Writing PLD 2: using tools to structure our narrative writing

 

This PLD session builds on our previous exploration of how we use great text models to improve children's own writing.

Focussing on narrative writing, we examined how structural tools and frameworks have a dual purpose: to help us to unpick how stories are constructed and as a guide to building narratives of our own.

Writing is a complicated activity in which children are using several different skills at the same time. We considered how structural tools can help to lighten the cognitive load for writers, enabling them to focus on composition, content or language choices.

Examples: applying structural analysis tools to fairytales.

We agreed that, as with maths or science, it is important for us to find the through lines in our teaching across our different classrooms. This way, children can build on their knowledge as they progress through the school. Using a common language for discussing text features is part of this.

We are keen to find a separate opportunity to explore similar tools for analysing and writing non-fiction texts.

The supporting slideshow can be found here:

Writing PLD 2

Emotional Coaching - Staff Only Day

A Clinical Psychologist lead a refresher session with us on Emotion Coaching at one of our Staff Only Days. Whilst the material was based on Emotion Coaching for parents - it's for all adults showing them the way. 

The work is based on the work of Dr John Gottman- you may have across his extensive work on emotions and we won't get into adult relatonships and the '6 lasting marriage predictions'- we will stick with the ' safer' area of parent/ children!

' Emotion Coaching works alongside positive forms of discipline that rely on providing children with clearly understood consequences for misbehaviour"

 

(Gottman, 1997) 

A taste of the four parenting styles identified by Gottman and his colleagues. Most of us use a mix but one is usually more dominant. The styles:

1. Permissive
2. Dismissive
3. Disapproving
4. Emotion Coaching

For more detail about each style:

https://www.gottman.com/blog/an-introduction-to-emotion-coaching/

To give you a link for further exploration if you are interested in more of the specifics we looked at : https://tuningintokids.org.au/. 

Enviroschools

This session was led by Chloe our Enviroschools facilitator.

Student session draft: