Teacher Learning for European
Literacy Education
Tel4ELE
with the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union
Comenius Multilateral Project
Led by Stockholm Education Administration
Project Outputs from Scotland
University of Strathclyde and partners
Introduction
YEAR ONE OUTPUTS – 2011-2012
1. National Literacy Report for Scotland
2. Sample lesson plans prepared as part of the European Experts training
in Reading to Learn Genre pedagogy
YEAR TWO OUTPUTS – 2012-2013
3. Outlines of Teacher Training Programs
4. Sample classroom implementation sequences
Advice on implementing TeL4ELE in Scottish Classrooms
5. “Success story” from Scotland
Introduction and aims of the project
The Teacher Learning for European Literacy Education (TeL4ELE) project in Scotland had
the job of improving pupil learning in language and literacy. We were particularly interested
in increasing attainment in those who are educationally disadvantaged, either because
they are learning English as a second language or because the live in high poverty. We
sought to work with the consortium of linguistic and teaching experts from other EU countries and we all engaged in supporting literacy educators in our own countries - five European countries in all- to become experts in genre based literacy pedagogy. The pedagogy
was based on the Reading to Learn program.
We began the project by mapping the literacy curriculum, attainment and teaching and
learning issues for our own county, and sharing this knowledge with the other National literacy teams. This provided the background knowledge to map our own national adapta-
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tions of the approach to literacy learning, and to understand the adaptations of others as
sensible in the light of the context of implementation.
This account therefore, begins with a portrait of the way that language and literacy are
taught in Scotland, how policy is developed, how the curriculum is organised, the attainment issues and the key challenges that educators must overcome to ensure equity
and efficient, effective learning.
Year One Outputs – 2011-2012
1. NATIONAL LITERACY PROFILE: SCOTLAND
The Literacy Curriculum in Scotland
NATIONAL CURRICULA
In Scotland, the First Minister is legally obliged to set, from time to time, national priorities and a current national priority is to ‘Raise standards in literacy and numeracy’.
Local authorities measure their progress in meeting this priority against nationally
agreed benchmark statements. The results are not published, but local authorities are
told how their schools rank against comparator local authorities. This creates considerable internal pressure to increase attainment.
Scotland is one of the few countries in the world that has a public service delivery system premised on an integrated, single policy outcome. This means that complex problems, such as poverty are not chopped up and allocated in parts to to single-delivery
silos such as ‘education’, ‘social work’, ‘housing’ or ‘employment’. Instead all these delivery systems are expected to work together to make a positive impact on the communities they serve. The system also requires co-construction between service providers
and service users, so that the public service priorities and service delivery mechanisms
are nuanced according to local needs. In this system therefore, it is not the case that all
system delivery should be premised on the same programmes all over Scotland; some
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communities have greater need for particular integrated service delivery outcomes, and
all programmes need to be co-constructed and adapted to the context in which they will
operate.
In keeping with this, Scotland does not have a compulsory National Curriculum or
National Syllabus. Instead it has national guidelines, called Curriculum for Excellence
(CfE), which schools and local authorities are required to interpret in the light of local
needs and issues. The guidelines thus inform and frame policy and development,
planning, teaching, assessment and reporting to parents but there may be considerable differences in emphasis depending on the community that schools serve. All CfE
documents share a common framework (see Figure 1) and describe literacy progression in five levels: Early (Pre-school and P1); First (by the end of P4 or earlier); Second
(by the end of P7 or earlier); Third (S1-3) and Fourth (S4-6).
The CfE guidelines define literacy as “the set of skills which allows an individual to engage fully in society and in learning, through the different forms of language, and the
range of texts, which society values and finds useful.”. One consequence of this very
broad definition is that texts may be written or spoken, based on pictorial, moving
image or linguistic representations and presented as digital, auditory or paper-based
texts, texts. Schools are therefore supposed to emphasise a wider range of skills and
experiences than simply the ability to read and write. Literacy is located within the curriculum guidance for ‘Languages’. The Literacy and English documents outline Experiences and Outcomes and Principles and Practice relating to early, primary and secondary English teaching, but another two documents, Literacy Across Learning: Principles and Practice, and Literacy: Experiences and Outcomes outline the responsibility
that every teacher, in every subject area, has for teaching and developing pupils’ literacy. This emphasis on literacy across learning has prompted the national assessment
bodies for many secondary school subject areas to emphasise pupils’ ability to read
and write in subject-specific domains.
Listening and Talking
Reading
Writing
Enjoyment and choice
Enjoyment and choice
Enjoyment and choice
Tools for listening and talking
Tools for listening and talking
Tools for listening and talking
Finding and using information
Finding and using information
Finding and using information
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Understanding, analyzing and
Understanding, analyzing and evalu-
evaluating
ating
Creating texts
Creating texts
Figure 1: The headings for the Literacy framework of CfE.
The experiences and outcomes for Enjoyment and Choice emphasize the importance of
providing opportunities for young people to make increasingly sophisticated choices; those
for Tools outline the progression in strategies, skills and knowledge required for pupils to
become competent language and literacy users, and the experiences and outcomes for
Finding and Using Information; Understanding, Analysing and Evaluating, and for Creating texts, outline the outcomes and experiences for pupils to locate, use, produce and analyze spoken and written texts.
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
The education system in Scotland, like all other public service delivery, requires sustainable, nuanced development. To achieve this, educators are required to apply the principles of ‘implementation science’. This rejects top-down policy-into-practice developments
in favour of locally tailored, small-scale innovations, which can then be scaled up to other
appropriate contexts. It is claimed that this creates working, sustainable innovation that
addresses core issues at the point of need. It is not appropriate in this context to simply tell
educators that this is a programme to be implemented. All educators have to think about
how the programme would operate in the context in which they work, with the pupils and
the wider communities they serve and with the other resources already in place in the
classroom.
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN SCOTLAND
In Scotland, the term ‘achievement’ (rather than attainment) is used to reflect the importance of broad success measures for literacy. The Assessment is for Learning initiative
(AifL), initiated in 2002, promoted formative assessment strategies as procedural and conceptual scaffolds for teaching and it is standard practice for teachers to share learning objectives and success criteria at the start of lessons. In some lessons, pupils often indicate
their understanding or confidence to tackle a task with a show of ‘traffic lights’
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(red/amber/green) or ‘thumbs’ (up/horizontal/down). Teachers may also encourage pupils
to self-assess and peer-assess against pre-determined success criteria. In Primary
schools, teachers’ feedback on writing often takes the form of ‘two stars and a wish’, indicating two things the pupil has done well and one improvement for future. These make
the learning content and progression clear but can detract from the intrinsic purpose of
tasks and promote a skills-and-strategy based culture of performativity.
Local authorities collect summative data on reading and writing standards using test items
from the National Assessment Resource Bank, which provides contextualized tasks and
observations, linked to CfE levels. Although these locate pupils on the CfE ladder of levels,
they are not standardized and do not focus on elements of central importance to literacy
development. Many local authorities and some schools also buy standardized and semistandardised literacy tests to obtain data that is reliable, focused and age-specific.
Scotland takes part in the PISA international survey of achievement for literacy for 15
year-olds, but withdrew from PIRLS, which focused on primary pupils. In PISA (2009)
Scotland ranked in the middle group of OECD countries, significantly below Australia,
Canada, Finland, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Shanghai-China, Hong Kong-China and
Singapore. Reading attainment remained static and 16% of pupils performed below Level
2, the OECD baseline proficiency required for full-participation in democratic society. The
difference between the averages of the top and bottom attainment quartiles equates to 5.5
years of schooling. Scotland was also below the OECD average for reading engagement;
47 % of pupils ‘read only to obtain the information they need’ and 26 % agreed ‘reading is
a waste of time’. Socio-economic status and gender strongly influence reading attainment.
The Scottish Survey of Achievement, an annual national survey, focuses alternately on literacy and numeracy. The first CfE-aligned literacy survey was implemented in 2012 and
results will be published on the Scottish Government’s Education Scotland website early in
2013. The 2009 survey (aligned to 5-14 curriculum levels) reported: strong effects of
socio-economic status on literacy; that, in general, girls performed better than boys; that
reading attainment at all stages remained static, and the proportion of pupils attaining expected levels decreased through primary and into secondary, as did their confidence in
their ability to read, write, talk and listen.
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KEY APPROACHES TO LITERACY TEACHING
Almost all primary schools use commercially published schemes for teaching reading,
phonics, grammar, handwriting and punctuation, and often for teaching writing, science
and some aspects of history too. Alongside this, CfE promotes cross-curricular links, flexible and integrated use of literacy, and literary projects such as whole-class novel studies
and Scottish Storyline projects (Bell and Harkness 2006). Attainment grouping within the
class is common for teaching reading and sometimes writing. Non-fiction reading and writing are re-enforced through topic work, often with differentiated worksheets and tasks for
those with literacy difficulties.
In most secondary schools there is a teacher with a specific additional responsibility for
promoting literacy across learning and there is a growing trend for this to be a teacher who
is not in the English Department. Also, secondary schools and many primary schools will
have a teacher (or in secondary schools, a group of teachers) working as an ‘Additional
Support Needs Team’) with responsibility for ensuring that literacy support is provided to
those pupils who require it. However, the exact nature and structure of such support varies. In many subject areas, pupils tend to be set for attainment for each subject area they
study. This has traditionally happened after the first two years of secondary school, but the
schools are in the process of change to an initial learning block that covers the first three
years of secondary (aged 12-15 years) to fit better with CfE levels. In secondary schools,
most subject areas will use commercially published text books, although these are often
supplemented by teacher-produced workbooks and information sheets.
Following international trends, most primary schools adopt a broadly genre-based approach to non-fiction writing (genre-based approaches to reading are rare), but anecdotal
evidence indicates that they many teachers confuse genre and format, and that teaching
may lack intrinsic purpose and be driven using writing frames and worksheets rather than
by a deep teacher understanding. In secondary schools, many subject-specific teachers
are unaware of the options available to them to teach pupils how to engage productively
with the type of texts associated with the curricular area. In primary and in secondary
schools, grammar teaching tends to be scheme-driven and focused on traditional ‘naming
of parts’ approaches. Approaches that stress sharing insights about the role of grammar
in ‘designing’ texts (e.g. Myhill 2011 p 92), and which could help pupils to understand its
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role in conveying meaning and influencing readers’ responses would be fairly unfamiliar to
many teachers.
