LITERACY FOR LEARNING

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LITERACY FOR LEARNING

• Geoff Barton
• Headteacher
• King Edward VI School
• Bury St Edmunds

15 November 2009
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
1 How can we reinvigorate whole-school literacy?
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
2 What are the important bits of literacy?
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
3 What could we do to have an impact?
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
We are part of the literacy club
Literacy is taught - it doesnt just happen
Every teacher in English is a teacher OF English
(like it or not)
Basic assumptions
Literacy today is different from when we were
younger
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
We are part of the literacy club
We forget our own privilege at our peril
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
GUESS THE TEXT TYPE
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
1
Proud mum in a million Natalie Brown hugged her
beautiful baby daughter Casey yesterday and said
Shes my double miracle.I FIBRES
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
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The blood vessels of the circulatory system,
branching into multitudes of very fine tubes
(capillaries), supply all parts of the muscles
and organs with blood, which carries oxygen and
food necessary for life.
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
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Ensure that the electrical supply is turned off.
Ensure the existing circuit to which the fitting
is to be connected has been installed and fused
in accordance with current L.L.L wiring
regulations
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Language oddities
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
DOGS MUST BE CARRIED ON THE ESCALATOR
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Please don't smoke and live a more healthy life
PSE Poster
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Sign at Suffolk hospital Criminals operate in
this area
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
ICI FIBRES
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Churchdown parish magazine would the
congregation please note that the bowl at the
back of the church labelled for the sick is for
monetary donations only
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Why does literacy matter?
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
The literacy imperative...

• A 1997 survey showed that of 12 European
  countries, only Poland and Ireland had lower
  levels of adult literacy
• 1-in-16 adults cannot identify a concert venue
  on a poster that contains name of band, price,
  date, time and venue
• 7 million UK adults cannot locate the page
  reference for plumbers in the Yellow Pages

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BBC NEWS ONLINE More than half of British
motorists cannot interpret road signs properly,
according to a survey by the Royal Automobile
Club. The survey of 500 motorists highlighted
just how many people are still grappling with it.

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According to the survey, three in five motorists
thought a "be aware of cattle" warning sign
indicated
an area infected with foot-and-mouth disease.
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• Common mistakes
• No motor vehicles - Beware of fast motorbikes

• Wild fowl - Puddles in the road
• Riding school close by - "Marlborough country"
   advert

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English Review 2000-05
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October 2005 Key findings
English is one of the best taught subjects in
both primary and secondary schools.
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October 2005 Key findings

• Standards of writing have improved as a result
  of guidance from the national strategies
• Some teachers give too little thought to
  ensuring that pupils fully consider the audience,
  purpose and content for their writing.

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October 2005 Key findings

• Schools do not always seem to understand the
  importance of pupils talk in developing both
  reading and writing.
• Myhill and Fisher spoken language forms a
  constraint, a ceiling not only on the ability to
  comprehend but also on the ability to write,
  beyond which literacy cannot progress.
• Too many teachers appear to have forgotten that
  speech supports and propels writing forward.
• Pupils do not improve writing solely by doing
  more of it good quality writing benefits from
  focused discussion that gives pupils a chance to
  talk through ideas before writing and to respond
  to friends suggestions.

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October 2005 Key findings

• The Progress in International Reading Literacy
  Study (PIRLS) 2003 although the reading skills
  of 10 year old pupils in England compared well
  with those of pupils in other countries, they
  read less frequently for pleasure and were less
  interested in reading than those elsewhere.
• NFER 2003 childrens enjoyment of reading had
  declined significantly in recent years
• A Nestlé/MORI report underclass of
  non-readers, plus cycles of non-reading where
  teenagers from families where parents are not
  readers will almost always be less likely to be
  enthusiastic readers themselves.

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October 2005 Key findings

• Despite the Strategy, weaknesses remain,
  including
• the stalling of developments as senior
  management teams focus on other initiatives
• lack of robust measures to evaluate the impact
  of developments across a range of subjects
• a focus on writing at the expense of reading,
  speaking and listening.

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LITERACY IMPACT
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(No Transcript)
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Key conventions
Demonstrate writing.
Link to speech
Teach composition
Sentence variety
Importance of reading
Connectives
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Know your connectives Adding and, also, as well
as, moreover, too Cause effect because, so,
therefore, thus, consequently Sequencing next,
then, first, finally, meanwhile, before,
after Qualifying however, although, unless,
except, if, as long as, apart from,
yet Emphasising above all, in particular,
especially, significantly, indeed,
notably Illustrating for example, such as, for
instance, as revealed by, in the case
of Comparing equally, in the same way,
similarly, likewise, as with, like Contrasting
whereas, instead of, alternatively, otherwise,
unlike, on the other hand
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Reading needs teaching skimming, scanning,
analysis
Read aloud.
Demystify spelling
Use DARTs prediction, jumbled texts, pictures
and graphs
Teach and display subject-specific vocabulary
Presentation and framing can make texts more
accessible
Teach research skills, not FOFO
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LITERACY IMPACT!
No hands up
Break tyranny of QA
Thinking time
Key words / connectives
Reflective groupings
Rehearsing responses
Get teachers watching teachers who manage SL
well
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Dont call it literacy
Remember the disappeared.
Know your key players
Use students and TAs for feedback
Build into school systems
Use visuals to circumvent the teacher
Less is more for students
Less is more for teachers
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LITERACY LATEST!
The Disappeared
Characteristics 2/3 boys. Generally
well-behaved. Positive in outlook. Invisible to
teachers. Keen to respond but unlikely to think
first. Persevere with tasks, especially with
tasks that are routine. Lack self-help
strategies. Stoical, patient, resigned. Reading
they over-rely on a limited range of strategies
and lack higher order reading skills Writing
struggle to combine different skills
simultaneously. Dont get much chance for oral
rehearsal, guided writing, precise feedback SL
dont see it as a key tool in thinking and
writing Targets set low-level targets overstate
functional skills infrequently review progress
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Essential literacy rooted in professional
development An example
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So

• Which bits of this are relevant to your school
  context?
• Whats going on at your place thats effective in
  developing literacy skills?
• What will you do tomorrow?

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LITERACY FOR LEARNING

• Geoff Barton
• Every teacher in English is a teacher of
  English (George Sampson, 1922)

geoffbarton_at_mac.com