Monthly Archives: October 2013

Pupils to paint a picture with words in the Descriptosaurus Writing Challenge

nltPupils aged 7 to 14 are being invited to take part in a fun new descriptive writing competition from the National Literacy Trust, Alison Wilcox, creative writing expert and author of Descriptosaurus, and publishers David Fulton Books from Routledge.

The Descriptosaurus Writing Challenge is asking pupils to write either a story or a non-fiction description of an event or place – without using any dialogue! Developing descriptive language to communicate effectively is an essential tool across the curriculum. History is concerned not merely with dates and facts, but with describing and interpreting past events. In geography, children need to be able to describe the world around them. In science, they need to observe carefully and then be capable of describing what is happening in an experiment.

The competition will provide teachers and librarians with resources to support the development of children’s descriptive writing skills and will encourage pupils to explore and experiment with descriptive language. The piece of writing they produce can be on any topic, giving teachers the option to either give their pupils free reign to choose what they want to write about or integrate the competition task into a current class topic.

Entries should be no longer than 250 words and will be judged in three age categories:

1. Lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4)

2. Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6)

3. Key Stage 3 (Years 7, 8 and 9)

Alison Wilcox will judge the competition entries alongside Routledge’s editor, and pupils who enter will stand a chance of winning: • For themselves: £50 worth of book vouchers and a brand new tablet computer • For their school: £250 worth of David Fulton/Routledge books, membership to the National Literacy Trust Network and a school visit from Alison Wilcox to run writing workshops for the pupils and training for staff The shortlisted entries will be read by thousands and will feature in a gallery on the National Literacy Trust website.

Susie Musgrove, the National Literacy Trust’s Schools Officer says: “It is so important that young people are equipped with the skills and vocabulary to effectively describe and interpret the world around them (and in their imaginations!). We hope that the Descriptosaurus Writing Challenge will support them to develop these skills and vocabulary, whilst having fun with language along the way.”

Alison Wilcox, author of Descriptosaurus, says: “I am really excited about this competition as I am passionate about the power of descriptive language to enable children to develop the vocabulary and techniques to communicate their ideas and express their individuality. The restriction of the word limit to 250 words should enable the children to focus on their choice of words, and experiment with sentence structure and length to develop their text into something which they are proud to share with an audience.” The competition’s deadline is Friday 8 November – good luck with the Descriptosaurus Writing Challenge! To take part and download the teacher’s resources visit: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/descriptosaurus

I am honoured …

txh

I am delighted to receive Texthelp’s Dyslexia Champion Award for 2013. The award recognises, ‘someone that goes beyond the call of duty to help people with dyslexia and promote awareness.’ It is the first time my work in the field of dyslexia has been recognised.

I taught for many years at Coventry Technology College and for five years ran the BEN Unit, a large basic skills unit with over 500 learners, so I came across plenty of people of all ages with dyslexia and soon came to realise two things. First they were mostly really clever because they often hid their problems from family and employers and managed to cope with all the written text that life throws at you. Secondly that dyslexia was much more than a spelling problem or even a reading and writing problem.

I have written 5 books about dyslexia, including How to Help your Dyslexic and Dyspraxic Child published by Crimson Publishing which looks to bridge the gap between home and schools. Right now I am finishing off a series of conversation cards for Fink  called Dealing with Dyslexia at Home and Dealing with Dyslexia at School

When I worked at Becta the government agency for ICT I came to realise that technology could help people overcome the problems associated with dyslexia including literacy, short term memory and organisational issues.

Technology can help people be more independent. It ensures that their text is legible (not always the case with handwriting), can easily be edited and looks professional. But technology now is so much more than just the word processing software of a few years ago. Now it can read text, provide a picture dictionary, change the colour of text, help learners with study tools and fulfil many more functions.

TextHelp is one of the world’s leaders in the field of dyslexia software. They are in the vanguard of developers who make software easy to use for people who struggle with reading and writing. They don’t make ‘special’ software. They create tools which open up the web and standard software to everyone.

TextHelp are experts in ICT and dyslexia and I am honoured that they have recognised my contribution to the field.