Teresa Grainger

Teachers as writers: learning together

Abstract This paper reports upon the insights gained through working with teachers as writers at their own level. As part of a two-year research project into the development of children’s voice and verve in writing, a group of fourteen teachers’ reflective journeys as writers were documented. Two other groups of teachers and one group of student teachers also took part in writers’ workshops across the same period. The data encompassed: questionnaires, observations and teacher commentaries on their own writing, as well as interviews. A number of issues emerged, including: the tension between public and private writing and the security of the writing environment; authenticity in modelling writing; the importance of re-reading writing at the point of composition; the significance of choice and autonomy in writing and the potency of drama as an ideational and reflective tool. The consequences for classroom practice are also considered. It is argued that in order to enhance the teaching of writing, teachers and student teachers need real opportunities to write at their own level and reflect upon the process.

‘Playing the game called writing’: children’s views and voices

Abstract Teachers’ perceptions of their changing practice in the context of the National Literacy Strategy have been well documented in recent years. However, few studies have collected pupils’ views or voices. As part of a collaborative research and development project into the teaching and learning of writing, 390 primary pupils’ views were collected. A marked difference in attitude to writing and self-esteem as writers was found between Key Stages 1 and 2, as well as a degree of indifference and disengagement from in-school writing for some KS2 writers. A strong desire for choice and greater autonomy as writers was expressed and a preference for narrative emerged. This part of the research project ‘We’re Writers’ has underlined the importance of listening to pupils’ views about literacy, in order to create a more open dialogue about language and learning, and to negotiate the content of the curriculum in response to their perspectives.

Drama and spirituality: reflective connections

This paper illustrates the powerful role that drama can play in facilitating spiritual development. The opportunities offered through the experience of improvisation are explored through a detailed examination of a single drama session. The childrens engagement in and reflection upon the drama are seen as sensitive vehicles to build a sense of community, increase self-knowledge, develop empathy, search for meaning and purpose and experience a sense of the transcendent. Examples are given of childrens responses, both oral and written, to illuminate possible reflective connections between drama and spiritual growth.

Creative teachers and the language arts: Possibilities and potential

This article seeks to be explicit about creative opportunities in the literacy curriculum and encourages teachers to make full use of the language arts. Literature discussions, storytelling, poetry performances and classroom drama are all explored, and a single drama session is described in some detail to highlight the childrens imaginative involvement and the role of their teacher. The author believes teachers need to recognise, nurture and develop their own creative potential by taking part in such generative practices and dwelling in the realms of possibility with the children. It is argued effective teachers are also creative, reflective and affectively involved teachers of literacy.