Opening doors to quality writing - Bob Cox

In Opening Doors to Famous Poetry and Prose, Bob Cox introduced teachers to engaging strategies which use literary heritage texts as the stimulus for excellent learning. This new companion book, Opening Doors to Quality Writing, for ages 6 to 9, puts the focus on pupils producing quality writing developing their literacy skills and a love of reading in the process.

In the course of his educational consultancy work, Bob has seen many teachers successfully use the scope and depth which literature can offer to inspire high standards, mastery learning and, above all, a love of language in its many forms. Schools using the 'opening doors' strategies told Bob they led to:

More teacher empowerment and confidence.

More knowledge building for pupils and teachers.

A growing confidence with literature, including poetry.

Planning from the top becoming a norm.

Planning for mastery learning becoming a norm.

Improved comprehension skills.

Improved quality writing and associated exciment.

They also asked Bob for further examples of inspiring, quality texts, and more ways in which pupils of all abilities can access them. Bob was only too happy to oblige.

These 15 units of work cover poetry and prose: each unit provides exciting stimulus material, creative ideas for writing projects, and differentiation and support strategies, meaning all pupils can achieve the quality writing objectives. All the units should help teachers facilitate understanding of the challenging texts and maximise the huge potential for quality writing. Discover a multitude of ready-to-use ideas, inspired by classic literature and great writers' works, along with plenty of new strategies and advice.

The Opening Doors to Quality Writing series won the 2017 Education Resources Awards in the Educational Book Award category.

Judges' Comments: "Described as two gems which provide innovative approaches to exploring quality texts as stimuli for children's writing. Judges described The Opening Doors to Quality Writing series as an invaluable resource, particularly for non-specialist teachers. Excellent literary choices contained within very attractively produced books."