Helping our Students to Make Connections between Life and School

I presented a plenary address this week at the Seventh International Literary Juvenilia Conference 2022. The conference explored Juvenilia, that is, youthful writing up to the age of twenty. As part of my plenary address I explored Intertextuality research which was a key focus for me in the 1980s to 1990s. Intertextuality refers to the "relationship between texts" (Kristeva). In my book 'Pathways to Literacy' (Cassell, 1995) I describe it as "the process of interpreting one text by means of another text".

Two people inspired me to explore Intertextuality. First, my dear friend and colleague Margaret Meek from the University of London (who died just two years ago), and Prof. Jerome Harste (Indiana University) who has been a close colleague and friend for almost 40 years. Jerry invited me to come to Indiana University (Bloomington) as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 1984. My purpose was to commence postdoctoral research and writing on Intertextuality.

While at IU, I collaborated with a Grade 5 teacher at an Indianapolis School. Barbara invited me to spend time at her school and assist her as a co-teacher, with a class that at times was challenging. I want to share a story from this classroom, that I also shared at the Juvenilia Conference this week. This student's writing, was to offer me a profound insight into why the task of inspiring our children as readers and writers can be at times challenging.

On an ordinary morning, as I prepared for the school day, I heard the yellow school buses arrive at the entrance, and the rush of students down the corridor shortly just minutes later. Students burst through the door and we did the usual crowd control, as they jostled their way to their seats. Some were shouting to one another, and a few were saying “Hi Sir”. A bolshie young African American named Nora (not her real name) threw her bag onto the desk. It missed, and its contents spilled onto the floor right in front of me. I started to help her pick things up. I grabbed a wad of writing paper with numerous texts that looked like stories.

 

I was shocked! Norah was a disruptive student and had the ability to spend a whole day without completing any task. She was from a difficult family and lived in a trailer court. It’s no exaggeration to say, she had not produced a single piece of writing in English while I was there. I said to her, “what’s this Norah?” She replied, “Nothin Sir”. I said, “looks like writing to me”. “It’s Nothin Sir, just stuff I do at home.”

 

I hesitated and said, “can I read some of it?” “No Sir, you won’t like none of it. It’s just stuff.” “Looks like poetry to me”.  “No Sir, just some songs.” I said, “please let me read some.” She replied, “well, maybe just a couple.”

 

The first untitled ‘song’ that caught my attention was this one ‘:

 

Lonesome all alone

She waits by the phone

Lonesome all alone

She wants to belong

Lonesome all alone

She listens and hopes

But there is no sound

Just a lonesome hound

Lonesome all alone

 

Was this great poetry? For this 11 year old child, yes! At home, it seemed Norah was a writer, whereas at school she was mostly a pest, and had not completed a single piece of writing at school. She saw little relevance in her school learning, but found inspiration in writing music stimulated by her own inner hopes and dreams.

I share Norah’s story, because I believe there are many children like her in our schools, for whom the literature of great authors has not been part of their lived experience. As such, the literary seedbeds of their storytelling and writing are different to the students many of us will teach in our schools. She was inspired by popular music at home and moved to write in response to her struggles as a disadvantaged African American.

I want to suggest 4 key ingredients for motivating and engaging our students as learners:

 

• First, know your students well. Who are they at home? What are their passions outside school
• Second, discover the things in life that our students might want to share with others?
• Third, consider what might unlock the passions and interests of our students leading them to become risk takers, willing to share the things that touch and inspire them most? 
• Fourth, as teachers we should try to help our children to build a "cauldron of stories" as a reservoir into which they can dip as writers.
  

The challenge in my talk at the conference was a simple plea. Get to know our students well, and seek to plough the seeds of the love of literature, into the lives of students like Norah, and I suspect many other children within our schools. In this way, we might just be able to help children like Norah (& me when at school) to grow as readers and writers as they connect their lives with the things of school.

Supporting Preschool Children (0-4) at Home in Literacy, Maths & Technology Education

Readers of this blog might know that I co-wrote an online preschool support program for parents of children 0-4 years that was released in 2018. The Australian Literacy Educators Association has just uploaded the latest modules in this free online program. No catch, just free support and practical ideas for new parents not sure how to help their children to learn. This support program started out with my co-author Anita Ayre (my co-author) preparing activities for her daughter to support her first child (Anita's grandchild). I was asked to partner with her to develop this online program for parents and grandparents. 

