1. A woman, without her man, is nothing.2. A woman: without her, man is nothing

Literacy in Northern Ireland Curriculum

Nicola Marlow

Key Points to note!

Literacy today is different from when we were younger

Literacy is taught - it doesn’t just happenEvery

teacher in English is a teacher OF

English (Newbolt, 1921)

So……….. What is Literacy?

What is meant by a literate pupil?

21st century Literacy is….. The ability to read and write; speak, listen, and

view; think critically, act creatively and collaboratively; and manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information.

(National Council for Teachers of English, January 2009)

Kingman 1988‘A democratic society needs people who

have the linguistic abilities which will enable them to discuss, evaluate and make

sense of what they are told……

….otherwise there can be no genuine participation, but only the imposition of the

ideas on those who are linguistically incapable.’

Sound familiar? The Northern Ireland Curriculum aims to

EMPOWER young people to achieve their potential and to make informed and responsible decisions throughout their lives…

(Source www.nicurriculum.org.uk)

NI Context

Selection Selective education- retained the

11+, with the related grammar school system, for 40% of children; the other 60% go to secondary highs.

Assembly will need to decide on new arrangements to apply to pupils transferring from primary to post primary schools…..

Ongoing- transfer tests still used for selection purposes

Results- achievement?

Source: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/policy/regional/northern_ireland

Half FullNI GCSE results at Grade C or above were 9% higher than England or Wales, NI also does significantly better at A Level.

75% of 17-year-olds in NI are still in full-time education or vocational training compared with 60% in England.

32% of children in working class areas in NI go to University, higher than children from similar areas in England.

Half EmptyPockets of severe underachievement which is linked to a range of negative outcomes as children and in adulthood.

One-fifth of children leave Primary School without reaching the expected level in literacy.

Belfast boys were performing worst, with two-thirds of them failing to reach the expected level in English.

NI Audit Office - £40 million on improving literacy with little impact.

Source: Barnados NI & National Literacy Trust

•The Westminster Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published its report into literacy and numeracy in the north of Ireland in November 2006. A copy of the report can be accessed at the United Kingdom Parliament website

•Response : Literacy and numeracy Taskforce

http://www.deni.gov.uk

/

CHALLENGESDO EXIST

Skills deficit among pupils in NI schools increases as pupils progress through primary

education into the secondary sector

Underachievement amongst boys constitutes a cultural

challenge

Among socially deprived communities in Belfast, significant differences between Protestant and Catholic children exist in

GCSE English Mathematics.

6. Nationwide targets set

to track progress

5. More effective

use of data to monitor

4. Taskforce2008-

three WAVES guidance

3. Monitor ‘at risk’ pupils

2. RNIC & CCS

1. Abolishment of 11 plus

Primary

The Foundation Stage: Years 1 and 2

Key Stage 1: Years 3 and 4

Key Stage 2: Years 5, 6 and 7(11 plus/selection)

Post Primary

Key Stage 3: Years, 8, 9, 10(SATs)

Key Stage 4: Years 11 & 12(GCSEs)

Key Stage 5: Years 13 & 14(A Levels- AS & A2)

The Rose Report

The teaching of phonics should be taught discretely but set within a broad and rich language curriculum that takes full account of developing all four interdependent strands of language: speaking, listening, reading and writing.

“ The development of phonological awareness is an essential pre-requisite of both reading and writing.”

(Language and Literacy in the Foundation Stage)

Key Principles of Phonics• The approach is systematic and clearly structured• The child’s oral language is developed alongside the

phonics• Phonics are clearly linked to reading and writing• Sounds are explored within the context of a word • Children learn to segment, blend and manipulate

phonemes , using their increasing knowledge to read and write independently

• Teacher modelling is the core teaching strategy • Problem-solving is the core learning strategy

