bright_ideas_writing

Contents

NAPLAN Must Do’s Writing 2

Preparation
Writing
and
Assessing the Writing Task for NAPLAN 3
Teaching Writing 4
Bright Ideas
Writing Ideas from NT Teachers 4
Writing Ideas from the Web 5

Teacher Feedback from 2007 CWT Marking Panel 6

Language Conventions
Grammar Ideas 2009 7
Punctuation Ideas 8
National Assessment Program
Literacy Resources Literacy and Numeracy
Bibliography 9
Websites to use for preparation 10

Appendices 11

For further information contact:

Ellen Herden Natalie Ede
Manager Project Manager
Assessment and Reporting Literacy Assessment
Phone: 8999 3784 Phone: 8999 4176
Email: ellen.herden@nt.gov.au Email: natalie.ede@nt.gov.au
Fax: 8999 4200 Fax: 8999 4200

For Further Information
www.naplan.edu.au
www.det.nt.gov.au/education/teaching_and_learning/assessment_standards_reporting

Contents

NAPLAN Must Do’s 2

Writing
Assessing the Writing Task for NAPLAN 3
NAPLAN National Achievement Bands 4
NAPLAN Writing Criteria NTCF Alignment 5
Teaching Writing 10
Writing Ideas from NT Teachers 10
Writing Ideas from the Web 11

Teacher Feedback from previous Marking Panels 12

Language Conventions
Grammar Ideas 13
Punctuation Ideas 14
Spelling Ideas 15

Literacy Resources
Bibliography 16
Websites to use for preparation 17

Appendices 18

For further information contact:

Ellen Herden Natalie Ede
Manager Project Manager
Assessment and Reporting Literacy Assessment
Phone: 8999 3784 Phone: 8999 4176
Email: ellen.herden@nt.gov.au Email: natalie.ede@nt.gov.au
Fax: 8999 4200 Fax: 8999 4200

Assessment and Reporting 1

NAPLAN Must do’s
Listed below are recommended actions to enable a smooth and successful implementation of
the testing program.

Before Testing

Have the NAPLAN national web site and the DET web site addresses displayed on your
staff and parent notice board:

http://www.naplan.edu.au/

http://www.deet.nt.gov.au/education/teaching_and_learning/assessment_standards_rep
orting/nap/index.shtml

Use practice tests or other NAPLAN resources. Make up similar questions for units of
work.

Use the new national Writing Marking Rubric when explicitly teaching or assessing the
narrative writing genre.

Read the Information for Teachers Book and School Administrators Handbook to ensure
familiarity with the testing process.

Meet with other staff to check understanding and/or ring up the Assessment and
Reporting with any queries, (see p1 for contact details).

Ask ‘What’s the best way to administer the test?’ ‘Do I need support from my
colleagues, school administration or Teaching, Learning & Standards officers?’

During Testing

Administer the test in the students’ usual learning environment however teaching charts
e.g. times tables charts, spelling and word lists must be covered or removed.

Remember numeracy questions can be read to students – however no reading of
number digits, elaboration of terminology and/or concepts is allowed.

If you are absolutely sure that the test is far too difficult and not accessible for some
students then encourage them to complete the first couple of questions and leave the
rest of the test, rather than just guessing and filling-in random bubbles.

Encourage students to complete the writing task, low level students should at least
attempt a picture or a word – this gives baseline data for the next test. Students can
only use the three pages of the writing booklet, extra pages will not be marked.

After Testing

No marking of the test is required, but photocopying the writing sample before
returning is recommended.

Photocopy the Student non-participation form before it is returned with test booklets.

Unused test materials can be kept and will be useful for test review with students. The
materials must remain secure for one week after the testing.


Assessing the 2008 NAPLAN Writing Task

A common writing stimulus will be provided to students in years 3, 5, 7 & 9, along with
three lined pages for students to write a narrative.
Note: Students must only use the three pages provided, additional pages will not be
marked.
The writing will be assessed on ten criteria shown in the table below. Sharing this rubric
with the students and further explaining and expanding each of the criteria is an ideal
way to improve their narrative writing skills and encourage assessment as learning.

