Text Mapping a WAGOLL

By Shannon Staveley
Jun 6, 2017
2 min read

Year 2 have started a new topic... we are looking at how to write instructions. Our WAGOLL, what a good one looks like, demonstrates instructions for 'How to make a Shield'.

For the first lesson year 2 were given their WAGOLL all jumbled up, they were tasked with ordering the text so that it makes sense. I had a master copy and so made this activity into a game. The children were put in mixed ability groups and were given 5 seconds to look at my copy and then had to go back to their group an arrange their own copy in order. They really enjoyed this type of activity as it was different than what the children were used to, it had a competitive element and they had to investigate the WAGOLL in detail as a team.

The next task they were given was to text map the WAGOLL. The theory behind text mapping is taken from Pie Corbett and Julia Strong's theories about Talk for Writing. ext mapping is a crucial activity used to familiarise a text before creating your own version. it follows a multi-step process as followed-

Explore/View the WAGOLL
Text map, swapping words for pictures, shortening and familiarising ones self with the words.
Rehearse the map... individually, partners, groups. Allow performances of the WAGOLL. This allows the imitation of the WAGOLL before...
Analysing it in detail.
Children are prepared to write their own version.

The actual process of text mapping is very time consuming but worth it. It can require children sat on the carpet for a long time giving ideas for substituting words for images. I personally don't mind this part as the children are used as a resource, you can really capture their imagination. At this point the teacher is highlighting different features of the asking questions about why certain features are included. Rehearsing the map once it has been written is also effective, using the Read Write Inc technique of 'My turn, Your turn' demonstrates an effective teacher modeling and a student imitation strategy.

See our example below-