In both primary and secondary schools, reading and writing are frequently individual activities, done to confirm understanding at the end of a lesson, after the topic content has been
thoroughly taught.
STAFF AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT FOR LITERACY IN SCOTLAND
A Scottish Literacy Commission report in 2009 emphasised the need for Scotland to address the link between literacy and economic disadvantage. This, along with a more strategic and highly critical research report by Save the Children, led the Scottish Government
to establish a Standing Literacy Commission whose remit is to address the literacy issues
raised. The commission, which meets three times a year, has focused on promoting better communication and sharing of successful ideas between local authorities or between
schools by establishing ‘literacy hubs’ and other networking structures. The strategy emphasises a ‘bottom up’ approach to generating knowledge underpinned by an assumption
that local authorities and schools know what works, and will faithfully adapt implementations that have been successful elsewhere to ensure that they address local contexts at
school level. There is a strong rhetoric about evidence-based decision making, but little
emphasis on knowledge mobilization strategies that might distribute reliably interrogated,
research-informed information about ‘what works for whom in what circumstances’. Because Scottish models of continuing professional development favour locally-based
teacher-driven improvements thorough schools as ‘communities of practice’, there is a
strong emphasis on ideas that have been see to work in practice and on what has been
termed ‘Mode 2 Knowledge production’ (Gibbons et al 1994). Curriculum advice and
some staff development in Scotland is provided by Education Scotland staff, who tend to
focus on publicising successful activities they have seen implemented but sometimes the
evidence or research base is unclear and provides insufficient information to enable informed decisions to be made.
REFERENCES
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Bell, S. and Harkness, S. (2006) Storyline: Promoting Language Across the Curriculum.
Royston: UKLA
Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998) Inside the Black Box. London: King’s College
Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, G. Marshall, B. and Wiliam D. (2002) Working inside the
Black Box. London: King’s College
Ellis, S. and McCartney, E. (Eds.) (2011) Applied Linguistics and Primary School Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Ellis, S. (2012) 'English Language' in T. Bryce, and W. M. Humes (eds.) Scottish Education, Fourth Edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Gibbons, Michael; Camille Limoges, Helga Nowotny, Simon Schwartzman, Peter Scott, &
Martin Trow (1994). The new production of knowledge: the dynamics of science
and research in contemporary societies. London: Sage.
Myhill, D. (2011) Grammar for designers: how grammar supports the development of writing. In S. Ellis & E. McCartney (Eds.) Applied linguistics and primary school
teaching (pp. 81-92). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
SEED (2004): A Curriculum for Excellence Edinburgh. HMSO
2. SAMPLE LESSON PLANS FOR SCOTLAND
In this section of the report, we present some lesson plans that the Scottish Team devised,
and trialed in schools, in order to help them to understand the genre pedagogy approach
to reading and writing, and to explore how it might fit in the Scottish curriculum. These
plans are indicative of the many plans we produced and trialed with classes in Scottish
schools. We produced these plans during the first year of the project and discussed them
at the four international and our own four national meetings. We got feedback on the plans
from our Australian partners and from experienced Genre pedagogy educators, as well as
from others in the national EU teams and from each other.
In the international and the national workshops we shared our experiences of teaching
using the plans, and we learned from the demonstrations and discussions with our col9
leagues working in other parts of the EU. Many of these plans formed the basis of the
teacher education materials that we used in Year Two with the Scottish teachers in our
training cohort. For this reason, each lesson plan is followed by lesson notes, intended to
help the teacher to implement the lesson successfully. WE wrote these lesson notes after
we had trialled the lesson plan with a class. These lesson plans are indicative of the second key component of the Year One project outputs.
From trialling the plans in schools, we learnt a lot about how the approach could apply in
Scotland, and what the impediments might be. Working on the project made us question
some Scottish assumptions about ‘good practice’ in teaching literacy. Here are some of
the issues that the project has made us think about. These are some of the ideas that we
explored with the teachers and pupils in Year 2 of the project:
Differentiation in the Classroom: In Scotland it is common to offer differentiated texts and
tasks for different attainment groups or levels in the class. The Australians we worked with
found our notion of differentiation limiting to pupils and rather shocking. They pointed out
that too often low-attaining pupils are given the least challenging, least interesting and
least purposeful tasks and texts. The genre pedagogy they use is a whole class teaching
approach, but offers a lot more teaching input, explicit modelling and support than would
typically be offered in a Scottish classroom. The Australians feel that this is inclusive, it
doesn’t stigmatize some groups (thereby avoiding the negative defensive attitudes some
pupils develop), and it allows everyone access to complex, challenging texts and tasks.
However, the whole-class Genre Pedagogy approach to teaching requires both a highquality and a high-quantity of explanation, modelling and support. Teachers need to become slick at showing pupils how to read different kinds of text, how to use these texts and
how to write them. This is what makes the approach distinctive. It is NOT a whole-class
teaching approach that is an easy option for either the teachers or the pupils; both have to
work hard. The point is that, by the end of a lesson everyone has been enabled to read
and to understand the text, and to do the task. When pupils only work with their own attainment group, they rarely see how the most effective readers and writers work; in this
approach, the teacher makes this explicit and provides the detailed explanations and
demonstrations that everyone needs to make progress.
When reading is used in the learning cycle: In the Genre Pedagogy approach we tried
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out, lessons begin with the teacher and pupils reading together about the subject content
that the teacher wants the pupils to learn. The pupils learn about the content through
reading about it with the teacher.
Often in Scotland, teachers teach pupils the content they want them to learn before they
ask them to read about it. They make sure that any problems or difficult ideas that pupils
will encounter in the reading have been thoroughly explained beforehand. This means that
pupils will more easily understand the reading when they read it on their own or in groups.
Some of the Project Team wonder if this approach, whilst undoubtedly supportive, is actually being supportive in an unhelpful way. By encouraging pupils only to read to confirm
their understanding or to remind themselves of what they have been told, we wonder if
pupils may not see the real value of reading and if they may be given an unrealistic view of
the sort of thinking a reader has to do to understand content ideas that haven’t been pretaught or pump-primed.
It may be that pump-priming pupils with the key ideas does not prepare pupils well to become literate; because the ideas are pre-taught, Scottish teachers are rarely in a position
to model how a reader extracts the meaning from the text as they read it. When we do
teach them to extract meaning, it is often done in a separate ‘comprehension’ lesson, on
separate material and it is difficult to create the intrinsic purpose and follow-up tasks that
we know benefit pupil learning. Moreover, we don’t have a lot of time for such lessons, and
we wonder if this means that the middling and struggling pupils don’t get as much practice
at doing this as they perhaps need– the standard ‘comprehension lesson’ can be as little
as once a week in Primary schools and possibly less frequently in Secondary.
We are interested in whether it would be more effective for literacy learning in Scotland, if
pupils were regularly shown how to read the text to extract and understand the ideas in
every subject area they study. If they did this as a regular part of their Science, Geography, History, RME, Social Studies lessons, the weakest pupils might get very much more
modelling, explanation, practice about how they can work out for themselves what texts
say, and they might become better, more literate, comprehenders. Moreover, it wouldn’t
be necessary to give separate ‘comprehension’ lessons – every curricular area would be
modelling and explaining reading comprehension – we would save curriculum time for
other things.
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We are interested in whether teaching key subject ideas through reading would affect the
value that Scottish pupils place on reading and whether it would improve their ability to
read for meaning. Would it allow middling and struggling readers to get sufficient teaching
and enough practice to learn to do it well? Would it benefit confident but ‘careless’ readers
and better equip them for the sort of reading they will be asked to do at university and college, where the content ideas are not likely to be pump-primed?
Reading-writing links: Using the texts pupils read as a model for their writing empowers
both reading and writing. The key link is the text structure and the vocabulary. When pupils understand the structure of the text they are reading they have an ‘organisational
overview’ that benefits their reading comprehension. Pupils come to understand text
structures by having them explained and exemplified when they read, but also by reproducing them when they write. When pupils are encouraged to see links between their
reading and writing, they can take an ‘insider’s view’ of reading, noticing structures, vocabulary and syntax they have used (or could use) in their writing. Because pupils are
thinking about text structures and vocabulary when they read and when they write, they
are coming across these aspects more often, and they are going to become established
more easily in their minds.
All this can have a multiplier effect on learning: when reading, it helps pupils’ initial comprehension during the reading process, but it also provides them with an organisational
pattern that helps them to recall the key content. When writing, an understanding of the
structure of the text makes it easier for young writers to both generate and organise ideas.
Asking pupils to use key terminology and to write about and explain ideas in their own
words is a key route to understanding. Better understanding helps memory.
Challenging Texts: Many texts in schools are bought so that pupils can read them unaided. We quickly learnt that a successful Genre Pedagogy lesson requires texts that
present a challenging read for most of the pupils. If the text is too easy, the pupils find the
lessons patronizing and boring, so the text needs to be one that is at the top end of the
pupils’ range and a good example of writing if it is to be the basis of a successful lesson.
Vocabulary teaching: The approach involves a lot of very explicit vocabulary instruction.
However, it asks teachers to change how they go about this instruction. Many teachers,
when reading with a class, get to a difficult word and ask “What does that word mean?”
For the high-attaining pupils, this is not a problem; they know what it means and can an12
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swer the question. The teacher assumes that those who don’t know what it means will listen to the answer and learn from it. However, such pupils are not required to do anything
that would require them to ‘actively process’ the information, and it is quite a passive reaction that is expected from them; the exchange does not required to attend to the word in
any specific ways. The teacher assumes that they will apply the knowledge, but we suspect many pupils let it ‘wash over’ them without exerting any particular intellectual effort.
