2. Using Whole-School Literacy Strategies to Improve Teaching & Learning Geoff Barton Headteacher, King Edward VI School, Suffolk Thursday, August 06, 2015

3. 2 Some ideas about: Developing writing Spelling Group talk Assessment 3 Ten final hints 1 Identifying the strands of the Literacy strategy that will make maximum impact at your school

4. 3 No-Nos

5. ‘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’

6. Literacy strategy What progress have we made so far? ‘The proportion of unsatisfactory or poor teaching observed in inspections is the lowest it has ever been.’ ‘The gap between high and low performing schools has closed further.’ (Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools’ Annual Report 2002)

7. Literacy strategy ‘The National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies are having an impressive degree of success, especially given the magnitude of the intended change.’ ‘The Strategies have influenced virtually all schools in England.’ ‘Both teachers and headteachers believe that the Strategies are influencing pupil learning.’ (‘Watching and Learning 2’ – University of Toronto evaluation, 2001)

8. Literacy strategy The Big Shift

9. Literacy strategy Key messages from phase 1: Teaching & Learning issues: Pace Questioning Cross-curricular Structure ‘House’ style Training issues: Focus on observation to develop House style IMPACT!

10. Literacy strategy: Where are you now? 10 suggestions … 1: The party’s over? 2: No more documentation 3: Target ruthlesslyfor different areas - eg most able / spelling 9: Observation is the key to changing classroom practice 8: Use student evaluations 10: Draw in the TAs 7: Make it active 6: Plan evaluation at the outset: focus on impact 5: Every meeting is a training opportunity 4: Have term-by- term plan

11. Developing Consistent Writing Skills

12. Improving writing: S even S uggestions 1: Keep it simple: just go for the writing essentials in each subject area, one by one if necessary 2: Avoid technical terms as much as possible 3: Emphasise demonstration and modelling more than scaffolding 4: Develop a ‘House style’ on teaching writing 5: Get it bedded into the team itself, rather than being driven by you 6: Emphasise motivation and outcomes 7: Evaluate impact … and report it

13. Managing Small Group Talk

14. What do we know about student talk in the classroom? It is dominated by teacher talk (75% of classroom talk) Mostly consists of Q&A 60% of students never have a conversation with adults in school We massively waste students’ potential, by not using talk more systematically

15. Purposes of talk Making suggestions Building on, clarifying, modifying others’ ideas Challenging ideas Justifying ideas Asking questions Summarising Analysing & evaluating We have to teach and model these 7

16. Group talk dilemmas One or two students are not contributing When you join the groups they get self-conscious and stop talking You allowed 15 minutes for a discussion, but they’re run out of steam after 15 minutes The group has enjoyed their group discussions, but no one wants to contribute to the plenary session So what do you do?

17. 7 golden rules of group talk? Plan it Aim for a variety of groups / activities Model the language you expect Make yourself be detached Feedback on the process, not just the content Praise endlessly It means more to students than it does to us

18.  Beter spelling  Better speling  Better spelling

19. Use starters Word-webs Don’t make it a problem Be explicit in how people spell Key word displays Spelling logs Don’t overstate the importance of dictionaries Keep it simple HINTSHINTS

20. Spelling strategies 1. Break it into sounds (d-i-a-r-y) 2. Break it into syllables (re-mem-ber) 3. Break it into affixes (dis + satisfy) 4. Use a mnemonic (necessary – one collar, two sleeves) 5. Refer to word in the same family (muscle – muscular) (word webs) 6. Say it as it sounds (Wed-nes-day) (spellspeak) 7. Words within words (Parliament – I AM parliament) 8. Refer to etymology (bi + cycle = two + wheels) 9. Use analogy (bright, light, night, etc) 10. Use a key word (horrible/drinkable for -able & -ible / advice/advise for -able & -ise) 11. Apply spelling rules (writing, written) 12. Learn by sight (look-cover-write-check) 13. Visual memory (look-cover-write-check)

