LITERACY IMPACT!

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LITERACY IMPACT!
Literacy Across the Curriculum Maintaining the
Momentum
Geoff Barton November 13, 2020
All resources can be downloaded at
www.geoffbarton.co.uk
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LITERACY IMPACT!

• 1 Where are we with literacy the Strategy?
• 2 Evaluating your literacy strategy what impact
  have you made so far, and how do you know?
• 3 What are the essentials for colleagues
• In reading?
• In writing?
• In spelling?
• In grammatical knowledge?

and how will you achieve it?
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LITERACY IMPACT!
2 strands
LITERACY
YOUR ROLE
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LITERACY IMPACT!
L.O.

• By 3pm you should
• Be clearer about your own role
• Know the priorities for your school
• Have learnt some useful literacy knowledge
• Be happier, wiser, and re-invigorated

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LITERACY IMPACT!
SECTION 1 Where the heck are we?
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LITERACY IMPACT!
The story so far
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LITERACY IMPACT!
AIMS

• An inclusive education system within a culture of
  high expectations
• The centrality of literacy and numeracy across
  the curriculum
• The infusion of learning skills across the
  curriculum
• The promotion of assessment for learning
• Expanding the teachers range of teaching
  strategies and techniques

• No child left behind
• Reinforcing the basics
• Enriching the learning experience
• Making every child special
• Making learning an enjoyable experience

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English Review 2000-05
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October 2005 Key findings
English is one of the best taught subjects in
both primary and secondary schools.
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October 2005 Key findings

• Standards of writing have improved as a result
  of guidance from the national strategies.
  However, although pupils understanding of the
  features of different text types has improved,
  some teachers give too little thought to ensuring
  that pupils fully consider the audience, purpose
  and content for their writing.
• Schools also need to consider how to develop
  continuity in teaching and assessing writing.

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October 2005 Key findings

• Schools do not always seem to understand the
  importance of pupils talk in developing both
  reading and writing.
• Myhill and Fisher quote research which argues
  that spoken language forms a constraint, a
  ceiling not only on the ability to comprehend but
  also on the ability to write, beyond which
  literacy cannot progress. Too many teachers
  appear to have forgotten that speech supports
  and propels writing forward.
• Pupils do not improve writing solely by doing
  more of it good quality writing benefits from
  focused discussion that gives pupils a chance to
  talk through ideas before writing and to respond
  to friends suggestions.

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October 2005 Key findings

• The Progress in International Reading Literacy
  Study (PIRLS), published in 2003, found that,
  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.
• An NFER reading survey (2003), conducted by
  Marian Sainsbury, concluded that childrens
  enjoyment of reading had declined significantly
  in recent years.
• A Nestlé/MORI report highlighted the existence
  of a small core of children who do not read at
  all, described as an underclass of non-readers,
  together with cycles of non-reading where
  teenagers from families where parents are not
  readers will almost always be less likely to be
  enthusiastic readers themselves

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October 2005 Key findings
The role of teaching assistants was described in
the report as increasingly effective. Many of
them are responsible for teaching the
intervention programmes and this work has
improved in quality as a result of improvements
in their specialist knowledge.
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October 2005 Key findings

• The Strategy has improved some teachers
  understanding of the importance of pupils
  literacy in developing their subject knowledge
  and to some effective teaching, especially in
  writing and the use of subject-specific
  vocabulary. Despite this, weaknesses remain,
  including
• the stalling of developments as senior
  management teams focus on other initiatives
• lack of robust measures to evaluate the impact
  of developments across a range of subjects
• a focus on writing at the expense of reading,
  speaking and listening.

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LITERACY IMPACT!
From To Departmental strategies
Whole-school strategy Departmental development
School improvement National launch Local
consolidation / embedding Directed
training Selected training and support
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Key principles of Literacy Across the Curriculum

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

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Consistency in teaching literacy is achieved when

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

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Ofsted suggests literacy across the curriculum is
good when

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

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LITERACY IMPACT!
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Literacy strategy The next phase
Self-evaluation So where are you up to in your
school?
0
3
5
NO PROGRESS
GOOD PROGRESS
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Literacy strategy The next phase
Headteacher Your role Senco Teachers Teaching
assistants Governors
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0
5
NO PROGRESS
GOOD PROGRESS
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Literacy strategy The next phase
Key player Progress rating Priority
Head
You
SENCO
Teachers
Teaching assistants
Governors
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Literacy strategy The next phase
0
3
5
NO PROGRESS
GOOD PROGRESS
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Literacy strategy The next phase
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NO PROGRESS
GOOD PROGRESS
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Literacy strategy The next phase
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NO PROGRESS
GOOD PROGRESS
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Literacy strategy The next phase
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NO PROGRESS
GOOD PROGRESS
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Literacy strategy The next phase
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NO PROGRESS
GOOD PROGRESS
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Literacy strategy The next phase
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NO PROGRESS
GOOD PROGRESS
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KS3 IMPACT!
? Talking Point ?