The online resource program is available FREE via the 'Australian Literacy Educators Association' website. The resource is called 'Little People's Literacy Learning: A guide for engaging parents and carers'. It offers practical help for parents and carers of children aged 0-5. And again, it's FREE! You don't need to be a member of ALEA to access to the resource is open to all.

This FREE online guide was launched in 2017 for parents and carers comes with hundreds of activities that you can enjoy with your child. Initially, there were 17 units. Now it has grown to 27 with new modules on 'Maths', 'Maths Language', 'Technology Use', 'Measurement', 'Space' and 'Pattern' just released. The modules will help parents to use simple activities as part of life. Some are incidental and others have some limited planning required. But all you need to know is explained in the modules. All activities are designed with an emphasis on learning through collaborative play and shared discovery. Why are so many of the recent modules related to maths? Because language and literacy have many important relationships to these topics.

Anita and I are experienced teachers, parents, and also (these days) active grandparents who love spending quality time with our grandchildren. In this resource, we offer a wealth of suggestions and hints for parents and carers who want to engage with their children in language, literacy learning and mathematics activities. Technology is also linked to many of these topics as well as now having a separate module. All activities are designed with an emphasis on learning through collaborative play and shared discovery. They can all be incorporated into daily life with very little (or often no) preparation! We offer hundreds of integrated examples throughout, including how new technology and multimedia can also enrich the learning experiences of your child with the same richness as other non-technology applications. You'll also find some advice on how to monitor and control screen time.

The resource contains practical and VERY doable common sense activities. You will find it HERE.

5 Ways To Make School Boring

A child in a family I know started school for the first time this year. She was excited and couldn't wait to get there. Just months later, she looks forward to weekends and holidays. Recently, when she came home and was asked what sort of day she had, she hesitated and pondered the question and then replied:

"I think school is more about working than learning".

This 5-year-old arrived at school able to read, count and add up, and with a extensive general knowledge and a highly creative and inquisitive mind. How would you turn a child like this off school?

Step 1 - Make her do all of the same things she could already do before she arrived at school. Try to teach her to count to 10, and introduce the alphabet and sounds, even though she was able to count well beyond 100, had knowledge of the alphabet and sound symbol relationships, could spell many words, and was reading at a 4th grade level.

Step 2 - During library visits, insist she only borrows simple picture books, even though she was reading chapter books at home. Then watch go home her despondently without a book at all.

Step 3 - Reduce the activities that invite her to imagine, explore her world and to find out. Instead, replace these with drill and repetition of things she knew before she came to school.

Step 4 - Assume when she spends lots of time talking to other children in class, that she is distracted, rather than simply being bored.

Step 5 - Insist that she follow the same curriculum, and cope with the same methods as other children in the room who have not yet learned to read, write, spell and add up.

This little girl when asked by her family to talk about the best things to happen each day at school, would usually start with recess and lunch, because at these times she could play creatively with her friends.

Her innocent comment about school being more about 'working' than 'learning' is quite insightful. But at the same time, it is VERY sad, because it shows how little school was stimulating and challenging her. As teachers, we need to reflect on this story and ask ourselves regularly three questions about our methods, curriculum and general pedagogy:

1. How often do I do I implement activities designed to fill up lots of time, rather than offering varied possibilities for learning?
2. Do I take into consideration the varied abilities of my students, or simply teach to the 'middle'?
3. Am I aware of the varied abilities of my students and do I plan to meet their varied needs?

As a former teacher myself, including a number of year teaching in a sole charge school with 31 children in seven grades (Kindergarten to Grade 6), I understand the daily challenges as a teacher. But it is possible to plan activities for varied abilities in the same classroom, and to shift our focus from just 'working' to 'learning'.

Left: The One-teacher school where I taught



Other related posts

Six Steps that Will Change Learners

Boys & Learning: Build, Design, Create & Experiment

How Can Teaching Change Learners: 6 Steps

Questions, Exploration & Learning

Raising Chickens: The Power of Experience for Learning

Six Steps That Will Change Learners & Classrooms

The terms 'Transformational Teaching' and 'Transformational Learning' are discussed in the academy at times. But is this just academic nonsense or is there some significance to the terms and the practices. What practical advice might the work offer to teachers, parents and those who homeschool?

