In my class this year I have a group of low achieving,

reluctant writers (boys). They have been traditionally

hard to motivate to write and display a dislike of
writing.
I would like them to improve their achievement levels
and gain a good attitude towards writing.
With my own professional development in ICT, and the
recent investment of Interactive Whiteboards and
laptops at Heriot School, I would like to link this new
technology in my writing programme.
 To increase boy’s achievement in
writing and to motivate their learning
through the use of ICT.
• Literature Search on Improving Boy’s Writing – Caroline Daly
• Using Web to motivate boys – www.boxoftricks.net
• Visual Literacy – www.teachingexpertise.com
• Boys into Writing – Robert Fisher
• Unlocking Writing – D. Fulton
• A Lancashire Project to Develop Boys Writing through Visual Literacy, ICT and
Drama – Edwina Marshall
• Raising Boys Achievement – www.garywilsonraisingboysachievement.co.uk
• Raising Boys Achievement in Schools –edited by Kean Beech (googlebooks)
• Educating Boys Workshop – Joseph Driessen (Dunedin 09)
• Boys find the act of writing laborious, a time consuming
chore which is predominantly passive.
• Boys are orientated towards visual and spatial learning
styles and respond well to strong visual images.
• Boys struggle with formation of letters and generally have a
lower motivation to write because of this.
• Boys see ICT as a means to improving the presentation of
their work, increasing self confidence and overcoming
teacher disapproval of untidy handwriting.
• Boys find themselves in a world of learning not associated
with a masculine figure in their formative years, so literacy
is devalued in their eyes.
• Boys benefit from short, focused tasks.
• Keep it short, keep it sharp, keep it finite.
• Lessons should be tightly structured, well focused and have a
clear purpose.
• Use ICT in all stages of writing, not just to publish
• Lessons should be practical and activity based
 I have 12 boys in my class all achieving at different levels due to the mix
of year levels and abilities. I collected samples of writing from all of the
boys at the beginning of the year and analysed these against the Asttle
writing matrix. I also collected responses from writing surveys about
their attitude to writing. From this data I have selected 6 boys for a
target group. I selected children who identified that they did not like
writing either at school or at home. The children I selected were a mix of
low, middle and high achievers in writing.
 Surface Features Deeper Features

Boys Feb 09 Sept 09 Feb 09 Sept 09

J 1iiiA 2A 1iiiA 2A
B 1iiA 2A 1iiP 2B
K 1iiiP 2P 1iiiP 2B
L 1iiiA 2A 1iiiP 2P
JM 2B 3B 2B 2A
D 2B 3B 2B 3B

B = Basic, P = Proficient, A = Advanced

I used wordle in guided writing sessions, as a brainstorming
tool. Next I would like the children to use it for their own
brainstorms.
 Photos as writing prompts (www.reallyfunnypictures.co.uk). Please note some of these images are inappropriate for children so use this site as your own resource only.
•
Online books as writing prompts eg what happens next…
•
I used scenes from the movie “Matilda”. I showed the children the
scene where Miss Trunchbull enters the classroom. This was an
ignition activity for our character writing unit. The boys enjoyed
having the visual image on the IWB and viewing it again and again. I
believe it made it easier for them as it was something “solid” that they
could describe.
• Using the Interactive Whiteboard during guided writing sessions, I
noted that the boys appeared more engaged on the mat because
they were really keen to use the Interactive pen or highlighter!
• One example of this was at the beginning of Autumn
children had the opportunity to go outside and take a photo
of something that meant “Autumn” to them. The photos
were varied trees, leaves, puddles, clouds and dead grass.
From these photos the children wrote cinquain poems and
presented them on pastel coloured leaves.
• We used the Computer programme called “Photo story”. Children
could use the digital camera and they took photos of what they
thought made Heriot School special. They then put these in the
programme and annotated it with text and orally.
• I used the website
www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/writingfun/writingfun.htm
• This site is fantastic. It has examples of all of the different genres in
writing. I used these to show my children examples of persuasive writing
on the IWB. Children could then participate in identifying parts of a
persuasive text. There is also a section that has writing scaffolds for the
children to plan their writing on.
• I highly recommend the Bubbledome site www.bubbledome.co.nz. My
class loved learning about the Bubblecats and coming up with lots of
different ideas for their adventures. There are good writing prompts
and I found my boys were good at working in pairs with this as they
bounced ideas off each other. They also liked seeing their ideas
actually on a website once they had typed them in!
The website www.writingfix.com has a fantastic range of
writing prompts and games. In addition there are good
resources for teachers including lesson plans, writing traits,
genres etc
• The boys who had previously been
reluctant to use a thesaurus in their
writing because this was a whole
additional step, were fighting over the
laptops in my room to use the online
thesaurus! I believe it is because the
boys get instant gratification, they
type in the word and the alternatives
are there instantly, no mucking around
trying to find the right page. The only
thing I don’t like about this site are
the ads that are all over the place.
• www.thesaurus.com
I used the Exemplars with the IWB where children could view them and also
work in small groups, identifying parts of the text, language etc
All of the 6 children in my target group in their initial surveys indicated that they did
not like writing either at school or home. Additionally I observed that these six children
generally were the children that I had to spend most of my time with at the beginning of
writing as they would not independently start their work. All six children now
independently write and I do not have the behavioural issues happening that used to
during writing time.
I asked the children what they thought about writing now that we have done some
different things in Room 3 at writing time:
“I like writing now it’s easier”

“Using computers and cameras and stuff is fun. It makes writing about stuff fun”

“I like using the pen on the mimio”

“I like writing a bit better now”

“It’s easier to write now, I like seeing what I can do on the mimio”
This has been a valuable process for my own practice. It has made me
evaluate how I deliver my writing programme and how based on the
research I read, that I can improve it especially to benefit my low
achieving boy writers.
The next step for me now is to continue along the path that I’m on and
to seek new ways, websites etc to continue to motivate my writers
using ICT.
I would now like to extend this use of ICT into my reading programme
more with the hope of motivating the lower readers in my class.