CREATIVE TEACHING:
ENGLISH IN THE EARLY YEARS
AND PRIMARY CLASSROOM


Also available:
Creative Teaching: Science in the Early Years and Primary Classroom
Ann Oliver
1-84312-259-6
Creative Teaching: History in the Primary Classroom
Rosie Turner-Bisset
1-84312-115-8


CREATIVE TEACHING:
ENGLISH IN THE EARLY
YEARS AND PRIMARY
CLASSROOM

Chris Horner and Vicki Ryf


First published 2007 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2007 Chris Horner and Vicki Ryf
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007.


Part 1: Creativity and fiction: An overview

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1 Teaching fiction creatively in the Early Years

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2 Teaching fiction creatively at key stage 1

45

3 Teaching fiction creatively at key stage 2

77

Part 2: Creativity and non-fiction: An overview

103

4 Teaching non-fiction creatively in the Early Years
5 Teaching non-fiction creatively at key stage 1

138

6 Teaching non-fiction creatively at key stage 2

161


Mrs M. Harrison, for ‘Alone in the Grange’ by Gregory Harrison, from his Night of
the Wild Horses, 1971, Oxford University Press.
Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use copyright material. The
publisher would be happy to add any acknowledgement for any material for
which permission has not been forthcoming in any future printing.

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Introduction

In this introduction we set out what we mean by creativity and specifically what
we mean by creativity in English. We also consider why there is a renewal of
interest in the creative curriculum at this time and why a creative approach is
important for learners and teachers.

What is creativity?
A useful starting point for defining creativity is All Our Futures: Creativity,
Culture and Education, a report by the National Advisory Committee on Creative
and Cultural Education (NACCCE 1999).
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Creativity involves thinking and behaving imaginatively.

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Second, overall this imaginative activity is purposeful: that is, it is directed
to achieving an objective.

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the learning objective with the children but may involve them in formulating it.
The creative teacher recognises that incidental but equally important learning
may have taken place outside the confines of the learning objective and will
involve the children in self- and peer-assessment.
What do we mean by originality when considering the work that children produce in English? If children are encouraged to express their ideas and feelings and
move beyond formulaic responses that are either ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, then they may
demonstrate ideas that are new to them. They are behaving creatively.
As teachers we need to encourage children to critically evaluate the responses
that they make, the work that they produce in relation to what they set out to
achieve. An activity, response, artefact or solution is of value if it reflects worthwhile endeavour. It is important that children, however young, have the opportunity to discuss what it is they and other people value. Both what is produced and
the effort that it entailed in relation to the individual child are important.
More recently, Learning to Learn: Progression in Key Aspects of Learning (DfES
2004b) set out some indicators of creative thinking, an important aspect of
learning and one that runs through this book. These indicators reflect important
features of both the early years and primary curriculum and are relevant to our
focus on creativity in English. For these reasons we include them below:

Some indicators of creative thinking
Children may demonstrate that they can:

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generate imaginative ideas in response to stimuli;

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discover and make connections through play and experimentation;


reflect critically on ideas, actions and outcomes.


Introduction

Throughout the age phase chapters we suggest how you might promote a creative
learning environment and provide practical examples of activities that provide
children with the opportunities to engage in creative thinking. Not all of these
indicators will be evident in their response to any one activity but the establishment of a creative learning culture will ensure that children are willing to take
risks in a supportive environment.

