#6 Research - Dr Shawn Hawthorne - Engaging Reluctant Writers

 We were lucky to have Shawn Hawthorne come to our school to present his research on engaging reluctant writers! These were my takeaways: 

Data: 

97-2016 data showed: 

  • Attitude to writing declines with age (2012) 
  • Girls acheive higher than boys 
  • Boys have a less positive attitude than girls
  • Māori and Pacific Islanders achieve lower than Pākeha. 

Engaging in Writing: 

What do we mean by being engaged? 

  1. Behavioural engagement - we can see it 
  2. Cognitive engagement - how do they feel about writing? 
  3. Emotional engagement 
    **Some researchers added Agency as a 4th element. 

Why do some children fail to engage? 

  • They do not see themselves as 'doers'
  • They do not see a need for it. It's too hard/risky. 
  • Little respect for teacher
  • Engagement is essential for other things to click

Factors: 

  • Interest/relevance
  • choice/control
  • Knowledge/skills 
  • Belief about writing and self as a writer. What do they perceive writing to be? Do they see writing outside of school? 
  • Teacher
  • Task environment 
Key beliefs/mindsets that underpin effective teaching of writing 
  • Belief that it is important 
  • What we do makes a difference
  • They learn best in supportive/nurturing environment
  • Oral language linked to writing 
  • Includes student interests in writing programme
Knowledge they need to write we;; 
  • Genre knowledge eg narrative, recipe 
  • Strategic knowledge - what to do when stuck
  • Linguistic knowledge - vocab, grammar, sentence
  • Content knowledge - subjects and topics
Effective practises for teaching writing: 
  1. Learning intentions and success criteria 
  2. Collaborative approaches
  3. Individual goal directed work and inquiry 
  4. Connections across and between texts, content, students lives 
  5. Writing process
  6. Learning strategies
  7. Feedback specific 
  8. Teach specific features of literacy e.g literacy in science 


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