In a Genre Pedagogy approach, the teacher provides the definition of the word, and asks
all pupils to locate the word in the text. The teacher can talk about the definition, or how
the work is being used in that particular instance if appropriate, but all pupils have been
required to locate the word, see what it looks like, and is given access to its meaning. Pupils who may not have been able to provide a definition (a negative reading experience)
instead experience success in reading the text.
The lesson plans that follow illustrate how the Genre pedagogy approach was applied in
Scotland, and used with Scottish texts. These annotated plans, and others that we produced, were used to introduce Scottish teachers recruited to the project for Year 2. They
deal with different age-groups and areas of the curriculum, and reflect the slightly different
planning stylesthat are used in Scottish schools:
1. A Secondary school factual text (a ‘Factorial Explanation’) for an Intermediate class
studying Geography, and in particular learning about how the sea shapes coastal
landscapes. This plan is followed by a section called ‘Teacher’s Notes’. This provides a narrative designed to aid lesson implementation.
2. A Secondary school fiction text (Narrative - Anecdote), The Machine Gunners by
Robert Westall.
3. A primary school non-fiction text (recount and report) for P3 (8 yrs) on The search
for Tutankhamen by Jane Shuter.
Lesson plan 1: Factorial Explanation in Geography (Intermediate)
Purpose
of text – including
theCoastal
overall purpose
of thepg.3
genre,
andwork
the themes/topic
Text
Intermediate,
Phy Env:
Landscapes
– The
of the sea of this text
Genre: Explanation - Factorial
Stage/Yr level – S3
Factorial Report - To explain how erosion takes place at a sea cliff.
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Purposes for teaching – what outcomes does the text address – students will…
Explain the different causes of cliff erosion and the terms hydraulic action, abrasion, solution
and attrition
Identify key information in the text
Read and label diagrams
Use illustrations to assist reading
Read text with fluency and meaning
Retell ideas from a factual text, participate in class discussion and joint rewrite from notes
Learn how information reports are structured
Jointly construct an information report using the correct word order in sentences and some
Technical language of the topic.
Write factual statements
Use spelling words in context of writing (? Not sure needed here)
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Background knowledge – what you need to teach before the text, resources you will use
Before accessing the text we will have looked at a map showing the British Isles and its coastline. There will be a general discussion about the coastline and places where the students may have visited. What did they see there? Why did
they like to go there? Some locations of seaside resorts are identified on the map. There is a discussion about what
visitors might like to see there.
Some photographs of coastal areas will be shown to highlight the different physical landscape features that are found
there. These will include features such as beaches, sand dunes, bays, headlands, cliffs, arches, stacks and caves. The
pupils will then be advised that the next series of lesson will look at how some of the features we have just seen are
formed and we will be starting with the how the sea affects the coastline and shapes it.
Independent Writing Task – what you will assess students on as a result of your teaching – including the genre and the topic
studied
Explanation report written from notes which includes:
Factorial information on how the sea shapes the coastline.
Identifies when the sea is most powerful
Explains the shape of pebbles
Three ways sand is formed
Inferential (hidden): meaning is in other parts of the text, or inferred meanings of metaphors,
similes, idioms
Comprehension questions – 2 each level from the text
Literal (here): meaning is in the words (you can underline the words)
Where does ‘solution’ occur?
Where do we find white sand beaches?
Example rewrite – practise rewriting the text yourself – label the stages and phases
Waves break constantly against the coastline. In stormy weather they have enormous power. Sea cliffs are
eroded in two main ways (Fig 2.1):
1.
As a wave breaks air is compressed into cracks in the rock. The rock is loosened so that fragments
are washed off – HYDRAULIC ACTION.
2.
Pebbles are repeatedly picked up from the sea bed and hurled against the cliff, wearing it away –
ABRASION
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Teacher’s Notes: Phy Env: Coastal Landscapes P.3 – The work of the sea
Preparing before reading:
The information we are about to read is an explanation of how the power of the sea and the waves can shape and
change our coastline. The movement and power of the sea is responsible for a number of the features we have already spoken about and you are going to learn about the 4 ways that the sea changes the landscape.
This is a short piece of information but very detailed. It starts by telling us about waves and says there are two ways
that the sea erodes the sea cliffs because of the waves. You will notice there are four points made but these shows
us the different ways the sea affects the landscape at the coastline rather than just sea cliffs. It then tells us how
sand is formed
The information here uses new terms but explains these for us and we have a diagram that will help us to explain
and understand how the sea changes the landscape.
Now read the passage:
Waves break constantly against the coastline. In stormy weather they have enormous power. Sea cliffs are
eroded in two main ways (Fig 2.1):
1
As a wave breaks air is compressed into cracks in the rock. The rock is loosened so that fragments
are washed off – HYDRAULIC ACTION.
2
Pebbles are repeatedly picked up from the sea bed and hurled against the cliff, wearing it away – ABRASION
3
SOLUTION occurs mostly in limestone and chalk landscapes where salts and other acids in the seawater dissolve the minerals in the cliff face.
Fig 2.1
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The fragments broken from the cliffs are constantly rolled back and forth and become broken down
into smaller and smaller rounded fragments, eventually becoming sand - ATTRITION. This is washed
away by waves and currents to be deposited as a beach farther along the coast.
Sand on beaches may also form from broken shells (for example, the white sand beaches of the Outer Hebrides) or from material washed into the sea by rivers.
Detailed reading notes:
Para 1 – problem
1.this tells us that the sea has a lot of power and changes the landscape
What do waves do point where the land meets the sea really bad weather word means very powerful
1. Waves break constantly against the coastline. In stormy weather they have enormous
power. Sea cliffs are eroded in two main ways (Fig 2.1):
steep hills at the sea the number of ways
. discuss sea cliffs and ask class if they can visualise it/describe it to your parter - study/discuss figure 2.1
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Para 2 – factor 1
1. this sentence tells us one way that sea cliffs get eroded
squashed
a narrow opening
where this happens
1 As a wave breaks air is compressed into cracks in the rock. The rock is loosened so that fragments
are washed off – HYDRAULIC ACTION.
Small bits
by what
main term
.discuss other examples of where pupil may hear the term hydraulic (lifts, diggers etc – idea of pressure)
Para 3 – factor 2
1. This tells us the second way that rocks get bashed against the sea cliff and damage it
Small stones
again and again
bottom of the sea
thrown
like rubbing
1. Pebbles are repeatedly picked up from the sea bed and hurled against the cliff, wearing it away – ABRASION
Main term
.discuss other ways that abrasion takes place – sand blasting, steel wool
Para 4 –factor 3
1. This tells us about the bits of rock that get dissolved in the sea and not visible to us
Main term
the two kinds of rock that dissolve more easily
1. SOLUTION occurs mostly in limestone and chalk landscapes where salts and other acids in the seawater dissolve the minerals in the cliff face.
Make liquid crystals/compounds
front of
. discuss minerals as a natural inorganic substance in the rock
Para 5 – factor 4
1. There are three ways that sand is formed and this tells us one of these
small bits
all the time
1. The fragments broken from the cliffs are constantly rolled back and forth and become
broken down into smaller and smaller rounded (why rounded?) fragments, eventually becoming sand
– ATTRITION (main term). This is washed away (how is it moved?) by waves and currents to be deposited as a beach farther along the coast.
Way the water moves
put down
. discuss tides and currents and why material would be dropped/put down elsewhere
2. This tells us the other two ways that sand is formed
animal homes
what colour
2. Sand on beaches may also form from broken shells (for example, the white sand beaches of the Outer
Hebrides) or from material washed into the sea by rivers.
this tells us the place
drain or flushed
. discuss sand and how rivers move and carry material along with them arriving at the sea
JOINT CONSTRUCTION:
Notes written on board
Para 1 – waves
Para 2 –
hydraulic action
Para 3 – abrasion
Waves break constantly against the coastline. In stormy weather they have enormous
power. Sea cliffs are eroded in two main
ways (Fig 2.1):
As a wave breaks air is compressed into
cracks in the rock. The rock is loosened so
that fragments are washed off – HYDRAULIC ACTION.
Pebbles are repeatedly picked up from the
sea bed and hurled against the cliff, wearing
it away – ABRASION
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•
Waves break – stormy
weather, sea cliffs, eroded
•
Air is compressed, cracks,
rock, fragments, washed off,
hydraulic action
•
Pebbles, repeatedly, sea bed,
hurled, wearing, abrasion
Para 4 – solution
Para 5 - attrition
SOLUTION occurs mostly in limestone and
chalk landscapes where salts and other
acids in the seawater dissolve the minerals
in the cliff face.
The fragments broken from the cliffs are
constantly rolled back and forth and become
broken down into smaller and smaller
rounded fragments, eventually becoming
sand – ATTRITION. This is washed away
by waves and currents to be deposited as a
beach farther along the coast.
Sand on beaches may also form from broken shells (for example, the white sand
beaches of the Outer Hebrides) or from material washed into the sea by rivers.
•
Solution, limestone, chalk, dissolve, minerals and cliff face
•
Fragments, constantly,
rounded, attrition, washed
away, currents, deposited,
broken shells, white sand,
Outer Hebrides, washed
Joint construction:
Waves break against the cliffs along a coastline and erode it. When the weather is stormy the waves are even more
powerful. The erosion happens in a number of ways. Hydraulic action is when the force of the waves compresses
air into any cracks in the rocks causing them to break apart. Any bits that are broken off are washed into the sea.
When these broken bits or other pebbles are picked up from the sea bed they are thrown by the waves towards the
cliffs wearing away the rock by abrasion. Some rocks at the coastline, such as limestone or chalk, are made of
minerals that can be dissolved by the sea and this slowly destroys the sea cliff. One other way that the sea and
waves shape the coastline is through breaking down small pebbles and fragments. These are rounded and
smoothed as they are moved around by the sea current and this is called attrition. These small particles become
sand and can be moved away and deposited elsewhere along the coastline. If they are made of broken shells they
will result in white sandy beaches like those in the Outer Hebrides.
NEXT STEPS:
Complete the tasks set by the teacher.
Lesson Plan 2: The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall
Text: Extract from The Machine Gunners
Genre: Anecdote
17
Stage/Yr level: S1
Purpose of text – including the overall purpose of the genre, and the themes/topic of this text
• To engage.