21. Spelling approaches: RULES (etymology, family of words [muscle/muscular]) PRACTICAL STRATEGIES (mnemonics, key word triggers, spelling logs) VISUALS (words within words, word webs) SOUNDS (break into syllables/sounds, spellspeak)

22. Sign Consign Consignment Consigned Design Designer Designing Designed Designation Designate Redesign Resign Resignation Resigning Resigned Signature Signatory Assign Assignment Assignation Reassign Signal Signalling

23. ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING

24. The limitation of questions Dylan Wiliam (King’s College): UK versus Japanese teachers Marks can have a negative impact Demotivation of UK students

25. Research from Israel: 33% of students given marks only – made no progress 33% given mark and comment – no progress 33% given comment only … … increased their performance by 30%

26. Quality of questioning Quality of feedback Sharing criteria with learners Using peer and self-assessment 4 key ingredients in good assessment

27. FORMATIVE V SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

28. Learning Formative assessment: “How am I doing?” Summative assessment: How have I done? teacher - peer - parent - buddy - mentor verbal - tick-list - general comment - written feedback

29. 7 tips for effective questioning … 1. Plan questions in scheme of work 2. Use Bloom’s taxonomy to move to higher- level skills 3. Share key questions at the start of the lesson - point the way ahead 4. Balance asking and telling 5. Ask open questions 6. Make questions collaborative 7. Give thinking time

30. Re-think Assessment Self-assessment by students Presentations in small groups Re-present in different format Group feedback Ticklists Re-teaching a lesson 30-second 1:1 Feedback from other groupsLearning buddy DEPENDENCE INDEPENDENCE

31. NEXT STEPS Get feedback from students on their attitudes to marking - what helps them & what doesn’t Get clear in your own mind formative -v- summative assessment Get one team testing new homework- setting patterns Display marking criteria in all classrooms Use sampling to evaluate marking

32. Literacy Across the Curriculum Final Thoughts 10

33. Literacy Across the Curriculum 1: Book in to see your Head. Hammer out the priorities for YOUR school. Start to integrate the different strategies … and come up with a half-term-by-half- term action plan

34. 2: Re-think your working party. Is it time to re-define or disband? Should it move into an evaluative role, monitoring progress and assessing impact?

35. Literacy Across the Curriculum

36. 3: Get students involved in the evaluation. Use questionnaires / focus groups to gain their feedback on teaching styles that work, marking, groupings, spelling hints … Summarise the results to staff

37. Literacy Across the Curriculum 4: Bed ideas into the teaching teams. Your role is to COORDINATE, not to DO everything. Give advice, etc, but insist that curriculum teams run their own meetings on literacy issues / teaching styles, etc

38. Literacy Across the Curriculum 5: The basics are still important - eg literacy-friendly classrooms, using glossaries, key word lists, model answers, assessment criteria on display, etc

39. Literacy Across the Curriculum

40. 6: Be prepared to adapt and simplify the materials as necessary - eg reduce the writing process to its core elements and don’t worry about technical terms. The aim is to improve student learning. Taking short-cuts is fine

41. Literacy Across the Curriculum 7: Yours is a key whole-school role. Done properly, you will make teachers’ lives easier and students’ learning more successful. But don’t kill yourself in the process. Take a rational, step-by-step approach

42. Literacy Across the Curriculum 8: Keep literacy issues high-profile in staff bulletins, displays, etc. Get 3 staff to say what they are doing re: questions / spelling / writing at the next staff meeting. Give them 2 minutes each. Keep it light and upbeat

43. Literacy Across the Curriculum

44. 9: Meet your literacy Governor and give an update. Ask the Head to talk about literacy in the next report for Governors (these are usually termly)

45. Literacy Across the Curriculum 10: Keep coming back to IMPACT. Channel all efforts into improving the way we help children to learn through language. Small steps are likely to make the biggest impact … so be confident … and good luck!

46. Literacy Across the Curriculum Good Luck! All these resources are at www.geoffbarton.co.uk