From Good to Outstanding in English

1. From Good to Outstanding in English Geoff Barton Download free at www.geoffbarton.co.uk (Presentation number60)

2. What How

3. + G&T + Grammar + Functional skills + Starters + 5*A-C(EM) + ???

4. Where have we come from? • Where are we now? • Where are we going?

6. Parse the italicised words: • “The lady protests too much, methinks” • “Sit thee down” • “I saw him taken” • Rewrite these sentences correctly: • “Louis was in some respects a good man, but being a bad ruler his subjects rebelled” • “Vainly endeavouring to suppress his emotion, the service was abruptly brought to an end” Alfred S West, The Elements of English Grammar

8. For each of the following write a sentence containing the word or clause indicated: That used as a subordinating conjunction That used as a relative pronoun An adjective used in the comparative degree A pronoun used as a direct object An adverbial clause of concession A noun clause in apposition A collective noun JMB O-level English Language, 1967

11. Autonomy 16+ NC Coursework GCSE Framework Performance tables 5A*C+EM Disempowerment

12. Next …? • Primacy of subject knowledge? • Mix of freedom and conscription? • IGCSE? • Increased emphasis on cultural heritage: “the best that has been thought and said”?

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

15. English 2005: • 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’. 1 • 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. 2 3 • Pupils’ writing does not improve solely by doing more of it.

16. English 2009: • All the English departments visited had schemes of work for KS3 but, since they rarely showed them to the students, students could not see how individual elements linked together and supported each other. • To many students, the KS3 programme seemed a random sequence of activities … 1

17. English 2009: • Some schools persevered with ‘library lessons’ where the students read silently. These sessions rarely included time to discuss or promote books and other written material and therefore did not help to develop a reading community within the school. 2

18. English 2009: • Many of the lessons seen during the survey showed there was a clear need to reinvigorate the teaching of writing. Students were not motivated by the writing tasks they were given and saw no real purpose to them. 3

19. English 2009: • Ofsted’s previous report on English found that schools put too little emphasis on developing speaking and listening. Since then, the teaching of speaking and listening has improved. 4

20. English 2009: • The last English report identified a wide gap between the best practice and the rest in using ICT. This gap remains; indeed, some of the evidence suggests that it has widened. 5

21. Whole-school literacy: Every teacher in English … Teach reading, not FOFO … Demystify spelling … Model writing … Emphasise quality talk …

22. CASE STUDIES

24. S&L: Does it happen systematically anywhere to develop thinking and to model writing? Implications for you …? 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 whole-school literacy? How will you reignite interest?

25. What’s the latest news?

26. 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, London Institute

27. 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

28. 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 DCFS

30. The Matthew Effect (Robert K Merton)

31. “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath”. Matthew 13:12

32. The rich shall get richer and the poor shall get poorer Matthew 13:12

33. “the word-rich get richer while the word-poor get poorer” in their reading skills (CASL)

34. “While good readers gain new skills very rapidly, and quickly move from learning to read to reading to learn, poor readers become increasingly frustrated with the act of reading, and try to avoid reading where possible” (SEDL 2001)

35. “Students who begin with high verbal aptitudes and find themselves in verbally enriched social environments are at a double advantage.” The Matthew Effect Daniel Rigney

36. Poor readers more likely to drop out of school and less likely to find rewarding employment … “good readers may choose friends who also read avidly while poor readers seek friends with whom they share other enjoyments” The Matthew Effect Daniel Rigney

37. Stricht’s Law: “reading ability in children cannot exceed their listening ability …” E.D. Hirsch The Schools We Need

38. “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” Myhill and Fisher

39. “The children who possess intellectual capital when they first arrive at school have the mental scaffolding and Velcro to catch hold of what is going on, and they can turn the new knowledge into still more Velcro to gain still more knowledge”. E.D. Hirsch The Schools We Need

40. Aged 7: Children in the top quartile have 7100 words; children in the lowest have around 3000. The main influence is parents. DCSF Research Unit

41. The Matthew Effect: The rich will get richer & the poor will get poorer

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

44. 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

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

46. 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

47. 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

48. From Good to Outstanding in English Geoff Barton Download free at www.geoffbarton.co.uk (Presentation number60)