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

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LITERACY IMPACT!
SECTION 2 (re)Motivating the key players?
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Focus relentlessly on TL
Standards are raised ONLY by changes which are
put into direct effect by teachers and pupils in
classrooms Black and Wiliam, Inside the Black
Box
Schools are places where the pupils go to watch
the teachers working (John West-Burnham)
For many years, attendance at school has been
required (for children and for teachers) while
learning at school has been optional. (Stoll,
Fink East)
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Key players
Librarian
Strategy manager
Working party
Headteacher
Governors
Teaching assistants
Subject leaders
Students!
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Key players
Strategy manager
Focus, tailor, customise See as professional
development rather than delivery Differentiate
training Emphasise monitoring more than
initiatives Use pupil surveys for learning
teaching
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Essential literacy rooted in professional
development An example
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Headteacher
Must be actively involved as head TEACHER Eg
monitoring books, breakfast with students,
feedback to staff Must be seen in lessons Must
be reined in to prioritise
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Librarian
Key part in improving literacy Include in
training Part of curriculum meetings Library
should embody good practice - eg key words,
guidance on retrieving information, visual
excitement Active training for students, breaking
down subject barriers Get a library commitment
from every team Then sample to monitor it
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Governors
Visit library, get in classrooms, talk to
students Clearly signal the literacy
focus Emphasise s/hes discussing
consistency Sample of students and feedback Part
of faculty reviews on (say) how we teach writing
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Working party
Maintain or disband? Less doing and more
evaluating - questionnaires, looking at handouts,
working around rooms, talking to students Asking
questions What do teachers here do that helps
you to understand long texts better? Work
sampling Creating a critical mass
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Students
Tell us how were doing Build into school
council Small groups work with faculty teams to
guide and evaluate Audit rooms for key words, etc
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Teaching Assistants
Make them literacy experts Let them lead
training Make their monitoring role
explicit Publish their feedback
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Subject leaders
Help them to identify the 3 bits of literacy that
will have the biggest impact Prioritise one per
term or year Join their meetings at start and end
of process Help them to keep it simple Provide
models and sample texts Evaluate Build literacy
into their teams performance management
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LITERACY IMPACT!

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

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LITERACY IMPACT!
7 Show before after models 8 Dont focus on
grammar knowledge needed by staff 9 Show its
part of a whole-school strategy 10 Celebrate
every small-scale success 11 Quote students
feedback 12 Make it fun! .
13 Make it non-negotiable
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KS3 IMPACT!
? Talking Point ?

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

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LITERACY IMPACT!
SECTION 3 Evaluating and planning
(We should measure what we value, not value what
we measure John MacBeath)
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Staff
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Yes No
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(No Transcript)
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Student
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Book sampling
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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KS3 IMPACT!
? Talking Point ?

• What evaluation have you done?
• What could you do next?

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Literacy strategy The next phase
IMPACT!
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Literacy strategy The next phase
Your Head of History wants to focus on
whole-school literacy in a Year 9 project on
medicine. How might you help
in identifying key areas of literacy? in
planning? in training? in evaluating impact?
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Literacy Across the Curriculum Maintaining the
Momentum
Geoff Barton November 13, 2020
All resources can be downloaded at
www.geoffbarton.co.uk
58
LITERACY IMPACT!
The 13 most important bits of literacy knowledge
needed by effective teachers
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Teaching sequence
Key conventions
WRITING
Connectives
Sentence variety
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Subject-specific vocabulary
Approaches to reading
READING
Active research process, not FOFO
Using DARTs
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Having 4 approaches
Mnemonics
SPELLING
Starters
Word webs
Rules
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Teaching sequence
Key conventions
WRITING
Connectives
Sentence variety
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LITERACY IMPACT!
1

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

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LITERACY IMPACT!
2
Know the dominant text-types for your
subject Purpose What is its purpose? Who is it
for? How will it be used? Text level Layout?
Structure? Sequence? Sentence level Viewpoint?
Prevailing tense? Active/passive? Sentence types
and length? Cohesion devices? Word level Stock
words and phrases? Specialist vocabulary?
Elaborate or plain vocabulary choices?
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LITERACY IMPACT!
3
Know your connectives Adding and, also, as well
as, moreover, too Cause effect because, so,
therefore, thus, consequently Sequencing next,
then, first, finally, meanwhile, before,
after Qualifying however, although, unless,
except, if, as long as, apart from,
yet Emphasising above all, in particular,
especially, significantly, indeed,
notably Illustrating for example, such as, for
instance, as revealed by, in the case
of Comparing equally, in the same way,
similarly, likewise, as with, like Contrasting
whereas, instead of, alternatively, otherwise,
unlike, on the other hand
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LITERACY IMPACT!
4