Why the interest in creativity now?
This book has been written eight years after the implementation of the National
Literacy and Numeracy Strategies (1998) in Primary schools with their formidable
list of objectives. While some teachers have worked imaginatively within the
frameworks, others have felt disempowered by their prescriptive nature and have
moved away from or not experienced a creative, cross-curricular approach, where
children work collaboratively in an inclusive environment.
The introduction in 2003 of Excellence and Enjoyment: A Strategy for Primary
Schools (DfES) signalled a change in government strategy which recognised
the growing body of research from academics on the sterility of the standards
curriculum and its effect on children’s enjoyment of school and the deprofessionalisation felt by many teachers (for example see Pollard and Triggs 2000; Willis
2002; Hartley-Brewer 2001; Troman 2000). Coupled with this were the growing
concerns voiced by a significant number of respected children’s authors on the
narrowness of the National Literacy Strategy and the damage it was inflicting
on children’s reading and writing for pleasure. Not only was NACCCE (1999)
instrumental in raising the profile of creativity, Ofsted (2003) were also reporting
on creative practice in schools which was evidenced where there were links
between curriculum subjects and areas of learning and a focused engagement
with the individual pupil.

the inclusive pedagogy that we believe encourages and supports the creative
teaching and learning that we promote throughout this book.

Planning and assessment for learning
Assessment for learning (also known as formative assessment) is central to our
philosophy of education. The key factors that permeate the practice that we
describe are taken from Black and William (1998). These key factors are identified
in Excellence and Enjoyment: Learning and Teaching in the Primary Years:
Planning and Assessment for Learning.
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providing effective feedback to children

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actively involving children in their own learning

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adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment

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recognising the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and
self-esteem of children, both of which are crucial to learning

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considering the need for chidren to be able to assess themselves and to
understand how to improve.

valuing the culture of the community, we convey our belief that children’s learning does not stop at the school gates, but is seen as relevant to their lives. Creative
teaching means planning activities that are stimulating, challenging and inspiring
and that accommodate different learning styles, so that children have the internal
motivation to learn and produce something of value. By knowing what the
individual child is capable of we can plan suitable activities to consolidate their
learning or move them on. If children’s efforts to achieve are praised they will
grow in confidence.
Many of the examples of practice that we describe involve children in selfassessment and peer assessment. This might be through discussion with the
teacher, or in the form of a video of a drama activity or responding to a partner’s
story. This means providing an ethos where children are encouraged to take risks
and to realise we all learn from our mistakes. We need to model not only how to
provide positive feedback but how to give and receive constructive criticism so
that learning is taken forward.

What does the future hold?
The wider educational context
Schools are in the midst of major changes. There is a range of new initiatives, some
of which have already been implemented, others firmly on the agenda. The introduction of Every Child Matters (2004) is already having a major impact on how
schools operate. Its aim is to close the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged
children from birth to 19. The recognition that parents, carers and community
members can help to promote high educational standards has long been on the
agenda, but there is a renewed emphasis on encouraging voluntary and community sector initiatives both within and outside school hours and seeing the role
of other adults as crucial to children’s progress. However, we need to ensure that
creativity and enjoyment retain a central focus, as changes to the workforce
develop over the next three or four years.
Throughout this book we actively promote building and developing home,
school and community partnerships throughout the early years and primary
stages and provide practical examples of how this might be achieved. Our belief is
that in a partnership we learn from each other and that in order for a partnership



Fiction

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Non-fiction
Poetry

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Within each part we supply a short introduction outlining the generic principles
relating to these broad areas and then provide a separate chapter on teaching Early
Years, key stage 1 and key stage 2. This structure is designed to provide a
coherent approach to teaching children in the Foundation and Primary stages.
Central to each chapter is the integrated nature of speaking and listening,
reading and writing, the central nature of play as a vehicle for learning, the
importance of building on home literacy and a collaborative approach to learning
in an inclusive environment. Throughout there are examples of creative activities,
case studies of activities in action in the classroom showing existing good practice,
opportunities for drama, ICT and cross-curricular work.

6


Introduction

As the reader, you are encouraged to reflect on your own experience and
consider how you might develop your own creative practice through a series of
activities. Engaging in such activities helps you to activate prior knowledge and
experience, evaluate your own and others’ practice.

www.everychildmatters.gov.uk
provides current information on the government’s approach to the well-being
of children and young people from birth to nineteen. Every Child Matters will
have a major impact on education over the next ten years and many of the initiatives underpin the approach to learning advocated throughout this book, not least
preschool learning, the involvement of parents and carers, personalised learning
and extended schools.

