ABSTRACT
A writing voice develops and changes over time: writers go on shaping and refining theirs over their lifetime. The secretarial aspects of writing, which include learning to spell, to punctuate and to handwrite, freeing this chapter to concentrate on composition how children learn to create and organise the content of what author's write. Reading and responding to texts in English Lessons, explores non-fiction kinds of reading in different media and suggests ways of sharpening children's critical analysis of persuasive texts like advertisements and newspaper reports. The picturebook The Whales Song by Sheldon and Blyth contrasts the view of Uncle Fred that whales are valuable for their blubber and oil with the belief of Lucy and her Grandmother that whales are unique and beautiful creatures which should be protected. Discussion texts might include picturebooks, short stories, information texts, novels, newspaper articles, material on internet sites and popular culture texts.
