Teaching Higher Order Literacy Skills
through the LNF: Primary Course
Agenda
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Higher Order Literacy Skills: an introduction
Literacy in Action
Children as Researchers: a non-fiction unit
Higher Order Literacy Skills and the LNF
The Power of Story: a fiction-based unit
Building a Literacy Rich School
Higher Order Reading Skills –
What Are They?
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Location
Re-organisation
Inference
Evaluation
Appreciation
Reading Detectives and the LNF
Year
Oracy: Collaboration
Group & Discussion
Reading:
Comprehension
Writing: Meaning,
purposes, readers
Y3
Use talk purposefully to
complete a task in a
group
Deduce ideas &
information by linking
explicit statements
Note down ideas to use in
writing
Y4
Help a group to reach
agreement
Deduce connections
between information
Gather ideas to plan
writing
Y5
Build on and develop
the ideas of others in
group discussions
Infer meaning which
is not explicitly stated
Use different techniques in
planning writing
Y6
Follow up points in
group discussions,
showing agreement or
disagreement, giving
reasons
Infer ideas which are
not explicitly stated
Use a range of strategies
to plan and present
writing
Reading and Writing for Real
Providing children with:
• An engaging and motivating ‘hook’
• A clear purpose for reading and writing
• A strong context for applying literacy skills
• Authentic audiences for reading and writing
• An unfolding narrative to retain their interest
Real, Realistic or Pure Fantasy?
• Real
• Realistic – could be real – but it isn’t! (or
maybe there are elements of truth?)
• Fantasy – developing the imagination – having
fun!
Creating Reading and Writing for Real
experiences
• Classroom based e.g. artefacts, letters,
visitors, teacher/TA in role
• School based e.g. playground or field event
• Out of school e.g. visit or trip
Children as Researchers
Dinosaur Discovery
Key questions
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What did they look like?
Where did they live?
How did they move?
What did they eat?
Research process
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Activate prior knowledge
Identify research questions
Set a purpose for reading
Navigate non-fiction texts
Interrogate the text
Record and evaluate information
Skimming and scanning
• Skimming – to quickly identify the main ideas
in a text
• Scanning – to find specific information
Skimming
• Read the title, headings and sub-headings
• Look at visuals
• Read first and last sentences of paragraphs
and sections
• Keep thinking about the meaning of the text
Scanning
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Know what questions you are trying to answer
Don’t try to read every word
Read vertically rather than horizontally
Visualise key words
Look for clues e.g. capital letters, spelling patterns,
word shapes, numbers
• Use signposts e.g. sub titles, headings, headers
• Use textual organisational devices e.g. alphabetical
order
Interrogate the text
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Unknown words – to work out word meanings
Stop and think – to monitor understanding
Check the text – to interpret visuals
Text marking – to identify key information
Read, write, read – to read for meaning
Ask the teacher – to formulate questions and
monitor understanding
• Analyse the question – to answer different types of
question
• Find the main idea – to identify key information
Record and evaluate information
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Key words
Notemaking
Change the form
Children’s quiz
Next steps
Phase 1
Create an experience
- to hook pupils in
- give reason to write
Explore language
-use it
-explore content
-empathise
Reading
Immersion
Analysis
Reading as a writer
Phase 2
Speaking & Listening
Capturing ideas
Drama
Oral rehearsal
Phase 3
Plan
Model the writing
process
Writing
Writing as a reader
Presenting
Read texts
-enjoy,
-discuss vocabulary
-language features
-effect on audience
Try out ideas
Explore further
texts, videos etc
Allow adequate
time to complete
writing task and
present work
The unfolding narrative
Task
Purpose
Audience
Text
type/format
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Research the
giganotosaurus
To find out and
present
information
Professor T Rex
NC report –
information
sheet
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Research other
dinosaurs
To find out and
present
information
Professor T Rex
NC report –
information
leaflet
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Research what could
be at a dinosaur park
To find out and
present
information
Owner of castle
NC report chart
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Create a map
showing how park
could be laid out
To present
information
visually
Owner of castle
NC report map
5
Create a poster
advertising the park
To persuade
Potential visitors,
particularly
children
Persuasion poster/tv/radio
ad
Children as Researchers:
Benefits in relation to LNF
• Provides a meaningful context for learning to
take place
• Opportunity to practise and apply skills for a
clear purpose and audience
• Mixes literacy skills with subject content
• Focuses on active learning
• Flexible and transferable – can tweak existing
programmes of work
Understanding the LNF
Key Issues for Primary Schools
The LNF: Some Key Messages
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Focuses mainly on planning and assessment
Establishes national expectations year on year
Guide to progression in key aspects of literacy
Cross-curricular (all subjects, incl. English)
Cross-phase (5-14)
The LNF: Some Key Issues
• What definition of literacy are we using?
• What is the relationship between English (or
Welsh) and Literacy?
• At primary level, should literacy be taught in
English lessons, then practised across the
curriculum, or taught in the context of
subjects/themes?
• How/where do we bring together the ‘whole
picture’ of a school’s reading programme, or a
child’s competence as a writer?
