1. LITERACY IMPACT! Literacy Across the Curriculum:
Maintaining the Momentum
Geoff Barton
April 27, 2017
All resources can be downloaded at

2. … and how will you measure IMPACT?
LITERACY IMPACT!
1 Where are we (and where are you) with literacy?
2 Who are your key players and what do you need to do next?
3 Developing practical approaches …
in Humanities subjects
in Scientific subjects
in tutor time
in speaking & listening
… and how will you measure IMPACT?

3. LITERACY IMPACT!
The approach …

4. So where are we with whole-school literacy?
LITERACY IMPACT!
SECTION 1:
So where are we with whole-school literacy?

5. Reasonable but horrible questions …
1 - Name one child who has improved their reading or writing based on a literacy initiative at your school?
2 - If you have a literacy working party, how much money do their salaries represent?
4 - What do your best teachers do to help students read, write, think and spell better? How do you know?
5 - If literacy is important, is it part of all lesson observations? Reviews? Performance management?
3 - If I asked 3 of your staff what your whole-school policy said, what would they reply?

6. “English at the Crossroads”
Subject Reviews 2005 & 2009
“English at the Crossroads”

7. October 2005: Key findings
English is one of the best taught subjects in both primary and secondary schools.

8. October 2005: Key findings
Standards of writing have improved as a result of guidance from the national strategies
Some teachers give too little thought to ensuring that pupils fully consider the audience, purpose and content for their writing.

9. October 2005: Key findings
Schools do not always seem to understand the importance of pupils’ talk in developing both reading and writing.
Myhill and Fisher: ‘spoken language forms a constraint, a ceiling not only on the ability to comprehend but also on the ability to write, beyond which literacy cannot progress’.
Too many teachers appear to have forgotten that speech ‘supports and propels writing forward’.
Pupils do not improve writing solely by doing more of it; good quality writing benefits from focused discussion that gives pupils a chance to talk through ideas before writing and to respond to friends’ suggestions.

10. October 2005: Key findings
The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2003: although the reading skills of 10 year old pupils in England compared well with those of pupils in other countries, they read less frequently for pleasure and were less interested in reading than those elsewhere.
NFER 2003: children’s enjoyment of reading had declined significantly in recent years
A Nestlé/MORI report : ‘underclass’ of non-readers, plus cycles of non-reading ‘where teenagers from families where parents are not readers will almost always be less likely to be enthusiastic readers themselves’.

11. October 2005: Key findings
The role of teaching assistants was described in the report as ‘increasingly effective’.

12. October 2005: Key findings
Despite the Strategy, weaknesses remain, including:
the stalling of developments as senior management teams focus on other initiatives
lack of robust measures to evaluate the impact of developments across a range of subjects
a focus on writing at the expense of reading, speaking and listening.

13. June 2009: Key findings
The most effective schools understood that ‘ICT has fundamentally altered… how we think about reading and writing’.
Most teachers in the survey had an interactive whiteboard but the effectiveness with which they used it varied greatly. They tended to use it to engage pupils’ attention or make presentations and rarely exploited its interactive element

14. June 2009: Key findings
The most effective schools used speaking and listening activities successfully to help pupils to think for themselves. Too few schools, however, planned systematically for these, although primary schools had improved their work in this area. Promoting wider reading and using homework were weaknesses.

15. June 2009: Key findings
There is a tendency of secondary schools to focus support on the examination years, which was too late for students who entered school with low levels of literacy

16. June 2009: Key findings
The most effective secondary schools were working to personalise the curriculum by matching it more closely to students’ needs.
Examples included:
varying groupings so that individuals received the most appropriate support for each activity
using integrated courses or a focus on generic learning skills to increase students’ motivation
entering higher-attaining students early for Key Stage 3 tests or GCSE examinations
providing adult literacy courses for older, lower-attaining students that suited their needs better than GCSE.

17. June 2009: Key findings
In both the primary and secondary schools visited, outstanding leadership and management of English resulted from highly effective headteachers who understood the subject’s importance and placed it at the centre of their drive for improvement.

