SSLN (Literacy) Professional Learning Workshop
Learning, Teaching and Assessment - Reading
Document title
Transforming lives through learning
Before you continue…
Document title
Transforming lives through learning
Resources
To complete this workshop each participant will need:
Reading Resource pack which includes:
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Handout: Engaged readers
Card sort activity
Readers’ skills
Notes sheet: print vs online texts
Handout: Reading strategies
Flip chart paper and pens
Transforming lives through learning
Introduction to SSLN (Literacy)
Professional Learning Workshops
Welcome to the SSLN (Literacy) Professional Learning Workshops.
These workshops are designed to support practitioners with the areas for development
identified by the survey. Before using this material you may wish to view the results of the
survey in the Scottish Government report.
This workshop focuses on reading. There are additional workshops available for writing
and group discussion.
The material in each workshop is taken from Education Scotland’s SSLN (Literacy) online
Professional Learning Resources.
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Transforming lives through learning
SSLN (Literacy) Reading –
Professional Learning Workshop
Purposes of this workshop :
 To reflect on current practice in the learning and teaching of reading skills in your
establishment
 To develop practitioners’ understanding and skills in this area in order to improve
learners’ attainment.
Document title
Transforming lives through learning
Outline of workshop
Focus
Slides
Time (approx.)
Part 1
Creating a reading
culture
7-11
20 mins – 45 mins
Part 2
Becoming an engaged
reader
12-15
30 mins – 1 hour
Part 3
Reading comprehension
16-18
20 mins – 45 mins
Part 4
The wider definition of
texts
19-24
45 mins – 1 hour +
Part 5
Progression in reading
25-28
45 mins – 1 hour +
Part 6
Further links and
resources
29-31
1 hour +
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Transforming lives through learning
CREATING A READING CULTURE
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Transforming lives through learning
It is important to remember that reading skills will
only be effectively developed within a wider culture of
reading. Evidence suggests that reading regularly for
enjoyment can have a positive impact on language
and literacy, attainment and social and emotional
development.
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteac
hing/assessment/ssln/resources/literacyreadingnew/li
teracyreadingsupport/skills.asp
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Transforming lives through learning
Literacy and the joy of reading - Joan Lingard
Video on Reading workshop page
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Transforming lives through learning
DISCUSSION TASK – CREATING A READING CULTURE
 Which strategies do you use in your school/classroom to create and maintain a reading
culture?
 How might you add to or develop this?
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Transforming lives through learning
Further Discussion – Creating a reading culture
You may also like to consider the following reflective questions:
Reading and book availability
Do staff give all children repeated opportunities for practice in reading in class using a variety of
texts at the right level of challenge? .
Are electronic books (e-books) in use by all or the least able children?
Inclusion differentiation and support
Is a peer tutoring or literacy befriending scheme (probably with older children as helpers)
operating in which partners are trained?
Parental involvement
Do staff involve the parent or carers of all children in a parent involvement scheme in home or
school?
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Transforming lives through learning
BECOMING AN ENGAGED READER
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Transforming lives through learning
When you are fully engaged in
reading what does it look and
feel like?
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Transforming lives through learning
What do young engaged readers say about themselves?
“I often look a bit ahead in the book I’m
reading. I look for landmarks – a
landmark might be a new chapter or a
big change in the way the text is written –
maybe capitals instead of small letters. I
sometimes read up to that landmark and
then I know which is probably going to be
the next landmark......
Today when I started reading, I was
looking for chapter nine which was
yesterday’s landmark for stopping
reading. As I was looking, I was trying to
remember what was going on, like I
remembered two cousins were arguing,
stuff like that.
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When someone speaks to you,
you kind of get pulled out. When
I’m really pulled in, it can take
someone 2 or 3 times to pull me
out again
When I started reading a few things fell into
place, like the argument was Brian’s fault as
he told both the cousins things they were
supposedly saying about each other. I was
remembering past events at the same time
as I was reading and it was helping me to
understand new things
After 2-5 pages, I’m pulled into the book and it is as if I am the
person who is talking in it. It’s like I’m in there and if something
scary happens, it’s scary for me --it’s like a dream sort of. I can
see what’s going on as if it’s a play sort of. I’m not really aware
that there’s any words. You can kind of hear them, see them
talking when you see the speech marks.
Transforming lives through learning
Engaged readers – card sort activity
Use the sort cards to rank
how often each strategy is
made explicit to learners in
your own practice.
Identify changes that you
could make to your
practice to ensure that all
of strategies are made
explicit to learners.
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Prepare the mind
Visualise
Hold thoughts as
they read on
Re-phrase
Can deduce implicit
information
“Hear” the text
Question and clarify
Make personal
response
Predict
If you don’t
Use prior knowledge
understand: re-read;
identify the
problem; find out
Summarise
Transforming lives through learning
READING COMPREHENSION
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Transforming lives through learning
Children’s comprehension skills can be boosted by
suitable teaching.
Professor Greg Brooks
http://www.interventionsforliteracy.org.uk/widgets_GregBrooks/What_works_for_children_fourth_ed.pdf
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Transforming lives through learning
Which, reading comprehension skills do you think learners struggle with the most?
How could you ‘boost’ learners’ comprehension skills through suitable learning and
teaching?
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Transforming lives through learning
THE WIDER TEXT
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Transforming lives through learning
Reading online content
Digitisation has added entirely new dimensions
to our ways of connecting and communicating.
