If we want to attract children like bees to the idea of writing for pleasure, we must treat our classroom as a field and fill it with the sweetest of nectar – good literature.
Ross Young
@writingrocks.bsky.social
The #WritingForPleasure Centre | Literacy Lab - University of Edinburgh | Real-World Writers | Science Of Teaching Primary Writing | How To Teach Writing | #WritingRocks Website: writing4pleasure.com PhD Profile: blogs.ed.ac.uk/literacylab/the-writing
Today, 14-month-old Isla got her mum’s pencil case out and ‘played writing’…
Composition conceptualised: Why is it important for teachers to have a productive conception of composition? writing4pleasure.com/2025/07/25/c...
Composition conceptualised: Why is it important for teachers to have a productive conception of composition?
download this article Having read Christopher Such’s book Primary Reading Simplified, and specifically his chapter on conceptualising reading comprehension, we were moved to write an article about …
writing4pleasure.com
In order to get quality proof-reading from your pupils, they first need to feel they’ve written something worth editing.
Imaginative writing: Our viewpoint “Ultimately, a writing project has gone well if you receive 30+ playful & varied pieces. These pieces are not only successful in terms of the objectives of the curriculum but also meaningful to the young authors…” writing4pleasure.com/2022/10/21/i...
Imaginative writing: Our viewpoint
DOWNLOAD THIS ARTICLE Imaginative writing is important. It’s important to children and adult writers alike. Imaginative writing can be found in all aspects of a writer’s life. For example, knowing …
writing4pleasure.com
Success criteria are often written by the teacher for the benefit of the teacher, whereas ‘product goals’ are written by the whole class for the benefit of the future reader.
Ideally, no pupil should be given a writing task which does not yield them enough fruit in their own terms, so that they can feel it is worth doing. - John Dixon
I couldn't agree more! This blog on 'inauthentic' writing highlights damaging trends in the teaching of writing in primary. It's a concern at secondary too, where students are sometimes being 'trained' to use sentences & phrases taught by teachers & writing is seen as 'practising' sentences.
Ross Young@writingrocks.bsky.social · 2w agoThe rise of ‘elaborate dictation’ and ‘writing-related simulations’ in English schools: Unethical writing teaching writing4pleasure.com/2025/07/16/t...
The rise of ‘elaborate dictation’ and ‘writing-related simulations’ in English schools: Unethical writing teaching writing4pleasure.com/2025/07/16/t...
The rise of ‘elaborate dictation’ and ‘writing-related simulations’ in English schools: Unethical writing teaching
In recent years, a growing concern has emerged among teachers, parents, and researchers in England: The increasing use of what could be called ‘elaborate dictation’ in classrooms. At first gl…
writing4pleasure.com
“I feel like if I never wrote – life would be a bit boring wouldn’t it – having loads of thoughts but never being able to show it.” - Year 4 Child
Nearly 30% of children not meeting the basic met standard for writing in England this year. Only around 1/10 writing above that basic met standard. Lots to do. People’s thoughts? 🤷♂️
A writing development rubric for teachers in the early years writing4pleasure.com/2026/07/13/a...
A writing development rubric for teachers in the early years
download this article Early writing development researcher Isaak Papadopoulos has produced the following writing development rubric for early year teachers. (Adapted from Papadopoulos, 2026) The ru…
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Play isn't a ‘rest’ from writing instruction and writing instruction can be as playful as teachers will allow themselves to be...
Poetry is the mother of all genres. It’s a versatile medium which informs and aids all other types of writing. Therefore, if we develop children as poets, they will also turn out to be excellent writers.
The different perspectives you can take on teaching early writing writing4pleasure.com/2024/03/15/t...
The different perspectives you can take on teaching early writing
download this article The aim of this article is to share the common perspectives that are held by teachers when teaching the youngest of writers, and to help you think about what your perspective …
writing4pleasure.com
Relying on dictation can quickly signal to young children that they are not capable of writing for themselves.
If children aren’t moved to write, you’ve got a problem. The most important part of teaching apprentice writers is showing them how to find the things they are moved by. Once this happens, they will have the necessary motivation to write to a high standard.
Sometimes, the best way to get children into books and reading is to invite them to make their own books…
Debunking Edu-Myths: Children Should Learn Handwriting First, Fast And Only writing4pleasure.com/2026/06/25/d...
Debunking Edu-Myths: Children Should Learn Handwriting First, Fast And Only
“Hi Ross and Phil. We recently received some training where it was recommended that in the EYFS we should only focus on teaching handwriting to ‘mastery’. We shouldn’t look to teach composition unt…
writing4pleasure.com
The Science Of Writing And The Book-Making Approach writing4pleasure.com/2026/06/30/t...
The Science Of Writing And The Book-Making Approach
download this article In many primary classrooms, children are routinely asked to sit down and write: to think of an idea, turn it into a series of sentences and transcribe those sentences accurate…
writing4pleasure.com
I’ve always absolutely loved this article by Peter Elbow: Writing First! “Putting writing before reading is an effective approach to teaching and learning….” www.ascd.org/el/articles/...
Writing First!
Putting writing before reading is an effective approach to teaching and learning.
ascd.org
The Science Of Writing And The Book-Making Approach writing4pleasure.com/2026/06/30/t...
The Science Of Writing And The Book-Making Approach
download this article In many primary classrooms, children are routinely asked to sit down and write: to think of an idea, turn it into a series of sentences and transcribe those sentences accurate…
writing4pleasure.com
The writing lives of working-class children writing4pleasure.com/the-writing-...
The writing lives of working-class children
download this article ‘We can’t give children rich lives, but we can give them the lens to appreciate the richness that is already there’ – Lucy Calkins The writing lives of working-cla…
writing4pleasure.com
The Science Of Writing And The Book-Making Approach writing4pleasure.com/2026/06/30/t...
The Science Of Writing And The Book-Making Approach
download this article In many primary classrooms, children are routinely asked to sit down and write: to think of an idea, turn it into a series of sentences and transcribe those sentences accurate…
writing4pleasure.com
As someone who has worked extensively in Early Years settings in the past and seen this, this was a very interesting read this morning.
Ross Young@writingrocks.bsky.social · last mo.Debunking edu-myths: We must develop children’s motor skills first, and teach writing later writing4pleasure.com/2025/07/19/d...
Debunking edu-myths: We must develop children’s motor skills first, and teach writing later writing4pleasure.com/2025/07/19/d...
Debunking edu-myths: We must develop children’s motor skills first, and teach writing later
download this article A well-meaning myth continues to shape early childhood classrooms: “Children need to develop fine and gross motor skills first — before we teach them how to write.” While it s…
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“By settling composition first, through talk, drawing, and oral rehearsal, you ensure that when children turn their attention to transcription, they are writing language they already own rather than trying to invent and write it at the same time.”
Ross Young@writingrocks.bsky.social · last mo.Composition first: Why the order of writing instruction matters 👇 writing4pleasure.com/2026/06/27/c...