Approaches to Teaching Writing

The LessonResearch Suggests a New Format

Pre-reading ActivitiesDiscussionsPredictionsQuestioning

BrainstormingSetting Purpose

GuidedACTIVE

Silent ReadingActivities to clarify, reinforce,

extendKnowl-edge

Reading Assignment

Given

Discussion to see ifstudents learned mainconcepts, what they

“should have” learned

Independentreading

Traditional Format New Format

Talking & Listening

Break tyranny of Q&A

No hands up

Thinking time

Carousel activities/ Drama activities

Reflective groupings

Key words / connectives

Literacy Across the Curriculum

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

Groupings: the range of possibilities

Pairs Easy to organiseGood for 1:1 feedbackQuick-fire rehearsal/reflection

Pairs to fours

Expands discussionTo explain & compare

Listening triads

Talker, questioner, recorderBuilds responsibility

Envoys 1 student goes to inform another groupAvoids tedious reporting back sessions

Snowball 2 to 8, developing ideasPromotes public discussion and debate

Rainbow groups

After small-group discussion, students are given colours to re-group

Jigsaw-envoy

Topic in sections. Start in home group, then move into expert groups, one on each section. Then report back.

Spokesperson

As it says

LITERACY FOR LEARNING

Literacy today is different from when we were younger

•Multi-media dominates

•Most ‘classic texts’ are known through film

•Reading extended writing is rare

•A visual culture dominates

•The notion of ‘accuracy’ is being challenged

•None of this is a bad thing

TEXT MESSAGING

Wud u go out wiv him if heasked? find out hoo hefancies becoz I reckon itz uelse he wudn’t say all thatstuff to u!!! don’t say nuffin 2no 1 bout clair plz. Y won’the let u c his fone do youmean u dunno if u fan-c himor u don’t wanna say bcuz udo!

Reading• Read Aloud

• Shared Reading

• Guided Reading

• Paired Reading

•Dramatised Reading

•Popcorn Reading

Writing• Modeled Writing

• Shared Writing

• Interactive Writing

• Guided Writing

• Independent Writing

•Carousel Writing

Accessing Prior Knowledge

Questioning

Predicting

Clarifying

Summarizing

Identifying Text Structure

Scanning / Skimming

Prioritize

Visualize

Keywords &

spellings-

•anagrams; acrostics; analogies

•Words within words

•Word games e.g. create cross words; complete cross words

•Writing frames

•connectives and sentences starters

•Conventions checklist- embed into success criteria

•Reward presentation; effort- positive comments

TEACHING WRITINGTEACHING WRITING

Model it

Demonstrate it

Practise it

Critique it

Scaffold it

Including ‘bad’ models

Show students the process of writing

Correct/change/improve

Make it collaborative

Move from small to larger sections- WRITING FRAMES

Reading and further sources http://www.barnardos.org.uk/ http://www.deni.gov.uk http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/policy/regional/north

ern_ireland http://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/ The Impact of the Linguistic Phonics Approach on

Children’s Reading, Writing & Spelling available from http://www.belb.org.uk/Parents/literacy_linguistic.asp?sm=37

Wave 2: Quality teaching plus additional support for identified pupils

Target setting- SMART targets

S- Specific M- Measurable A- achievable R- realistic T- time referenced

Monitor targets via assessments or formal end of term assessments

Wave 3: Quality teaching plus personalised support to meet the specific needs of individual pupils

Baseline data KS2 results? Reading tests administered by the

school Teacher assessment Feedback from other subject

teachers- use data on sims or school system

Draft levels of progression for communication

Target setting- SMART Monitor targets via assessments or

formal end of term assessments

Senco referral (test for SPLD- develop IEP)

Support from LSA- planned differentiated activities?

Liaise support from English department on improving key skills

**** Differentiation by outcomeScaffolded worksheets e.g. writing frames, cloze passages for summaries; prompts for written tasks- bullet points to

cover; structured self- assess checklists; reading buddy peer or 6th former; guided

reading

pr

Command of language: oral and written

manipulating sounds

sounds/ phonemes are represented by letters

the same phoneme can be represented more than one way e.g. ‘main’, ‘pay’, ‘lake’

the same spelling may represent more than one sound ea - ‘mean’, ‘health’

multi syllable words are made up f rom blocks of sound

Appreciation of authors’ intentions, style, techniques

Oral Language

syllables

syntax, sentence structure rhyme

segmenting and blending

awareness of audience and purpose

Attention and Listening

Vocabulary and concepts

f ollowing instructions

identif ying key points

sequencing

making connections

predicting

inf erring

The Jumper Granny Knitted