The importance of drawing in writing cannot be undersold. Drawing is an essential tool that allows children to explore ideas, build prior knowledge and piece their story together.
‘A picture creates 1000 words'
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By drawing prior to writing, children are engaging in their story. They are mapping out the outline and thinking about the important features such as characters, setting and emotions. Drawing sparks their imagination and is the gateway into storytelling. Prior to writing, drawn images can be used to orally tell the story. Using these strategies, children learn how their story will unfold prior to putting pen to paper.
Depending on the task, the quality of drawing will differ. For most tasks, teachers should encourage a quality, detailed drawing accompanied by labels and captions. Placing this information out on the page allows students to release it from their working memory so they can refer to it later as they write. When writing commences, they will have a clearer mind to focus on the goals and intentions of the lesson rather than trying to retain creative information. In some cases, where limited preparation time is provided, rough sketches would suffice. Organising opportunities to create both rough sketches and quality, detailed drawings will be important for overall development in the planning phase of writing. |
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A quality, detailed picture must have the following:
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