Reclaiming English for Pupils: Empowering Education for Improved Writing and Reading Skills

1. Wot, no SATS?: Reclaiming English for Pupils Geoff Barton NATE Conference April 2009 You can download this presentation at www.geoffbarton.co.uk

4. THEN: 1984

5. NOW: 2009

6. NOW: 2009 Autonomy 16+ NC Coursework GCSE Framework Performance tables Disempowerment

7. English Review 2000-05

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

9. Standards of writing have improved as a result of guidance from the national strategies. However, although pupils’ understanding of the features of different text types has improved, some teachers give too little thought to ensuring that pupils fully consider the audience, purpose and content for their writing. • Schools also need to consider how to develop continuity in teaching and assessing writing. October 2005: Key findings

10. Schools do not always seem to understand the importance of pupils’ talk in developing both reading and writing. • Myhill and Fisher quote research which argues that ‘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. October 2005: Key findings

11. The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), published in 2003, found that, 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. • An NFER reading survey (2003), conducted by Marian Sainsbury, concluded that children’s enjoyment of reading had declined significantly in recent years. • A Nestlé/MORI report highlighted the existence of a small core of children who do not read at all, described as an ‘underclass’ of non-readers, together with cycles of non-reading ‘where teenagers from families where parents are not readers will almost always be less likely to be enthusiastic readers themselves October 2005: Key findings

13. Key conventions Demonstrate writing. Link to speech Teach composition Importance of reading Sentence variety Connectives

14. 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

15. Reading needs teaching: skimming, scanning, analysis Read aloud. Demystify spelling Use DARTs: prediction, jumbled texts, pictures and graphs Teach and display subject-specific vocabulary Presentation and framing can make texts more accessible Teach research skills, not FOFO

16. What we know about vocabulary … • Aged 7: children in the top quartile have 7100 words; children in the lowest have around 3000. 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 DCSF Research Unit

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

18. Let’s reclaim English for pupils Post-SATs challenge Improvement happens in the classroom Consistency is an equal opportunities issue Integration plus explicit skills Make being G&T sexy Remember the “disappeared” Make Assessment for Learning happen Use student feedback

19. Built around “Assessing Pupil Progress” project Built around good English teaching Complete coverage of Framework & NC Digital and multi-media resources, inc IWB It’s really good

20. English Teacher Petite, white-haired Miss Cartwright Knew Shakespeare off by heart, Or so we pupils thought. Once in the stalls at the Old Vic She prompted Lear when he forgot his part. Ignorant of Scrutiny and Leavis, She taught Romantic poetry, Dreamt of gossip with dead poets. To an amazed sixth form once said:‘How good to spend a night with Shelley.’ In long war years she fed us plays, Sophocles to Shaw’s St Joan. Her reading nights we named our Courting Club, Yet always through the blacked-out streets One boy left the girls and saw her home. When she closed her eyes and chanted ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ We laughed yet honoured her devotion. We knew the man she should have married Was killed at Passchendaele. Brian Cox From Collected Poems, Carcanet Press 1993 And finally …

21. Wot, no SATS?: Reclaiming English for Pupils Geoff Barton NATE Conference April 2009 You can download this presentation at www.geoffbarton.co.uk/teacher-resources (48)