RE-WORD-IT®, attention, reading and writing strategies

Abstract

The “Histórias em 77 palavras” (77-word stories) project (http://www.77palavras.blogspot.pt/), regularly creates writing challenges to stimulate text production. Focused on the process, it aims at the evolution of writing through its refinement and the discovery of individual paths of text production. The applied methodology transforms writing into a game, reaching the relaxed concentrated state essential to improvement. The next step was to create the RE-WORD-IT® – Brincar a sério com as palavras (Playing seriously with words) project. This project promotes writing, expressive reading, reading comprehension, inner listening and the free choice of small texts for daily reading. Furthermore, it provides attention techniques that will engage students in the learning process. RE-WORD-IT® aims to get students reading for pleasure, stimulating their curiosity and enthusiasm for reading and writing through metacognition – thinking about learning –, which fosters autonomy and responsibility in learning. RE-WORD-IT is ongoing in a 3rd grade of a public elementary school since January 2019 (Alverca). It will be implemented in 2019/2020 on a regular basis in the 1st and 2nd grades of Santa Cecília Music Academy (Lisbon). At the same time, it will be introduced in pre-schooler classes at Colégio Verde Água (Mafra). The main goal is to evaluate the impact of this practice on student’s attention levels, as well as reading comprehension, and enthusiasm for writing.