• To create tension and a desire to read on.
• To inform about life during WW2.
Purposes for teaching – what outcomes does the text address – students will…
Learn to further appreciate good descriptive writing.
Learn more ways in which to engage the reader in their own writing.
Learn to use some of the language features and vocabulary from the text in their own writing.
Learn to create tension in new ways in their own writing.
Background knowledge – what you need to teach before the text, resources you will use
• Cinders – ash remains of burnt material.
• The headless horseman: from European folklore. Scottish version: the horseman was
• decapitated in a clan battle on the Isle of Mull. The battle denied him any chance to be a
• chieftain, and both he and his horse are headless in tales of his haunting of the area.
• Briars – wild rose bushes with long stems and sharp thorns.
• Interlaced – woven together.
• Shrapnel – debris thrown out from weapons, bombs etc.
• Swastika – symbol of the Nazi party; a cross with each arm bent at 90 degrees half way along.
• Blitzkrieg - a sudden attack involving aircraft and forces on the ground intended to surprise and
• quickly defeat the enemy.
• Incendiary bomb – bomb designed to cause fires.
• Dorsal – of, or on the back of …an animal etc.
• Turret – a small, circular tower.
• Milled – with a regular rib feature (as on side of a coin)
Independent Writing Task – what you will assess students on as a result of your teaching -including the
genre and the topic studied
• Pupils will write their own section of an anecdote of a young person making their own important discovery.
• The extent to which pupils include the appropriate genre features. (Orientation,
Complication, Evaluation; setting, description, episode, problem, solution, reaction,
comment…)
• The extent to which pupils use rich language features such as: present tense to create
sense of the sinister; effective vocabulary (wriggling/interlaced); descriptive phrases
(arches of briars); simile; use of threatening imagery (like barbed wire); short sentence for
effect; colour etc for mood; conversational tone to create stream of consciousness; use of
dash; ellipsis; use of question to create suspense etc
Example rewrite – practise rewriting the text yourself – label the stages and phases
Orientation: incl episode and description
Each time he went up the space seemed smaller; even Tom found it harder to propel himself up.
He eased his foot up onto the ledge and hauled himself in away from the rough wooden struts as
straight as sentries, fierce like jagged claws. He was in. His father couldn’t even try to follow him.
The birds squawked overhead making him jump, and he felt tense. Anyway, he had come this far
so he may as well continue and try to find some clue or other. He had found many interesting
things up here – old, loved train engines, black and shiny, paint chipped, but with a shine on the
paint like a new pair of school shoes.
Complication: including problems
He spotted it. There was an old wooden box…full of papers. Puzzling as this was the one that his
Dad had said he was getting rid of. Must have changed his mind for some reason. Something
was in the silver, shiny lock. Part of a doll; a piece of scrunched up paper; a black key?
Comprehension questions – 2 each level from the text
18
Literal (here): meaning is in the words (you can underline the words)
1 What words tell us that West Chirton Hall was no longer standing?
2 How did Chas get into the middle of the wood through the briars?
Inferential (hidden): meaning is in other parts of the text, or inferred meanings of metaphors,
similes, idioms
1 What exactly had caused the smell of petrol and fireworks that Chas thought was like Guy
Fawkes Night?
2 The tail of the plane is described as being “like a sycamore seed”. What do you think a
sycamore seed is like if it is described in this way?
Interpretive (applied/head/heart): meaning is beyond the text, in reader’s experience or
knowledge of the topic
1 Why did Chas correct his imaginary newsreader to include “Form 3A” in his article?
2 What do you think Chas might do next?
19
Lesson Plan 3 :
Primary 3 The search for Tutankhamen (Jane Shuter)
TEXT: The search for Tutankhamen pg.18-19
GENRE: Sequential and Factorial Explanation
STAGE: P4-5
PURPOSE: To explain two problems that occurred after the treasure was found: the problem of
visitors interrupting the work of the team and the
problem of deciding who owned the treasure.
TEACHING PURPOSE
• Explain two problems that arose after the tomb was
discovered.
• Interpret information from photo & diagram
• Read text with fluency and meaning
• Retell ideas from a factual text; participate in
class discussion
• Jointly construct an argument
• Technical language of the topic.
Preparing before reading
This next part tells us about the problems that occurred after the tomb was discovered. It begins with a record
of events and the problem these caused. After that, (on the next page) there is an explanation of why people
argued about who owned the treasure.
Read Text aloud to the class
Detailed Reading
Problems:
Visitors;
Prep: The first sentence tells us that when people heard about the riches in the tomb they wanted to come
from all over the world to see them. (read the sentence)
Meaning cues: (unpack grammatical methphor “the news” and make explicit the implicit conjunction)
people heard
where buried riches
wanted to come
many places
1. The news of Tutankhamen’s tomb and treasures brought visitors from all over the world.
Elaboration: should lead students to the inference in the text eg. The author tells us that ‘the news, brought
visitors” He/she doesn’t just say people came - Why does the author tell us that people wanted to come?
What reason might they have? – interest? hope of…. getting rich?
Prep: The next sentence tells us 4 kinds of people important people rushed to see what had been found.
Meaning cues:
Leaders of countries X 2 - people who study the past X 2
came in big groups
why they came
2. Kings, queens, archaeologists, historians and many others flocked to Egypt. They all wanted to look
round.
Elaboration: explore metaphor for inference eg animals like sheep travel in a group called a flock – so why
does the author tell us people flocked to Egypt? Big crowds- followed each other like sheep, all wanted the
same thing?
Prep: unpack implicit conjunction eg, because of the visitors, the workers had to show people the tomb so
they had to stop their work all the time.
Meaning cues:
workers
all the time, had to
why had to stop
3. The archaeologists kept having to stop work to show people around the tomb.
Elaboration: explore inferred problem: eg When you have to stop one thing to do something else it’s called
and interruption, isn’t it? So the visitors to the tomb were interrupting the work of the archaeologists. Do you
think this might have been a problem?
NOTE: Photo shows that ‘showing people around’ in those days involved much time.
‘Who kept the treasure?
Most people who paid for excavations expected to get at least a share of what was found, if not all of it.
20
But nothing as valuable as the treasure in Tutankhamen’s tomb had ever been found before. The
Egyptian government wanted to keep Tutankhamen’s treasure, because it was so rare.
But Lord Carnarvon had paid for seven years’ work. He felt he should have a share of the treasure.
NOTE: Timeline at the bottom shows the date the first visitors came to the tomb. Explain how to read it.
INDEPENDENT WRITING TASK
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
Write a counter argument using the argument
Before reading this text, pupils will know about the
modeled on the board.
search and discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb, where &
when it took place, who was involved, how it happened
and what was in it.
EXAMPLE REWRITE (Practise writing the text yourself. Label the stages and phases)
This is not a suitable text to re-write. They will write an argument after one has been modeled to them.
COMPREHENSION (Literal, inferential, evaluative)
Literal:
• State 2 problems that emerged after the discovery of the treasure
Inferential:
Evaluative:
• Write a ‘thought bubble’ for Carter and one visitor indicating what each might be saying to himself.
• Why was this a ‘rare find’.
JOINT CONSTRUCTION: Class oral reconstruction from notes (led by a child) at the board
Then shoulder partner reconstructions, from notes
Problem 1
Important visitors came from around
the world to be shown round. They
interrupted the work of the archeologist
team.
Problem 2:
Traditionally those who paid got the
treasure.
Egyptian gov’t wanted the treasure
because it was so rare.
Lord C wanted it because he had paid
for the dig.
Notes on Board
News
Brought visitors
All over the world
Kept having to stop work
Show people around.
Most people who paid
Expected at least a share
But
valuable
Egyptian Govt
rare
Paid for 7 yrs work
NEXT STEPS
Model to the class how to write an ARGUMENT for why the Egyptian Govt should keep the treasure.
An Argument starts with a statement of the position. Then it lists reasons (most important first), with an explanation of why each reason matters. It might voice a counter argument then reason against it. It ends by
re-stating the writer’s position.
‘The Egyptian gov’t was right to keep the treasure from King Tut’s tomb. There are a number of reasons why
this was the right decision. First, it was a very rare find. It was rare because no other tomb had been found in
such a complete state, undamaged and with such fine things in it. Because it was so unusual to find such a
treasure trove, it should be kept together. Second… Third….
Some people say that in the past treasure had always been kept by the person who paid for the dig. But I
21
think King Tut was different because it was far more valuable than previous finds. A government rather than
an individual should own treasure worth so much money. This is why the Egyptian gov’t should keep the
treasure
Use this as a basis for individuals or pairs to independently construct the counter argument: Why Lord C
should keep all or some of the treasure
Lord C should… There are several reasons for this…. First…… Second ……. Third…. Some people say
that ………. But I think ……… That is why…..
22
Year Two Outputs 2012-2013
4. Outlines of Teacher Training Programs
In Scotland, we involved a range of schools and teachers to work with us on implementing
and trialling the Genre pedagogy approach in Scottish schools. The Scottish national
Team worked in pairs with groups of teachers, averaging 2-3 teachers per National Training Team member. We worked in pairs so that we could provide a ‘seamless’ service to
the schools; if one person was unavailable, the school always had another on which they
could call. Also, we know that different people can see possibilities and barriers in different
ways, and we wanted to ensure that we continued to share our knowledge and expertise.
In keeping with Scotland’s approach to implementation science, we did not develop a
‘course’ , which was delivered to the teachers as a group, but instead worked with teachers in their school context to examine how the approach worked in each class, and how it
could be adapted according to the school context, the teacher expertise and confidence
and the pupils. The training was between 30 - 40 hours over the course of the year alongside this progressive implementation in the classroom. New ideas were introduced in a
contextualised way, according to when each teacher was ready to embrace them.
The National Training Team worked in the following schools, curricular areas, and pairings:
Secondary English Team
National
Training
Team
Linda
Harris &
Gill
Robinson
School name and town
Local Authority
Hutchesons’ Grammar School Glasgow G41 4NW
Inverclyde Academy, Greenock, PA16 0FB
Bearsden Academy, Bearsden, G61 3SF
Eastbank Academy, Glasgow, G32 9AA
Independent
Inverclyde
Glasgow
Glasgow
Secondary Geography Team
Your
Local Authority
23
name
Clare
McAlister
& Sue
Ellis
School name, town
Eastwood High School, Eastwood G77 6NQ.