Criteria Score Description

Audience 0–6 The writer’s capacity to orient, engage and affect the
reader

Text Structure 0–4 The organization of narrative features including
orientation, complication and resolution into an
appropriate and effective text structure

Ideas 0–5 The creation, selection and crafting of ideas for a
narrative

Character and 0–4 Character: The portrayal and development of character
Setting
Setting: The development of a sense of a place, time
and atmosphere

Vocabulary 0–5 The range and precision of language choices

Cohesion 0–4 The control of multiple threads and relationships over
the whole text, achieved through the use of referring
words, substitutions, word associations and text
connectives

Paragraphing 0–2 The segmenting of text into paragraphs that assist the
reader to negotiate the narrative

Sentence Structure 0–6 The production of grammatically correct, structurally
sound and meaningful sentences

Punctuation 0–5 The use of correct and appropriate punctuation to aid
the reading of the text

Spelling 0–6 The accuracy and range of spelling

For expansion and explanation of the above criteria go to
http://www.naplan.edu.au/test_samples/writing/writing.html


NAPLAN National Achievement Bands Writing Score Range
For each of the assessed aspects of literacy and numeracy there is a continuous scale of student
achievement across ten national band levels. Outlined in this table are the raw scores accumulated
from the writing rubric aligned with the National Achievement Band levels (not to be confused with the
Northern Territory Curriculum Framework bands).
Students whose results are of minimal standard have demonstrated the basic skills of writing at that
year level. The Australian Mean identified in this table is the average achievement score of all
students in each year level for 2008.

Writing Total National Achievement Minimum Standard Australian Mean 2008
Raw Score Band

0-8 Band 1

9 Band 1/Band 2

10 – 12 Band 2 Year 3

13 Band 2 / Band 3

14 – 15 Band 3

16 Band 3 / Band 4

17 – 19 Band 4 Year 5 Year 3

20 – 22 Band 5 Year 7

23 Band 5 / Band 6 Year 5

24 – 26 Band 6 Year 9

27 – 29 Band 7 Year 7

30 Band 7 / Band 8

31 – 33 Band 8 Year 9

34 Band 8 / Band 9

35 – 37 Band 9

38 – 47 Band 10


NAPLAN Writing Criteria aligned with the NTCF
The following table aligns the Northern Territory Curriculum Framework (NTCF) bands with the
criterion set out in the NAPLAN Writing Rubric.
The purpose of aligning the writing criteria with the NTCF is to assist teachers in identifying
explicit teaching points for each criterion and develop teaching plans that will enable students to
progress in their learning. It is not intended to assess students writing against the outcomes of
the NTCF nor for reporting purposes.
Score Criteria NTCF ESL
Band Level
Audience

0 Symbols or drawings which have the intention of KGP2 BL1
conveying meaning.

1 Contains some simple written content. KGP3 BL2

2 Shows awareness of basic audience expectations Band 1 BL3/Level
through the use of simple narrative markers. 1to Level 2

3 An internally consistent story that attempts to Band 2 Level 3
support the reader by developing a shared
understanding of context.

4 Supports reader understanding. Band 3 Level 4
Attempts to engage the reader.

5 Supports and engages the reader through Band 4 Level 5
deliberate choice of language and use of narrative
devices.

6 Caters to the anticipated values and expectations of Band 5 Level 6
the reader.
Influences or affects the reader through precise and
sustained choice of language and use of narrative
devices.

Text Structure

0 No evidence of any structural components of a time KGP3 BL2 to Level
sequenced text. 1

1 Minimal evidence of narrative structure, eg a story KGP3 to BL3/Level 1
beginning only or a ‘middle’ with no orientation.
Band 1
A recount of events with no complication.

2 Contains a beginning and a complication. Band 1 Level 2
Where a resolution is present it is weak, contrived or
‘tacked on’.

3 Contains orientation, complication and resolution. Band 2 Level 3 to 4

4 Coherent, controlled and complete narrative, Band 3 to Level 5 to 6
employing effective plot devices in an appropriate Band 4
structure, and including an adequate ending.


NAPLAN Writing Criteria aligned with the NTCF cont.

Band Level

Ideas

0 No evidence or insufficient evidence. KGP2 BL1 to BL2

1 Ideas are very few and very simple. KGP3 BL3/Level 1
Ideas appear unrelated.

2 Ideas are few, not elaborated or very predictable. Band 1 Level 2

3 Ideas show some development or elaboration. Band 2 Level 3 to
Level 4
All ideas relate coherently to a central storyline.

4 Ideas are substantial and elaborated. Band 3 to Band Level 4 to
4 Level 5
Ideas effectively contribute to a central storyline.
The story contains a suggestion of an underlying
theme.

5 Ideas are generated, selected and crafted to explore Band 5 Level 6
a recognisable theme.
Ideas are skilfully used in the service of the
storyline.

Character and Setting

0 No evidence or insufficient evidence. KGP2 BL2

1 Only names characters or gives their roles, eg father, KGP3 BL3/Level 1
the teacher, my friend, we, Jim.
AND/OR
Only names the setting, eg school. Setting is vague
and confused.

2 Suggestion of characterisation through brief Band 1 to Level 2 to
descriptions or speech or feelings, but lacks substance Band 2 Level 3
or continuity.
AND/OR
Suggestion of setting through very brief and superficial
descriptions of place and/or time.

