Explanations

Stage 2 Writing: Explanations for Human Body Term: Weeks: 1 – 10 Students who have achieved Stage 2 interpret and communicate proficiently ideas and information for different purposes and audiences. They explore the features of different types of spoken, written and visual texts and experiment with ways of shaping their ideas to suit topics, purposes and audiences.
 * __//**Stage Statement**//__

Students produce longer texts with well-developed stages, using ideas and information about a range of topics. They recognise, discuss and can use many of the structures and grammar of a range of text types. Students experiment with ways of planning, reviewing and proofreading their writing as demonstrated by the teacher, and usually spell familiar words correctly. They can use the edit functions of word processors to alter, format and organise their texts. They use joined letters when writing in NSW Foundation Style. They usually use correct punctuation (capital letters, full stops, quotation marks, commas). || Explanations tell how and why things occur in scientific and technical fields. || Explanations are organised to include: Explanations may include visual images, eg diagrams and flow charts, which need to be carefully examined. || • uses other texts as models for aspects of writing own explanations, such as text organisation, grouping of information under headings • explains in writing one or two reasons for a common phenomenon, personal action or opinion • uses some effective planning strategies when writing explanations, such as drawing a diagram • sequences ideas in texts effectively to write simple explanations. || __ ESL Scales levels: Reading and Responding, Writing 1, 2 __ ê Scribe the students’ explanations of the sequenced diagrams or model a simple text and select words (content words and a connective) to make into a cloze etc. ê Point out essential reading instructions (sequence, order, highlight, cut and paste) so that students can complete written tasks independently. __ ESL Scales levels: Reading and Responding, Writing 3, 4, 5 __ ê Highlight causal and time conjunctions in simple model texts and practise substituting different conjunctions. ê Provide pairs of connected ideas in the topic area and have students write them into sentences using a variety of connectives. (Encourage students to move from conjunctions they know such as ‘then’ to ‘as a result’ or ‘therefore’.) ê Provide cloze passages that focus on synonyms that are associated more with the written than spoken form, eg form (make), connect (join), provide (give). ê Collate written exercises and flow charts in the topic area in students’ books and around the room so that students may refer to and reuse them when they are contributing to a joint construction. ê Do not change the topic area if you want to develop a student’s ability to write an independent explanation, eg ‘How Mount St Helens erupted’ written as a joint construction could become a model for an independent construction on ‘How Krakatoa erupted’. ê Subject-specific vocabulary is not simply a matter of substituting students’ need to have some expertise in an area before writing an explanation. ê Available texts will often be too difficult for students to comprehend themselves. Guided reading in small groups assists students to develop knowledge of the field and to assist students to move from everyday language to more technical language. ê Often texts can be rewritten to provide suitable reading material in which new vocabulary can be controlled. ||
 * //__**Social Purpose**__//
 * ==== __//**Structure**//__ ====
 * an identifying statement about what is to be explained — this stage is the ‘statement of phenomenon’;
 * a series of events known as the ‘explanation sequence’ — the events may be related according to time or cause or according to both relationships;
 * a ‘concluding statement’ (this stage is optional).
 * __//** Outcomes: **//__
 * WS2.9** Drafts, revises, proofreads and publishes well-structured texts that are more demanding in terms of topic, audience and written language features.
 * WS2.10** Produces texts clearly, effectively and accurately using the sentence structure, grammatical features and punctuation conventions of the text type.
 * WS2.11** Uses knowledge of letter–sound correspondences, common letter patterns and a range of strategies to spell familiar and unfamiliar words.
 * WS2.12** Uses joined letters when writing in NSW Foundation Style and demonstrates basic desktop publishing skills on the computer.
 * WS2.13** Discusses how own texts are adjusted to relate to different readers, how they develop the subject matter and how they serve a wide variety of purposes.
 * WS2.14** Discusses how own texts have been structured to achieve their purpose and the grammatical features characteristic of the various text types used. || __ //** Indicators: **// __ • understands purpose and stages of the organisation of an explanation, including general statement about the phenomenon, explanation, conclusion
 * __//**ESL Scales Reading and Writing**//__


 * Content – Early Stage 2 ||
 * WS2.9

WS2.10

WS2.11

WS2.10

WS2.11

WS2.10

WS2.12

WS2.12 || ======Producing Texts====== • jointly and independently construct a range of text types, eg narrative, procedure, response, recount, description and information report • write for a chosen audience, eg write letters to family or friends, real or imaginary • jointly alter a text to take into account different audiences • build knowledge of topic before writing by brainstorming and discussing to make reference lists for writing • label graphics accompanying their own texts

Skills and Strategies
• prepare for writing, eg by planning text structure using pro formas • attempt to draft, proofread, and edit their own writing, eg circle or underline doubtful words for spelling and use dictionary to check • use knowledge of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs to improve their own writing • use knowledge of familiar letter patterns, spelling rules and common words when attempting to spell unknown words • use common punctuation such as full stops, capital letters, question marks and commas • use handwriting of consistent size and spacing in NSW Foundation Style • use computer software to produce texts, eg word processing programs. || WS2.13

WS2.14 |||| ======Context and Text====== • draw students’ attention to the stages of text organisation in a variety of literary and factual material from books, media and electronic texts • talk about the different purposes and audiences of texts • make explicit how to research information from a variety of sources before writing by using proformas with guide questions or headings