Definitions of Literacy
Literacy is not narrowly about the mechanics of
being able to decode the words on a page or write a
grammatically correct sentence, although these are
essential skills in their own right.
It is about the skills needed to understand written
and spoken language, to interpret what has been
written or said, and draw inferences from the
evidence that surrounds us. It is also about being
able to communicate in our turn – fluently, cogently
and persuasively.
Extracts from LNF Handbook
• The LNF focuses on the learner’s acquisition of
and ability to apply the skills and concepts
they have learned in order to complete
realistic tasks appropriate to their stage of
development.
• Teachers will be able to use the LNF to
integrate literacy … into their teaching
whatever the subject matter
Extracts from LNF Handbook
• Literacy is not the same as English/Welsh; as a
consequence the LNF expectations do not address all
aspects of the English/Welsh subject orders and need
to be used in combination with other forms of
assessment to develop a comprehensive picture of
learner achievement.
• The literacy component of the LNF will help teachers to
address the literacy skills requirements of the
English/Welsh programmes of study but not the more
literary/creative aspects of the subject orders.
The Power of Story
The Power of Story
• Central importance of stories, rhymes and oral
storytelling in developing language
• Role of reading in developing writing:
‘it’s good readers that make good writers’
• Need to balance experience of fiction and
non-fiction in children’s experience
The Power of Story:
Leon and the Place Between
Reading as a Reader
Book Talk –
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First thoughts
Likes ?
Dislikes ?
Puzzles ?
Patterns ?
From: Tell Me: Children, Reading and Talk by
Aidan Chambers, published by Thimble Press 2011
The Journey
• Reading as a Reader
An experience - The ‘hook’
Book Talk
Storytelling
Loitering with the text
• Reading as a Writer
Boxing up
Drama into Writing
Shared writing
• Writing as a Reader
Springing off the Page
Writing for Real
Reading as a Writer
Read as a Writer.
• The BIG pattern - box up the story - into 5 key
scenes.
• Story type and focus?
• The smaller patterns - read as a writer.
The Writing Process
• Draw on original model and ‘toolkit’
• Refer to story map and boxed up plan
• Draw on other books and previous
teaching
• Model the writing task
• Shared writing
• Guided/independent writing.
Springing off the Page
Leon’s Problem
Writing task
Purpose
Audience
To persuade
To persuade
people to come
and see show
Townsfolk
Caring for a
rabbit
Leon
To instruct
To persuade
To persuade
Abdul Kazam to
return
Show
To inform
programme
Abdul Kazam
Townsfolk
Phase 1
Create an experience
- to hook pupils in
- give reason to write
Explore language
-use it
-explore content
-empathise
Reading
Immersion
Analysis
Reading as a writer
Phase 2
Speaking & Listening
Capturing ideas
Drama
Oral rehearsal
Phase 3
Plan
Model the writing
process
Writing
Writing as a reader
Presenting
Read texts
-enjoy,
-discuss vocabulary
-language features
-effect on audience
Try out ideas
Explore further
texts, videos etc
Allow adequate
time to complete
writing task and
present work
Reflection
• How can this approach help to take children
from reading into writing?
• How can this approach be applied to other
texts you have used in the classroom?
The Literature Spine
Year
Core Texts
Rec
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt; Rosie’s Walk; Dogger;
Each Peach Pear Plum; Trad Rhymes and stories
Y1
Owl Babies; The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch; Not Now, Bernard;
The Jolly Postman; The Gruffalo
Y2
Aristotle; The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark; Flat Stanley; Hansel
and Gretel (Anthony Browne); The Owl and the Pussy Cat
Y3
Leon and the Place Between; Bill’s New Frock; The Hodgeheg;
The Magic Finger; The Polar Express; Michael Rosen
Y4
The Spiderwick Chronicles; The Tunnel; The Iron Man; The Firework
Maker’s Daughter; Please Mrs Butler (Alan Ahlberg)
Y5
Friend or Foe; Voices in the Park; Krindlekrax; Varjak Paw;
The Highwayman; Oranges in No Man’s Land
Y6
Tom’s Midnight Garden; Ruby in the Smoke; Erica’s Story;
Skellig; How to Live Forever; Ted Hughes and Charles Causley
Building a Literacy Rich School
What would Estyn hope to see?
• A rich and dynamic literacy environment, where
speaking, listening, reading, writing have high status
• Plenty of good opportunities for pupils to show
higher-order reading skills and good quality writing in
all areas of the curriculum
• Good quality displays of a wide range of texts
illustrating the forms and purposes of writing, and
pupil-generated examples celebrating best work
• Practitioners who are good language role models for
oracy, reading and writing
• Practitioners who support the development of good
literacy skills in all areas of the curriculum
Pupil perception survey
• Do you enjoy writing? Yes, no, sometimes.
• Why?
• What sort of writing do you prefer to do and
why?
• What sort of writing is your least favourite and
why?
• Are you a good writer? Yes, no, sometimes.
• How do you know?
• What helps you when you are writing?
• Think of 3 top tips that you would give a new
teacher to help children become better writers.
The Professional Literacy Company
• E-mail: info@theplc.org.uk
• Website: www.theplc.org.uk
•
@ProfLitCo