3 Characterisation emerges through descriptions, Band 3 Level 4
actions, speech or the attribution of thoughts and
feelings to a character.
AND/OR
Setting emerges through description of place, time and
atmosphere.



Band Level

Character and Setting

4 Effective characterisation. Details are selected to Band 4 Level 5 to
create distinct characters. Level 6.
AND/OR
Maintains a sense of setting throughout. Details are
selected to create a sense of place and atmosphere.

Vocabulary

0 Symbols or drawings. KGP2 BL 1

1 Very short script. KGP3 BL 2

2 Mostly simple verbs, adverbs, adjectives or nouns. Band 1 BL3/Level 1
May include 2 or 3 precise words.

3 Precise words or word groups (may be verbs, Band 2 Level 2 to
adverbs, adjectives or nouns). Level 3

4 Sustained and consistent use of precise words and Band 3 Level 4
phrases that enhance the meaning or mood.

5 A range of precise and effective words and phrases Band 4 to Level 5 to
used in a natural and articulate manner. Band 5 Level 6
Language choice is well matched to genre.

Cohesion

0 Symbols or drawings. KGP2 BL1 to BL2
1 Links are missing or incorrect. KGP3 BL3/Level 1
Short script.
2 Some correct links between sentences (do not Band 1 Level 2 to
penalise for poor punctuation). Level 3
Most referring words are accurate.

3 Cohesive devices are used correctly to support reader Band 2 Level 3 to
understanding. Level 4
Accurate use of referring words.

4 A range of cohesive devices is used correctly and Band 3 to Level 5 to
deliberately to enhance reading. Band 4 Level 6



Band Level

Paragraphing

0 No use of paragraphing or only a beginning sense of No reference to
paragraphing. paragraphing.

1 Writing is organised into paragraphs that are mainly Level 3
focused on a single idea or set of like ideas that assist
the reader to digest chunks of text.

2 All paragraphs are focused on one idea or set of like Band 3 Level 4 to Level 6
ideas and enhance the narrative.

Sentence Structure

0 No evidence of sentences. KGP3 BL 1

1 Some correct formation of sentences. Band 1 BL3/Level 1

2 Most simple sentences are correct. Band 1 Level 1 to level
2

3 Most simple and compound sentences correct. Band 2 Level 3
Some complex sentences are correct.

4 Simple and compound sentences are correct. Band 2 Level 3 to Level
4
Most complex sentences are correct.
OR
All sentences correct but do not demonstrate variety.

5 Sentences correct (allow for occasional typos, eg a Band 3 Level 5
missing word).
Demonstrates variety in length, structure and
beginnings.

6 All sentences are correct. Band 4 Level 6
Writing contains controlled and well-developed
sentences that express precise meaning and are
consistently effective.



Band Level

Punctuation

0 No evidence of correct punctuation. No reference to
punctuation.
1 Some correct use of capital letters to start sentences. Band 1
OR
Full stops to end sentences.

2 Some accurately punctuated sentences (beginning and Band 1 BL3/Level 1 to
end). Level 2
Some noun capitalisation where applicable.

3 Some correct punctuation across categories Band 3 Level 3
(sentences mostly correct with some other
punctuation).
OR
Accurate sentence punctuation with no stray capitals,
nothing else used.

4 All sentence punctuation correct. Band 3 Level 4
Mostly correct use of other punctuation.
5 Writing contains accurate use of all applicable Band 4 Level 5 to Level 6
punctuation.

Spelling

0 No conventional spelling. KGP2-3 BL3/L1

1 Few examples of conventional spelling. KGP3 Level 1

2 Correct spelling of most simple words and some Band 1 Level 2
common words (errors do no outnumber correct
spellings).

3 Correct spelling of most simple words and most Band 2 Level 3 to
common words (errors do no outnumber correct Level 4
spellings).

4 Correct spelling of simple words, most common words Band 3
and some difficult words (errors do no outnumber
correct spellings).
5 Correct spelling of simple words, most common words Band 4
and at least 10 difficult words (errors do no outnumber
correct spellings).

6 Correct spelling of all words, at least 10 difficult words Band 4 to
and some challenging words. Band 5


Teaching Writing

To help avoid student disengagement when teaching the narrative text, it is important that
lessons to teach structure and technique are not taught in isolation. Remember to make the
teaching of narrative purposeful and enjoyable by ensuring that there are strong links with your
ongoing classroom program.
An additional resource has been created to provide teachers and students insights into the
assessment of writing. The NT 2008 Australian Writing Standards booklet available at:
www.det.nt.gov.au/education/teaching_and_learning/assessment_standards_reporting contains
samples of student writing that illustrate how judgments can be made about the needs of
individual students from the evidence found in their work. It provides teachers and schools with
evidence that can inform teaching and learning programs to better meet the literacy needs of
students.
Using the 2008 Australian Writing Standards booklet can also assist students to analyse writing
and apply their skills and understandings in a more meaningful way. Sharing the rubric with the
students and further expanding and explaining each of the criteria is an ideal way of enabling
students to become more self-regulating, reflective and independent writers.
Listed here are just a few great teaching ideas contributed by our NT teachers and sourced
from the web.

