Children in the classroom can have various barriers that can present challenges to writing a 500 Words story but with special care and tools, teachers can bring down those barriers.
Meet Marco, a student who has an abundance of creativity but has struggles get those ideas down to paper. Marco has individual needs and benefits from one to one support from a special support assistant, Mrs Bowler, who sits with Marco to develop his stories.
Mrs Bowler and Mr Hunt both teach at an inclusive school in Greater Manchester that aims to develop new ways of teaching for children that don't necessarily benefit from traditional teaching methods.
This year, Marco will be entering 500 Words with the help of Mrs Bowler and they've sat down to share how they plan to do so. You can use these tips from Mr Hunt and Mrs Bowler to encourage children who may have similar needs to Marco in your class to write their own 500 Words story.
Mrs Bowler: Ok, Marco. This second part is about the wolf's personality, so let me just remind you what you put.
Mr Hunt: So, we have children with specific needs like Marco. Marco has different needs to the rest of the class but he's an amazing writer and with him, his main barrier is, he has so many ideas just jumping and buzzing around, he can't always get them out, so we have Mrs Bowler who works with him and I work with>him as well and we're able to sort of help him to focus to remove those barriers.
Marco: Sometimes, I struggle getting ideas out of my head and it's really hard. So, when I'm working with Miss, it makes me happier.
Mrs Bowler: Firstly, we do a plan and then we'll support him in class. Marco will tell me his ideas. It's all his ideas and his story and I'll write them down and we can correct them or we can add to them. Marco will then take pride in his word. So, Marco will still write it down. One, because you're doing great with your handwriting and it makes him proud of his own work at the end. We're also lucky enough to have a light up board. So, Marco tells me his idea or his paragraph, or sentence, I'll write it it on the light up board.You can often choose, change the colour depending on what the setting is.
Marco: I like it when I do good work.
Mrs Bowler: So do we.
Marco: Yes. I do, I think everybody does.
Need more inspiration?
Back to 500 Words
Click here for more information on 500 Words.
Try these other options if children struggle with writing
Why not try these other options if children struggle with writing their 500 Words story!
What are the 500 Words prizes?
There are many prizes to be handed out to the gold, silver and bronze recipients.