In the simplest possible terms, Transformational Teaching (TT) is teaching that changes learners by creating the right conditions for learning. We change the way we approach tasks, the questions we ask about the tasks, our expectations for what kids will learn, and our expectations. In effect, it helps to change the way learners understand learning, their co-learners, their teachers and themselves. This is the dead opposite of 'Transactional Teaching'.

The latter can be recognized by the emphasis on transmission of knowledge from teacher to child. Its major concern is what the learner knows and will learn. Transformational Teaching values knowledge too, but it is characterized much more by inquiry, discovery, firsthand experience, critical thinking and the use of varied communication and thinking skills, than simply knowledge transmission. Here are 6 basic steps that will help to create environments in order to change children from simply trying to acquire, soak up or replicate knowledge to learners who develop their abilities in areas like inquiry, discovery, and critical thinking.

6 Key Steps to using Transformational Teaching.

Step 1 - Develop effective routines

If we want to create classroom that encourage inquiry, experimentation, problem solving and lots of interaction, we need to be VERY well organised. Whether quiet places, or noisy ones, we must have good routines.

Step 2 - Organize classroom space & materials well

Transformation learning requires a place, where materials are available, spaces are provided that permit interaction, additional access is given to computers and other key resources.

Step 3 - Establish clear expectations with students about what can and cannot occur

We need to establish some basic rules about sharing space, movement, sharing materials, how class members interact, time frames for task completion and so on. All must be clear and revisited regularly.

Step 4 - Implement routines for the sharing of ideas and discoveries

Classrooms where transformational teaching and learning are practiced, need to be places where ideas are shared and celebrated. Audiences are very important to testing ideas, receiving feedback and learning from one another.

Step 5 - Place a high importance on quality outcomes and behaviour

They will also be classrooms where standards are high. Near enough is not good enough, there must be accountability in terms of quality, task completion respect for others and so on.

Step 6 - Place a priority on communication, feedback, task evaluation, honesty & respect

This is the key to a vibrant engine room in any classroom. Classrooms where there is honesty, generosity and accurate feedback are places where members will take risks as learners. Ensure that these are present and part of your regular maintenance work as a teacher.

What do these classes do?

I'll probably say more about this in a future post but in general terms Transformational Teaching leads to classroom environments where you will see:

• Much greater interaction between students as well as much greater interaction with the teacher.
• Much more group work. This will vary based on topic, interest and expertise, not simply general ability.
• The teacher leading from 'behind' as much as from the front.
• More celebration of work and achievements.
• Greater learner autonomy within clear boundaries.
• Regular demonstration, and expert resource people visiting.
• Increased use of multi-modal responses (shared use of images, words, drama, art etc).
• Increased risk taking, experimentation, problem solving and creativity.
• Finally, we will see higher expectations and standards for work and behaviour.

Boys & Learning: Build, Design, Create & Experiment

Above: Experimentation & play

In an article in 'The Atlantic' Jessica Lahey called on schools to 'stop penalizing boys for not being able to sit still at school'. The article was motivated by her observations of boys as a teacher and her reading of the findings of research on boys published by the International Boys’ Schools Coalition’s 'Teaching Boys: A global study of effective practices'. Her teaching of boys suggested that while some struggled at school, others thrived. What is the ingredient that leads to inconsistency? Is it simply within the boys, or are there factors external to the boys that are at work?
As a young boy I experienced first hand what it means to move from being a talented and successful boy in the primary school years, to being a struggling student who was often in trouble as a teenager. At secondary school I slipped from A classes to B classes and then found myself struggling with a number of subjects. However, my achievements varied across subject. While in some classes I was rebellious and disengaged, in others I was motivated and successful. This is not an uncommon experience for boys. Some teachers, subject and even specific lessons work for boys, while others don't. Why? Is the answer in the curriculum? The content? The child? Or something else?

The research work by Dr Michael Reichert and Dr Richard Hawley set out to find answers to questions such as these, and concluded that the problem wasn't just within the boys. They interviewed teachers and students and observed effective lessons in eighteen participating schools from North America, UK, South Africa and Australasia. They found that the most effective lessons for boys included a number of common elements:

• They required students to be active learners (physical activities were a key)
• The teacher embedded desired learning outcomes in the form of a game or fun activities
• The lessons required individuals or groups of students to build, design, or create something that was judged competitively by classmates
• They required students to present the outcome of their work to other students
• They asked students to assume a role, declare and defend a position, or speak persuasively about something
• The lessons held student attention by surprising them with some kind of novelty element
• Lessons addressed something deep and personal in the boys’ lives; they engaged at a deeper personal level.

