LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Geoff Barton
Headteacher
King Edward VI School
Bury St Edmunds
11 March 2016
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
1 How can we
reinvigorate
whole-school literacy?
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
2 What are the
important bits of
literacy?
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
3 What could we do to
have an impact?
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
We are part of the literacy
club
Every
teacher in
English is a
teacher OF
English
(like it or
not)
Basic
assumptions
Literacy is
taught - it
doesn’t just
happen
Literacy today is different
from when we were younger
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
We are part of the literacy
club
We forget our own privilege
at our peril
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
GUESS
THE TEXT
TYPE
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Proud mum in a million
Natalie Brown hugged her
beautiful baby daughter
Casey yesterday and said:
“She’s my double miracle.”I
FIBRES
1
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
The blood vessels of the
circulatory system, branching
into multitudes of very fine
tubes (capillaries), supply all
parts of the muscles and organs
with blood, which carries
oxygen and food necessary for
life.
2
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Ensure that the electrical
supply is turned off. Ensure the
existing circuit to which the
fitting is to be connected has
been installed and fused in
accordance with current L.L.L
wiring regulations
3
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Language
oddities
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
DOGS MUST
BE CARRIED
ON THE
ESCALATOR
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Please don't
smoke and live
a more healthy
life
PSE Poster
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Sign at Suffolk
hospital:
Criminals operate
in this area
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
ICI FIBRES
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Churchdown parish
magazine:
‘would the congregation
please note that the bowl at
the back of the church
labelled ‘for the sick” is for
monetary donations only’
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Why does literacy
matter?
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
The literacy imperative...
• A 1997 survey showed that of 12 European
countries, only Poland and Ireland had lower
levels of adult literacy
• 1-in-16 adults cannot identify a concert venue on
a poster that contains name of band, price, date,
time and venue
• 7 million UK adults cannot locate the page
reference for plumbers in the Yellow Pages
BBC NEWS ONLINE:
More than half of British
motorists cannot interpret
road signs properly, according
to a survey by the Royal
Automobile Club.
The survey of 500 motorists
highlighted just how many
people are still grappling with
it.
According to the
survey, three in
five motorists
thought a "be
aware of cattle"
warning sign
indicated …
an area
infected
with footand-mouth
disease.
Common mistakes
•No motor vehicles Beware of fast motorbikes
•Wild fowl - Puddles in
the road
•Riding school close
by - "Marlborough
country" advert
English Review 2000-05
October 2005: Key findings
English is one of the best taught subjects in
both primary and secondary schools.
October 2005: Key findings
 Standards of writing have improved as a
result of guidance from the national
strategies
 Some teachers give too little thought to
ensuring that pupils fully consider the
audience, purpose and content for their
writing.
October 2005: Key findings
 Schools do not always seem to understand the
importance of pupils’ talk in developing both
reading and writing.
 Myhill and Fisher: ‘spoken language forms a
constraint, a ceiling not only on the ability to
comprehend but also on the ability to write,
beyond which literacy cannot progress’.
 Too many teachers appear to have forgotten
that speech ‘supports and propels writing forward’.
 Pupils do not improve writing solely by doing
more of it; good quality writing benefits from
focused discussion that gives pupils a chance to
talk through ideas before writing and to respond
to friends’ suggestions.
October 2005: Key findings
 The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study
(PIRLS) 2003: although the reading skills of 10 year old
pupils in England compared well with those of pupils in
other countries, they read less frequently for pleasure
and were less interested in reading than those
elsewhere.
 NFER 2003: children’s enjoyment of reading had
declined significantly in recent years
 A Nestlé/MORI report : ‘underclass’ of non-readers,
plus cycles of non-reading ‘where teenagers from families
where parents are not readers will almost always be less
likely to be enthusiastic readers themselves’.
October 2005: Key findings
Despite the Strategy, weaknesses remain,
including:
 the stalling of developments as senior
management teams focus on other initiatives
 lack of robust measures to evaluate the
impact of developments across a range of
subjects
 a focus on writing at the expense of
reading, speaking and listening.
LITERACY
IMPACT
LITERACY IMPACT!
Key conventions
Demonstrate writing.
Link to speech
Teach composition
Importance of reading
Sentence variety
Connectives
Know your connectives
Adding: and, also, as well as, moreover, too
Cause & effect: because, so, therefore, thus, consequently
Sequencing: next, then, first, finally, meanwhile, before, after
Qualifying: however, although, unless, except, if, as long as, apart from, yet
Emphasising: above all, in particular, especially, significantly, indeed, notably
Illustrating: for example, such as, for instance, as revealed by, in the case of
Comparing: equally, in the same way, similarly, likewise, as with, like
Contrasting: whereas, instead of, alternatively, otherwise, unlike, on the other
hand
LITERACY IMPACT!
Read aloud.
Demystify spelling
Teach and display subjectspecific vocabulary
Teach research skills, not
FOFO
Reading needs teaching:
skimming, scanning,
analysis
Use DARTs: prediction,
jumbled texts, pictures
and graphs
Presentation and framing
can make texts more
accessible
LITERACY IMPACT!
Break tyranny of Q&A
No hands up
Thinking time
Key words / connectives
Rehearsing responses
Reflective
groupings
Get teachers watching
teachers who manage S&L
well
LITERACY IMPACT!
Remember “the disappeared”.
Use students and TAs for
feedback
Use visuals to circumvent
the teacher
Less is more for teachers
Don’t call it literacy
Know your key players
Build into school
systems
Less is more for students
LITERACY LATEST!
“The Disappeared …”
Characteristics: 2/3 boys. Generally well-behaved. Positive in outlook. “Invisible” to
teachers. Keen to respond but unlikely to think first. Persevere with tasks, especially
with tasks that are routine. Lack self-help strategies. Stoical, patient, resigned.
Reading: they over-rely on a limited range of strategies and lack higher order reading
skills
Writing: struggle to combine different skills simultaneously. Don’t get much chance for
oral rehearsal, guided writing, precise feedback
S&L: don’t see it as a key tool in thinking and writing
Targets: set low-level targets; overstate functional skills; infrequently review progress
Reading
Essential literacy
rooted in
professional
development
An example …
Writing
Use layout and language
Be clear and explicit
to make texts accessible Π about the conventions
eg white space,
of the writing you expect
typographical features,
from students Πeg
summaries, bullets, short
audience, purpose,
paragraphs
layout, key words and
phrases, level of
formality
Using a range of strategies Providing assessment
to support studentsΥ
criteria and models of
reading Πeg reading aloud,
appropriate text types
key words and glossaries,
word ban ks, display, paired
reading, talking about texts
before answering
Spelling Π marking no
Using shared
more than 3-5 key
composition to show
spellings per work, writing
students how to write
the correct spelling in the
margin with the error
identified; students puttin g
these into spelling pages in
the middle of exercise
books; using starters /
word games / mnemonics /
display / rules / words
within words to support
studentsΥ spelling
Speaking & listening
Using a variety of
groupings for structured
talk Πpairs, same-sex,
friendship, triads, ability
groups
Setting objectives for talk
and pro viding language
models Πeg level of
formality, key words and
phrases
Providing alternatives to
traditional Q&A
approaches Πeg open
questions, thin king time,
big questions, no-hands,
paired consultation ti me,
dealing with answers,
prompts, answer starters
So …
1.
Which bits of this are relevant to your
school context?
2.
What’s going on at your place that’s
effective in developing literacy skills?
3.
What will you do tomorrow?
LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Geoff Barton
“Every teacher in English is a teacher of
English” (George Sampson, 1922)
geoffbarton@mac.com