East Renfrewshire
Barrhead High School, Barrhead G78 2SJ.
St. Andrew's and St. Bride's High School, East Kilbride
The James Young High School, Livingston, EH54 6N
East Renfrewshire
South Lanarkshire
West Lothian
Secondary Science and Social Science Team
Your
name
Morag
Findlay
& Janice Neilson
School name and town
St Andrews High School, Paisley
Local Authority
Renfrewshire
St Andrews High School, Paisley
Eastwood High School, East Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire
East Renfrewshire
Primary Literacy in all curricular areas Team
Your
name
Sue Ellis
& Andrea
Linn
School name and town
Balornock Primary , Glasgow G21 3UT
Newark Primary School, Port Glasgow PA14 5SU
Newark Upper Primary School, Port Glasgow PA14 5SU
Local Authority
Glasgow
Inverclyde
Inverclyde
Teacher Training Sessions Record 2012 – 2013
The timelog that we kept of our work with the teachers shows a number of different patterns and types of engagement.
Sample Training Programme 1: A.Linn and S.Ellis – Working with Primary Teachers
Topic - Date
Discussions to introduce project
and pedagogy
January 2012
CPD/presentation –Sam Harte
and Senior School Manager
February 2012
Modelling and discussion of story
genres
August 2012
Activity
Description and discussions of project background;
lesson outline; fit with school projects
Materials: notes from Lisbon Conference; R2L website; powerpoint of project. (Strathclyde website)
National day for teachers including activities led by
Claire Acevedo. Discussions between trainers and
teachers – potential benefits and challenges of the
pedagogy; stages and phases.
Materials: Claire Acevedo - published on Strathclyde
website. Trainers’ early lesson plans (LH – Human
Rights lesson) and notes.
Examination of teaching materials in use with classes.
Lesson sequence and flow. Importance of text level
in selection; mix of follow-up tasks.
Materials: Teachers’ texts used in schools. Own
notes on common genre features of fiction texts
24
Time (approx.)
2 hours
5 hours
6 hours
Modelling paragraph reading in
classes
CPD/demonstrations of approach
per class
Sept 2012
Modelling detailed reading -fiction
with classes
Oct 2012
Fiction –modelling into team
teaching
Nov 2012
Modelled and shared fiction
teaching with each class with pre
and post discussion.
Demonstration and de-briefing discussion for each
teacher. Sequence of lesson plans as prepared by
trainer but discussed with teachers: identification/categorisation of fiction and poetry materials; preparation for reading; paragraph reading ; Joint rewriting; Independent writing
Materials: lesson plans; normal class materials
Demonstration and de-briefing discussion for each
teacher. Sequence of lesson plans as prepared by
trainer but discussed with teachers.
10 hours
10 hours
Sequence lesson planners shared and prepared with
teachers: identification of genre & structure, joint construction; individual writing.
Materials: own lesson plans/notes and teachers lesson plans/notes
10 hours
Sequence of lesson plans on A Christmas Carol: identification/categorisation; preparation for reading; paragraph reading with some detailed reading.
10 hours
Discussion of non-fiction text choices; links with topic
planners/content teaching; examination of non-fiction
(topic) teaching materials in use with classes. Identification of genres; lesson plans prepared; challenges
anticipated; benefits to individual pupils and groups.
3 hours
Dec 2012
January 2013
Non-fiction lesson planning
Non fiction genres: modelling and
team teaching
January 2013
Lesson plan discussions
(fortnightly)
February-March 2013
Discussion of notes on specific
implementation issues; consideration of non-fiction
February 2013
Whole school discussion of
Reading to Learn pedagogies
and approach – (over 2 sessions)
February 2013
Materials: lesson planners; non-fiction genres, discussed and amended.
Lesson sequence and flow in paragraph reading of
non-fiction. Importance of text level in selection; mix
of follow-up tasks.
Materials: Teachers’ texts used in schools. Own
notes on common genres of non-fiction texts
Shared and Modelled teaching; discussion of lesson
plans and evaluations for paragraph and detailed
reading of non-fiction genres.
6 hours
6 hours
Materials: Teacher observations, records of work and
pupil work. Discussion of issues arising; fit with school
planner; local authority policies on: groupwork; differentiation; support and challenge; active learning. Discussion of pupil reactions and attainment.
3 hours
Presentations and discussion of the approach. Individual teachers report on their own use of the approach – issues/ adaptations etc.
4 hours
25
Discussion of teachers’ nonfiction lessons
March 2013
Discussion of non-fiction (topic) lesson plans used
with classes and teacher lesson evaluations. Identification of genres. Text level and lesson pacing; issues
around joint and individual re-writes; creating a varied
mix of engaging follow-up tasks.
Materials: Teachers’ texts used in schools. Own
notes on common genres of non-fiction texts
Sample 2: Morag Findlay and Janice Neilson working with Physics and Social Science Secondary Teachers
Input – in order
Discussion
May 2012
Activity
Discussion and collection of materials from teachers. Identifying genres
in the texts and discussing what was used. Discussed issues with
some texts and text selection. Discussed approaches that would be
used in the classroom (detailed and paragraph reading).
Time
4 hours
Modelling
May/June 2012
Working with the teacher’s materials to be used in the classroom.
Guided practice on what the materials were and how these might be
used in relation to genre and then modelled in the classrooms. Paragraph reading and detailed reading modelled.
8 hours
Materials: Project format for lesson plan. Lesson plan for UV Radiation
modelled for teachers.
Discussion
June 2012
http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofeducation/tel4ele/lesson_pl
ans/
Discussed issues raised as a result of modelling and collected unsupported writing from pupils.
3 hours
Demonstrated Input – Process – Output lesson plan to Intermediate 1
Physics class.
Tutorial/interview
August 2012
Materials: sample jotters from two schools covering First Year Science
in 2011 - 2012 and Third Year Intermediate 1 Physics in 2011 - 12
Recap on areas covered and preparation for working with the class.
Guidance on the planning cycle and need for regular short inclusion into
classroom teaching.
3 hours
S1 classes – pupils shared Reading to Learn Inputs in Social Subjects
and in Science.
S4 pupils again shared Reading to Learn Inputs in Social Subjects.
Email communication and discussion
September 2012
To check on understanding and implementation of the pedagogy. Advice given through email contact as teacher time very challenged in
personal visits at certain times of the school year.
Materials: Lesson plan for using texts found via the internet: wind power
available at:
http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofeducation/tel4ele/lesson_pl
ans/
Main issue with S4 class understanding of Problem Solving in examin-
26
6
hours
ation questions. Materials: Lesson plan covering sound examination
questions available at
http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofeducation/tel4ele/lesson_pl
ans/
October 2012
Collected Topic 1: Energy pupil materials from school for marking
1 hour
Discussion
November 2012
Discussion
December 2012
Discussion
Feb/March 2013
Email discussion of issues arising
2 hours
Email discussion of issues arising
2 hours
Time with teachers in their schools to discuss implementation, provision
of implementation planning for a cycle and assessment criteria and
marking.
3 hours
Collect Topic 2 Pupil presentations
Collect examination results
April 2013
CPD event working on genres, detailed reading and paragraph reading
3 hours
Materials: Teachers own classroom materials.
April/May 2013
Assessment of pupils’ materials and gathering plans. Teacher interviews.
5 hours
Collect Topic 3 Pupil presentations
Materials: Teachers’ planning and pupil work samples.
June 2013
Gathering assessment data and checking pupil assessment.
Collect Topic 4 Pupil presentations
3 hours
Materials: Teachers’ planning and pupils work samples.
Sample 3: Clare McAlister and Sue Ellis working with Geography Teachers in the
Secondary School
Input – in order
Discussion – February 2012
Activity
Project brought to teachers and discussed for levels of interest in taking
part.
CPD/presentation
– February 2012
Materials: Discussion with teachers on approach and gauge of interest.
Open lecture presentation by Claire Acevedo and attendance at
National day for teachers. Geography teachers worked with me looking
at genres in geography texts. Discussion of these.
Time
1 hour
5 hours
Materials: Strathclyde Open Lecture Demonstration – available at:
http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofeducation/tel4ele/dissemina
tion/
Attendance at
Discussion
March 2012
Discussion and collection of materials from teachers. Identifying genres
in the texts and discussing what was used. Discussed issues with
some texts and text selection. Discussed approaches that would be
used in the classroom (detailed and paragraph reading).
Materials: Own handout of features of factorial, sequential and conse-
27
4 hours
Modelling
May/June/August
2012
Discussion
June 2012
Tutorial/interview
August 2012
Email communication and discussion
September 2012
CPD input at
school
October 2012
Interview/
discussion
November 2012
quential explanations. Available on website. Available at:
http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofeducation/tel4ele/lesson_pl
ans/
Working with the teacher’s materials to be used in the classroom.
Guided practice on what the materials were and how these might be
used in relation to genre and then modelled in the classrooms. Paragraph reading and detailed reading modelled.
Materials: Project format for lesson plan. Own Lesson plans. Handout
from previous session. Other examples of lesson plans. Available online at:
http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofeducation/tel4ele/lesson_pl
ans/
Discussed issues raised as a result of modelling and collected unsupported writing from pupils.
Materials: teachers’ lesson plans and lesson accounts.
Recap on areas covered and preparation for working with the class.
Guidance on the planning cycle and need for regular short inclusion into
classroom teaching. Teachers advised to start with paragraph reading
for first month.
Materials: lesson plans; texts to be used with class; genre hand out for
geography available at:
http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofeducation/tel4ele/lesson_pl
ans/
To check on understanding and implementation of the pedagogy. Advice given through email contact as teacher time very challenged in
personal visits at certain times of the school year.