Writing Ideas from NT Teachers

o Stimulus Pictures
Cut out and glue a variety of interesting pictures or collages of pictures onto card and
laminate. Students can help with this and keep adding to it during the year. Schedule a
regular time, where students choose a picture card and write a text in response to the
stimulus (narrative, poem, newspaper article, letter etc).
o Fast Write
Following a discussion on a topic, students are encouraged to write freely and uninterrupted
for a certain period of time (use a timer or stopwatch). Build up the time, from 5 to 10 to 15
minutes and occasionally allow students the opportunity to polish, produce and share the
piece of writing.
o Personal Writing Book
Provide the students with a private writing book. Only the student looks at the writing and as
the year progresses they can look back and reflect on their progress.
o Story Circle (Hot Potato Story)
Students sit in a circle, one student begins a story then everyone takes a turn to build onto
the narrative. Students are encouraged to think quickly and creatively.
o Peer or Buddy Conferencing
Students help each other to correct and improve their stories using a checklist that includes
criteria such as punctuation, vocabulary, sentence structure, spelling etc. (refer p3 Writing
Rubric)
o Independent Time
Schedule regular times during the week when it is ‘All by yourself time’ or ‘Independent
Work Time’. During this period, the students must attempt a literacy (or numeracy) task
without help from the teacher or their peers. This becomes an excellent assessment for
learning opportunity as students reflect on their strengths and weaknesses.


Writing Ideas from the web
Make sure you visit this excellent website: http://www.primaryideas.co.uk/literacy.html . It is
packed with some great ideas for teaching writing. A few of these have been included in the
list below and as Appendices.
o Planning writing
Appendix 1 would be great printed off and used as a wall chart.
Appendix 2 is a simple Story Planning Mat that could be printed, laminated and used as a
regular tool by students.

o Writing Support Pyramid
Appendix 3 provides the template for constructing the Writing Support Pyramid and supports
explicit teaching of punctuation. Look at each face and work your way down the pyramid.
Simply cut out the 4 triangles and paste together. There are 5 ‘bands’ on each of the 4
pyramids and the lower down the pyramid you go, the more sophisticated the writing should
be. These can then be used as a desk-top reminder for students.
o Sentence- Maker
Appendix 4 is another great tool to support the explicit teaching of sentence structure. Using
this as a model the class can construct their own sentence maker and then use the
sentences in their story writing.


Teacher Feedback from previous Marking Panels
Training Process
Feedback from teachers included:
- The organisation, rigor and professional nature of the training was excellent.
- The training package, rubric expansion and glossary are extremely valuable.
- The training and control scripts throughout the week and the discussion that accompanied
these ensured consistency of marking and deeper understanding of the marking rubric.
- Participants gained a broad overview of student achievement across the Territory.
- The marking experience highlighted valuable teaching points that were taken back to their
schools.
- Once back at school, participants plan to share the training concepts as well as the insights
gained into the teaching, learning and assessment of student writing.
- Throughout the panel, teachers felt comfortable and supported.

Explicit Teaching Points
Ideas and strategies to take back to schools:
- Discuss interesting story beginnings, start a class list of alternate beginnings, use a variety
of example texts, or a box/set of story starters (see large Literacy Dice ideas book).
Encourage students to not always start with ‘Once upon a time . . .’
- Ensure that students don’t spend more than 5 minutes on planning. Walk around and check
that students have commenced writing when requested to do so.
- Explore different ways of indicating time and try to discourage using dates for ‘When’.
- Character descriptions don’t need to have to occur as a long list of adjectives, eg “Mary has
sapphire blue eyes and long locks of curly blonde hair’. This kind of description was
observed in many scripts.
- Feelings – How did they feel, scared words/phrases e.g. I felt my stomach turning over, I
had a lump in my throat, my palms went sweaty, I froze . . .
- Using the ‘senses’ for descriptive words, so that the reader is able to visualise and imagine.
- Work on extending a simple good idea into a great elaborated idea.
- Focus on sentence beginnings. Encourage students not to always begin sentences with
‘AND’. Don’t let the ‘AND, AND’ Monster take over the story (or the ‘THEN, THEN’ Monster).
- Advise students to read their story out loud in their head to see what effect it has, or read
out loud to demonstrate the impact of vocabulary.
- Poor punctuation or no punctuation at all was observed in many stories. There is a need for
explicit teaching of punctuation. A good technique is to role play with students reciting
dialogue or have words and punctuation on cards and peg a sentence up on a clothes line.
Encourage students not to use too much direct speech as this limits the ability of the story to
create visual images.
- Spelling strategies and lists of everyday words.
- Choose creative, engaging or humorous topics for your piece of writing, too many violent
episodes, film recounts and events of a sexual nature (from the older students).
- List and discuss alternate endings. Too many of the following were observed: ‘happily ever
after...’, ‘then they all died’, ‘then I woke up’, you don’t need to write ‘The End’.
- Handwriting needs special care. The feedback from teachers who marked the writing was
that some scripts were very hard or almost impossible to read due to poor or very small
handwriting.


