Writing Together 2003/4

Writer in Residence

Jill Hanson (English Coordinator, Binfield C of E Primary School, Berkshire)

It was reassuring to learn from Andrew Motion and other speakers at last year's conference that having writers in school really does benefit the children and makes a difference to their writing, motivation and enthusiasm. It was great to be able to take this message back to the staff, parents and governors.

One new idea that I took away from the conference is that of having a writer in residence throughout the year - this is having an immediate positive impact on our school. Although we have had many writers in school before, we have never had a writer involved in a project over a longer period of time. The workshop run by Phil Whitehead, which I attended at the conference, really filled me with enthusiasm and I returned to school determined to follow up his ideas with the staff, but more importantly to let the staff and children experience his inspiring approach for themselves.

Phil is visiting the school during this year on average 6 times a term. During the Autumn term he has been working with Reception and years 2, 4 and 6. Over the next two terms he will be including other year groups. We also hope to extend this project by having teachers from other local schools visit his workshops and by videoing his work in the classroom.

Phil's work has included sessions where he shows the children a poem with a simple structure. The children then copy the structure to make their own poem, this framework means that every child in the class is able to produce something which they are proud of. Phil then asked the children to focus on choosing interesting linking words for their poems.

The teacher can then follow up on this later by asking the children how they can use these words when they are working on other kinds of writing. The children also took these poems home and the parents were invited to join in by writing their own versions. Phil is focusing not just on ideas and structures for poetry writing but on purpose, audience and success. His first term culminated in a performance during Book Week and the publication of a Poetry Anthology of children's and parent's work.

One of the aims of the residency is to increase staff and children's confidence in themselves as writers and to improve teachers' confidence in teaching writing. Of course, to be effective in the classroom a writer needs the support of the teachers. Preparation is essential; the children need to be familiar with the work of the writer visiting them. Also, Phil's residency has involved workshops with the teachers - giving them ideas of how they can follow up on his work with the children. The partnership of a good teacher with a writer is a magic combination.

Already I know that children and staff have moved on in their approach to writing since Phil's visits began. The advantage of a residency, over a one-off visit, is that the children and even the parents have got to know Phil and are building a relationship with him. It also allows the children to continue and review work with Phil over a series of workshops. After Phil's visits the children are buzzing to read and write, and talk about it all the time.

All this must inevitably improve standards in children's writing so that writing targets will be met. But just as importantly all this will happen as a result of a real love of literature and writing and will allow the children to see themselves as successful writers.

Please note This information was originally provided as part of the 2002 Writing Together programme. Materials for 2004 are currently in preparation and will be available on this web site when they are published.