Materials: teachers’ lesson plans; own lesson plans; powerpoints of
project/process. Available at:
http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofeducation/tel4ele/dissemina
tion/
Working with literacy coordinator focussing on paragraph by paragraph
reading and detailed reading.
Materials: Local Authority powerpoint; lesson plans; texts used in class.
PPT Available at:
http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofeducation/tel4ele/dissemina
tion/
Interview/discussion with teachers relating to implementation and any
issues they wish to raise about that.
Email input
Various dates
Materials: teachers’ work
Responding to queries regarding pedagogy or issues raised during the
time so far. Presentation of pupil materials discussed, learning cycles
and issues with time.
Discussion
Feb/March 2013
Materials: teachers’ work
Time with teachers in their schools to discuss implementation, provision
of implementation planning for a cycle and assessment criteria and
marking.
8 hours
3 hours
2 hours
2 hours
3 hours
2 hours
3 hours
3 hours
April 2013
Materials: teachers’ work; double-marked writing samples.
CPD event working on genres, detailed reading and paragraph reading
3 hours
April/May 2013
Materials: Teachers own classroom materials.
Assessment of pupils’ materials and gathering plans. Teacher inter-
3 hours
28
views.
June 2013
Materials: Teachers’ planning and pupil work samples.
Gathering assessment data and checking pupil assessment.
3 hours
Materials: Teachers’ planning and pupils work samples.
Sample 4: Linda Harris and Gill Robinson working with Secondary English Teachers
Topic - Date
Initial Discussions re project and
pedagogy
January 2012
CPD/workshop/discussion – preparation before reading; detailed
reading; joint construction etc
February 2012
Discussion of genre identification/categorisation of texts including raising awareness of stages
and phases
March 2012
Modelling (“I do, you watch”)
May/June 2012
Guided Practice (“I do, you help”;
“you do, I help”; “you do, I watch”)
June 2012
Activity
Detailed discussion of project background; theoretical
stance; evolution of genre pedagogy; three levels of
support/learning cycles; the merits the pedagogical
approaches.
Materials: notes of D.Rose seminar from Lisbon Conference; R2L website; powerpoint of project. (Strathclyde website)
National day for teachers including activities led by
Claire Acevedo. Discussions between trainers and
teachers – potential benefits and challenges of the
pedagogy; stages and phases.
Materials: Claire Acevedo - published on Strathclyde
website; D.Rose example of lesson plans from Lisbon; Trainers’ early lesson plans (LH – Human Rights
lesson) and notes.
Collation of teaching materials used with previous S1
classes from teachers. Discussed challenges of
categorising some texts (stages and phases) and importance of text selection. Initial discussion of main
classroom approaches (e.g. detailed reading) and
lesson planning.
Materials: Teachers’ texts brought from schools.
Notes on genre features from D.Rose training from
Book 3 .
Sequence lesson plans discussed and prepared; including Preparation for Reading, Detailed Reading
(Language patterns/using metalanguage); Joint Construction; Joint Rewriting and Independent Writing
executed with S1 class with teachers observing. Follow-up discussion with teachers including reference to
filmed material and re-write models from D.Rose .
Materials: lesson plans created on “Dog Fouling” passage from “The Guardian” newspaper.
Sequence lesson plans discussed and prepared; including Preparation for Reading, Detailed Reading(Language patterns/ metalanguage); Joint Construction and Individual Writing executed with S1
class with teachers helping. Follow-up discussion
with teachers.
Materials: lesson plans/notes/PPt on extract from
“The Machine Gunners”.
Sequence lesson plans discussed and prepared; including Preparation for Reading, Joint Construction
and Individual Writing executed with S1 class with one
teacher leading. Follow-up discussion with teachers.
Materials: lesson plans/notes/PPt on extract from
29
Time (approx.)
3 hours
4 hours
4 hours
12 hours
18 hours
Discussion
August 2012
Tutorial/workshop
September 2012
Email/phone communications to
discuss specific implementation
issues
September 2012 – February 2013
Workshop/tutorial tbc
February - March 2013
“Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha”.
Preparation for implementation. Wide ranging discussion of many aspects of the pedagogy. Teachers
working in groups to choose texts and prepare lessons. Discussion of embedding pedagogy into
term/year plans.
Materials: possible texts and initial lesson plan notes
perused.
2 hours
Discussion involved reviewing text choices; lesson
plans prepared; challenges anticipated; benefits to
individual pupils and groups. Arrangements made for
baseline testing.
Materials: lesson plans reviewed, discussed and
amended with reference to Acevedo/Rose presentation materials.
3 hours
Testing executed and papers posted to me.
Discussions regarding aspects of the learning cycle
including: managerial approaches to classroom
equipment/use of smart boards etc; Joint Construction
– the content of notes; the difference between Independent Rewriting and Individual Rewriting; engagement or otherwise of pupils; elements of pupil work
produced; how the pedagogy links aspects of English
teaching in a streamlined way not experienced prior to
implementation etc.
Materials: notes from D Rose lectures in Sweden and
Denmark; teachers’ lesson plans; baseline tests.
8 hours
Discussions regarding ongoing planning/teaching of
the various aspects of the pedagogy. Discussions
around pupils’ work, assessment criteria and marking.
Materials: notes from D Rose assessment sessions;
teachers’ work; pupils’ work; assessed pupil scripts.
1 hour
55 hours to date
5. Sample classroom implementation sequences within the national planning
framework for Scotland
Classroom teachers, guided by the National Team Tutors with whom they were working,
included the Genre pedagogy into their usual classroom curriculum cycles in different
ways within the project. We used their experiences to produce an advice booklet about
how a teacher might work in this integrated way. Two different examples of how genre
pedagogy was integrated into everyday curriculum sequence planners in Scotland are detailed below. Each uses the sort of planning format required by the school. The third example is an example of the ‘General Planning Advice’ that our teachers produced with the
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National Tutor Team to assist other Scottish teachers in developing sequence planners for
the Genre pedagogy approach that are applicable in their own context.
Sample 1: Primary 3-4 Sequence Planner
Experiences and
Outcomes
I can use my knowledge of sight vocabulary, phonics,
context clues, punctuation and grammar
to read with understanding and expression.
Genre Pedagogy Teaching
Activities
I can
•
• Pupils will read aloud
within their reading groups
developing fluency and
using expression
• Comprehension in NF language work using genre
pedagogy techniques –
notes and re-writing
•
Modelling:
• Identification/label genre
for fiction work
• Activate prior knowledge
• Paragraph summaries
• Find me… vocab
• Notes
• Re-explain from notes
•
•
ENG 1-12a
I am learning to select and use strategies and resources
before I read, and as
I read, to help make
the meaning of texts
clear.
I can
•
LIT 1-13a
Experiences and
Outcomes
Using what I know
about the features of
different types of
texts, I can find, select, sort and use
information for a
specific purpose.
LIT 1-14a
I am learning to
make notes under
given headings and
use them to understand information,
explore ideas and
problems and create
new texts.
Formative/Summative Assessments
Learning Intention
Read aloud
with good expression in my
voice recognising dialogue
Use text purpose and
structure to
help comprehension
Identify purpose and
structure of
text; prior
knowledge;
overall summary and para
summary
Learning Intention
I can
•
•
•
I can
•
Teaching Activities
• Completing print /digital
choose informa- research on different astion from differpects of Ancient Egyptian
ent texts
society e.g. Gods, burial
Read informapractises, farming and
tion texts to help houses
me in my topic • Prompt paired application
work.
of NF language work on
Answer and
using genre techniques
create questions
about a text.
Completing research on
Make notes
different aspects of Ancient
from information Egyptian society.
books.
e.g. Gods, burial practises,
farming and houses
• Activate prior knowledge
• Paragraph summaries
• Find me… vocab
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•
•
Comprehension discussions
Paired re-writes
Comprehension discussions
Paired re-writes
Formative/Summative Assessments
•
•
•
Info cards
Presentations
Q and A
•
Re-writes – info NF
books for parents
Genre-shift work
Diagramme/storyboard
•
•
LIT 1-15a
Experiences and
Outcomes
To show my understanding across different areas of learning, I can identify
and consider the
purpose and main
ideas of a text.
Learning Intention
I can
•
•
Identify the important points
within a text
Summarise the
main event of a
passage I have
read.
Teaching Activities
•
•
LIT 1-16a
•
To show my understanding, I can respond to different
kinds of questions
and other close
reading tasks and I
am learning to create some questions
of my own.
I can
•
•
Answer questions on a selected text
Ask 3 questions
about a text
which I am
reading.
•
•
•
Pupils will read
various topic activities related to Scottish history and
identify main
points.
Through reading
books and class
novel they will discuss main ideas of
texts.
Reciprocal reading
Ginn readers
Topic interpretation
activities
Key Comp Book adapted for Genre
pedagogy detailed
reading techniques
Formative/Summative Assessments
•
Discussion
•
Paired and group task
summaries
ENG 1-17a
Experiences and
Outcomes
Learning Intention
Teaching Activities
Formative/Summative Assessments
To help me develop
an informed view, I
can recognise the
difference between
fact and opinion.
LIT 1-18a
I can share my
thoughts about
structure, characters
and/or setting, recognise the writer’s
message and relate
it to my own experiences, and comment
on the effective
I can
•
•
Give ideas of
what a character is like and
back this up
with evidence
from my reading.
Recognise
•
•
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Class novel – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – detailed reading GP
Ginn readers – adapt for GP detailed
reading work
•
•
Make your neighbour a
main character
choice of words and
other features.
techniques for
portraying character;
ENG 1-19a
Sample 2: Secondary Year 1 (English class) Sequence Planner
This shows a sequence of three lessons, all linked to the text ‘Nightclubs’. This is a text
commonly used iwith this stage of pupil in Seconary Schools and would be recognized by
most Secondary Teachers.
Lesson 1 “Nightclubs’: Reading for meaning
Text
Text
Nightclubs…
Genre
Exemplum
Stage/Yr level
S3 or S4
Purpose of text – including the overall purpose of the genre, and the themes/topic of this text
Entertaining/engaging the reader.
Judging human behaviour in nightclubs.
Purposes for teaching – what outcomes does the text address – students will…
Develop their understanding of human behaviour and their ability to reflect on their own behaviour.
