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Writing styles - Procedures

Excerpt from NSW Board of Studies, Stage 1 Writing Foundation Statement:

"Students write simple literary and factual texts on familiar topics for known readers by planning and reviewing their writing. They write using basic grammatical features and conventions of punctuation, showing awareness of different purposes, audiences and subject matter. Students spell using knowledge of sight words, letter-sound correspondence and other strategies. They write using letters of consistent size and slope in NSW Foundation Style and use computer technology to produce texts, recognising simple conventions, language and functions."

Procedures tell how to do something. This might include instructions for how to carry out a task or play a game, directions for getting to a place, and rules of behaviour.

Procedures are usually organised to include:

• the goal of the activity;

• any materials needed to achieve the goal;

• steps to accomplish the goal.

Students came to computer lessons with draft procedural texts prepared in the classroom. They used computer technology to publish their procedures using Microsoft Word. Several text formatting styles were incorporated into the document including centring, bullets, numbering and font decoration. The work was finished off by adding a clip art image or a border.

Computer Technology skills covered:

• File management and software management

• Typing skills using Microsoft Word

• Text formatting including font, size, alignment, colour

• Bullets and numbering

• Insert and manipulate clip-art

• Borders

• Publishing, editing and printing

Curriculum areas include:

English

• WS1.9 Plans, reviews and produces a small range of simple literary and factual texts for a variety of purposes on familiar topics for known readers.

• WS1.10 Produces texts using the basic grammatical features and punctuation conventions of the text type.

• WS1.11 Uses knowledge of sight words and letter–sound correspondences and a variety of strategies to spell familiar words.

• WS1.12 Produces texts using letters of consistent size and slope in NSW Foundation Style and using computer technology.

• WS1.13 Identifies how own texts differ according to their purpose, audience and subject matter.

• WS1.14 Identifies the structure of own literary and factual texts and names a limited range of related grammatical features and conventions of written language.

   Cheryl Hill © 2007