Teaching Grammar Punctuation and Spelling
Grammar, punctuation and spelling help to assist the communication between the writer and the
reader. They go hand in hand with teaching students about writing. It’s difficult to convince
students that it is important for them to know the correct rules and even more difficult to get
students to apply them. This is why it is helpful for teachers to have some fun activities up their
sleeves to make it a little easier for their students to be successful with spelling, grammar, and
punctuation.

Grammar Ideas
The following grammar ideas have been sourced from:
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/index.shtml
o Grammar Comic Man
This mysterious hero defends Verbo City from the enemies of grammar, whenever they
show their ugly faces. He has the ability to detect errors - just like Spiderman can sense
when danger is near.

o Mystery bag
This is a fun way to introduce describing words. Place an object in a paper bag. Have a
student feel the object in the bag and without looking at it, describe the object. Have another
student or teacher record the words stated on the board. You can continue this activity by
changing the objects in the bag.

o Grammar Rap
Students learn and perform the words in the form of a rap. The class can add body
percussion to help keep the beat. The rap can be made into a display for the class wall.
A noun is the name of a person, place or thing,
like Sam in Sydney with a ball of string.
An adjective describes a noun,
like a big, wide smile on a painted clown.
Verbs, verbs, are doing words,
they like to move and fly like the birds, running and jumping, you can often add an
ING like, dance and laugh and hop and sing!
An adverb likes to add to a verb and tell you more about the word, it often has an LY
on the end, like slowly walk or quickly bend.

o Roll Out Run-ons
After teaching students how to correct run-on sentences, type or write a huge, zany run-on,
with eight to ten sentences, on long strips of paper. Laminate the strips. Have teams of two
to four students use punctuation and proofreading symbols to correct the gigantic run-on
sentence. To correct the errors, students can use white board markers. As a variation, make
multiple copies and engage students in a Great Run-on Race.
o Battle on the Board
Organise students into two teams (you may wish to make up more teams depending on
class size and capabilities) in front of the board. On the board have two (number of teams)
sets of sentences split into half. The focus can be on punctuation and/or subject- verb
agreement but should be centred around current classroom teaching. The team members
take it in turns to correct one sentence at a time. Teachers could put a time limit on how long
each member spends at the board but this would depend on the skill level of the students.
First team to finish with all sentences correct are awarded bonus points; every team
receives points for each correct sentence.


o Subject –verb Agreement
Create sentences with subject -verb agreements. Break each sentence in half and place
onto flash cards. Have students take a card and wander around the room reciting their half
of the sentence to each other. When two students think they have their match they may
confirm with the teacher (you may like to leave the correction to the discussion). When all
pairs are matched discuss the sentences and why they work (or not).
Examples:
The President, accompanied by his wife, is travelling to India.
All of the books, including yours, are in the box.
These scissors are dull.
For more advanced students, or as students become quite skilled, you may choose not to
colour code the subject verb agreement.
o The cat sat on the mat
Give students a number of simple sentences e.g. The dog ran. or The horse galloped. Have
the students turn these boring simple sentences into Super Sentences by adding:
• new vocabulary words
• bonus words
• synonyms
• antonyms
• using a thesaurus
• class made lists of vocab and bonus words.

Punctuation Ideas
o Invent Punctuation Hand Signs
Teach students hand signs for air quotes. Challenge them to come up with hand signs for
other punctuation marks or to make up their own. As a class begin a discussion using the
punctuation hand signals or read aloud a piece of text and use the hand signals to show the
class punctuation applied in the text.
o Punctuation Flash Cards Activity
In a class circle, place flash cards with the parts of sentences and different forms of
punctuation in the centre. Have students create sentences with correct punctuation used.
Have the class confirm if punctuation has been correctly used. This helps to generate
discussion about why some punctuation is or isn’t correct.
o Speech Mark Sandwich
This activity helps students to remember what and where to put the punctuation when using
speech marks. Using large colourful paper create parts of the sandwich. The 2 pieces of
bread are the speech marks, the filling (ham, cheese, etc) is the speech, and the sauce is
the punctuation. These are labelled on the sandwich parts. Explain to the students that if
BOTH “pieces of bread” are not around the filling then it is not a complete sandwich. Then
explain that the “sauce” has to be in the sandwich and not on the outside. This clears up
many misconceptions and mistakes about where the punctuation is applied after the last
speech mark, and to always remember to include both speech marks – like you would a
sandwich. Sourced from: http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/index.shtml