18. Implications for you …?
S&L: Does it happen systematically anywhere to develop thinking and to model writing?
Writing: is there an understanding across any teams of how to develop writing - eg how to get better evaluations, better essays, better scientific writing?
Reading: Who is teaching reading? Has reading for pleasure slipped from your radar?
Leadership: Has your leadership team lost interest in literacy? How will you reignite interest?

19. LITERACY IMPACT!
What’s the latest news?

20. LITERACY LATEST! What we know about Writing …
The standard of writing has improved in recent years but still lags 20% behind reading at all key stages (eg around 60% of students get level 4 at KS2 in writing, compared to 80% in reading).
Writing has improved as a result of the National Strategy.
S&L has a big role in writing - it allows students to rehearse ideas and structures and builds confidence.
But S&L has lower status because of assessment weightings.
In teaching writing we tend to focus too much on end-products rather than process (eg frames). We should think more about composition - how ideas are found and framed, how choices are made, how to decide about the medium, how to draft and edit.
We are still stuck with a narrow range of writing forms and need to emphasise creativity in non-fiction forms.
We need to rediscover the excitement of writing.
With thanks to Professor Richard Andrews, University of York

21. LITERACY LATEST! What we know about vocabulary …
Aged 7: children in the top quartile have 7100 words; children in the lowest have around The main influence in parents.
Using and explaining high-level words is a key to expanding vocabulary. A low vocabulary has a negative effect throughout schooling.
Declining reading comprehension from 8 onwards is largely a result of low vocabulary. Vocabulary aged 6 accounts for 30% of reading variance aged 16.
Catching up becomes very difficult. Children with low vocabularies would have to learn faster than their peers (4-5 roots words a day) to catch up within 5-6 years.
Vocabulary is built via reading to children, getting children to read themselves, engaging in rich oral language, encouraging reading and talking at home
In the classroom it involves: defining and explaining word meanings, arranging frequent encounters with new words in different contexts, creating a word-rich environment, addressing vocabulary learning explicitly, selecting appropriate words for systematic instruction/reinforcement, teaching word-learning strategies
With thanks to DES Research Unit

22. LITERACY LATEST! What we know about students who make slow progress …
Characteristics: 2/3 boys. Generally well-behaved. Positive in outlook. “Invisible” to teachers. Keen to respond but unlikely to think first. Persevere with tasks, especially with tasks that are routine. Lack self-help strategies. Stoical, patient, resigned.
Reading: they over-rely on a limited range of strategies and lack higher order reading skills
Writing: struggle to combine different skills simultaneously. Don’t get much chance for oral rehearsal, guided writing, precise feedback
S&L: don’t see it as a key tool in thinking and writing
Targets: set low-level targets; overstate functional skills; infrequently review progress
With thanks to DfES

23. LITERACY LATEST! What we know about TALK
Teachers are very aware that some children lack experience and skills in using talk for thinking.
However, most teachers do not expressly teach children to become better at using talk for reasoning, discussing and solving problems.
If they ‘teach talk’, English teachers tend to focus on developing good ‘presentational talk’, not good ‘exploratory talk’.
It is still largely dominated by teachers’ closed questions and students’ brief attempts at ‘right answers’.

24. LITERACY LATEST!

25. LITERACY LATEST! Good Practice in Talk …
Teachers ask open questions about texts and accept a variety of answers.
Teachers teach how to read rather than teaching a text.
Teachers encourage students to put the main idea into their own words.
Teachers regularly reformulate and summarise what students say in the appropriate discourse.
Teachers press the students to elaborate their ideas, e.g. ‘How did you know that?’
Teachers encourage thinking by asking ‘Why do you think that?’.
Teachers sometimes ask the same student a series of progressively more challenging questions or prompts (while the class listens).
Teachers ask students to respond to other students’ views.

26. What we know about Literacy Across the Curriculum
Good literacy skills are a key factor in raising standards across all subjects
Language is the main medium we use for teaching, learning and developing thinking, so it is at the heart of teaching and learning
Literacy is best taught as part of the subject, not as an add-on
All teachers need to give explicit attention to the literacy needed in their subject.

