I have taught in three schools over the last ten years and am currently Head of Department at Portslade Community College.  My project focused on improving writing at Key Stage 3.  As a starting point, I consulted the most recent QCA publication: Moving On: progression in writing at Key Stage 3’.  This led me to consider the triplets that tend to be neglected.  I recognised that in my own school’s schemes of work, the least amount of attention was given to ‘inform, explain, describe’.

My aim was to discover the potential of the IWB for engaging pupils, particularly boys, through the use of pictures, the moving image and interactive features.  With my level 4/5 class in Year 9, the challenge was to engage the class, in the last few weeks before the SATs.  I chose, for the final assessment piece, the Moving On task: ‘A report of an accident witnessed outside the school gates.’  This leant itself to being adapted specifically for a fictional accident at Portslade Community College, involving our own principal!  I was able to exploit the pupils’ enthusiasm for discussing cars, speeding, accidents, and the film Speed.

• Getting the style right (Word)
• Inform, explain, describe (Word)
• Newspaper SAT 03 (Word)
• Teachit Cavalero (Word)
• Teachit opening paragraph (Word)
• Writing a news report (FLP)
• Y9 writing a news report plan (Word)

The interactive feature that I initially got to grips with, was the pupils’ ability to move text around the flip chart.  This appealed, partly due to its advantage over cutting up texts into strips that ultimately make a mess.  It also focuses on aspects of the ‘Text structure and organisation’ marking strand which needed to be made more explicit to the pupils.  I rearranged the first half of the news report’s paragraphs.  This led to work on cohesive devices and how to write an effective ending, which again were identified in the Moving On report as being ‘less developed than openings’.  What worked well was the pupils’ desire to use the IWB pen and their willingness to articulate why they were doing something.

In response to the pupils tackling the major writing task from the 2003 SAT, I identified the need to address ‘Composition and Effect’ more explicitly.  I filmed the Principal being interviewed by the College’s Community PC about his fictional role in knocking a pupil off his bike.  David Cooper, Brighton & Hove’s ICT Consultant, copied the videocassette onto disk and it turned out to be quite entertaining especially as the cameraperson (me) was laughing in the background!  This was both amusing and effective in establishing the level of formality required for the accident report task.  It also served to support pupils’ planning in terms of how to ‘imagine’ the contents of a ‘factual’ report.

In my second scheme of work, I focused on Year 8 and writing for a specific audience.  I identified a topic that was potentially of interest to the pupils: Ellen McArthur’s round the world record.   The IWB provided opportunities for analysing a wide range of texts about Ellen McArthur, including web-sites.  Pupils were then more confident when designing their own web-site on a hero or heroine, in collaboration with the ICT department.

• Creating a web page (FLP)
• Researching a hero (Word)
• Short term plan (Word)

Overall, pupils predictably responded well to the visuals – they were engaged from the outset.  Approaching the marking strands separately helped pupils across all the writing triplets.  The Composition and Effect strand was certainly aided by considering the formal nature of the Principal’s interview with PC Hart.  Finally, pupils responded well to sharing their writing on the IWB, taking pride in what they had achieved.

Jenny Thomas was amazingly supportive and encouraging throughout and she made the contacts for setting up a network.  Working in a network was valuable in terms of pairing up with Falmer – they invited staff from PCC to visit their school.  Trouble shooting sessions with the Brighton & Hove ICT Consultant, David Cooper, were also very helpful. Although the teachers that attended network meetings were relatively new to the IWB, the intention now is to share IWB resources on the Brighton and Hove website.  We hope this might reach a wider audience and encourage other schools to share their resources.

Ruth Turner

Portslade Community College

• Levels 4-6 sheet (Word)
• Levels 6-8 sheet (Word)

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