required by governments engender." - Wyse, How Writing Works Real Writing offers 100 teaching units, each of which contains all of the resources you need to deliver 2-3 weeks of high-quality lessons.

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Teaching sentence variation. This resource concisely summarises the four key types of sentence level moves that pupils can practise to develop their writing style. Closing the Writing Gap does offer a simple conceptual model. But for me, it was not robust enough to fully grasp the full spectrum of the development of writing. Early years, key stage 1 teachers and, equally, those who work with struggling writers at all stages of education, would have been helped by a more comprehensive model. For example, I would have loved to have read Quigley’s take on Joan Sedita’s ‘writing rope’ model, which is far more detailed (and arguably more helpful). Maybe he’ll do that soon. Alex Quigley has written another brilliant book for classroom teachers and school leaders. This book gets right to the heart of closing the writing gap; it is thought provoking for the reflective teacher whilst also offering helpful guidance and advice for every teacher. Alex is an exceptional writer himself, communicating his expertise and experiences with clarity and precision. This book explains seven critical steps to improve children's writing. Though seemingly ‘natural’, writing proves devilishly difficult for far too many school pupils and closing this gap can have a lasting impact on their academic and life success.

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Steps to Close the Writing Gap. This simple infographic offers a basic summary of the key steps to improve writing that feature throughout the book. Alex Quigley has written another brilliant book for classroom teachers and school leaders. This book gets right to the heart of closing the writing gap; it is thought provoking for the reflective teacher whilst also offering helpful guidance and advice for every teacher. Alex is an exceptional writer himself, communicating his expertise and experiences with clarity and precision.” Beginning with a potted history of writing pedagogy, and a section on the science of writing (more on that later), Quigley then turns to two crucial nuts and bolts of the craft: grammar and syntax. Our lives can be filled and fulfilled by writing," says Alex Quigley. In this important new book: "That story begins with our birth certificate and ends with our epitaph …". I can’t think of a text which better articulates the importance of writing, and then goes on to articulate how to put ambition into practice. It is a book of wise principles and practical implementation. In it, Quigley establishes himself even further as my go-to source of insights into the all-important subject of whole-school literacy." If you find you need to give individual students guidance to help them catch up in maths, this free guide will help you plan, manage, and teach one to one (and small group) maths interventions in Key Stage 2Less is more. This stands to reason - if you can’t make more time, then ask the child to do less. Perhaps they can continue with a task when others have moved on (if it doesn’t mean they’ll miss curriculum content) or use bullet points to structure but with one or two well written pieces to show depth. Quality not quantity. Then when you explore school attainment, you can see the gap and the daily damage that is suffered by many pupils. When you consider that only 73% of pupils leaving primary school reached the expected level for reading in 2019, it is clear that many of those pupils will struggle to access the secondary school curriculum. Classroom teachers across all phases, middle leaders, literacy leaders and senior leadership teams, who want to ensure that every pupil can access the curriculum and write with confidence and skill. The course ensures that writing exemplification is linked to every subject and phase.

Closing the Writing Gap By Alex Quigley (Huntington School Closing the Writing Gap By Alex Quigley (Huntington School

Included in this mix are learners with additional needs and spikyprofiles, making it tremendously challenging for a teacher to maximise writing potential for all in their class.Though seemingly ‘natural’, writing proves devilishly difficult for far too many school pupils and closing this gap can have a lasting impact on their academic and life success. This article by Alex Quigley introduces 7 steps to improve children's writing that feature throughout his latest book Closing the Writing Gap. 1. Train teachers in the art and science of writing Where do we start with practical strategies for teaching writing? The secret to a practical, and pragmatic, approach to teaching writing is to seize the countless small opportunities to integrate it into our existing practice. This free chapter is taken from Closing the Writing Gap and includes a range of practical strategies for teaching writing that can be applied in the classroom at all key stages and phases.

Closing the Writing Gap: Alex Quigley: 9781000591385 Closing the Writing Gap: Alex Quigley: 9781000591385

Yes, we all teach ‘sentences’ in primary education. But as a profession we must think harder about the value of teaching the nature of sentences, how to manipulate them and evaluate them in light of writing purposes and how to choose words confidently. I am utterly convinced of the need for us all to look again at our curriculums to evaluate the progression of this important aspect of writing. We have already begun.

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Closing the Writing Gap is a clarion call to take the three Rs seriously... I hope the revolution it has started in my classroom is repeated everywhere." The ability to reflect upon and manipulate the sound structure of words. In writing, this difficulty will show in spelling. But when a child struggles to spell it can impede their writing significantly, affecting fluency, vocabulary and confidence. Some children will only write words they know they can spell and this means much writing will not reflect their verbal ability. With all the effort of trying to spell and write, a child’s working memory may be taken up with concentrating on this rather than the content of their writing. Freeing up the cognitive load could really help with the fluency of their writing, liberating them to be creative and relaxed. For assessment purposes, under this climate, a teacher can really see their potential. Nearly two years ago, I began researching and writing ‘Closing the Reading Gap’. After writing my book on vocabulary, I knew that reading was the natural next step. Geoff Barton, General Secretary, Association of School & College Leaders, and former English Teacher