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Creative Teaching: English in the Early Years and Primary Classroom

www.literacytrust.org.uk
presents easily accessible information on the National Literacy Trust’s commitment
to building a literate nation. There are free e-mail newsletters. The Early Years
section provides information on preschool children’s reading and useful resources
for parents and professionals, reinforcing the value placed on home–school
partnerships throughout this book. The Primary section includes government
approaches, research, statistics and initiatives, also reading and resources.

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PART 1

Creativity and fiction: An
overview

The most valuable attitude we can help children adopt – the one that, among other
things, helps them to read and write with most fluency and effectiveness and


of these stories, designed and spoken or written or read to entertain an audience,
the reader.

Fact or fiction?
The stories we tell and write and show are rarely total fabrication. The characters are
familiar, the places well known, the problems and resolutions often commonplace.
Similarly we rarely provide a completely factual account when relating events. In
the telling we embellish our stories with details to capture and sustain the interest
of the audience and to make our lives more fascinating. This process sometimes
takes us away from the mundane truth. The distinction between fact and fiction
is thus not easy to define and this is particularly evident in the classroom where
fictional stories are frequently a mixture of the familiar and the fantastic.

Story elements and structure
Vladimir Propp’s research into Russian folk tales at the beginning of the last
century demonstrates the similarities in structural elements and themes or ‘morphemes’ between stories (Propp 1928). In other words, there are only so many
stories that can be told.
Understanding the common elements that most stories have is helpful in
supporting children’s response to fictional texts as well as supporting their
attempts to construct their own. In order to foster creativity and innovation
in telling stories, it is vital to first understand how basic stories work. Common
elements of a simple story will include:
●

structure – including a beginning, middle and end

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characters – usually with human characteristics and emotions

(www.lizfielding.com/tips.html)

It is probably quite evident to you which genre is suggested by this opening
sentence taken from Liz Fielding’s website offering helpful hints to the budding
romantic authors of the world. Although the Primary Strategy offers a very
straightforward view of genre in Grammar for Writing (DfEE 2000a) and the
importance of text types, it is important to consider that most texts present a range
of features and elements from different types of stories.

The reader
Once the story leaves the teller, it will be interpreted in different ways by the
audience who bring their own values and experiences with them. The story then
becomes theirs to remember, to retell, to improve upon. This idea that there is no
text unless there is a reader is an important tenet in ‘reader response theory’ which
has gained in popularity since the 1970s. In ‘Unity Identity Text Self’, Norman
Holland opens his article by stressing the importance of the reader in creating
meaning from text:

My title has big words but my essay aims into the white spaces between those big
words. Those spaces suggest to me the mysterious openness and receptivity of
literature. Somehow, all kinds of people from different eras and cultures can achieve
and re-achieve a single literary work, replenishing it by infinitely various additions of
subjective to objective.
(Holland 1975)

We believe that this view of the power of the reader in making meaning is an
important premise when considering a creative approach to teaching English, as
children may be creative in their interpretation of the material that is presented to
them as well as creative producers of texts.


novel containing time shifts and flashbacks. If we are to promote creativity in
telling stories we must establish a classroom ethos where children and adults can
tell and listen to each other’s stories.
There are many important reasons for telling stories to children of all ages as
well as supporting them to tell their own:

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The telling of stories to and fro helps to establish and maintain a supportive
and interactive classroom community of listening and telling.

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The children and adults in the setting will build up a shared repertoire of
stories from a range of cultural and linguistic traditions representative of
the class and brought in from the wider community.

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Highlighting storytelling emphasises the value and diversity of oral
language.

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Storytelling and sharing enables the class to make sense of the world
through a range of diverse cultural perspectives.



