Introduction

The effectiveness of writing frames is well documented. The approach so far has been limited to paper-based use, which though helpful to pupils has disadvantages in flexibility. It is hard to tailor printed Frames to individuals and it is also time-consuming to construct them for particular topics and genres.

Frameworks are particularly useful in helping reluctant and less confident writers to undertake new genres of writing or improve their mastery of existing genres. They are also helpful when you wish to move pupils away from habits such as ‘and then, and then…’ and to develop their ability to use sub-clauses and phrases. Progression and differentiation can be achieved through gradual decrease in the ‘scaffolding’

FrameWorks allows you to provide exactly the right level of support and guidance and it allows pupils the freedom to choose how to use that support.

How does FrameWorks work?

Students choose (or are directed to) a topic. They click on the writing frame – either a Picture Prompt or a Writing Prompt – and can start work immediately. They are presented with a series of sentence starters or prompts. These are shown one at a time (though they can all be pasted into the writing area if students want to see them all at once).

Writers have the freedom to ignore prompts or use them in a different order if they wish – or to change them to make a piece of work really personal.

Having created their piece of writing, students will either save for another occasion, print it or copy it to the clipboard if they wish to paste it into their word processor (or other application) to, for example check spelling or alter the presentation.

Over fifty picture- and text-based writing frames are supplied. Genres include report, recount, story, instruction, explanation and persuasion as well as subject areas such as History, Geography and Science. Topics range from pets to book reviews, from ‘a point of view’ to a science experiment report.

When writers start gaining in confidence you can use The Big Editor to create new frameworks as a group. This works well on whiteboard or monitor and is designed to provoke discussion on the structure of a piece of writing while creating a framework.