Getting a sense of scale!

Reichart and Hawley concluded that the learning problem wasn't due to the limitations of the boys, but rather the failure of lessons to actively engage them. What they found when they observed effective lessons in the eighteen participating schools from North America, UK, South Africa and Australasia, was that relatively simple changes in classroom pedagogy made a difference for boys.

The common features in successful lessons for boys were active learning, movement, teamwork, competition, consequential performance, risk taking, and surprise.  They concluded that successful lessons required teachers to engage and energize boys. They also found that boys were deeply relational and that the establishment of a positive relationship between teachers and boys is critical.

This last point is important. Over many years I have often asked students to name a great teacher and then to say why. The reasons given vary, and are typically idiosyncratic. But within each of the responses, invariably the student indicates that the teacher 'took an interest in them', 'understood them', 'saw some potential in them', 'got them interested in learning' and generally excited and engaged them. The general thrust of this work and its findings is that rather than simply blaming boys for their under performance, we need to seek different approaches in our classrooms to help to engage them as learners.

The excitement of chemistry

In my own life I can think of three teachers who made a difference to my life - Mr Campbell (Grade 4), Mr Blaze (Grade 7) and Mr Hoddle (Grade 11). My memories of them are rich but the methods they used to engage me were very simple (and in one case unconventional). All had a deep commitment to their teaching and empathy for their students. They wanted me to learn and saw potential within me that other teachers weren't able to see. Mr Campbell when confronted with a new aquarium in his classroom turned to me one day and said, "I'd like you to find out all that you can about tropic fish". He gave me a book and sent me off to find out about them and how to care for them. Several weeks later he asked me to present a mini-lesson to the class on tropical fish.  I was now the school expert on tropical fish!

My grade 6 maths teacher Mr Blaze (he was also my home room teacher, and cricket coach) overheard a student ridiculing me one day in class because I was overweight. He turned to the boy and said "I'll tell you what Meli, I bet TC will beat you in the cross-country race this week". He proceeded to set a wager, with the winner to receive $10 from his pocket. Now I had no intention prior to this of going in that race. But I did, and ended up $10 richer.

Mr Hoddle simply showed me that geography could be exciting by sharing his love of the subject and something of his life with a small group of senior students. He made it interesting by setting tasks that made us explore, solve problems and work collaboratively with others. And all the while he was interested in our lives and us.

The power of experience

None of these teachers used startling methods, and Mr Blaze used one that was positively dodgy, but all showed an ability to understand me and to try to reach and engage me. They also sought to understand me relationally, treating me with respect, believing in me and somehow, helping me to believe in myself. That's the art of good teaching for boys (and girls as well).

Boys and girls are different and as such at times require us to seek different approaches and forms of engagement. It is easy to dismiss boys who act out in classrooms as simply a pain in the neck for the teacher, but the acting out usually has some source and foundation. Just what is it, and how do we respond? The work of Michael Reichert and Richard Hawley offer us some clues and ways forward.

Jessica Lahey concludes her excellent article with these wise words:

"Educators should strive to teach all children, both girls and boys by acknowledging, rather than dismissing, their particular and distinctive educational needs."

My Previous Posts on Boys

I have written a number of posts on education for boys HERE

Raising Chickens: The Power of Experience for Learning

The benefit of 'hands on'!

I have written previously about the 'The Language Experience Approach' (LEA) to literacy on this blog (here) and how direct and personal experience is a key method for rich learning to take place (here).

Some of my grandchildren are experiencing this in a very special way right now as they raise four chickens. There are four children in the family and four chickens. Every day brings new observations, discoveries, investigation and research as they feed, hold and simply watch their development day by day. Questions are asked constantly as changes occur in the chickens. "Hey this one seems to have five toes?". "Is that possible, don't they have four?" "What is the tuft of feathers on that one's head?" Of to search the internet for some answers. "Hey, I think this one is a Silkie not a Pekin"! 

