The Implementation of Talk for Writing in P2

We have been implementing Talk for Writing in P2 over the past year.

The process follows roughly three stages.

Imitation: Children are first taught to imitate a story. A ‘creative hook’ engages the children. A model text with an archetypal structure and carefully selected writing features is shared with the class. Pupils co-create a visual map of this text with the teacher. They use it, alongside repeated storytelling and drama, to internalise it and deepen their comprehension. The content and structure are explored and relevant words, phrases and grammar are embedded through daily warm-up lessons.

Innovation: Through shared writing, the children and teacher innovate around the model text, amending the existing plan or visual map together. Children then write their own version, following the structure of the model text, but adapt the characters, events and settings. This provides opportunities for internalisation of genre-appropriate language patterns that can be applied during independent writing. Using guided writing, children are supported at word and sentence level according to their learning requirements. Writing is assessed by self, peer and teacher. Feedback is provided to inform revisions and next steps.

Independent Application: Children write their own text independently using their accumulated knowledge and skills. As confidence and experience grow, children become less reliant on the model text at this stage and are able to draw on a growing portfolio of transferable textual features and techniques.