o Traffic lights
An effective way of demonstrating where and when to apply full stops and capital letters is to
use the 'Traffic Light' concept. Green means ‘go’ which is when a capital letter is required to
start a sentence. To stop the sentence a red full stop is inserted. Having students use a red
and green pen to apply this to their writing can add a little colour to this exercise. Further
extensions of this activity for more advanced punctuation can be sourced from:
http://www.pacwcbt.pitt.edu/Curriculum/315BasicWritingSkills/Handouts/HO11PunctuationR
ules.pdf


Spelling Ideas
Sourced from Bolton & Snowball (1993) Teaching Spelling: A Practical Resource, Heinemann.)

The following practices are activities that may be used in the classroom to assist students with
reinforcing their spelling knowledge and encourage students to integrate this knowledge in the
appropriate context.
It is not just important to teach knowledge about words but to include teaching of strategies of
how to learn words. Students must be taught how to learn words and how to check spelling of
words they have attempted.
Students have strategies that they have developed during their school years. Brainstorming
these ideas with the class can assist others to learn new words. Give time and practice to
develop some of the following strategies.

o Questions to help you learn how to spell new words:
Does the meaning of the word help you with the spelling?
Is it a word you can break into parts (or syllables), such as 'temp/er/a/ture'?
Is it a word you can use a spelling hint (Gimmick) for, such as: 'a piece of pie',
Does the word have other words inside it?
Is it compound word, such as 'football' or a base-word with added letters, such as 'dresser'.
Can you sound the word out easily?
Can you change the pronunciation of the word to help you with the spelling?
For example, emphasising the 'n' sound in the word 'government' would mean that you
would be less likely to leave the 'n' out.
Is it a word that you may just have to learn by using the Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check
method?

o Create a wall chart
Place class ideas onto a wall chart and display in the classroom. Listed are some ideas:
• Picture the word in your head.
• Paint the word on your eyelids.
• Look at the word:
Say the letters/sounds as you write the word.
• Break the word into syllables.
• Look, say, cover, write, check.
• Look closely at the tricky parts.
• Make a story up about the word e.g. was "What a surprise".
• Freckle words - look for the word in your reading and writing.

o Mnemonics
Mnemonics are memory triggers which are useful for learning high frequency words which
are difficult to remember, or easily confused with other words. Have the class make up their
own mnemonics. It is important to ensure students understand the meaning of mnemonics
as they can cause confusion, particularly ESL students. Examples of mnemonics are:
There is a rat in separate
You hear with your ear
You’ll always be my friend till the end
o Derivation Charts
Explicitly teach students the derivation of words from other languages. Set up
around the room charts where students add suitable words as they find
them. Words suitable for this activity come particularly from Classical Greek,
Latin and French.

For example the Greek root photo, meaning light, is the base for photograph, photogenic,
photosynthesis, Photostat and telephoto.


Literacy Resources

The following resources are full of ideas to assist teachers with the technical and engaging
aspects of teaching Literacy to students and assisting teachers with their own professional
learning.

1. Trischitta A. (2000), Meeting Writing Standards: Narrative Writing 3 – 6,
Hawker Browlow Education: Cheltenham, Victoria

2. Trischitta A. (2000), Meeting Writing Standards: Narrative Writing 6 – 9,

3. Rozmiarek R. (2001), Meeting Writing Standards: Descriptive Writing 6 – 9,

4. Gibbons J. ( 2003), 101 Stories To Tell and Write, Curriculum Corporation: Carlton
South, Victoria

5. Kent V. (2002), Exploring Narrative: A Guide to Teaching ‘The girl who married a fly and
other stories’, Australian Association for the Teaching of English: SA

6. Sadler R and Hayler. (2001), English Experience: Exploring Language and Texts 1,
MacMillan Education: South Yarra

7. Education Department of Western Australia. (1994), First Steps Writing Resource Book,
Longman Australia

8. Kiddey, P. and Waring, F. (2001) Success for All – Selecting Appropriate Learning
Strategies Education Department of Western Australia (Stepping Out, Curriculum
Corporation)

9. Kiddey, P. and Robson, G. (2005) Make their Heads Spin! Education Department of
Western Australia (Stepping Out, Curriculum Corporation)