What they tend to have in common, is that they
centre on the written word. This makes literacy
more and more entwined with the way we
live our lives in a digital world.
EU High Level Literacy Report
http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/school/doc/literacy-report_en.pdf
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Transforming lives through learning
Printed Text
Online Text
Write down under each heading which conventions
are related to how each type of text is constructed.
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Transforming lives through learning
Moving Image Texts
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Transforming lives through learning
Moving image texts and print texts: similarities and
differences
Discuss the
similarities and
differences between
prose fiction and
moving image texts.
Film
Prose Fiction
Present your ideas
in a Venn diagram
like the one
pictured.
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Transforming lives through learning
3 Cs and 3 Ss
Character
Camera
Colour
Story
Setting
Sound
http://www.movingimageeducation.org/analyse/start-analysing
http://www.screeningshorts.org.uk/
http://www.intofilm.org/
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Transforming lives through learning
PROGRESSION IN READING
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Transforming lives through learning
Progression in reading
 Learners will develop fluency and understanding by recognising patterns in language, blending
sounds to decode unfamiliar words and sharing thoughts about texts.
 As they progress, learners will:
 become more independent in choosing and analysing texts
 read and discuss a wide range of more challenging fiction and non‐fiction texts
 read analytically using greater knowledge of language
 compare and contrast texts from a more extensive variety of sources
 ask and answer higher order questions
 evaluate critically
 recognise persuasion
 find, select and use information in order to create a wide range of more complex written
and oral texts, as appropriate to audience and purpose.
Taking each of the statements, think about how you currently evidence each one.
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Transforming lives through learning
video clips
diaries
sculpture
reports
PowerPoint
presentations
notes
posters
show-me boards
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observations
photographs
drawings
models
highlighting
cartoons
storyboards
written test
discuss
performances
learning logs
audio clips
checklists
artefacts
reflections
follow instructions
measure
match
Transforming lives through learning
Reading Strategies
Before Reading
During Reading
After Reading
Preview the text – consider title, layout, topic…Highlight or underline key words or ideas.
Activate prior knowledge – What do you
already know about this topic? What do you
already know about this type of text?
Summarise content in note form or by drawing
pictures.
Discuss the text with a partner or a group.
Work together to identify the most important
ideas.
Make connections with your prior knowledge – Compare the text with another text,
does the text confirm or refute what you
considering content and form.
thought you already knew?
Make predictions – what do you expect from
the text?
Stop reading and review your predictions.
Does the text end in the way you expected?
Make more predictions or change your initial
ideas.
Try to identify the purpose of the text. Who is Consider whether your thoughts on purpose Evaluate how well the text fulfils its purpose
the audience?
and audience are supported by what you are and meets the needs of its audience.
reading.
Ask questions – do you have any questions
you would like the text to answer?
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Try to answer the questions you asked before Create your own version of the text.
reading.
Ask more questions.
Transforming lives through learning
FURTHER READING
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Transforming lives through learning
THE THINKING READER
A series of four lessons , accompanied by a pupil booklet, which can be used to teach learners at first and second
level reading strategies to improve their ability to understand what they read. The lessons cover strategies which can
be used before, during and after reading such as:
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Looking for clues in the text
Skimming the first lines
Stopping and checking whether they understand what they are reading
Read back, read on – looking for clues in the text, checking unknown vocabulary, etc.
Thinking up questions they would like answered
Prediction
Summarising
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/TheThinkingReader_tcm4-756154.pdf
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/ThinkingReaderBooklet_tcm4-756156.pdf
LITERATURE CIRCLES
Pupils learn to collaborate with other readers in analysing and discussing character, place, setting, plot and style,
always with reference to the text. Literature Circles have been found to impact on improving reading because the
methodology supports children to formulate searching questions and make predictions.
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/assessment/ssln/resources/literacyreadingnew/literacyreadingsupport/skills.asp
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Transforming lives through learning
RECIPROCAL READING
Reciprocal reading is a well-researched method used to develop learners’ reading skills, promote higher order
thinking, develop listening and talking, and ensure access to the curriculum for all learners. It aims to improve reading
comprehension through the use of four reading strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarising
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/ReciprocalReadingGuide_tcm4-755908.pdf
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/ReciprocalReadingRoleOlder_tcm4-755909.pdf
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/ReciprocalReadingRoleYounger_tcm4-755910.pdf
COLLABORATIVE STRATEGIC READING
Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) combines elements of reciprocal reading and cooperative learning. As with
reciprocal reading it consists of a series of comprehension strategies to be used before, during and after reading:
preview, click and clunk, get the gist and wrap up.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/using-collaborative-strategic-reading
http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/csr/
PAIRED READING
Training children how to work collaboratively with a partner to help improve reading skills can have an impact on
achievement. Paired reading strategies can also be shared with parents to ensure that reading skills are being
supported at home.
http://www.journeytoexcellence.org.uk/videos/pairedreading.asp
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/resources/s/genericresource_tcm4633830.asp?s
trReferringChannel=learningteachingandassessment&strReferringPageID=tcm:4-825175-64&class=l6+d215537
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Transforming lives through learning
Reflection and planning
As a result of this workshop, what
changes will you make to your
practice?
Resources/further reading/support needed
to complete your target.
Next week
Next term
Next session
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Transforming lives through learning
Education Scotland
Denholm House
Almondvale Business Park
Almondvale Way
Livingston EH54 6GA
T +44 (0)141 282 5000
E enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk
www.educationscotland.gov.uk
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Transforming lives through learning