LEA is a term known primarily by teachers and educators, and probably had its genesis in the creative activities of many teachers who drew on children’s firsthand experiences when structuring early literacy. Typically, these were teachers of young children who grasped just how powerful real life experience is to the stimulation of children's language and learning:

• The squelch of mud between toes on a wet day in the back yard
• Running on a sandy beach for the first time
• Watching a worm wiggle in the palm of a small hand
• Building a cubby house from boxes in the back yard
• Watching a bird build its nest in a tree in the playground in spring
• Doing hand painting
• Observing chickens as they grow bigger day by day

Watching them eating, sleeping and at play

One early advocate of this approach was Sylvia Ashton-Warner (1963) who wrote a book called Teacher (New York: Bantam Books). In it she outlined her "organic" approach to teaching based on the recognition of what she saw as the opposing human forces of destructiveness and creativity. A second significant person in the development of the LEA was Roach Van Allen whose research and teaching led him to develop similar approaches in the early 1960s.

The method draws on children’s firsthand experiences that are either naturally occurring or are planned by the teacher or parent. The experience becomes a focus for discussion and exploration and eventually is recorded as a written text in some way. Some people see this as a method suitable only for young children but nothing could be further from the truth. Any adult who has done or seen things for the first time will attest to the power of a significant new experience - seeing new places, doing things for the first time, tasting new food, finding yourself immersed in a significant event - new experiences have a major impact on learning and our use of language to describe these events. Such experiences teach us new things and move us to use language to make sense of the experience and tell others about it.

The approach in a nutshell

This approach to learning has four main elements:

• Sharing an experience
• Talking about the experience
• Making some record of the experience (words, pictures, photographs)
• Finally, using the recorded experience for further reading, discussion and the stimulation of further writing

More details for teachers or homeschoolers

I thought it might help to see as a typical language experience for each of two age levels. The second example is centred on raising chickens.

A Preschool Example - 'Hunting for creatures in the yard'

a) The experience

Collecting insects in the back yard

One of the favourite activities at our house when children visit is hunting for insects or other living things in the back yard. If you live in an apartment you'll have to walk to the closest park or open space where there are gardens, trees and grass. If you have a magnifying glass all the better and perhaps a couple of bottles (or a bug catcher) and a couple of used ice cream or margarine containers.

As a parent or teacher you do need to exercise great care with this activity. Know about any dangerous insects in your area and be able to recognise them. If you don't know enough, have someone else with you who does. Worms, snails, slaters, ants and slugs are easy and safe. If you don't like the thought of holding a worm then there are lots of other insects to see in any yard. Look at the bark on any tree, lift a rock in the garden (with care if there are spiders where you live - use a stick), lift a pile of mulch, turn a sod of moist soil, look closely at the leaves on a tree, search the flowers and so on.

b) Talk about it

You can't help but talk about an experience like this, your child or children will be talking incessantly - "look at this", "ooo - it's moving", "watch out!", "what is it?", "it smells", "it jumped" etc. Ask questions as you share the experience (see my post on questioning here), extend their language - "yes, it's slithering", "smells like mummy's curry", "that's its stinger, don't touch it".

c) Making a record of the experience

A composite drawing of creatures observed

One qualifier is that we shouldn't turn every great experience into a formal school activity, don't make your children draw or write about everything. But often, your children will want to remember the experience or write something so that they can tell others about it (siblings, a parent, friends, grandparents etc).

For very young children a drawing will be a wonderful way to record and communicate the experience and this is the beginning of writing (see my post on beginning writing here). Older children will label their drawings and maybe write a sentence or two, list some words that say how they felt or what they saw, or write elaborate text to go with the illustration (see my 7 year old grandson Jacob's illustration of a Blue Tongue lizard observed in his yard). You can also record photographs or videos (cell phones make this easy) as a record of what you've seen.

d) Telling others about the experience

It is important with experiences of this kind to give opportunities to share the experience with others - mum or dad, grandparents, other siblings, classmates. Not always, but often. This can involve showing the writing or drawing to others, hanging the product on a wall, the fridge etc, sharing it in any way that is appropriate to the product or record of the experience. Jacob gave my wife and I the picture above that he drew and told us all about the experience.

The sharing of the experience can lead to other experiences: a video on insects, the reading of a related book. Literature can also be an important end to a wonderful experience together: Eric Carle's 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', and Bruce Whatley's 'Looking for Crabs' immediately come to mind as books I'd want to share.

