“Which Writer Wins?” – part 1
Overview
Click to enlarge
The “Which Writer Wins?” initiative takes place each year in Angus and involves around 1200 pupils in 55 primary schools.
P5 pupils are invited to read, or listen to, at least one book by each of three different authors and then to vote for their favourite writer.
This is the first of a series of cookbooks in which we’ll explore how Glow has added a whole new dimension to this enjoyable and hugely valuable project.
Context
The “Which Writer Wins?” project aims to provide pupils with opportunities to:
- read for enjoyment
- develop awareness of genre
- reflect on writers’ ideas and crafts
- express their opinions and listen to the views of others.
Pupil's book cover design. Click to enlarge.
Over the course of a term, pupils read books by three selected authors: in 2010, these were Geraldine McCaughrean, Jenny Nimmo and Kaye Umansky.
Multiple copies of the core titles are provided by the council’s Educational Resources Service. Pupils are also encouraged to borrow other titles by the authors from the school or public libraries.
Pupils then discuss the texts they have read, write book reviews and design book covers. At the end of the project, a vote is taken within each cluster. Representatives from each school are invited to a local meeting , where they share their book reviews with the audience, put up displays of their work and hear the results of their cluster’s vote.
Pupil's book review. Click to enlarge.
In previous years, activities have largely taken place in individual classrooms, and there has been little opportunity for interaction between schools. Voting, and displays of pupils’ work, have all been paper-based.
This year, for the 2010 event, an authority-level Glow Group was created to support the initiative. The Glow Group rapidly became a central hub for the project, as it provided areas where pupils could find background information about the writers, upload their book reviews, voice their opinions, share their creative designs and cast their final vote. Glow stimulated collaboration between the schools and provided pupils with an audience for their work beyond their own classrooms.
In the video clip below, Gordon Wilson, Angus staff tutor, gives a tour of the Glow Group.
Ingredients
The “Which Writer Wins?” Glow Group was created on the Angus Council site in Glow. All P5 pupils and staff were given membership; pupils had Contributor rights so that they could upload their work, staff Adminstrator rights so that they could moderate the content uploaded by their pupils. Further Glow Groups – one per school – were then added as sub-groups of the main group. These groups contained solely the Survey web part, but the restricted membership of the groups ensured that only the relevant pupils could vote!
The ”Which Writer Wins?” Glow Group was further customised by:
- deleting default pages and adding new ones
- creating hidden pages (which don’t appear as page tabs)
- using Text Editor web parts to display text, images, links and tables
- creating multiple Discussions and Documents web parts, so that each was linked to a single book
- creating a new Picture Library web part to display pupils’ art work
- creating a survey and replicating it in the sub-groups for each of the 55 schools
Recipe
In order to do full justice to the “Which Writer Wins?” Glow Group, the recipe section has been split between this cookbook and two others (Which Writer Wins - part 2 and Which Writer Wins – part 3). Here we’ll focus on how the Author and Book pages of the Group were created.
* A tour of the Author and Book pages in the Glow Group
* Adding, editing and deleting pages in a Glow Group
* Displaying text and images in a Text Editor web part
* Creating a table in Text Editor
* Creating hidden pages, part 1
* Creating hidden pages, part 2: Adding hyperlinks to a Text Editor web part
* Creating new Discussions and Documents web parts
* Moderating content added to Documents and Discussions web parts
Impact
Through their involvement in the “Which Writer Wins?” activities, pupils have been actively engaging with a range of Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes. These include:
"Beak and Whisker" discussion. Click to enlarge.
LIT 2-01a: I regularly select and listen to or watch texts which I enjoy and find interesting, and I can explain why I prefer certain sources. I regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to create texts of my choice.
LIT 2-11a: I regularly select and read, listen to or watch texts which I enjoy and find interesting, and I can explain why I prefer certain texts and authors.
ENG 2-12a: Through developing my knowledge of context clues, punctuation, grammar and layout, I can read unfamiliar texts with increasing fluency, understanding and expression.
ENG 2-27a: I am learning to use language and style in a way which engages and/or influences my reader.
“Which Writer Wins?” is a huge project in Angus; however, in its previous paper-only format, it had begun to struggle in recent years.
Gordon Wilson describes the impact of the ‘Which Writer Wins?’ Glow Group
Using Glow to support the project has revitalised it and turned it into a much more interesting topic for the staff and pupils involved. Glow has opened up new avenues to the activities, allowing pupils to collaborate with their peers in other schools. This can be particularly beneficial in the small rural primary schools, where there may only be a handful of P5 pupils.
Pupils have really enjoyed being able to read what other pupils thought of the books, or what characters or incidents they selected as their favourites. Adding a comment or uploading a book review - and seeing other people respond – has proved highly motivational.