Students’ strategies and competence in writing compositions maribel Fontiveros-Malana, Ph. D

Thinking about writer's purpose when creating texts

Once your class are familiar with different purposes of writing, they'll be ready to create their own. Chances are, children will already be thinking about the purpose of texts they create, even without explicitly being told to. To keep this at the front of their mind, try one of these top tips:

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  Focus on one specific purpose at a time, especially at the beginning. Let your children have lots of practice and become masters of persuasion, before moving onto other text types.
  
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  Print off a checklist for each member of your class that they can stick in the back of their exercise book. This encourages them to check their own work and is a helpful reminder if they get stuck.
  
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  Why not have a display in your classroom, with posters displaying all the key features of persuasive or informative texts? This will help them know what to include as they write.
  
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  Use some handy writing prompts to make sure you're never short of inspiration. These are great as a quick activity to end a lesson.
  
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  If you've tired your class out with all this writing, why not encourage them to start a debate? This way, they can put their persuasive skills into practice - with no writing involved.
  

Resources to help children think about purpose of writing (entertain, inform persuade etc.)

Now you've got all the information you need about writing for a purpose, you're ready to help your class become experts, too. To get you started, here are some of our favourite resources all based on the purpose of writing:

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  Persuasive Writing PowerPoint - this handy PowerPoint provides the perfect introduction to writing persuasively, with lots of hints and tips;
  
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  Author's Purpose PIE Poster - this poster proudly displays the three most common purposes of writing - entertain, inform, and persuade;
  
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  Agree or Disagree Persuasive Language Game - for when you're class are tired of writing, this game allows children to put their persuasive skills to use in a more active way;
  
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  Features of a Non-Chronological Report Checklist - this checklist is great for when your class are writing a more specific style of informational text;
  
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  Persuasive Writing Teacher Assessment Rubric - here, you'll find all the information you need to assess and grade your class's responses to a persuasive writing task.