LITERACY IMPACT

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LITERACY IMPACT!
Literacy Across the Curriculum Maintaining the
Momentum
Geoff Barton September 29, 2009
All resources can be downloaded at
www.geoffbarton.co.uk
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LITERACY IMPACT!

• 1 Where are we (and where are you) with literacy?
• 2 Who are your key players and what do you need
  to do next?
• 3 Developing practical approaches
• in Humanities subjects
• in Scientific subjects
• in tutor time
• in speaking listening

and how will you measure IMPACT?
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LITERACY IMPACT!
The approach
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LITERACY IMPACT!
SECTION 1 So where are we with whole-school
literacy?
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Reasonable but horrible questions
1 - Name one child who has improved their reading
or writing based on a literacy initiative at your
school?
2 - If you have a literacy working party, how
much money do their salaries represent?
4 - What do your best teachers do to help
students read, write, think and spell better? How
do you know?
3 - If I asked 3 of your staff what your
whole-school policy said, what would they reply?
5 - If literacy is important, is it part of all
lesson observations? Reviews? Performance
management?
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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
The role of teaching assistants was described in
the report as increasingly effective.
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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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Implications for you ?
SL Does it happen systematically anywhere to
develop thinking and to model writing?

• Writing is there an understanding across any
  teams of how to develop writing - eg how to get
  better evaluations, better essays, better
  scientific writing?

Reading Who is teaching reading? Has reading for
pleasure slipped from your radar?
Leadership Has your leadership team lost
interest in literacy? How will you reignite
interest?
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Whats the latest news?
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LITERACY LATEST!
What we know about Writing

• The standard of writing has improved in recent
  years but still lags 20 behind reading at all
  key stages (eg around 60 of students get level 4
  at KS2 in writing, compared to 80 in reading).
• Writing has improved as a result of the National
  Strategy.
• SL has a big role in writing - it allows
  students to rehearse ideas and structures and
  builds confidence.
• But SL has lower status because of assessment
  weightings.
• In teaching writing we tend to focus too much on
  end-products rather than process (eg frames). We
  should think more about composition - how ideas
  are found and framed, how choices are made, how
  to decide about the medium, how to draft and
  edit.
• We are still stuck with a narrow range of writing
  forms and need to emphasise creativity in
  non-fiction forms.
• We need to rediscover the excitement of writing.

With thanks to Professor Richard Andrews,
University of York
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LITERACY LATEST!
Some implications for us

• Whos actually teaching writing in our school?
• Is there a shared understanding of what helps
  pupils to write?
• How can we teach composition?
• Which teams could have a particular impact if
  they developed a shared approach to writing?
• How is speaking listening being used to help
  pupils to write?
• Is there a school or departmental approach to
  SL?
• Where should we start?

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LITERACY LATEST!
What we know about vocabulary

• Aged 7 children in the top quartile have 7100
  words children in the lowest have around 3000.
  The main influence in parents.
• Using and explaining high-level words is a key to
  expanding vocabulary. A low vocabulary has a
  negative effect throughout schooling.
• Declining reading comprehension from 8 onwards is
  largely a result of low vocabulary. Vocabulary
  aged 6 accounts for 30 of reading variance aged
  16.
• Catching up becomes very difficult. Children with
  low vocabularies would have to learn faster than
  their peers (4-5 roots words a day) to catch up
  within 5-6 years.
• Vocabulary is built via reading to children,
  getting children to read themselves, engaging in
  rich oral language, encouraging reading and
  talking at home
• In the classroom it involves defining and
  explaining word meanings, arranging frequent
  encounters with new words in different contexts,
  creating a word-rich environment, addressing
  vocabulary learning explicitly, selecting
  appropriate words for systematic
  instruction/reinforcement, teaching word-learning
  strategies

With thanks to DES Research Unit
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LITERACY LATEST!
Some implications for us

• Teach 10 words per week - by whom, when, where?
• Ensure key pupils are read to with vocabulary
  explanations
• Teach new words in a text prior to reading
• Encourage questions about word meanings
• Display key words and meanings
• Have a glossary in the planner
• See tutor time as a literacy kick-starter each day

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LITERACY LATEST!
What we know about students who make slow
progress
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
With thanks to DfES
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LITERACY LATEST!
Some implications for us

• How to get more SL into their lives?
• How to get them thinking before answering?
• How to get better feedback?
• How to set more challenging targets?
• How to stop them from being invisible?
• Who should be their champions?

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LITERACY LATEST!
What we know about functional skills
Background concerns from employers about GCSE.
Key skills effective but not mainstream.
Intention students wont be able to get A-C
without mastering level 2 functional elements.
Could be standalone qualification. Wont be
solely multi-choice. Currently being trialled.
Watch this space.
With thanks to DfES
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What we know about Literacy Across the Curriculum

• Good literacy skills are a key factor in raising
  standards across all subjects
• Language is the main medium we use for teaching,
  learning and developing thinking, so it is at the
  heart of teaching and learning
• Literacy is best taught as part of the subject,
  not as an add-on
• All teachers need to give explicit attention to
  the literacy needed in their subject.

