1. © University of Reading 2009 www.reading.ac.uk Institute of Education Literacy in the Creative Arts

2. Setting the agenda: Literacy Ofsted: Moving English Forward 70% of schools Good or Outstanding in English But focus on :  30% that were no better on satisfactory and  nearly 30% of students who are entered for English GCSE but don’t achieve A* to C. 10 recommendations; two relevant to Creative Arts:

3. Setting the agenda: Literacy “Ensure that the English curriculum at Key Stage 3 has a clear and distinct purpose that is explained to students and builds in, where possible, tasks, audiences and purposes that engage students with the world beyond the classroom” “Strengthen whole-school literacy work across all departments to ensure that students extend and consolidate their literacy skills in all appropriate contexts.”

4. Setting the agenda: Creative Arts Ofsted on Music: Wider Still and Wider, 2012 “Clearly, it is important that opportunities to promote good literacy skills are exploited in all lessons. Learning to use appropriate vocabulary when analysing and appraising music is essential to success, especially at GCSE and A level. However, there were too many instances of a focus on literacy resulting in an insufficient focus on musical learning”

5. Setting the agenda: Creative Arts Ofsted on Art: Making a Mark, 2012 “Too often, lesson planning in the subject which focused on developing literacy skills hindered the quality of learning in art, craft and design. In these lessons, the focus on observation, visual communication or tactile exploration was too often rushed.”

6. Aesthetic Literacy

7. The Homework Research Task ? What resources could you draw on to explore the months of the year and the seasons with your students?

8. The Homework Research Task Think about the genre of writing: eg Review, Magazine article, Facebook profile, letter. What are the features of writing in this genre? Give exemplars to set expectations and analyse features of the writing. Model the construction of a text when setting the homework; this will support independent work. Discuss the choice of source material that students will use. Provide suggested reading (not just Wikapedia!); guide reading by discussing what students will be looking for (eg the difference between facts and opinions) Guide students in interpreting texts: What do titles, subtitles, pictures tell them? Encourage them to make predictions about what the text will say. Scan the text initially to identify what is relevant Identify unfamiliar vocabulary and find out what it means Develop skills of inference and deduction Build confidence! Discuss how the research can draw on music, art, drama directly: not just writing about them. Set tasks that require students to engage with the arts and express their views or explain other people’s views. Relate the research task back to artistic experience. How is language literacy supporting aesthetic literacy? Design the task carefully Specify the genre of writing (eg Review, Magazine article, Letter, Facebook Page) Suggest possible sources of information Encourage students to draw directly on art, music, drama; not just on writing about the subject.

9. The Homework Research Task Think about the genre of writing: eg Review, Magazine article, Facebook profile, letter. What are the features of writing in this genre? Give exemplars to set expectations and analyse features of the writing. Model the construction of a text when setting the homework; this will support independent work. Discuss the choice of source material that students will use. Provide suggested reading (not just Wikapedia!); guide reading by discussing what students will be looking for (eg the difference between facts and opinions) Guide students in interpreting texts: What do titles, subtitles, pictures tell them? Encourage them to make predictions about what the text will say. Scan the text initially to identify what is relevant Identify unfamiliar vocabulary and find out what it means Develop skills of inference and deduction Build confidence! Discuss how the research can draw on music, art, drama directly: not just writing about them. Set tasks that require students to engage with the arts and express their views or explain other people’s views. Relate the research task back to artistic experience. How is language literacy supporting aesthetic literacy? Guide the students in how to complete the task Model the construction of a text when setting the homework; this will support independent work. Guide the students in how to interpret sources of information:  Encourage them to scan the text first (including pictures and titles) to find what is relevant  Identify unfamiliar vocabulary and find out what it means  Develop skills of inference and deduction by predicting what the text will say

10. The Homework Research Task Think about the genre of writing: eg Review, Magazine article, Facebook profile, letter. What are the features of writing in this genre? Give exemplars to set expectations and analyse features of the writing. Model the construction of a text when setting the homework; this will support independent work. Discuss the choice of source material that students will use. Provide suggested reading (not just Wikapedia!); guide reading by discussing what students will be looking for (eg the difference between facts and opinions) Guide students in interpreting texts: What do titles, subtitles, pictures tell them? Encourage them to make predictions about what the text will say. Scan the text initially to identify what is relevant Identify unfamiliar vocabulary and find out what it means Develop skills of inference and deduction Build confidence! Discuss how the research can draw on music, art, drama directly: not just writing about them. Set tasks that require students to engage with the arts and express their views or explain other people’s views. Relate the research task back to artistic experience. How is language literacy supporting aesthetic literacy? Connect literacy with aesthetic literacy Give students opportunities to demonstrate their comprehension through practical work in class. Relate the research task back to the artistic experience: guide students in making the link. Ask students to express and justify their opinions.

11. Language for Evaluation Think about the genre of writing: eg Review, Magazine article, Facebook profile, letter. What are the features of writing in this genre? Give exemplars to set expectations and analyse features of the writing. Model the construction of a text when setting the homework; this will support independent work. Discuss the choice of source material that students will use. Provide suggested reading (not just Wikapedia!); guide reading by discussing what students will be looking for (eg the difference between facts and opinions) Guide students in interpreting texts: What do titles, subtitles, pictures tell them? Encourage them to make predictions about what the text will say. Scan the text initially to identify what is relevant Identify unfamiliar vocabulary and find out what it means Develop skills of inference and deduction Build confidence! Discuss how the research can draw on music, art, drama directly: not just writing about them. Set tasks that require students to engage with the arts and express their views or explain other people’s views. Relate the research task back to artistic experience. How is language literacy supporting aesthetic literacy? What sort of language would you use to evaluate this film?

12. Language for Evaluation 1. Which are the best comments? Which are the worst? 2. What makes the good comments good? 3. Write your own comment that improves on the existing ones. What sentence starters could you suggest to scaffold good evaluated language? (eg At the beginning, I liked the way that…)

13. Summing Up