Read the text with understanding.
Retell ideas from the text and participate in class discussion.
Develop their knowledge of this genre.
Learn how to write this genre.
Background knowledge – what you need to teach before the text, resources you will use
Depending on the class, the meanings of “subsequently”, “conspiracy”; “apocalypse”, “timebubble”, “muster”,
“despicable”, “furnace”, “inanities”, “megaphone”, “overbearing”, “preening”, “intimidated”,
“insecurity”, “beacon”, “self-perpetuating”, “status”, “temporarily”, “erect”, “veneer”, “defensive”,
“sneering”, “superiority”, “vapid”, “blah”, “demented”, “imbeciles”, “arid”: - may be best to make up a glossary
for them.
That young people are under peer pressure to enjoy/pretend to enjoy nightclubs.
The use of sarcasm and insult to make a point.
That young people can be obsessed with appearance, which is a superficial way to evaluate
anything.
That young people often cover up insecurities with a fashionable and distant (“cool”) appearance.
That young people photograph themselves in situations as if there is a need to prove their
existence or prove that they are enjoying themselves.
That in the broader context of world affairs (possible apocalypse), there is no meaning in this kind
of superficial behaviour.
That perhaps this is understandable behaviour after all, given that an apocalypse is a possibility.
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Lesson Plan Notes – Nightclubs contd.
Prep before Reading – Joint Construction – Indiv. Writing
Need to project a large copy of the text in question; note the stages and phases as you go and get pupils to note
these.
Preparation for Reading
Genre summary:
Exempla are engaging stories that judge people’s behaviour. They start with an Orientation that usually tells us
who is in the story, what they are like and where the story takes place. Then there is a Complication where we
read about something happening to the character/person or that they discover/learn something. There is an end
section called an Evaluation in which a person’s behaviour is judged.
Summary:
This exemplum is about a newspaper reporter’s visit to a nightclub in London. His name is Charlie Brooker and he
does not like night clubs. He went with a friend who was making a public appearance and discovered that that
meant simply being seen there and drinking champagne. He was more than ten years older than everyone there
and he noticed the unpleasant looks he received. He had always hated clubs and he realised that he didn’t need to
pretend to any more. He believes that no-one likes clubs but that everyone pretends to in order to fit in. He thinks
that if this is the only way people can find a partner, then they are not fit to produce children at all. He notices that
the people in the club have spent a long time on their appearance and that although he used to feel inadequate
next to such people, he now realises that it is actually a sign of insecurity; they are trying very hard to get social
status. The next thing he notices is that they are all photographing each other for Flickr and he thinks this is madness. His final thought, though, is that since there is always a possibility of nuclear war, perhaps they may as well
enjoy themselves as much as they can, even if they are only pretending.
Now read the exemplum aloud- getting them to mark the stages.
Discuss important elements in it (pairs-fours):
Lesson 2 ‘Nightclubs’: Joint Construction
Example rewrite – practise rewriting the text yourself – label the stages and phases
Notes:
New setting – Disco; youth club; football match; concert…
Character – teenager; child; adult – reporter for school newspaper; blogger; Facebook friend
First event – sound system fault; drink spillage on dance floor; parent turns up…
Problem – parent appears; someone ill (drugs/alcohol); fire breaks out…
Main things to describe – the hall; people; clothes; dancing; make-up; hair; music…
Voting to choose
Read first sentence and ask what they will say in the first sentence of the new story. Refer back
to wording and ask how they will write each group of words.
Joint Construction:
Orientation (including char, setting, episode)
I (char) went to a teenagers’ disco (setting) on Saturday in Glasgow. Not something I do very often
because I enjoy discos less than I enjoy eating newspaper. (episode) But a smooth talking friend of
mine, Paul, was there to try to meet a girl he had had his eye on for some time and I was curious to
see if he would pull and I was also quite interested in her friend, who was an attractive brunette.
Complication (incl. problem, solution, reaction)
(problem)We had just met the girls and got settled at the bar with a drink when to my utter horror, I
saw my father approaching wearing his d.i.y. clothes. I could feel my face redden with shame; my
(reaction)hands were moist and trembling and my throat was so dry I downed almost the entire
contents of my glass in one gulp. And somewhere just behind that was a rising fury that he had
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followed me.
“I need your keys, son. I’ve gone and locked myself out the house. Your mother won’t be home
until late or I wouldn’t have bothered you.”
(reaction) With the shaking hands, it was difficult to get the keys out of my pocket but I handed
them to him with a look that you give to dog poo on your shoe and realised that my evening would
likely come to an abrupt end. Paul stared, open mouthed and then he looked at the floor. The girls
were looking from me to dad and back again as if the least I should have done was punch him
right there in the disco.
“I think I’d better be going,” I muttered, hoping that (reaction) someone would stop me or at least
say something to make me feel better. No-one said a word. Not one. I started to walk quicker towards the door and
thought about my idiotic father and his botched d.i.y. jobs, the fact that he was always
losing things and how he didn’t ever seem to understand what was going on in my life. (no solution)
Resolution (incl. comment and reflection)
But it was while I was walking home that I thought about Paul, our friendship and all that we had been
through together over the last two years. I had helped him with homework many times. I
had always been there to lift his spirits when he was feeling down. In fact, now that I thought of it, it
was because of me that he was the confident person he had become (comment) and it was that which had resulted in
him becoming so popular now. So much for him being a good friend to me – when I
needed him. (reflection)What a disappointment. I started to walk home wearily.
Comprehension questions – 2 each level from the text
Literal (here): meaning is in the words (you can underline the words)
1 What does the writer actually think about nightclubs? (Para 3)
2 In paragraph 6 he indicates that he thinks that the behaviour of people who go to clubs is
stupid; what is his final thought about their behaviour? (Para 10)
Inferential (hidden): meaning is in other parts of the text, or inferred meanings of metaphors,
similes, idioms
1 The writer uses a metaphor in the first paragraph which indicates that he does not like
clubs; write it down and say why you think it is effective.
2 In paragraph 2, the writer says his expression was like that of “a man waking up to
Christmas in a prison cell”. What does he mean by this?
Interpretive (applied/head/heart): meaning is beyond the text, in reader’s experience or
knowledge of the topic
1 Write down two things about nightclubs which you think the writer is correct about.
2 What are your views about going to clubs and photographing one another?
Lesson 3 ‘Nightclubs’: New context for application
Example rewrite – practise rewriting the text yourself – label the stages and phases
Notes:
New setting – Disco; youth club; football match; concert…
Character – teenager; child; adult – reporter for school newspaper; blogger; Facebook friend
First event – sound system fault; drink spillage on dance floor; parent turns up…
Problem – parent appears; someone ill (drugs/alcohol); fire breaks out…
Main things to describe – the hall; people; clothes; dancing; make-up; hair; music…
Voting to choose
Read first sentence and ask what they will say in the first sentence of the new story. Refer back to wording and ask how they will write each group of words. Pupils now to put ideas into sentences as teacher
constantly refers to model text and notes for support. Discuss function of each Phase/ Stage as it appears. Once complete, pupils read it aloud. Then onto Independent Writing using same stages and
phases but with new content they have built up and which is still in the displayed notes.
Individual Writing:
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Now set the Individual Writing task; tell them the genre, what the stages and phases are and they should
all understand what is required.
Sample 3: Example of an English S2 Lesson Sequence Using TeL4ELE Genre Pedagogy
Learning Intention
To become familiar with the
idea of Communism
To learn the
context Animal
Farm was written in
To learn the
context Animal
Farm was written in
Events in the
Soviet Union
Activity
T. Content/ Genre
Assessment
Discussion - Tick “agree” or
“disagree” and write a sentence or two explaining why
you chose the answer you did.
What freedoms do we take for
granted in the United Kingdom? Do we have too much
freedom?
Key features of communism
Oral and written
Reading for Info - Tsar Nicholas II
Reading: Genre - factorial explanation; paragraph reading
structure; core vocab; joint reconstruction
Reading: Genre - factorial explanation; paragraph reading
structure; core vocab; joint reconstruction
Written & oral
Genre – sequential explanation paragraph reading
structure; core vocab; individual reconstruction
Explanation genre ped:
Who is in charge of the farm at
the beginning and the end of
the story – does this change?
_Are all of the animals equal?
_Do any of the animals reflect
the key members of the Soviet
Union?
_
Writing
Genre pedagogy – detailed
reading of text extracts: Napoleon, Snowball,
Squealer and Old Major , The
Hens, The Sheep; Moses, Mollie and Boxer
Drama activities
Oral
Genre pedagogy: detailed
reading of speech; joint rewrite.
Personal Pro-nouns
Homework – performance
of speech in pairs
Reading for Info - Communism
in power - Why do you think
the Western Countries would
fear or dislike the spread of
Communism??
Reading and discussion
Animal Farm
Reading text : Literature
groups and structured discussion activities
To develop
knowledge of
the characters
in the novel
Animal farm – reading text
To develop
knowledge of
the characters
in the novel
To learn how to
identify and use
persuasive texts
Animal farm workbooks
Analysis of persuasive speech:
Old Major’s speech
Homework: individual speech
Oral: Discussion genre – point,
support/explain; linking your
views/ comments to others.
Writing: Dissussion
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Think – Pair – Share
Writing
How are the events of the
Russian revolution similar
or different to the events
that take place on Animal
Farm?
oral
on new topic
To understand
how the pigs
gradually take
over Animal
Farm and the
effect this has
on the other
characters
To learn how to
identify and use
discursive texts
To consolidate
our knowledge
of the plot.
To consolidate
our understanding of the text
as a whole.
Critical essay
task
create a table to record how
and when the pigs change or
break The 7 Commandments
Chapter 5 Snowball and Napoleon‘s heated debate.
Comprehension questions
Rhetorical Questions =
Repetition
Emotive Language Exaggeration
Facts and Statistics Triple adjectives used to emphasise a
point.
Alliteration
Paired work - worksheet
Genre pedagogy: paragraph
reading. Paired reconstruction;
individual work
Worksheet
Class discussion
Written
Quiz/ class discussion
Work in pairs to answer the
questions. Copy the answers
in FULL into jotters.
