ICT in English classroom for teaching writing

Teaching writing effectively requires the skilled use of scaffolding that provides support, "training wheels" to enable pupils to access tasks beyond what they can do without help. The support is gradually reduced to aid independence which is the ultimate goal.

Scaffolded support for teaching writing can be in the form of writing frames, talk frames, sentence starters or sentence structure prompts. This scaffolding can be combined with practical support such as vocabulary lists, visuals, mind maps, whiteboards for drafting ideas, peer and teacher support. Just 2 Easy, otherwise known J2E is an online tool that simplifies the word processing aspect of creating written texts. Children can create texts easily and bring them to life with audio, video and animation.

Storybird is a website that allows children to select images created by illustrators and use these to create a storybook which they then add the text to. They can share their creations online with friends, family and peers. The illustrations can also be used by teachers for the stimulation of ideas for stories. This fabulous programme makes teaching writing easy as the children are so motivated by the professional look and sharing their stories.

There are some excellent resources to support modeling of specific technical and academic language which can save you reinventing the wheel. Check out the following Pie Corbett's resource books: Writing Frames: Scaffolding Children's Non-fiction Writing in a Range of Genres

Sue Palmer's books showing writing models for different age groups: Writing Models Year 3 is a useful addition in supporting teachers with teaching writing.

Pictures and photos enhance understanding of vocabulary, concepts and different genre. Pictures can be in the form of 'key visuals' such as graphs, tables, diagrams support the understanding of concepts. Making vocabulary lists with visuals available for referral to when writing aids pupil learning and independence. It takes a number of times of seeing a new word before that word is absorbed. 

Clicker 6 is a great resource that enables teachers to quickly and easily create sentence structure grids or writing templates complete with word banks to support children at a range of different attainment levels.