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

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LITERACY IMPACT!
5
Students must see you writing
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LITERACY IMPACT!
So
What have you done? What are you going to do?
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Subject-specific vocabulary
Approaches to reading
READING
Active research process, not FOFO
Using DARTs
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LITERACY IMPACT!
6

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

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LITERACY IMPACT!
7

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

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LITERACY IMPACT!
8

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

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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
CHRONOLOGICAL Versus NON- CHRONOLOGICAL
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING

• Fiction is more personal. Non-fiction has fewer
  agents
• Holidays were taken at resorts
• During the 17th century roads became straighter

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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Childrens fiction tends to be chronological.
Fiction becomes easier to read non-fiction
presents difficulties all the way through
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Non-fiction texts rely on linguistic signposts -
moreover, despite therefore, on the other hand,
however. Learners who are unfamiliar with these
will not read with the same predictive power as
they can with fiction
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Non-fiction tends to have more interrupting
constructions The agouti, a nervous 20-inch
rodent from South America, can leap twenty feet
from a sitting position Asteroids are lumps of
rock and metal whose paths round the sun lie
mainly between Jupiter and Mars
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LITERACY FOR LEARNING
Fiction uses more active verbs. Non-fiction
relies more on the copula (Oxygen is a gas) and
use of the passive Some plastics are made by
rather than We make plastics by
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PREDICTION FUN

• Brian Moore, Cold Heaven

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1

• The wooden seats of the little pedal boat were
  angled so that Marie looked up at the sky. There
  were no clouds. In the vastness above her a gull
  calligraphed its flight. Marie and Alex pedalled
  in unison, the revolving paddles making a
  slapping sound against the waves as the pedal
  boat treadmilled away from the beach, passing
  through ranks of bathers to move into the deeper,
  more solitary waters of the Baie des Anges. Marie
  slackened her efforts but Alex continued
  determinedly, steering the pedalo straight out
  into the Mediterranean.

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2

• Lets not go too far, she said.
• I want to get away from the crowd. Im going to
  swim.
• It was like him to have some plan of his own, to
  translate idleness into activity even in these
  few days of vacation. She now noted his every
  fault. It was as though, having decided to leave
  him, she had withdrawn his credit. She looked
  back at the sweep of hotels along the Promenade
  des Anglais. Today was the day she had hoped to
  tell him. She had planned to announce it at
  breakfast and leave, first for New York, then on
  to Los Angeles to join Daniel. But at breakfast
  she lacked all courage. Now, with half the day
  gone, she decided to postpone it until tomorrow.

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3

• Far out from shore, the paddles stopped. The
  pedalo rocked on its twin pontoons as Alex eased
  himself up from his seat. He handed her his
  sunglasses. This should do, he said and,
  rocking the boat even more, dived into the
  ultramarine waters. She watched him surface. He
  called out Just follow along, okay? He was not
  a good swimmer, but thrashed about in an
  energetic, erratic freestyle. Marie began to
  pedal again, her hand on the tiller, steering the
  little boat so that she followed close. Watching
  him, she knew he could not keep up this pace for
  long. She saw his flailing arms and for a moment
  thought of those arms hitting her. He had never
  hit her. He was not the sort of man who would hit
  you. He would be hurt, and cold, and possibly
  vindictive. But he was not violent.

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4

• She heard a motorboat, the sound becoming louder.
  She looked back but did not see a boat behind
  her. Then she looked to the right where Alex was
  swimming and saw a big boat with an outboard
  motor coming right at them, coming very fast.

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5

• Of course they see us, she thought, alarmed, and
  then as though she were watching a film, as
  though this were happening to someone else, she
  saw there was a man in the motorboat, a young man
  wearing a green shirt he was not at the tiller,
  he was standing in the middle of the boat with
  his back to her and as she watched he bent down
  and picked up a child who had fallen on the
  floorboards. Hey? she called. Hey? for he
  must turn around, the motorboat was coming right
  at Alex, right at her. But the man in the boat
  did not hear. He carried the child across to the
  far side of the boat the boat was only yards
  away now.

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6

• Alex, she called. Alex, look out. But Alex
  flailed on and then the prow of the motorboat,
  slicing up water like a knife, hit Alex with a
  sickening thump, went over him and smashed into
  the pontoons of the little pedal boat, upending
  it, and she found herself in the water, going
  under, coming up. She looked and saw the
  motorboat churning off, the pedal boat hanging
  from its prow like a tangle of branches. She
  heard the motorboat engine cut to silence, then
  start up again as the boat veered around in a
  semicircle and came back to her. Alex?