• George Orwell’s novel ‘Ani-
•
mal Farm’ is a tale of how
power can lead to corruption. Discuss the ways in
which power gradually corrupts the pigs and the running of the farm.
Throughout George Orwell’s
‘Animal Farm’ the theme of
distrust is explored. Describe the ways in which
suspicion and doubt begin to
take over at Animal Farm.
Sample 4: Planning Advice for Scotland: Developing lesson sequences in Genre
Pedagogy
This advice was produced by Scottish teachers working with the National Scottish Team
as a result of their experience with Genre Pedagogy.
What to think about when planning a sequence of Genre Pedagogy lessons
Initial decisions
At the start of every lesson, the teacher identifies and explains to pupils, the type of text and the purpose the
text serves. This involves:
- explaining the structure of the text,
- linking it to the ‘job’ that each part of the text does
- linking it to the overall purpose of the text.
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To do this, the teacher must plan the lessons in the lesson sequence and decide:
- how s/he wants to use the text with this class: Does s/he want pupils to read a short part of the text and
explore the ideas and vocabulary in detail, or to get an holistic understanding by reading the whole text and
understanding how the various ideas fit together.
Subsequent decisions
To get an holistic idea of the text…
If the teacher wants the class to get a holistic understanding by reading the whole text, s/he would then prepare the class to read it. S/he would do this by quickly going through the whole text, section by section (or
paragraph by paragraph, depending on how long it is), pointing out what each section is about and giving a
very brief summary of its content. This overview primes every pupil, even those who struggle with literacy, to
understand the text and lets them focus on the language and the ideas as they read.
After that, the teacher takes the whole class back to the beginning of the text, and reads through it. As the
teacher reads, s/he might identify key vocabulary that needs to be explained (by offering the definition, and
asking all to find the word – see the section on questioning under How Genre Pedagogy may challenge
Scottish teaching approaches) and will teach the key knowledge and content ideas as they come up – explaining them, linking them to wider experiences and to ideas in other parts of the text. The teacher may ask
pupils to highlight key terms, phrases or ideas (useful for note-taking), and possibly write these on the
board. The teacher then has a choice, depending on how difficult the text is for the pupils, or how familiar
the pupils are with this approach.
The teacher can:
a) use the notes/ highlighted terms to complete a joint reconstruction of the text with the class. The teacher
may take a strong lead in this activity and involve pupils from the full attainment range in the class in providing ideas and explanations to elaborate on the terms highlighted. A further task may then require pupils to
work individually to create their own text, also working from the highlighted terms but without access to the
text created by the whole class. (This could be a homework task).
b) Ask pupils to work in pairs to create a joint construction from their highlighted text or from the terms written on the board.
To read part of the text in a lot of detail
If the text contains a lot of unfamiliar language or complex ideas (it may be that it has a lot of particularly difficult vocabulary, unfamiliar sentence constructions -for example if it is written in a very formal style- or is
likely to be difficult for most pupils in the class to access for any reason, the teacher may want them to read
a very short part of the text to gain a very detailed understanding of what that part means.
The teacher still prepares the class by giving a quick summary of the whole text, but then focuses them on
the particular passage(s) that s/he has identified as particularly important. For each sentence (or couple of
sentences), the teacher: tells the class what the sentence is about and provides the general meaning; they
then read each sentence out loud; then the teacher will ask the class to identify key vocabulary or ideas by
providing a definition of the word/idea, and giving a cue about where this can be found. For example the
teacher may say something like “Can you find me the words, near the start of the sentence, which tell us exactly what happens when the waves break on cliffs” (this is obviously from a Geography text on coastal erosion).
The pupils highlight key terms, facts and phrases. During this the teacher would be teaching the content by
providing detailed explanations and elaborations of the terminology and content ideas. As a class, the pupils
would be asked to write these key terms on the board and to elaborate on them. Then, pupils would take
turns to lead the class in a joint re-construction of the text as a class. Finally, pupils would be asked to take
the original notes and write their own individual elaboration working just from the notes on the board.
The teacher makes the decisions
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Obviously these approaches can be adapted to better meet the time available, the needs of the class or
other policy requirements of the school. One adaptation, for example might be to do one paragraph of detailed reading with the whole class and then ask them to work in pairs to do the next paragraph on their own.
These can be compared within the class, discussed and then used as a basis for pupils’ own writing (possibly as a homework exercise).
By modeling how readers read, how to take notes, and asking pupils to re-write from these notes, pupils are
being given a highly supported experience of literacy, but one that offers them a detailed insight into how
sophisticated readers go about both reading and writing. The writing ensures that they have got their brains
around the ideas sufficiently to understand the content and trains them in how to develop this style of writing,
which is possibly very different from other experiences.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES:
1. Analyse HOW the main genres apply in your area(s) of the Scottish Curriculum?
Analyse the curriculum materials used in your class. Determine the genres that are most frequently used. It
is a good idea to do this separately, and then compare your findings.
2.Plan your lessons
Use the examples of ‘marked-up’ texts for lessons . They are intended to help you mark up your own texts
before attempting to teach a class. Then share your plans with others; invite others to watch you teach and
get feedback from them; ask the pupils what they find useful and not useful.
3. Design a Programme Sequence according to your specific context
Scotland’s curriculum framework, Curriculum for Excellence, is premised on the understanding that all
schools should design a curriculum that meets the needs of the pupils and communities that each school
serves. There is no single, central curriculum or programme that can meet everyone’s needs. Teachers
need to ensure that they provide effective ‘bridges’ to new ideas, building from the experiences pupils bring
from outside school, allowing sufficient practice and enabling them to use this knowledge to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. Teachers need to
consider howmany lessons will be required to work through one whole sequence in Genre Pedagogy, depending on the length and frequency of lessons, and how many homework ‘slots’ they wish to use. .
Where Genre pedagogy is introduced across all the curricular areas in a secondary school, year- group
teachers must consider the overall balance that pupils experience so that the experience is integrated for the
pupils, not just within one subject area. The seven principles of curriculum design, set out in Curriculum for
Excellence, should inform the organization and operation of curriculum programmes. Any group of teachers
thinking of using the Genre Pedagogy Approach must think about how this approach dovetails with these
principles, and ensure that they evaluate ongoing implementation to ensure that the programme overall is
Curriculum for Excellence compliant. The principles are:
Challenge and enjoyment: Children and young people should find their learning challenging, engaging and
motivating. It should encourage high aspirations and ambitions for all. KEY QUESTIONS: Do learners of all
aptitudes and abilities experience an appropriate level of challenge? Does the programme enable each individual to achieve his or her potential? Are pupils active in their learning? Do they have opportunities to develop and demonstrate their creativity? Is there support to enable children and young people to sustain their
effort?
Breadth: All children and young people should have opportunities for a broad, suitably weighted range of
experiences.
KEY QUESTIONS FOR SEQUENCE PLANNING: Is the curriculum organised so that pupils will learn and
develop through a variety of contexts in both the classroom programme?
Progression: Children and young people should experience continuous progression in their learning from 3
to 18 within a single curriculum framework.
KEY QUESTIONS FOR SEQUENCE PLANNING: Does each stage build upon earlier knowledge and
achievements? Do children progress at a rate that meets their needs and aptitudes? Does the programme
keep options open so that routes are not closed off too early?
39
Depth: There should be opportunities for children to develop their full capacity for different types of thinking
and learning.
KEY QUESTIONS FOR SEQUENCE PLANNING: As they progress, do pupils develop and apply increasing
intellectual rigour? Do they draw different strands of learning together? Do they explore and achieve more
advanced levels of understanding?
Personalisation and choice: The curriculum should respond to individual needs and support particular aptitudes and talents.
KEY QUESTIONS FOR SEQUENCE PLANNING: Does it give each child and young person increasing opportunities for exercising responsible personal choice?
Coherence: Taken as a whole, children and young people's learning activities should combine to form a
coherent experience.
KEY QUESTIONS FOR SEQUENCE PLANNING: Are there clear links between the different aspects of
children and young people's learning? Are there opportunities for extended activities which draw different
strands of learning together?
Relevance: Children and young people should understand the purposes of their activities.
KEY QUESTIONS FOR SEQUENCE PLANNING: Do pupils see the value of what they are learning and its
relevance to their lives, present and future?
5. A “success story” from a Scottish classroom
To illustrate some of the success experienced by the pupils of the teachers who took part
in this project, we provide an indicative “learning story” from one of the primary school pupils. The child is in Primary 7, so is 11-12 years old and lives in an area of high poverty,
going to a school that is located in one of the most economically deprived areas in Scotland. We present the introductory part of two texts produced by this child. The first text was
written at the start of the project (the ‘pre-intervention text’) and is a recollection of a school
trip made in the previous year. The second text (the post-intervention text) was written by
the same child just a few months later (March 2013) and is also a remembered account of
a childhood trip – this time the move out of London to Scotland. Both texts are the beginings of anecdotes, written to entertain. The first text was written at the beginning of the
school year (August 2012) before the teacher had started implementing the TeL4ELE project work, although the teacher had been introduced to the strategies. A comparison of the
two texts indicates how the student’s language resources have developed.
The first thing to note is now much longer, and more detailed the second text is. The first
text has a nice sense of the writer’s voice, but it relies solely on this (and on the use of exclamation marks) for its impact. The character and the settings are very much more securely located for the reader in the second text, and the detail of the scene is used to indicate what sort of place they are moving from. One gets a sense that the home and relationships are warm and loving, in contrast to the harsh environment of London’s poorest
streets. The key development in this second piece of writing is the introduction of the idea
of the main character and setting, and of how to portray character and setting effectively in
a written text.
The effect of this in the second text, is sentences that are longer as a result of a greater
use of imagery. The sentences link to each other more effectively, both in terms of grammatical structure and the core ideas. To achieve this result, this pupil had experienced
reading narrative beginnings and had analysed how the authors introduced and used
40
character and setting to drive the story. The pupil understands how to juxtapose the two –
character and setting - to indicate exactly what her family and living environment are like.
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