Schola Europaea European School Brussels II

of the text, manipulated to experiment
with paragraphs and highlighted to
show certain groups of words, such as
adjectives or adverbs. This technique of
saving and retrieving written work can
be undertaken by the teacher for whole
class work, groups for group work and
individuals for independent written work.
Advantages for Pupils
There are many skills involved when pupils are asked to word process their work.
Firstly they need to be able to use
a keyboard. Many pupils learn this skill from
home, but for others, especially the younger
pupils, it is a skill that requires practice.
Pupils are able to explore different
versions of their written work by revising
and redrafting their work. They are able
to edit their own work to change the
order of the text and understand the
reasons for editing. Pupils traditionally
find editing a difficult task, but by using
a word processing package, the editing
becomes instantaneous and much easier
than if the same task were to be carried
out on paper.
Pupils are able to make use of spell
checkers and grammar checkers and make
a decision as to the correct choice given.
Pupils can explore different vocabulary
by accessing the thesaurus tool, whilst
reading their text aloud to see which
version they find more effective and
suitable for the task. Such changes can
be made instantly.
Another advantage is that pupils can
experiment with re-sequencing their
texts. This is particularly useful when
writing instructions or discursive texts
when the position of a point in an
argument might take more prominence
at either the beginning or end of the text.
All pupils are able to present their work
neatly regardless of their motor skills.
They are able to experiment with the
different fonts available and choose
ones suitable and appropriate for the
task. For example a pupil might choose
the font “Chiller” when writing a ghost
story, or a story in the style of Gillian
Cross, or a spooky poem. They can
also experiment with the size of the
font, the position of the text on the
page and whether the text should be
in bold or underlined for headings. All
these activities are loved by pupils and
at the same time provide a valuable
learning activity. For example when
pupils are expected to write a piece of
Journalistic Writing key features include
that the text is written in paragraphs
with subheadings and also columns.
Pupils are easily able to achieve these
requirements when using a word
processing package.
By allowing text to be presented in
a variety of ways, pupils are able to present
and organise their work to meet the needs
of different audiences. For example,
pupils have taken great pride in producing
a class newspaper and bringing their
genre to life by giving it meaning. Such
an activity can be undertaken as if the
pupils were all part of a team producing
a real newspaper. This has proved highly
successful with increased motivation
experienced by all pupils.
Finally, another feature that pupils enjoy
is the insertion of images into their written
work. These can either be from the web
(which requires a certain skill level to
search, select and import) or images
that children have created themselves.
The images could have been uploaded
from a camera or created by the pupils
themselves in a software package
such as Softease. Pupils are then able
to manipulate the image on screen by
altering the size and position, along with
the way the image sits with the text e.g.
behind it or on top of it.
PANORAMA 19