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7

• She looked saw his body near her just under the
  water. She swam toward him, breastroke, it was
  all she knew. He was floating face down,
  spread-eagle. She caught hold of his wrist and
  pulled him towards her. The motorboat came
  alongside, the man in the green shirt reaching
  down for her, but, No, no, she called and tried
  to push Alex toward him. The man caught Alex by
  the hair of his head and pulled him up, she
  pushing, Alex falling back twice into the water,
  before the man, with a great effort, lifted him
  like a sack across the side of the boat, tugging
  and heaving until Alex disappeared into the boat.
  The man shouted, Un instant, madame, un instant
  and reappeared, putting a little steel ladder
  over the side. She climbed up onto the motorboat
  as the man went out onto the prow to disentangle
  the wreckage of the pedalo.

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8

• A small child was sitting at the back of the
  boat, staring at Alexs body, which lay face-down
  on the floorboards. She went to Alex and saw
  blood from a wound, a gash in the side of his
  head, blood matting his hair. He was breathing
  but unconscious. She lifted him and cradled him
  in her arms, his blood trickling onto her
  breasts. She saw the boat owners bare legs go
  past her as he went to the rear of the boat to
  restart the engine. The child began to bawl but
  the man leaned over, silenced it with an angry
  slap, the man turned to her, his face sick with
  fear. Nous y serons dans un instant, he
  shouted, opening the motor to full throttle. She
  hugged Alex to her, a rivulet of blood dripping
  off her forearm onto the floorboards as the boat
  raced to the beach.

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PREDICTION FUN

• Brian Moore, Cold Heaven

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Jake began to dial the number slowly as he had
done every evening at six oclock ever since his
father had passed away. For the next fifteen
minutes he settled back to listen to what his
mother had done that day
It was on a bright day of midwinter, in New York.
The little girl who eventually became me, but as
yet was neither me nor anybody else in
particular, but merely a soft anonymous morsel of
humanity this little girl, who bore my name,
was going for a walk with her father. The episode
is literally the first thing I can remember about
her, and therefore I date the birth of her
humanity from that day.
Urquhart castle is probably one of the most
picturesquely situated castles in the Scottish
Highlands. Located 16 miles south-west of
Inverness, the castle, one of the largest in
Scotland, overlooks much of Loch Ness. Visitors
come to stroll through the ruins of the
13th-century castle because Urquhart has earned
the reputation of being one of the best spots for
sighting Loch Nesss most famous inhabitant
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LITERACY IMPACT!
So
What have you done? What are you going to do?
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LITERACY IMPACT!
Having 4 approaches
Mnemonics
SPELLING
Starters
Word webs
Rules
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Literacy Across the Curriculum
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Spelling approaches
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Literacy Across the Curriculum
10
Mnemonics Fun
Necessary never eat chips eat sausage
sandwiches and raspberry yoghurt
Words within words
enviRONment buSINess deFINitely sePARAte
Got any others?
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Literacy Across the Curriculum
11
Signature Signatory
Consign Consignment Consigned
Resign Resignation Resigning Resigned
Sign
Design Designer Designing Designed Designation Des
ignate Redesign
Signal Signalling
Assign Assignment Assignation Reassign
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LITERACY IMPACT!
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RULES I before e Effect of final e hop - hope
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LITERACY IMPACT!
13
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?Kick-start learning
? Dont aim for false links with main lesson
content
? No Blue Peter badges
? Do aim for coherence across starters
? Emphasise collaboration problem-solving
? Avoid writing
? Avoid the temptation to extend the activity
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-ible -able

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Homophones Sound of Music Kylie Beethoven their
there theyre too two to pray prey

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Hard
Homophones Freeze Stand advice advise pract
ice practise effect affect Its its

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Activity Ill say some sentences containing
homophones. You tell me whether its list A or
list B. Make up sentences eg The pilot of the
aircraft was really rather plain) A stand
up B under table plain Plane weak
Week steal Steel main Mane rows
Rows fare Fair break Brake sew So due
Jew whether whether

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LITERACY IMPACT!
So
What have you done? What are you going to do?
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So ..

1. If its a priority, do something
2. Customise and simplify ruthlessly
3. Identify the essential (simple) skills of reading
   - eg by asking students
4. Build into school systems of training,
   observation, performance management
5. Dont forget reading for pleasure keep it in the
   public domain

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LITERACY IMPACT!
Literacy Across the Curriculum Maintaining the
Momentum
Have a safe journey home
All resources can be downloaded at
www.geoffbarton.co.uk