In directed writing you read two texts on one issue. Then you write in a set form (a letter, a speech, an article or a report) for a named reader and purpose. Strong answers do not copy the texts.
They weigh the ideas, develop the strongest, and answer in a voice that fits the form. Plan before you write. In a lesson, our teachers give feedback on register and structure.
1Read Text A and Text B, both written by us, then complete the task. Text A (a head teacher's blog): 'Since we asked phones into lockers at the gate, the corridors sound different; there is talk in them again. Lessons start faster.
Lost property, oddly, has fallen: children who are not filming each other tend to notice where they put things. I expected a rebellion. What I got was a quiet thank-you from the students who had felt the pressure to be online all day and could now, for six hours, simply be here.' Text B (a sixth-former's reply): 'A locker is not a plan; it is a wall.
My phone is my bus ticket, my timetable, my way of telling my mother the train is cancelled. Ban the thing and you have not taught me to use it; you have moved the problem to 3.30, when I will want it more. Teach us the judgement instead.
We are nearly adults; treat the phone as a tool we must learn, not a sin to confiscate.' Your school council is debating a phone ban. Write the words of a speech you will give to the council. Draw on both texts, weigh the arguments, and make your own position clear.
Write for an audience of fellow students and staff, and keep to the length the 0500 directed-writing task sets; check the specimen paper on the Cambridge International website.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Plan before writing. Note the strongest point on each side (Text A, calmer corridors and relief from pressure; Text B, the phone as a practical tool and the case for teaching judgement). Then decide your position.
Open by addressing council and students, develop two or three evaluated points, and close with a clear recommendation. Keep the register of a spoken address: direct, but not slangy.
Model opening: Fellow students, members of staff, before we vote to lock our phones in a box each morning, I want us to be honest about what that box would, and would not, solve.
Checklist:
- Used ideas from both texts and evaluated them, not just repeated them
- Made my own position clear
- Wrote in the voice and register of a spoken address
- Structured the speech with an opening, developed points and a close
- Kept to the length the directed-writing task sets
2Read Text A and Text B, both written by us, then complete the task. Text A (a student's post): 'Exam term turns our house into a war for the kitchen table. A library open through the night would give those of us with small flats and shift-working parents somewhere to think.
The reading room is empty from six onwards; why lock the light off over an empty room?' Text B (a member of staff, in the newsletter): 'I understand the wish, but a building open at three in the morning needs a person in it, and that person is not free. Who locks up when a lone student stays till dawn and then sits an exam exhausted? Good sleep raises marks more than a fourth hour of revision ever has.
Let us extend the hours to eight and put the saving into more daytime seats.' Write a letter to your principal giving your view on whether the school library should open around the clock. Draw on both texts, respond to the points they raise, and reach a clear recommendation. Use a formal letter's layout and register, and keep within the length the 0500 directed-writing task sets; see the specimen paper on the Cambridge International website.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Weigh the two texts: the need for study space against the real cost and safety of a building open all night. Choose a position, perhaps supporting extended, staffed hours rather than a full round-the-clock opening, which lets you use both texts. Use a formal letter's layout and register: a clear opening purpose, developed reasoning, a specific recommendation and a courteous close.
Model opening: Dear Principal, I am writing to give my view on the proposal to open the school library around the clock during the examination period, and to suggest a version of it that I believe would work better.
Checklist:
A trial lesson can start from your child's attempt at Directed writing practice for Cambridge International 0500, with feedback from an experienced teacher.
- Opened by stating the letter's purpose clearly
- Drew on and responded to both texts
- Reached a specific, reasoned recommendation
- Kept a consistent formal register and letter layout
- Stayed within the length the task sets
3Read Text A and Text B, both written by us, then complete the task. Text A (a charity organiser, quoted): 'The students who give a Saturday to the food bank leave changed. They meet the town they only ever drove through.
They learn that being useful feels better than being praised. Make it part of school and every child gets that, not only the ones who already volunteer.' Text B (a teacher, in an interview): 'The moment you make kindness compulsory you take the kindness out of it. Forced volunteers stack tins with their coats on, watching the clock. And whose Saturday is it, the child's, or ours to spend?
Encourage it, celebrate it, timetable a taste of it, but a signed form is not a good deed.' Write an article for your school magazine arguing whether community service should be a compulsory part of school. Use and evaluate ideas from both texts and develop your own view. Write in article style with a title and an engaging opening, and keep within the length the 0500 directed-writing task sets; check the specimen paper on the Cambridge International website.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Identify the tension: real benefits of service against the worry that compulsion drains the good from it. Take your own line and develop it, using both texts as evidence to weigh, not to copy.
An article wants an engaging title and opening, a clear line of argument in paragraphs, and a memorable close. Keep the register lively but controlled.
Model opening: We are forever being told that helping others is its own reward, so why does the idea of being made to do it make so many of us uneasy?
Checklist:
- Wrote in article style with a title, hook and clear paragraphs
- Used and evaluated ideas from both texts
- Developed a clear personal argument
- Kept the register lively yet controlled
- Kept within the length the directed-writing task sets
4Read Text A and Text B, both written by us, then complete the task. Text A (a shopkeepers' association statement): 'Close a high street to cars for a year and footfall rises; cafes put tables out, families linger, and the money that lingers gets spent. Air on the street improves within weeks.
A town centre is a room, not a road.' Text B (a delivery driver and a resident, in a survey): 'A lovely room that I cannot get my van into before eleven, by which time the morning trade is gone. And my elderly neighbour, who cannot walk from the far car park, will simply stop coming into town at all. Pretty is not the same as fair.' Write a report for the town council on whether the high street should be closed to traffic. Present the arguments on both sides fairly, evaluate them, and give a clear recommendation with reasons.
Use a report's headings and a neutral register, and keep within the length the 0500 directed-writing task sets; see the specimen paper on the Cambridge International website.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: A report is neutral and structured, so use headings and a fair presentation of both sides before your recommendation. Pull the benefits (footfall, cleaner air, a more sociable centre) and the objections (delivery access, the elderly and distant parking) from the texts. Weigh them, then recommend.
A timed scheme that answers Text B's access point may work well. Keep an impersonal, measured register.
Model opening: This report sets out the case for and against closing the high street to traffic, and recommends a way forward that seeks to keep the benefits while addressing the main objection raised by residents.
Checklist:
- Used report conventions: headings and an impersonal register
- Presented both sides fairly before recommending
- Drew evidence from both texts and evaluated it
- Gave a clear, reasoned recommendation
- Stayed within the length the task sets
See the method and an annotated model on the directed writing page for Cambridge International 0500, or the technique in our directed writing skills guide.