Fold It In Building basic skills into lessons.

Fold It In With a packed curriculum and a focus on stretching students – there isn’t always time to practise basic skills. The idea of ‘fold It In’ is that basic skills are folded into more advanced learning and practised to mastery.

Fold It In At the beginning of any scheme of work or unit of study – the following questions should be asked: Which ideas, skills or concepts are crucial for mastery of the topic? How many opportunities will students have to re-visit these ideas or skills?

Fold It In Front load the key skills so that these are dealt with first – this allows time for these to be practised again. During future lessons – fold these skills into new learning by providing opportunities to re-visit/demonstrate this knowledge.

Fold It In - Poetry Front load the key skills. (Choose 3-4 themes common to all poems and 3-4 language techniques.) Model how to identify and comment on these. During future lessons – re-visit these themes and language techniques until students are clear on how to identify and use in a variety of contexts.

Fold It In - Poetry Themes Techniques Futility of war. Figurative language. The psychological effects of war. Sound patterns. Reality Vs patriotism. Imagery.

Fold It In – Using Quotations Front load the key skills. (Explicitly teach what a quotation is and why/how used.) Continue reading / studying a text but use different opportunities for students to practise identifying or commenting on quotations. Give your opinions – students to find evidence. (I think …. What makes me think this?) Give quotations – students explain what is implied. Give challenges – eg: Find me the best quotation that shows …

Fold It In – Spelling Front load the key skills. (Explicitly teach the words to be learnt – point out any silent letters etc.) Rather than copy out the word over and over again – provide opportunities to practise the word in a number of different written and spoken contexts.

Fold It In – bigger concepts Eg: History – teach 3-4 big concepts (organisation of society, the economy, health) Front load the concepts. (Explicitly teach these terms.) During the unit – keep returning to these big ideas. Link the same concepts to different historical eras.