Writing to Learn - A Comprehensive Guide to Developing Academic Literacy and Subject Mastery

Unlock the transformative power of written expression in enhancing curriculum understanding with our "Writing to Learn" course.

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The research
Writing to Learn is a pedagogical approach supported by a wealth of research.  Discover why writing helps students understand and retain curriculum content better than many other classroom activities.

Golden Sentences, paragraphs and Essays: The Ladder to Mastery
Golden Sentences: This is the foundation of the writing-to-learn approach. Here, students learn to compose 'golden sentences' that serve as complete thoughts and are syntactically sound. For example, 'The Roman Empire fell in 476 AD.' These sentences are the building blocks for more complex forms of writing. Golden sentences are helpful across all year groups but particularly beneficial for students who find writing challenging. For instance, Key Stage 1 students may write: 'The sun rises in the east.' Key Stage 2 students may write more advanced sentences like 'Due to gravitational pull, the moon orbits the Earth.' or 'Adjacent to London, the county of Surrey has more countryside than the capital.’ 

Golden Paragraphs: Introduced as early as Year 2 for advanced learners but generally incorporated by Year 3, golden paragraphs help students combine golden sentences coherently to convey complex ideas. Here, the focus shifts from isolated sentences to connected thoughts. For example, 'Society is the name for the people of a country. Florence Nightingale changed how society viewed nursing. It became a respected profession because of her book Notes on Nursing. This was her legacy and why she is a significant person in British history.'

Golden Essays: These are tackled in Years 5 and 6 and are the culmination of the preceding stages. Students engage in extended writing exercises, which should display a solid understanding of the subject matter, a rich vocabulary, and a well-structured argument.
Year 5: Students might write an essay about the water cycle, its importance, and the science behind it.
Year 6: A more advanced essay might discuss the causes and consequences of World War II. For example a Golden Essay may begin, 'Young men, patriots for their country, walked into the unknown horrors that awaited them in the trenches.  Many would never return; others' lives would be transformed forever.'

Vocabulary and Subject-Specific Literacy: The Fundamentals of Academic Success
With a robust foundation in vocabulary, students are better equipped to articulate themselves within academic settings. This course showcases vocabulary in action across various subjects. The course also promotes subject-specific literacy as a form of cultural capital, incorporating powerful academic language and reinforcing the importance of threshold concepts, making students think like professionals within disciplines.  For example: 'Since fossils are the petrified remains of plants and animals, they provide evidence of life on Earth millions of years ago.'

Scaffolding the Writing Approach: A Roadmap to Independence
Drawing from research, including Barak Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction, this course offers a meticulous scaffolding system to guide teachers in enabling students to achieve mastery of curriculum content through writing.

Assess Students' Learning: The engine for academic success
Supporting both Assessment for Learning and Formative Assessment, this course equips teachers with the tools to effectively gauge student understanding, thereby enabling more targeted improvement prompts.

Whole School Model and Progression: A Structured Approach
A unique feature of the Writing to Learn approach is its applicability across different year groups, providing a uniform strategy for elevating literacy and subject mastery from Key Stage One through Key Stage Two.

• Establish a strong foundation in academic writing through the teaching of 'Golden Sentences,' beneficial for all year groups and especially for students who find writing challenging.
• Help students to progress from foundational 'Golden Sentences' to 'Golden Paragraphs' and 'Golden Essays,' offering a structured approach to increasingly complex forms of writing.
• Enhance students' vocabulary and subject-specific literacy, empowering them to articulate academic ideas more effectively.
• Provides schools with a meticulous scaffolding approach informed by research, leading students to mastery of curriculum content.
• Supports both Assessment for Learning and Formative Assessment, equipping teachers with tools for targeted teaching interventions.
• Offers a uniform, whole-school model that can be adapted across different year groups, from Key Stage One through to Key Stage Two, ensuring consistency in literacy and subject mastery.

• Many practical activities that can be used in a range of subjects across the primary curriculum
• Many examples of effective student writing across the curriculum from Year 1 to Year 6
• CPD ideas to help your teachers to improve their knowledge of how to teach writing across the curriculum and, in doing so, helping students to learn better
• A comprehensive reading list of research that will help you to explore in more detail the aspects of the course.