The inclusive planning tool for secondary writing: WorkSpace
WorkSpace in DocsPlus is a brilliant tool for helping students get ready to write by organising their ideas first. Whether they're on an iPad, Chromebook, or desktop, they can easily create mind maps, charts, and visual planners with text, pictures, or voice recordings. By giving students a clear way to plan, WorkSpace builds their independence and boosts their confidence, helping them tackle writing tasks across the secondary curriculum.
Below, we explore the powerful capabilities of WorkSpace through three focused themes: topic-specific planning across the curriculum, planning for non-fiction writing, and its transformative support for English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners.
Topic-specific planning and organising ideas across the curriculum
LearningGrids is packed with over 350 WorkSpace planning resources, giving students hands-on tools to build essential skills across a range of subjects. Students can add words, phrases, images and voice recordings to capture thoughts and record initial ideas before writin
In the examples below, see how WorkSpace can help students to:
- Outline key events or plots
- Plan creative writing content
- Drill deeper into sub-topics/sub-branches
- Plan comparisons, debates or for/against essays
Mind maps for planning writing content
Here, WorkSpace offers students a place to gather notes to outline the development of the Women's Suffrage Movement or to plan writing about the significance of key events in Macbeth.
Mind maps can also be used as a stimulus for creative writing, for example by collecting words and phrases to describe a scene in a particular setting or to develop a character by considering their attributes and characteristics.
Mind maps can of course be more complex and include sub-topics or sub-branches to really drill down into ideas. For example, students might be collecting information for writing about the habitat, plants and animals of the Great Barrier Reef, or considering immediate and long-term effects of the Black Death on medieval society.
Complex mind maps like these encourage students to not just make notes but to begin organising ideas – helping with the structure of the writing when that stage of the task begins. For example, students might consider the social, economic, environmental and political impacts of a tropical storm, or outline for/against arguments in a debate about the use of nuclear power.
WorkSpace can be sent to a DocsPlus document as a diagram or an essay outline, so students really have a solid foundation from which to begin their writing. A WorkSpace can even be transformed into a Wordbar for useful vocabulary support at the writing stage.
Tables and charts for organising and comparing content
A WorkSpace can also be presented as a table or chart for organising and comparing – a claim to the throne in History, properties and behaviours of metals and nonmetals in Science, or even comparing countries in Geography.
A WorkSpace can even be used for making notes about images – for example, adding notes about major parts of the human brain, or analysing a historical artefact under key headings.
Planning non-fiction writing tasks
Getting students to write confidently within a range of non-fiction genres is no easy task. But our set of WorkSpace planners for DocsPlus on LearningGrids could be just what you’re looking for if you have students starting out or struggling with writing non-fiction text types. The planners are designed to help students organise what they want to say, within a framework that is adapted to the specific writing genre.
Once the ideas have been added – you might even want to use Voice Notes so students can record key ideas and prompts – the next stage in the process can begin.
Supporting EAL students to plan and write independently
The challenges faced by students learning English as an additional language are multi-layered. They are not only learning English, but also learning curriculum subjects through English.
Very often, a student’s technological skills are more advanced than their second language skills. So, providing them with supportive tools such as DocsPlus can really help them to develop their English skills. I wanted to explore some ideas for using the WorkSpace tool in DocsPlus to facilitate an important aspect of an English language learner’s journey.
The Bell Foundation is a charity which aims to enable EAL learners to overcome disadvantage through language education. It identifies Five Principles of EAL pedagogy – the first of which is recognising multilingualism (a learner’s ability to listen, speak, read and/or write in one or more languages) as an asset.
So why is multilingualism so important?
- Multilingualism is a valuable resource! Students can draw on their ability to listen, speak, read or write in one or more languages to support their acquisition of English and also their learning of curriculum subject content.
- A student’s home language is an important part of their identity.
- For EAL learners to feel confident and have positive self-esteem, they need to feel proud of their bilingual skills and heritage.
Visual plans to help EAL students plan and write independently
Using visuals is a great way to support understanding of content. We can use images such as diagrams or photos in a WorkSpace resource to reinforce the concept we are teaching. For example, we might be considering animal life cycles – we can add an image to represent the stages of the life cycle with callouts and labels to add information. By including Voice Notes with each label cell, the student could record what they want to say before writing. Additionally, we might want to duplicate the WorkSpace so that the student can record and add notes in their first language to support their learning.
Another way to do this might be to use a labelled diagram with callout labels to add the corresponding text in the student’s home language.
You could also use a Frayer Model idea (a graphical organiser for word analysis and vocabulary building) to explore and contextualise subject-specific vocabulary. It’s a great way of allowing a student time to think and process new vocabulary and learning.
In summary, the benefits of using a student’s first language alongside English include:
- It supports an EAL student’s language learning – literacy skills in their first language are transferable and will support their acquisition of an additional language.
- It also supports language learning of their peers – encouraging other students in the class to learn the student’s home language is equally beneficial to their learning.
- It promotes inclusion, empathy and self-esteem – the student feels included and valued, and his/her peers are able to appreciate some of the difficulties the EAL student may be facing.
That's why WorkSpace is your inclusive planning tool for secondary writing...
Incorporating WorkSpace into your classroom provides a powerful way to support diverse learning needs and enhance student confidence. Whether it's helping students organise their ideas with tools on LearningGrids, guiding them through structured planning for non-fiction writing, or supporting EAL learners with visual and contextual aids, WorkSpace offers flexible resources for a variety of tasks. With its easy-to-use features, WorkSpace not only boosts student independence but also makes learning more accessible and engaging. By utilising WorkSpace, you can empower all learners to plan, organise, and write with confidence across the curriculum.
