National Curriculum Summary And Analysis

According to the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum (2013) children in year two should begin to familiarise themselves with different types of non-fiction text and be able to express views and opinions both on those that are beyond their independent reading ability. The children are building on and developing their reading and writing skills and knowledge from year one and therefore will be familiar with non-fiction texts but will not have yet developed the comprehension skills to understand and evaluate them. They will be aware that non-fiction means that the text is factual and that their writing will consist of descriptive, informative sentences in conjunction with the year one requirements in writing: comprehension

Therefore, Mallet, (2010) suggests that teachers should integrate texts as a way of encouraging social interactions and discussion of texts, providing context in preparation for progression in reading comprehension. To support teachers initiating non-fiction text learning, Wray and Lewis (1997) provide the Extending Interactions with Text (EXIT) model consisting of ten stages that demonstrate the development of learning that occurs through the use of text and what children must accomplish in order to be able to write their own non-fiction text. These stages are then categorised into three phases that cover all possibilities when learning to write non-fiction texts. The first phase generates interest and encourages children to recall their prior knowledge through familiarisation with the type of text and ‘immersion in the genre…by reading examples’ Waugh and Jolliffe, (2013 p.265). The second phase involves the analysis of key features and gathering information in preparation for phase three, where children compose their own independent writing within the genre. These phases are not to be strictly followed in chronological, although, the first phase is a fundamental starting point, they are to be used as a guide for teachers when planning as they

The writing frame acts as a scaffold for the children’s report, and the teacher modelling to the children echoes Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory. The theory involves the “zone of proximal development” (ZPD) Vygotsky, (1978 p.86-87) The theory describes that the ZPD is the gap between what a learner can do on their own and what they can do with support. In this case, the teacher modelling the task to the children can potentially eliminate any misconceptions children may have when writing their own and therefore allowing them to achieve more than if they were simply left to work completely independently. The theory can also be applied to the support given to children who have EAL or children with SEN. In the plan, I include differentiation by support and resources without taking away independence. EAL students are given bilingual dictionaries in every session to help them when identifying words that they do not come across very often in the English language. Some words should also be presented in a more simplistic form. For children with SEN, support is derived from the idea of the ZPD (Vygotsky 1978) as they are able to achieve more than they would if working completely independently, without actually interfering with their independent