27. Consistency in literacy
is achieved when …
Literacy skills are taught consistently and systematically across the curriculum
Expectation of standards of accuracy and presentation are similar in all classrooms
Teachers are equipped to deal with literacy issues in their subject both generically and specifically
The same strategies are used across the school: the teaching sequence for writing; active reading strategies; planning speaking and listening for learning
Teachers use the same terminology to describe language.

28. Ofsted suggests literacy across the curriculum is good when …
Senior managers are actively involved in the planning and monitoring
Audits and action planning are rigorous
Monitoring focuses on a range of approaches, e.g. classroom observation, work scrutiny as well as formal tests
Time is given to training, its dissemination and embedding
Schools work to identified priorities.

29. KS3 IMPACT!  Talking Point 
What have been the successes in your own school?
What do you need to do next?

30. Literacy strategy: The next phase
Self-evaluation:
So where are you up to in your school? 3 5
NO PROGRESS
GOOD PROGRESS

31. Literacy strategy: The next phase
Key player
Progress rating
Priority
Head
You
SENCO
Teachers
Teaching assistants
Governors
Librarian
Tutors

32. Working with the key players
LITERACY IMPACT!
SECTION 2:
Working with the key players

33. Focus relentlessly on T&L
‘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’
“Schools are places where the pupils go to watch the teachers working” (John West-Burnham)
“For many years, attendance at school has been required (for children and for teachers) while learning at school has been optional.” (Stoll, Fink & East)

34. Key players Librarian Strategy manager Working party Headteacher
Governors
Teaching assistants
Subject leaders
Students!
Tutors

35. Key players Strategy manager Focus, tailor, customise
See as professional development rather than delivery
Differentiate training
Emphasise monitoring more than initiatives
Use pupil surveys for learning & teaching

36. Headteacher
Must be actively involved as head TEACHER
Eg monitoring books, breakfast with students, feedback to staff
Must be seen in lessons
Must be reined in to prioritise

37. Librarian
Key part in improving literacy
Include in training
Part of curriculum meetings
Library should embody good practice - eg key words, guidance on retrieving information, visual excitement
Active training for students, breaking down subject barriers
Get a library commitment from every team
Then sample to monitor it

38. Governors
Visit library, get in classrooms, talk to students
Clearly signal the “literacy” focus
Emphasise s/he’s discussing consistency
Sample of students and feedback
Part of faculty reviews on (say) how we teach writing

39. Working party
Maintain or disband?
Less doing and more evaluating - questionnaires, looking at handouts, working around rooms, talking to students
Asking questions: “What do teachers here do that helps you to understand long texts better?”
Work sampling
Creating a critical mass

40. Students
Tell us how we’re doing
Build into school council
Small groups work with faculty teams to guide and evaluate
Audit rooms for key words, etc

41. Teaching Assistants
Make them literacy experts
Let them lead training
Make their monitoring role explicit
Publish their feedback

42. Subject leaders
Help them to identify the 3 bits of literacy that will have the biggest impact
Prioritise one per term or year
Join their meetings at start and end of process
Help them to keep it simple
Provide models and sample texts
Evaluate
Build literacy into their team’s performance management

43. Tutors
Reconceptualise tutor time as creating an ethos for learning / reviewing targets
Think therefore how the environment of tutor groups could embody good practice - key words, glossaries, approaches to reading and spelling, connectives
Reject silent reading and replace with literacy-based quizzes, etc
Make the school planner a central document for literacy

44. LITERACY IMPACT! Your role …
Don’t call it literacy - call it good learning & teaching, or writing, or reading
Build it into lesson observation sheets
Build it into performance management
Keep it in the public eye
Emphasise increased student motivation
Talk to your Head about core skills for all teachers

45. LITERACY IMPACT! 7 Show before & after models
8 Don’t focus on grammar knowledge needed by staff
9 Show it’s part of a whole-school strategy
10 Celebrate every small-scale success
11 Quote students’ feedback
12 Be consultant, not doer

