Raising Standards in Literacy (Language and Literacy in Action)


Spelling and handwriting do not matter at this point, you're looking for the flow of writing to be strong. The work can be edited later on for accuracy. Give it a go — it really works.

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Choice of text is obviously part of the answer, but what we've found to work for us is the shared experience of everyone studying the same text regardless of their reading level — we find ways to make it accessible to all. It is a powerful text that deals with Alzheimer's disease, bereavement and bullying.

We shared it with our year 6 students and taught it through a mixture of reading the book aloud to children, guided reading sessions focusing on key scenes, drama activities and related language studies on the author's style and use of language. We discovered that the boys who were reluctant readers were completely hooked. We knew we had it right when one of our boys who previously hated literacy asked if he could stay in during lunchtime to catch up on the part of the story he had missed from being off school for a couple of days.

We also restricted access to the book, frequently leaving the story at a cliffhanger and hiding the book so they couldn't read further until the next session.

Literacy teaching strategies

This led to all kinds of sneaky hiding of copies so they couldn't grab a peek. Make reading a habit for students: Celebratory events such as World Book Day are nice, but they are a sideshow to the day-to-day graft we need to put in to provide students with the time, space and tight structure they need to sit down and read.

No amount of talking about reading amounts to the act of reading itself. Every Wednesday morning my form group will engage in DEAR — drop everything and read — for 20 minutes, as does every form group in the school. I have heard some outside the school criticise this method, the reason being that it does not solve the literacy issues of the very weak. There may always be one or two children pretending to read, but to deny this opportunity in school to those who do not have the encouragement at home would be wrong in my opinion.

Give students the time to properly invest in what they're writing: Often in class we can rush students from one piece of writing to another and in doing so inadvertently embed poor literacy.

Ten ways to improve student literacy

When children start to take pride in their writing, they are willing to work on their errors. We tend to remember the things we take pride in as well.

Next steps for raising standards and improving the delivery of literacy and English. 55 Literacy and language unlock access to the wider curriculum and lay the .. interesting approaches, such as actions, puppets and props, to encourage. Our overarching vision is therefore to raise standards of literacy for all from the early literacy across the key life stages in Scotland is focused: The Early Years .

Redrafting and slowing down the writing process are key. You can read about some of the strategies I use to do this on my blog, Reflecting English. Use improvisation and role play: Get students to read a text aloud in different ways to demonstrate expression and intonation. You can then take this a step further by getting them to improvise a scenario to explore how a character may feel about a certain event or situation. Role play is a good way to develop students' awareness of how dialogue is spoken when they are reading silently and I've found it good for word decoding. Also, both techniques can be useful and fun ways of developing oral skills.

Have a universal marking code: The idea is that class teachers across all subjects use the same marking style, which is quite straightforward — SP in the margin for a spelling mistake, P for an item of misplaced punctuation, etc.

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By doing this we hope to help students realise that technical accuracy is a vital part of all kinds of writing and is not the preserve of formal essays in English classes. Jennifer Ludgate, assistant head of faculty at a comprehensive school and blogger at Little Miss Lud , MissJLud Ensure mistakes are being picked up in students' work across all subjects: John Murphy, an English and history teacher in Ireland and blogger at Web of Notes , johncmurphy7 Use improvisation and role play: Alan Gillepsie, an English teacher at a large secondary school in Glasgow and a widely-published short story writer, afjgillepsie Have a universal marking code: The inspiring teaching hub is funded by Randstad.

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Find out more here. From April , new phonics and reading partnerships will be set up, to drive improvements in teaching and encouraging more pupils to enjoy reading a wide range of literature. Another 20 phonics and reading roadshows will also be run across the country and include a specific focus on reception teaching. The new Centre of Excellence for Literacy Teaching will be tasked with establishing the network of hubs, similar to the successful Maths Hubs established in that are helping to improve maths teaching across the country, including in schools in challenging circumstances.

Boost for school standards with primary literacy drive

A procurement exercise to set it up will be launched later this year. The establishment of a new national network of school-led English Hubs will promote and share excellence around the country — drawing on and developing the evidence base — with a particular focus on reception year. The Phonics Screening Check, put in place in , encourages teachers to use this method and since its introduction has helped put , more six-year-olds on track to become fluent readers since These partnerships will still address phonics, but also how schools can encourage pupils to enjoy reading and improve effectiveness in teaching in reception.

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We've also run a reading challenge where students aim to have read a certain number of books by different points during the year. Skip to main content. There were even print outs of the book covers dotted around the board — it looked amazing. We also restricted access to the book, frequently leaving the story at a cliffhanger and hiding the book so they couldn't read further until the next session. Create a word carpet:

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Ten ways to improve student literacy | Teacher Network | The Guardian

Skip to main content. Home Education, training and skills Education of disadvantaged children. News story Boost for school standards with primary literacy drive. Published 6 January Education Secretary Justine Greening said: Programmes announced today Saturday 6 January include: This mirrors the already successful approach with Maths Hubs — high performing schools which share their knowledge with other schools locally; From April , new phonics and reading partnerships will be set up, to drive improvements in teaching and encouraging more pupils to enjoy reading a wide range of literature.

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