10. Hancock, J and Leaver, C (2006) Teaching Strategies for Literacy ALEA:SA

11. Fox, Mem & Wilkinson, Lyn (2006) English Essentials – The wouldn’t-be-without-it guide
to writing well, MacMillan:SA


Websites to Use for Preparation

National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy Test information website has all the
latest details, samples, parent information, FAQS etc: http://www.naplan.edu.au
DET NT site has a variety of administration details, forms, updates, practice tests and other
support materials:
http://www.deet.nt.gov.au/education/teaching_and_learning/assessment_standards_reporting/n
ap/index.shtml
DET Vic site has a variety of practice materials from Year 3 to Year 9:
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/prep10/aim/index.html
DECS SA also has a selection of practice materials from Year 3 to Year 9:
http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/accountability/pages/Andrews

Various educational websites with a plethora of teaching, learning and assessment ideas:
Curriculum Corporation, Assessment for Learning: http://cms.curriculum.edu.au/assessment/
Assessment Training Institute: http://www.assessmentinst.com
Assessment is for Learning (AifL), Scotland http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess/index.asp
Department of Education, Victoria http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/blueprint/fs1/assessment.asp
Great UK site, lesson plans, scope and sequence www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary

Teaching literacy ideas for your classroom can be found
http://www.primaryideas.co.uk/
http://www.primaryideas.co.uk/literacy/punctuation.doc
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/
http://www.senteacher.org/
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/
Reading practice using http://www.starfall.com/
Spelling Practice using http://www.spelling.hemscott.net/
Rubrics Construction http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/

Fun Interactive Websites

http://www.funbrain.com/verb/index.html

http://www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/curriculum/Literacy.htm#KS2%20On-line%20Activities%20NEW

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills

http://www.gamequarium.com/punctuation.html


Appendix 1 –Story Mountain wall chart
Created by Julie Stone. Available at: www.primaryideas.co.uk/literacy

Story Mountain

Dilemma

Build-up Resolution

Opening Ending

Opening – catch the readers interest, begin with the main character, begin with describing the setting or begin with an interesting event.
Build-up – get the main character doing something, drop in a clue as to what might happen, use a hook to make the reader wonder but don’t rush
into the exciting bit too soon.
Dilemma – introduce a problem either a person or event, make things go badly wrong or make something exciting happen that needs to be solved.
Resolution- write a series of events that sort out the problem, solve the problem so the main character is alright.
Ed? How has the main character changed? What is life like now? Link back to the opening with a similarity or difference.


Appendix 2 – Story Planning Mat

Bring the setting alive
Openings • Choose a precise place and name it.
• Time, name, exclamation, question, • Pick one detail that the character could
dialogue, warning, wish, scene-setter, see, smell, hear or touch if they were
traditional, a new arrival, dramatic action, a Create a colourful character
there e.g “On the corner of Froggats
statement open to debate. • Interesting name Lane, a spider’s web glistened in the
• Good openings catch the reader’s interest • Striking detail to introduce. sun.”
and make the reader want to read on. • Powerful verbs to reflect how the • Decide what time of day it is and what
character feels. the weather is like.
• Show rather than tell through describing
action e.g. “she hastily pulled her unbrushed
hair into a ponytail” or through speech, e.g ‘Get
out!’ she snarled.
Structure
• Story Mountain – opening build-up,
Style: choice of words
dilemma, resolution, ending. Style – Sentences • Use precise nouns e.g rottweiler
• Ending – how has the character • Writing needs long sentences to give rhythm and instead of dog.
changed? description. Short sentences should be used for • Use adjectives that tell the
• Useful tricks: drama. reader something new about the
o Flashbacks if story launches • Vary sentence starters– use adverbs, verb with – noun that they need to know but
straight into action. ing, verb with –ed, prepositional phrases, similes, be careful of overusing
o Suspense – lull into false sense connective. adjectives.
of security, element of unease, • Use a mixture of compound sentences (two or • Use powerful verbs for impact.
use empty words, use ominous more clauses of equal weight) and complex • Use adverbs carefully in the
sounds, use questions to make sentences (main clause and one or more same way to add something new
reader wonder and use a But or subordinate clauses) e..g. “Although the Mercedes to a verb.
short sentence for impact. was parked carefully, Tim was worried that it could
still be seen from the road.”


Appendix 3 Story Pyramid
Created by Katherine Dobbie. Available at: www.primaryideas.co.uk/literacy

TAB

Cut Corners off tabs for a better fit

The …
My … I …

First… Then… Next.. So..
Last… But… Another thing…
The last time… Soon… At last…
If… Another time… Because… After…

Another thing… After a while…
Although… Afterwards… Before…
Eventually… Sometimes… Often…

Never… Always… Besides… Even though… Before the/the
Meanwhile… Before very long… However… In addition… Despite…
I discovered… Having decided… I actually… Despite… Due to…
An important thing… We always… If/then… I felt as… Although I had…
As time went… Use of adjectives eg. The golden sun… The grumpy old man…

Having… Use complex sentence structures appropriately.
Vary sentence length and word order to keep the reader interested.