48. LITERACY IMPACT!
SECTION 3:
Practical approaches

49. Book sampling…

53. Literacy strategy: The next phase
IMPACT!

54. What are the core literacy skills needed by teachers?
LITERACY IMPACT!
What are the core literacy skills needed by teachers?
General teaching approaches to writing, handouts, vocabulary development
Specific approaches in humanities / scientific teaching?
Culturally - in S&L, tutor time, the physical environment

55. Essential literacy rooted in professional development
An example …

56. LITERACY IMPACT! WRITING Teaching sequence Key conventions Connectives
Sentence variety

57. 1 LITERACY IMPACT! Know the writing sequence: Establish clear aims
Provide examples
Explore conventions of the text
Define the conventions
Demonstrate how it is written
Compose together
Scaffold first attempts
Independent writing
Draw out key learning

58. 2 LITERACY IMPACT! Know the dominant text-types for your subject:
Purpose: What is its purpose? Who is it for? How will it be used?
Text level: Layout? Structure?
Sentence level: Prevailing tense? Active/passive? Sentence types and length?
Word level: Specialist vocabulary?

59. 3 LITERACY IMPACT! Know your connectives
Adding: and, also, as well as, moreover, too
Cause & effect: because, so, therefore, thus, consequently
Sequencing: next, then, first, finally, meanwhile, before, after
Qualifying: however, although, unless, except, if, as long as, apart from, yet
Emphasising: above all, in particular, especially, significantly, indeed, notably
Illustrating: for example, such as, for instance, as revealed by, in the case of
Comparing: equally, in the same way, similarly, likewise, as with, like
Contrasting: whereas, instead of, alternatively, otherwise, unlike, on the other hand

60. 4 LITERACY IMPACT! Encourage sentence variety
Start with an -ing verb (Reaching 60 these days is ..)
Start with an -ed verb (Frustrated by ….)
Start with an adverb (Well-done chicken leads to …)
Start with a preposition (Within the city limits you will …)

61. Students must see you writing5
LITERACY IMPACT!
Students must see you writing

62. LITERACY IMPACT!

63. KS3 IMPACT!  Talking Point 
What have been the successes in your own school?
What do you need to do next?

64. LITERACY IMPACT! Subject-specific vocabulary Approaches to reading
Active research process, not FOFO
Using DARTs

65. 6 LITERACY IMPACT! Subject-specific vocabulary: Identifying
Playing with context
Actively exploring
Linking to spelling

66. 7 LITERACY IMPACT! Approaches to reading: Scanning Skimming
Continuous reading
Close reading
Research skills, not FOFO

67. 8 LITERACY IMPACT! Using DARTs: Cloze Diagram completion
Disordered text
Prediction

68. SKIMMING

69. Proud mum in a million Natalie Brown hugged her beautiful baby daughter Casey yesterday and said: “She’s my double miracle.”

70. The climate of the Earth is always changing
The climate of the Earth is always changing. In the past it has altered as a result of natural causes. Nowadays, however, the term climate change is generally used when referring to changes in our climate which have been identified since the early part of the 1900's . The changes we've seen over recent years and those which are predicted over the next 80 years are thought to be mainly as a result of human behaviour rather than due to natural changes in the atmosphere. 

71. The best treatment for mouth ulcers. Gargle with salt water
The best treatment for mouth ulcers. Gargle with salt water. You should find that it works a treat. Salt is cheap and easy to get hold of and we all have it at home, so no need to splash out and spend lots of money on expensive mouth ulcer creams. 

72. Urquhart castle is probably one of the most picturesquely situated castles in the Scottish Highlands. Located 16 miles south-west of Inverness, the castle, one of the largest in Scotland, overlooks much of Loch Ness. Visitors come to stroll through the ruins of the 13th-century castle because Urquhart has earned the reputation of being one of the best spots for sighting Loch Ness’s most famous inhabitant.

73. SCANNING

74. Where did the first cell phones begin?
Name 2 other features that started to be included in phones
Why are cell phones especially useful in some countries?

