Modblog 8

This week's writing is based on the game "Bike Baron" and is the same activity featured in Modblog 6 and based on  the article Raising Standards in Boys' Writing. 

This year I am trying to make an impact on pupil writing through the use of Guest Markers following on from an  idea I read about in the excellent book The Lazy Teacher's Handbook:  How your students learn more when you teach less,  by  Jim Smith. This week's writing also features on the Guest Marker  section of the class blog I work on with David Andrews, which also explains how the Guest Marker project is going to work.

All comments/discussions/votes and suggestions for levels are most welcome. Please join in!

Level outlines: from (Lend me your literacy)

A general overview of Level 2 writing

• Simple and compound sentences with basic connectives that could be repetitive (such as ‘and’, ‘then’ and ‘so’).
• Writing style shows some evidence of purpose and awareness of audience.
• Often uses capital letters and full-stops.
• Writing is organised to show some understanding of the purpose of the task.
• Uses simple noun phrases.

A general overview of Level 3 writing

• Simple and compound sentences with connectives (such as ‘because’, ‘but’ and ‘while’).
• Some variety of sentence openings.
• Writing style is sometimes adapted deliberately and usually relevant to suit the purpose.
• Sentences show an understanding of sentence structure and include accurate use of capital letters and full-stops.
• Speech marks, question marks and exclamation marks sometimes used correctly.
• Some adverbial and noun phrases are used and are sometimes well-chosen.

A general overview of Level 4 writing

• Complex sentences (extra clauses).
• Written in logical paragraphs.
• Awareness of an appropriate opening and ending.
• Commas marking clauses.
• A range of connectives (not just simple ones).
• Apostrophes used.
• Adverbs and noun phrases which are appropriate to the task.

A general overview of Level 5 writing

• Complex sentences, with well-chosen clauses used to have an intentional effect on the reader.
• Written in well-organised paragraphs that are purposely varied in length for effect and are sometimes linked.
• Correct use of ambitious/adventurous vocabulary with figurative language used deliberately to have an impact on the reader.
• Commas used correctly along with a wider range of punctuation (such as brackets, colons, ellipsis and fully punctuated speech).
• A range of connectives used accurately.
• Writing style is almost totally appropriate to the task and individual noun phrases and adverbs are chosen for their impact and according to the purpose of the task.