One in six people in the UK have a literacy level expected of an 11-year-old Literacy Hub Seven million adults in England cannot locate the page reference for plumbers in a telephone directory One in sixteen adults in England cannot identify a concert venue on a poster that contains the name of the band, price, date, time and venue. More than half of British motorists cannot interpret road signs properly.

What are your expectations of this hub What are your expectations of this hub? What are you hoping to get out of it?

“Considering how the language of subject specialisms can be explicitly taught by all teachers and supported by parents.”

“Developing students’ chance by insisting that academic language is used in the classroom and at home when talking to parents about school work.

Overview of the hubs Hub 1 – 11th September – Introduction and thinking about planning for literacy Hub 2 – 6th November – Oracy Hub 3 – 15th January – Reading Hub 4 – 26th February – Writing Hub 5 – 23rd April – How written feedback can support literacy Hub 6 4th June – Review and planning ahead

Planning Principle “Literacy is not a bolt-on extra. It should be at the core of lessons and specific to your subject.”

Academic Language is the Language of Power “explicitly teaching academic literacies is an essential task for schools and teachers” “Those of us who grew up speaking and writing it at home are at a huge advantage” “If children don’t know how to write correctly and speak Standard English, society will judge them as ‘thick’” “We need to teach the academic literacy of our subjects explicitly”

The Teaching Sequence for Developing Independence

Step One - Explain How can we make our explanations better? Be clear – use academic language Ask questions that clarify, probe and recommend Use subject-specific language Provide examples and non-examples Compare and connect

Step Two - Model “Good modelling includes a commentary where we break down complex processes into simple steps, provide time to check understanding and make sure pupils have opportunities to ask questions.” Deconstruction

Step Three - Scaffold “Everyone benefits from scaffolding to help move from kind of vaguely knowing what to do, to being confident.” It should, ideally, meet the following criteria: Offer general encouragement, whilst giving specific instructions Directly demonstrate what to do Get pupils interested Simplify the task sufficiently Deal with pupils’ frustration at ‘not getting it’ Challenge pupils to attempt a task that is just beyond their current level of competency

Step Four - Practice “Practice makes permanent; only perfect practice makes perfect” Growth Mindset and Grit Deliberate practice – constant feedback and a chance to retry

GCSE Papers What academic language are pupils expected to know (and use!) in their exams?

Thought Stems “When students speak they don’t consider the structure of what they’re saying. Often it isn’t in sentences and they are quite literally unable to organise it into anything coherent enough to remember, let alone write down. I use what I call Thought Stems to force students to focus on how not just what they’re saying.”