First.. So..
because.. next..
exciting.. afraid..
lonely.. interesting..

beautiful.. awful.. enormous..
fierce.. adventure.. accident.. magic..

gigantic.. weird.. freezing.. quietly.. silently..
bravely.. happiness.. joy.. sadness.. fear.. transport..
shelter.. baggage.. companion.. vehicle..

thunderous.. fearful.. marvellous.. attractive.. generously.. echo..
nervously.. worriedly.. patiently.. feelings.. courage.. experience..
peak.. patience.. wasteland.. container.. furnishings.. robe..

sensitive/ly.. timid/ly.. aggressively.. imaginatively.. unfortunate.. murderous..
echoing.. doubtful.. emotion.. anxiety... longing.. progress(noun).. system.. communication..
ingredient.. vibration.. prefer.. nourish.. demonstrate.. enjoy.. leap..

outstanding/ly.. tender/ly.. biological/ly.. formidable.. outspoken.. stern.. comical.. pathetic..
yearning.. dwell.. dine.. progress(verb).. create.. adore.. foreboding.. speculation.. silhouette.. terrain..
apparel.. vision.. atmosphere..


and

but so then
because when

if after while as well as
although however also besides
even though never the less

in addition to contrary to despite so as to

Use complex sentence structures appropriately.

Vary sentence length and word order to keep your reader interested


Capitals •

Capitals • ?

• ? , !
• ‘ , ••• ? ! “ ”

“ ” ; , ••• ( ) ? • !


Appendix 4 - Sentence-maker
Created by Jo Coghlin

Articles Adjective Noun Verb Adverb Preposition Determiner Noun
1 The 1 emerald 1 fox 1 swam 1 busily 1 about 1 the 1 flat
2A 2 primrose 2 snake 2 took 2 gently 2 after 2a 2 castle
3 An 3 scarlet 3 shark 3 thought 3casually 3 above 3 an 3 cottage
4 This 4 azure 4 dragon 4 burst 4 finally 4 at 4 this 4 cave
5 That 5 turquoise 5 eagle 5 dream 5 simply 5 below 5 that 5 tent
Set 1 6 Each 6 ivory 6 unicorn 6 won 6 readily 6 between 6 each 6 tower
1 The 1 tall 1 ant 1 growled 1 slowly 1 by 1 the 1 box
2A 2 thin 2 frog 2 snarled 2 easily 2 during 2a 2 envelope
3 An 3 slim 3 bear 3 yelled 3 calmly 3 beside 3 an 3 key
4 This 4 large 4 coyote 4 groaned 4 heavily 4 on top of 4 this 4 mirror
5 That 5 skinny 5 mouse 5 jumped 5 moodily 5 inside 5 that 5 surprise
Set 2 6 Each 6 miniature 6 wolf 6 leapt 6 angrily 6 before 6 each 6 parcel
1 The 1 soft 1 giant 1 grabbed 1 loudly 1 in 1 the 1 cage
2A 2 hard 2 knight 2 gripped 2 softly 2 off 2a 2 prison
3 An 3 rough 3 prince 3 grasped 3 funnily 3 across 3 an 3 trap
4 This 4 cold 4 princess 4 seized 4 honestly 4 through 4 this 4 room
5 That 5 icy 5 woodcutter 5 clutched 5 neatly 5 to 5 that 5 cell
Set 3 6 Each 6 warm 6 thief 6 held 6 spitefully 6 under 6 each 6 tunnel
1 The 1 funny 1 goblin 1 walked 1 hungrily 2 during 1 the 1 city
2A 2 sad 2 pirate 2 trotted 2 thirstily 3 beside 2a 2 town
3 An 3 weary 3 ogre 3 tip-toed 3 crazily 4 on top of 3 an 3 village
4 This 4 ancient 4 troll 4 crept 4 amazingly 5 inside 4 this 4 market
5 That 5 crazy 5 elf 5 galloped 5 cautiously 6 before 5 that 5 inn
Set 4 6 Each 6 cunning 6 sprite 6 climbed 6 slyly 1 in 6 each 6 bridge
1 The 1 gentle 1 fairy 1 shivered 1 noisily 2 off 1 the 1 gum tree
2A 2 harsh 2 vampire 2 shook 2 silently 3 across 2a 2 rose
3 An 3 spiteful 3 ghost 3 froze 3 explosively 4 through 3 an 3 dagger
4 This 4 mean 4 witch 4 dived 4 foolishly 5 to 4 this 4 crystal
5 That 5 sharp 5 wizard AssessmentfledReporting intelligently
5 and 5 6 under 5 that 5 heart 24
Set 5 6 Each www.det.nt.gov.au/education/teaching_and_learning/assessment_standards_reporting
6 cruel 6 stranger 6 trod 6 swiftly 2 during 6 each 6 wood

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