2. A Primary School Example (children aged 5-12 years) - 'Raising Chickens'
a) The experience

This example can work for preschool children as well, but my notes below assume primary aged children. Raising creatures of any kind is one of the most wonderful experiences children can have. This can include silk worms, earth worms, an ant farm, tadpoles (this may be illegal in some countries due to environmental issues), chickens, ducks, birds, rabbits, fish, tortoises, guinea pigs or hamsters.

The above cage was rented by the chicken supplier

Raising chickens is one of the best examples that I've used or observed others using. You can buy chickens quite easily, even in the city. If doing this for a whole class I'd suggest buying enough to allow one chicken to a group of 4 children. In families, you might have one chicken per child. This will allow closer observation and an opportunity for all children to be involved in the care of the chicks. You will need a good cage with a wire bottom and a safe coop on the end that can be moved outside onto grass or dirt and then moved into a shed or weather shed for safety. If raising them from the first week of life you'll need a special cage with heat lamps and special feeders (see the image above). You can hire these from chicken suppliers. As well, you need an exit strategy! Schools might build an outdoor pen, families might do the same. There are many commercial versions at major hardware stores. What will we do with the chickens when they become hens and roosters. Knowing someone with a farm would be a good fall back.

I don't have the space to go into great detail, but here are just some of the dimensions to this rich experience:

• The first day or two is always very exciting, simply let the children observe, handle (carefully) in groups (close observation by the teacher is important at first - do it a group at a time) talk about the chickens, draw them etc.
• Establish a routine for how the class will observe and care for the chickens - feeding, observing, talking about, writing about etc.
• Structured observation is another great extension to this experience - examining the food, weighing the food (and graphing over time), weighing the chickens, measuring their height, wingspan (a teacher job usually), looking at specific parts (feet, comb, beak, tail, wings...).
• Observing behaviour - eating, activity, communal actions, 'personality....

b) Talking about it

You won't be able to stop children talking about the chickens. Allow the children to talk while they observe (this won't be a quiet activity), at times structure or direct the talk with careful questions (e.g. "Can anyone see the tail feathers?" "Do chickens have teeth?" "How have the feet changed from last week?" "How do they drink?" "How do chickens sleep?").

As well as group talk, there will be wonderful opportunities to have children do prepared talks in their groups, to the class, to visitors to the class, or to other classes. The talk can be factual, imaginative or even dramatic based on their observations. For the latter, children can even invent dialogue between their chickens, give them identities etc.

You can also make good use of literature and other non-fiction to stimulate other discussion and learning about chickens. 'Hector and Maggie' by Andrew & Janet McLean and Colin Thiele's 'Farmer Shulz's Ducks' are just two books that come to mind that could enrich the experiences and stimulate new types of creativity.

It is in talking about their experiences that children can talk their way to new insights and understandings. Language and learning are intertwined (I'll blog on this on another occasion).


c) Making a record of the experience

The observation of chickens is an activity that has to be recorded in some way. Here are a few ideas:

• Keep a daily log or journal (these could be individual, group or class based - probably all three).
• Do regular drawings - a single chicken, chickens in groups doing different things, detailed drawings parts of the chicken (head, feet, wings, beak etc). Compare drawings over time etc.
• Record food and water quantities (and maybe graph this).
• Record and graph the chicken's weight and size.
• Attempt some creative writing - 'The battle of the chickens'.
• Produce a video of the chickens behaviour, key observations etc.

d) Telling others about the experience

Such a rich experience needs to be shared with others. This can be done in many ways:

• Display student writing and drawing on walls
• Have the children take home their journals to share with their families
• Have class presentations at school assemblies (present information, stories, pictures, videos, or just teach the chicken dance!)
• Create a class blog on chickens - different class members could blog each day, pictures and photos could be uploaded, video clips shared
• Prepare a dramatic presentation for another class

Sharing one's work and observations is important

The benefits of a Language Experience Approach

As I wrote in my last post there are many benefits for language and learning. These include:

• New knowledge
• Increased language proficiency
• New vocabulary (specialist and general)
• Literacy learning - for the young this will include simple concepts of print, new words, and a growing grasp of sentence structure etc; whereas for the older child this can extend to knowledge of new written genres, writing for new audiences, growing reading and research skills.
• A stimulus to creativity
• Increased interest in learning

The LEA is not just a technique just for young children, older children also benefit from firsthand experience as a significant vehicle for language and learning. I'd be keen to hear from parents and teachers of experiences that have worked well with your children.