How to use Clicker in a short writing session

Home » Blog » How to use Clicker in a short writing session

How to use Clicker in a short writing session

Organise the technology

Reduce set-up time

If time is of the essence, you don’t want to spend the first part of the lesson handing out devices for the pupils to use.

Plan Clicker lessons for the start of the day and set out the devices before your class arrive (like you would their books).
If writing lessons are after break or lunch, select ‘Clicker Champions’ to hand out the devices before they head off to play. These pupils could also provide support to their peers when opening the software.

We’ve all planned a lesson which involves using IT and then when you go to collect the devices you need, another year group is also using them! If your school shares devices across year groups:

Set up a timetable so it is clear which year groups need devices in their lessons. You can use Clicker across the curriculum, so the timetable can cover the whole school day.
You can print out Clicker resources so if you can’t access a device, pupils can use the physical copy. Sentence Sets make brilliant cut-and-stick activities, and Word Banks work well at the bottom of the pupil's page for easy reference when adding key vocabulary.

Distribute the resources electronically

Within your classroom, you may have learners of varying abilities who will need different Clicker resources. In short writing sessions, you don’t have time to go around each group and make sure they are using the correct resource.

Airdrop resources from an iPad. You can use the AirDrop feature of your iPad to wirelessly exchange files with another iPad or Mac.
Guide pupils to LearningGrids to open the resource they need. This could be verbally as a whole class or instructions on the board.
Set up a sharing system between devices so learners can access their folder and the resources they need.

Familiarise pupils with Clicker

If learners aren’t confident using the software, it could take them a while to start using Clicker. When pupils are proficient using Clicker, they can become successful independent learners.

Take time in computing lessons to teach pupils how to use Clicker:

Open the software
Go into LearningGrids and find a resource
Save a Document
Navigate to their folder to find files and resources

Promote the use of Clicker in interventions so pupils have a chance to use the software in a small group.

Clicker Book showing the country China on a map with two paragraphs of history about the country to the right

Encourage pupils to read a Clicker Book when reading for pleasure.
Set up a ‘Clicker Club’ at lunchtime to support writing enjoyment as well as building proficiency with the software.

Use Clicker Boards to get ideas down quickly

Clicker Boards are an easy-to-use mind mapping tool. When it comes to short writing sessions, a Clicker Board can be invaluable for modelling and delivering your teacher input.

A mind map on Clicker that shows a stick figure in the middle surrounded by describing words. This was collated during a short writing session

As a class, you can collate ideas on a Clicker Board. Rather than frantically writing on flip chart paper, you can create your own or use one of our pre-made Clicker Boards to organise key vocabulary, thoughts or ideas. This whole-class activity promotes lots of effective discussion ahead of pupils tackling the writing process independently.

Once you have finished your board, you can save the resource which pupils could then open on their device or you could print the Clicker Board, so learners have a physical copy.

Two sentences are written in a Clicker Document with an accompanying Word Bank at the bottom of the page.

My favourite thing about a Clicker Board is that you can turn it into a Word Bank! For teachers, this means you don’t have to spend time after the lesson taking key vocabulary and writing your own vocabulary list, Clicker does it for you! Again, you can then save the Word Bank, and pupils can use it in their writing. This also means if pupils create their own Clicker Boards, they can create a Word Bank to support the transition from the planning stage to writing stage!

LearningGrids showing a series of resources for planning writing.

I would recommend going into LearningGrids to see our range of pre-made Clicker Boards. The Writing Frames and Planners section in LearningGrids is brilliant for a range of cross-curricular writing genres and hopefully saves you time when creating resources.

Edit work using the intelligent Word Processor

When editing a piece of text in a short writing session, the supportive Word Processor is a great way to model how to edit or up-level writing.

The speech feedback enables you to model how when we listen back to our writing, we can identify grammatical errors. Hearing our writing read back is so much easier than re-reading our work so pupils can learn how to independently listen to and correct their mistakes.

Using deliberate or common spelling errors, you can model using the Spell Check tool to correct those mistakes. Asking pupils to explain why the spelling is wrong can also help you to assess any gaps or misconceptions with spelling patterns or rules.

Use the Predictor to show learners how it can support their writing stamina and spelling. By modelling the use of right-clicking a suggestion (PC) or using the SoundShift tool (App) to hear the word first, pupils will be able to see how they can independently choose the correct words. The Predictor can help to get learners excited about writing; they don’t have to do it alone!

The predictor is up on the screen showing different potential words for the starter sp.

Review pupils' work instantly with Analytics

After the short writing lesson, it might be useful to see how the pupil produced their work.

Did they use the predictor? Which words did they need to spell check? With this information you could assess which areas need to be covered in the following lessons.

Analytics showing how words were inputted to the Document - 29 words int total are split into 4 different categories.

The Analytics tool gives you an insight into how the pupil has produced the work. You can open the tabs on the left to see all the words input from a particular source and by selecting the words, you can view more information.

Being able to see the original spellings or attempts at a word allows you to then create spelling lists for your individual pupils or create lessons to address these gaps.

List of incorrect spellings show on the left hand side of the screen. The Document is on the right and is colour coded.

By selecting ‘Copy’ you can then paste the words into your spelling list!

These are just some ideas for how Clicker can be used when your pupils need to write in a short writing session. Here are some other resources you might find helpful: