Why a writing inquiry?

Why I chose a writing inquiry?

1. Summarise the challenge of student learning you plan to focus on in this inquiry. Be as clear and specific as you can about the evidence you have about this to date.

I have been in special education for almost 20 years.  I have spent many years implementing routines and research based strategies and I have seen the dfference that this has made to my students.

At Sommerville we have been fortunate enough to have Dr Sally Clendon take professional development over the last few years. As a result of Sally Clendon's guidance as well as strong routines and behavior support, I have noticed a difference in my students writing skills. 

My students need to learn how to manage themselves as a prerequisite to becoming engaged in learning. They also need to be able to relate to others in order to participate in group work and social situations and of course participating and contributing is reliant on all of these. 

My inquiry will be focusing on improving these Key Competencies to see a shift in my students writing. 

Jane Farrall describes writing as a complex task, involving ideas, language, words, spelling and transcribing or selecting letters.  We need to teach all of these skills – and eventually students need to be able to do all of these, within the one task, to become writers.  

Due to its complexities, many students find writing challenging and many teachers struggle to find methods to effectively teach the skill. I am going to use a of range strategies to show how students managing self and relating to others and if this will help them improve their writing.