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Consistency in literacy is achieved when

• Literacy skills are taught consistently and
  systematically across the curriculum
• Expectation of standards of accuracy and
  presentation are similar in all classrooms
• Teachers are equipped to deal with literacy
  issues in their subject both generically and
  specifically
• The same strategies are used across the school
  the teaching sequence for writing active reading
  strategies planning speaking and listening for
  learning
• Teachers use the same terminology to describe
  language.

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Ofsted suggests literacy across the curriculum is
good when

• Senior managers are actively involved in the
  planning and monitoring
• Audits and action planning are rigorous
• Monitoring focuses on a range of approaches, e.g.
  classroom observation, work scrutiny as well as
  formal tests
• Time is given to training, its dissemination and
  embedding
• Schools work to identified priorities.

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KS3 IMPACT!
? Talking Point ?

• What have been the successes in your own school?
• What do you need to do next?

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Literacy strategy The next phase
Self-evaluation So where are you up to in your
school?
0
3
5
NO PROGRESS
GOOD PROGRESS
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Literacy strategy The next phase
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LITERACY IMPACT!
SECTION 2 Working with the key players
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Focus relentlessly on TL
Standards are raised ONLY by changes which are
put into direct effect by teachers and pupils in
classrooms Black and Wiliam, Inside the Black
Box
Schools are places where the pupils go to watch
the teachers working (John West-Burnham)
For many years, attendance at school has been
required (for children and for teachers) while
learning at school has been optional. (Stoll,
Fink East)
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Key players
Librarian
Strategy manager
Working party
Headteacher
Governors
Teaching assistants
Subject leaders
Students!
Tutors
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Key players
Strategy manager

• Focus, tailor, customise
• See as professional development rather than
  delivery
• Differentiate training
• Emphasise monitoring more than initiatives
• Use pupil surveys for learning teaching

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Headteacher
Must be actively involved as head TEACHER Eg
monitoring books, breakfast with students,
feedback to staff Must be seen in lessons Must
be reined in to prioritise
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Librarian
Key part in improving literacy Include in
training Part of curriculum meetings Library
should embody good practice - eg key words,
guidance on retrieving information, visual
excitement Active training for students, breaking
down subject barriers Get a library commitment
from every team Then sample to monitor it
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Governors
Visit library, get in classrooms, talk to
students Clearly signal the literacy
focus Emphasise s/hes discussing
consistency Sample of students and feedback Part
of faculty reviews on (say) how we teach writing
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Working party
Maintain or disband? Less doing and more
evaluating - questionnaires, looking at handouts,
working around rooms, talking to students Asking
questions What do teachers here do that helps
you to understand long texts better? Work
sampling Creating a critical mass
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Students
Tell us how were doing Build into school
council Small groups work with faculty teams to
guide and evaluate Audit rooms for key words, etc
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Teaching Assistants

• Make them literacy experts
• Let them lead training
• Make their monitoring role explicit
• Publish their feedback

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Subject leaders

• Help them to identify the 3 bits of literacy that
  will have the biggest impact
• Prioritise one per term or year
• Join their meetings at start and end of process
• Help them to keep it simple
• Provide models and sample texts
• Evaluate
• Build literacy into their teams performance
  management

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Tutors

• Reconceptualise tutor time as creating an ethos
  for learning / reviewing targets
• Think therefore how the environment of tutor
  groups could embody good practice - key words,
  glossaries, approaches to reading and spelling,
  connectives
• Reject silent reading and replace with
  literacy-based quizzes, etc
• Make the school planner a central document for
  literacy

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LITERACY IMPACT!
Your role

• Dont call it literacy - call it good learning
  teaching, or writing, or reading
• Build it into lesson observation sheets
• Build it into performance management
• Keep it in the public eye
• Emphasise increased student motivation
• Talk to your Head about core skills for all
  teachers

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LITERACY IMPACT!
7 Show before after models 8 Dont focus on
grammar knowledge needed by staff 9 Show its
part of a whole-school strategy 10 Celebrate
every small-scale success 11 Quote students
feedback 12 Be consultant, not doer
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LITERACY IMPACT!
SECTION 3 Practical approaches
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Book sampling
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Literacy strategy The next phase
IMPACT!
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LITERACY IMPACT!
What are the core literacy skills needed by
teachers?

