This year I teach three Year 9 Social Studies classes. In Term 2 all students sat a two-hour exam which was the first for most of our Year 9s. Despite having gone over the essay content during class time in order to help prepare the students for their exam, I was disappointed with the final results. I noticed that quite a few boys, particularly in 9PSd, had not attempted their essay section of the exam.
I have decided that I would like to focus on perhaps looking at strategies that can develop boys writing skills. I thought I would start by getting them to write paragraphs each week about something linked to what they are currently learning about in Social Studies. At the end of term two, students had completed a research on a migrant country focusing on the reasons why people leave their place of origin to come to NZ. Students were asked to write a summary paragraph showing their understanding of key concepts covered in the migration unit. I provided students with a writing frame template that they could use. I was pleased with some of the responses written by some of the boys who in the past have shown very little writing.
