This pre-conference session is for members of the AGIS Elementary Literacy working
group as well as for staff teaching literacy in the PYP primary school. We have students in our classrooms who love writing as well as students who find writing challenging and are reluctant to compose a text. In the course of their learning, students are exposed to a variety of texts forms according to the learning objectives. They write personal recounts, narrative as well as non-fiction texts. One way to help students become independent effective writers is through the use of mentor texts. By having a closer look into different sorts of mentor texts, students are exposed to a variety of genres and are given ideas of what written texts should look like. They detect writing conventions and realize that reading as well as writing are interconnected when making meaning of texts. Analysing mentor texts is not only about teaching students how to read and write but even more - teaching them to read texts like writers. The shift from "teaching writing" to "teaching the writer" is an important step in understanding the value of student agency within the IB classroom. The agenda of our session is as follows: 09:30-10:00 Welcome Coffee 10:00-12:30 First Session (Student agency and mentor texts: how to give students voice, choice and ownership) 12:30-13:30 Lunch 13:30-15:30 Second Session (Fostering literacy skills) 15:30-16:00 Coffee Break 16:00-17:00 End of day plenary and wrap-up (Main ideas and examples we take away)