Language Structures and Features
• make explicit the basic structure and grammar of a variety of text types including information report, procedure, recount, simple explanation and simple exposition • provide assistance to support the editing, proofreading and publishing of writing • explain spelling generalisations to students. ||
 * =====Content – Later Stage 2===== ||
 * WS2.9

WS2.10

WS2.10

WS2.11

WS2.12

WS2.12 || ======Producing Texts====== • jointly and independently construct a range of texts for different audiences and purposes, eg descriptions, recounts, procedures, narratives, poems, sequential explanations, personal responses, expositions • use a range of drafting strategies, eg note-taking, planning, organising headings, writing key words, revising, final drafting, editing, proofreading • write about both familiar and researched topics • work with a variety of forms, eg projects, letters, diagrams, posters, multimedia

Skills and Strategies
• write well-formed sentences using grammatical features that help to achieve the purpose of the text, eg reported and quoted speech in narratives, structure of noun group in information reports, past tense in recounts, use of relating verbs in descriptions, use of modality in expositions • use correct punctuation in published versions of their own writing, eg question marks, direct speech marks, commas and apostrophes for contractions • apply knowledge of spelling conventions and strategies to their own writing, especially when attempting unknown or difficult words • practise and consolidate handwriting that is consistent in form • write texts using the basic word processing functions. || WS2.13

WS2.14 |||| ======Context and Text====== • compare, with students, texts that are organised differently according to their purposes • model how to adjust writing to suit the audience • talk with students about different topics that can be selected for writing (eg familiar/unfamiliar, everyday/technical, personal/objective) and about how to research to build knowledge about a topic

Language Structures and Features
• help students to identify how each stage of a text contributes to the overall impact on the reader and how this impact can be adjusted and augmented, eg using the evaluation stage of narrative to build suspense • point out the grammatical features associated with different text types, eg text connectives to sequence explanations, noun groups to build up description in information reports • draw students’ attention to the way in which punctuation contributes to the meaning in texts, eg commas, semicolons, dashes, question marks, quotation marks. || Building extensive word families about a topic. Students at this stage will be using terms such as: __ Lesson 1: __ • Revise social purpose of explanations. Introduce model explanations for students to read. Build up field information in preparation for the joint construction. __ Lesson 2: __ • Jointly construct explanations using class charts that outline the structure of an explanation. __ Lesson 3: __ • Brainstorm a list of how and why questions related to the Skeletal System. What are each of the parts and how do they work? __ Lesson 4: __ • Discuss the purpose of the phenomenon statement in explanations and develop a definition, eg a general introduction to the whole series of events. Encourage students to use this definition to sort examples of phenomenon statements from statements describing single events. Display definitions of stages in the classroom. __ Lesson 5: __ • Develop word banks of technical vocabulary related to a current issue and display in the classroom to use in writing. Ask students to suggest action verbs they will use in the explanation sequence. ||  || • Ask students to write ‘how’ questions to use when researching a current topic. • Brainstorm current knowledge on the Circulatory topic and use it to jointly construct a flow chart, outlining in sequence how something works. __ Lesson 7: __ • Brainstorm ideas about how the Circulatory system works, then number the ideas in logical sequence. Ask students to use these ideas to construct a visual text, eg flow chart. __ Lesson 8: __ • Have students prepare for writing an explanation by labelling a diagram of the Digestive System with its parts and their function. Students can use the information on this diagram as a resource when writing an explanation independently. __ Lesson 9: __ • Ask students to construct flow charts to represent event sequences in explanations in preparation for the Digestive system explanation. __ Lesson 10: __ • Use highlighters to identify time connectives in an explanation. Create word banks of time connectives, eg before, while, until, and causal connectives, eg because, so, if so that, as a resource for students to use in their writing. __ Lesson 11: __ • Refer to flow charts of events and word banks of time or causal connectives when jointly constructing an explanation, to demonstrate how to combine content knowledge with grammatical knowledge to write an explanation. __ Lesson 12: __ • Ask students to construct independently or in small groups different sections or events of an explanation. ||  || • Edit an explanation on a familiar topic which has events in the wrong order. Focus on the importance of correct order to make meaning clear. Re-order the events with correct conjunctions and connectives. __ Lesson 16: __ • Demonstrate how to link clauses using connectives showing cause and time, eg because, so, in order to, if, so that, before, while, until. __ Lesson 18: __ • Develop a glossary of technical terms from a jointly constructed explanation to assist readers to understand the content and complete final writing assessment on the Digestive System ||  ||
 * === __//**Grammar Focus**//__ ===
 * Constructing a complete sequence of events to explain the phenomenon through using a variety of action verbs and conjunctions.
 * Using a variety of adverbial phrases.
 * Using conjunctions and connectives to develop the explanation sequence as a means for organising the flow of the text.
 * Focusing on patterns of clause beginnings.
 * Using pronouns to refer to things already introduced into the text. ||
 * __//**Gra**//__ __//**mmar Terminology**//__
 * word family
 * theme of clause
 * structure of noun group
 * referring word. ||
 * __//**Teaching and Learning Experiences**//__
 * __ Lesson 6: __
 * __ Lesson 13: __

.