Team Writing

Recount writing. Is it hard or easy for you? It's not easy for everyone, trying to remember what happened, then how to talk about those events, then all the punctuation that has to go into it. For that reason, I tried out a different way of running a writing session with my learners, inspired by reciprocal reading. 

The goal of the exercise was to write a 5 sentence recount detailing an event. The first Digital Learning Object to be created is a simple Google Slide recount, using photos and the the 5 sentences (one per slide). We had varying Google Slide recounts, but most of the learners were able to form complete sentences (not run-on sentences) punctuated with capital letters and full stops that followed the TREE recount structure.

How did they do it? Last week, I took the learners out to play a simple game. As we played the game, we discussed known vocabulary that could be used to describe what was happening. We also had to talk about what was happening that could be talked about. The learners then had to find "interesting" versions of those words either by looking them up themselves, thinking of words themselves, or being fed them by me. This was the event to be recounted. The rest of the set up was a little harder.

I came up with a set of prompts learners could use to guide their own and their peers' recount writing. These prompts were inspired by reciprocal reading, where learners guide each other towards a better understanding of a text. I then showed the learners how to run their own writing session with their group of friends.

Many of the learners said they found it easier and more interesting to write in this manner than what they have experienced so far. 

To see how well they've done, please check their blogs and search the tags for Writing and "bean bag game" or "team writing".

Mr Wong