• General teaching approaches to writing, handouts,
  vocabulary development
• Specific approaches in humanities / scientific
  teaching?
• Culturally - in SL, tutor time, the physical
  environment

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Essential literacy rooted in professional
development An example
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Teaching sequence
Key conventions
WRITING
Connectives
Sentence variety
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LITERACY IMPACT!
1

• Know the writing sequence
• Establish clear aims
• Provide examples
• Explore conventions of the text
• Define the conventions
• Demonstrate how it is written
• Compose together
• Scaffold first attempts
• Independent writing
• Draw out key learning

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LITERACY IMPACT!
2
Know the dominant text-types for your
subject Purpose What is its purpose? Who is it
for? How will it be used? Text level Layout?
Structure? Sentence level Prevailing tense?
Active/passive? Sentence types and length? Word
level Specialist vocabulary?
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LITERACY IMPACT!
3
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!
4

• Encourage sentence variety
• Start with an -ing verb (Reaching 60 these days
  is ..)
• Start with an -ed verb (Frustrated by .)
• Start with an adverb (Well-done chicken leads to
  )
• Start with a preposition (Within the city limits
  you will )

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LITERACY IMPACT!
5
Students must see you writing
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LITERACY IMPACT!
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KS3 IMPACT!
? Talking Point ?

• What have been the successes in your own school?
• What do you need to do next?

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LITERACY IMPACT!
Subject-specific vocabulary
Approaches to reading
READING
Active research process, not FOFO
Using DARTs
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LITERACY IMPACT!
6

• Subject-specific vocabulary
• Identifying
• Playing with context
• Actively exploring
• Linking to spelling

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LITERACY IMPACT!
7

• Approaches to reading
• Scanning
• Skimming
• Continuous reading
• Close reading
• Research skills, not FOFO

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LITERACY IMPACT!
8

• Using DARTs
• Cloze
• Diagram completion
• Disordered text
• Prediction

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LITERACY IMPACT!
No hands up
Break tyranny of QA
Thinking time
Speaking listening
Key words / connectives
Reflective groupings
Rehearsing responses
Get teachers watching teachers who manage SL
well
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KS3 IMPACT!
? Talking Point ?

• What have been the successes in your own school?
• What do you need to do next?

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LITERACY IMPACT!
Better Handouts
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Better Handouts
Readability
Morphine, C17H19NO3, is the most abundant of
opiums 24 alkaloids, accounting for 9 to 14 of
opium-extract by mass. Named after the Roman god
of dreams, Morpheus, who also became the god of
slumber, the drug morphine, appropriately enough,
numbs pain, alters mood and induces sleep.
Morphine and its related synthetic derivatives,
known as opioids, are so far unbeatable at
dulling chronic or so-called slow pain, but
unfortunately they are all physically addictive.
During the American Civil War, 400 000 soldiers
became addicted to morphine.
Morphine is a powerful sleeping drug. It is named
after Morpheus, the Roman god of slumber and is
famous for numbing pain, changing our moods and
making people sleepy. With its related forms
(known as opioids) it is unbeatable at dulling
severe pain. However, it is also highly addictive
and in the American Civil War 400 000 soldiers
became addicted to it. Morphine is also known as
C17H19NO3 and is made from an extract of opium (a
seed in poppy plants).
17 14
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Better Handouts
Layout guidance

• ? Aim for
• spacious presentation (as much white page as
  black text)
• use of typographical features
• headlines and subheadings
• bold, italic, underline, different font styles
  and sizes (though not too many in a single
  document)
• boxes, shaded panels, vertical lines to add
  visual interest
• use of columns to make reading more efficient
• short paragraphs
• glossary of key words

• Avoid
• densely-packed writing
• cramped margins
• excessive use of upper case lettering
• poor reprographics
• lack of images / typographical features
• excessive use of colour (which can actually prove
  distracting)

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LITERACY IMPACT!
So what would you suggest ?
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LITERACY IMPACT!
3 Highlight key words
1 Mention big picture / purpose
2 Flag first task in advance
4 Add more visuals
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LITERACY IMPACT!
5 Use small-scale questions to build comprehension
7 Provide sentence starters / connectives
6 Give guidance on the style and conventions of
the writing task
8 Give some indication of how the task will be
assessed
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LITERACY IMPACT!
For teachers of humanities subjects

• Readability through questions, subheadings,
  layout
• Use of connectives like later, despite this,
  although
• Formality (eg essay style that avoids I and
  emotion)

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LITERACY IMPACT!
For teachers of Science subjects

• Demystifying complex vocabulary (making
  connections between words)
• Modelling an impersonal style (including passive
  v active)
• Teaching causal connectives

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LITERACY IMPACT!
A Culture for Literacy
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Creating a literacy culture

• Have core skills for all teachers
• Have specific skills for specific teachers / TAs
• Focus on library and tutor time
• Have simple principles on speaking and listening
  - why its important how it helps students to
  learn what good teachers do
• Build into school systems

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LITERACY IMPACT!
Final Thoughts

• Small steps
• Youre coordinator not doer
• Work with key players
• Focus on impact and evaluate endlessly (involving
  students)
• Its all about learning and teaching, not literacy

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LITERACY IMPACT!
Literacy Across the Curriculum Maintaining the
Momentum
Geoff Barton September 29, 2009
All resources can be downloaded at
www.geoffbarton.co.uk