Part 1: Creativity and fiction: An overview

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Reading and responding to fiction
Far beyond the analysis of synthetic phonics or the decoding of alphabetic
systems, reading fiction is essentially about being taken on a journey. As adults,
we read our novels on the beach, in the bath, on the train, tube or bus in order to
be transported, sometimes literally, to another world where we are welcomed and
enticed into other people’s lives, adventures, hopes and dreams.
When teaching children to read fiction, we need to understand how important
these journeys are and that understanding the meaning of the text and applying it
to our own lives and experiences is the key. Throughout the following chapters, we
have reinforced the importance of play and drama to explore the themes and
issues raised in the stories from hot-seating Max in Where The Wild Things Are in
the Early Years to try to find out why he is so angry with everyone to exploring
themes of alienation in fairy tales though improvisation towards the end of KS2.
A wide-ranging, challenging and creative reading curriculum encourages children to
become involved with texts, to respond personally and imaginatively and to explore
worlds beyond their immediate experience.
(PNS 2005a: 5)

Writing and constructing stories
Planning, constructing and presenting fiction can be developed in a number of
ways in the creative classroom, including storywriting, filmmaking, play-script

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Creative Teaching: English in the Early Years and Primary Classroom

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the organisation and lure of the book area;

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resources to support role play and drama;

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displays to celebrate and support;

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publication of children’s stories.

Inclusive practices
A classroom that offers a creative environment where fictional stories are encouraged must be an inclusive classroom. All children irrespective of their race, gender,
class, ability have stories to tell. Wonderful, funny, tragic, long, short, in English or
Urdu, in standard English or in a West Country dialect. The creative classroom
ensures that the interests and needs of all children are considered and that children are not withdrawn from classroom activities but supported within the class
itself. Differences between children and their lives and experiences are welcomed
and can only enhance the range of stories to be told, written, recorded or heard.

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Part 1: Creativity and fiction: An overview

Learning styles and special educational needs


interactive and participatory whole-class or group work including shared
and guided reading;

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open-ended questions where children can contribute their ideas and be
valued for their thoughts at their own level;

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emphasis on ways of recording and telling stories to suit a range of
learning strengths including speaking and drawing, not just writing;

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paired work with children working with similar and mixed-ability partners
to encourage discussion and pooling of ideas;

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individual independent work where children can read and write personal
stories and can rehearse and practise new skills.

Gender
Much has been written on the need to enhance the writing curriculum to accommodate boys’ underachievement in writing fiction (Ofsted 2003; DfES 2003).
The Primary National Strategy states that the following strategies will make a
difference to boys’ success in writing:
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References
DfEE (2000a) Grammar for Writing. London.
DfEE (2000b) National Curriculum. London.
DfES (2001) NLS Writing Flier 2: Writing Narrative. London.
DfES (2003) Using the National Healthy School Standard to Raise Boys’ Achievement. London.
DfES (2004) Excellence and Enjoyment: Learning and Teaching in the Primary Years. London.
DfES (2005) Raising Standards in Writing. London.
Holland, N. (1975) ‘Unity Identity Text Self’, PMLA, 90 (5), 813–22.
Ofsted (2003) Yes He Can: Schools Where Boys Write Well, HMI 505. London.
PNS (2005a) Raising Standards in Reading – Achieving Children’s Targets. London: DfES.
PNS (2005b) Raising Standards in Writing – Achieving Children’s Targets. London: DfES.
Propp, V. (1928) Morphology of the Folktale. Leningrad.
Sendak, M. (1967) Where the Wild Things Are. London: The Bodley Head.

Useful websites
Download this wonderful film about Ben, a 39-year-old mongrel in need of love, to
inspire classroom filmmaking: www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A3819080
To download electronic copies of all NLS and PNS documents:
www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/publications/literacy
For some useful ideas on gender and literacy resources go to:
www.literacytrust.org.uk/database/boys/Boysres.html

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