75. Where did the first cell phones begin?
Name 2 other features that started to be included in phones
Why are cell phones especially useful in some countries?
Cellular telephones
The first cellular telephone system began operation in Tokyo in 1979, and the first U.S. system began operation in 1983 in Chicago. A camera phone is a cellular phone that also has picture taking capabilities. Some camera phones have the capability to send these photos to another cellular phone or computer. Advances in digital technology and microelectronics has led to the inclusion of unrelated applications in cellular telephones, such as alarm clocks, calculators, Internet browsers, and voice memos for recording short verbal reminders, while at the same time making such telephones vulnerable to certain software viruses. In many countries with inadequate wire-based telephone networks, cellular telephone systems have provided a means of more quickly establishing a national telecommunications network.

85. LITERACY IMPACT! No hands up Break tyranny of Q&A Thinking time
Key words / connectives
Speaking & listening
Reflective groupings
Rehearsing responses
Get teachers watching teachers who manage S&L well

86. KS3 IMPACT!  Talking Point 
What have been the successes in your own school?
What do you need to do next?

87. LITERACY IMPACT!
Better Handouts

88. LITERACY IMPACT! Better Handouts Readability … 17 14
Morphine, C17H19NO3, is the most abundant of opium’s 24 alkaloids, accounting for 9 to 14% of opium-extract by mass. Named after the Roman god of dreams, Morpheus, who also became the god of slumber, the drug morphine, appropriately enough, numbs pain, alters mood and induces sleep. Morphine and its related synthetic derivatives, known as opioids, are so far unbeatable at dulling chronic or so-called “slow” pain, but unfortunately they are all physically addictive. During the American Civil War, soldiers became addicted to morphine.
Morphine is a powerful sleeping drug. It is named after Morpheus, the Roman god of slumber and is famous for numbing pain, changing our moods and making people sleepy. With its related forms (known as opioids) it is unbeatable at dulling severe pain. However, it is also highly addictive and in the American Civil War soldiers became addicted to it. Morphine is also known as C17H19NO3 and is made from an extract of opium (a seed in poppy plants).

89. LITERACY IMPACT! Better Handouts Layout guidance …  Aim for:
spacious presentation (as much white page as black text)
use of typographical features:
headlines and subheadings
bold, italic, underline, different font styles and sizes (though not too many in a single document)
boxes, shaded panels, vertical lines to add visual interest
use of columns to make reading more efficient
short paragraphs
glossary of key words
Avoid:
densely-packed writing
cramped margins
excessive use of upper case lettering
poor reprographics
lack of images / typographical features
excessive use of colour (which can actually prove distracting)

90. LITERACY IMPACT!
So what would you suggest …?

91. LITERACY IMPACT! 3 Highlight key words 1 Mention big picture / purpose
2 Flag first task in advance
4 Add more visuals

92. LITERACY IMPACT! 5 Use small-scale questions to build comprehension
7 Provide sentence starters / connectives
6 Give guidance on the style and conventions of the writing task
8 Give some indication of how the task will be assessed

93. LITERACY IMPACT! For teachers of humanities subjects …
Readability through questions, subheadings, layout
Use of connectives like later, despite this, although
Formality (eg essay style that avoids “I” and emotion)

94. LITERACY IMPACT! For teachers of Science subjects …
Demystifying complex vocabulary (making connections between words)
Modelling an impersonal style (including passive v active)
Teaching causal connectives

95. LITERACY IMPACT!
A Culture for Literacy

96. LITERACY IMPACT! Creating a literacy culture …
Have core skills for all teachers
Have specific skills for specific teachers / TAs
Focus on library and tutor time
Have simple principles on speaking and listening - why it’s important; how it helps students to learn; what good teachers do
Build into school systems

97. LITERACY IMPACT! Final Thoughts Small steps
You’re coordinator … not doer
Work with key players
Focus on impact and evaluate endlessly (involving students)
It’s all about learning and teaching, not literacy

98. LITERACY IMPACT! Literacy Across the Curriculum:
Maintaining the Momentum
Geoff Barton
April 27, 2017
All resources can be downloaded at