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Improving Literacy through the SSE Process

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Overview of Seminar Session 1

9.15 – 11.00

• Rationale for school improvement seminars • School reflection on SSE experiences • Exploring literacy in a broad sense

11.00 – 11.15 Coffee

Session 2

11.15 – 12.45

• Exploring improvement in literacy using the SSE process

12.45 – 1.30 Lunch

Session 3

1.30 – 3.30

• Exploring improvement in literacy using the SSE process • Moving forward

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Overview of Days 1 and 2

• Day 1: Exploring literacy improvement and oral language development using the SSE process

• Day 2: Exploring improvements in literacy, using the SSE process, with an emphasis on aspects of writing

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Day 1 Objectives

• To facilitate reflection on individual school experiences of SSE

• To provide participants with an opportunity to explore literacy in a broad sense

• To explore improvement in literacy using the SSE process

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School self-evaluation is a key tool in effective

school improvement

The six steps of the school self-evaluation

process are continuous but not strictly linear

School self-evaluation is an inclusive,

reflective, collaborative whole school process

Key Messages

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School Reflection

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Successes

Challenges Possible

Solutions

School Improvement Experience

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Learning to Date

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Voices from Schools

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• Literacy is an essential element in adolescent learning

• Literacy is the business of all teachers because it pertains to all students

• A whole school approach to literacy involves the explicit teaching of literacy skills across subject areas

Whole School Literacy

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The Literate Student…

• Can listen, interpret, understand, question, make judgements and respond to what he / she hears

• Can articulate thoughts fluently and confidently • Can actively and fluently read a variety of texts • Can ask questions about what they read • Can communicate confidently • Can use his / her literacy to access, understand, analyse,

synthesise, compare and evaluate subject content • Can use his / her literacy to express himself / herself

creatively • Can write effectively in a variety of genres • Can navigate the internet and make judgements about

what he / she reads online • Can participate fully in society

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Strong early reading skills do not automatically develop into more complex skills that enable students to deal with the specialized and sophisticated reading of literature, science, history, and mathematics

(Perle et al., 2005).

Adolescent Literacy

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Educators and adolescents need support to ensure appropriate literacy instruction is implemented throughout the school day and subject areas to provide continued and appropriate literacy development in adolescence (Moje, 2007b, 2008, Shanahan and Shanahan, 2008)

What Works: Adolescent Literacy

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Oral Language

Writing Reading

Literacy in a Broad Sense

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• Tasks are set that require students to actively listen • Students are encouraged to speak in a range of

contexts • Classroom talk and peer discussion are structured • Group work and presentation skills are explicitly

modelled and practised • Student talk is valued • Strategic questioning takes place • Subject-specific vocabulary is utilised in multiple

activities • Feedback is given regularly

What Works: Oral Language (Speaking and Listening)

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There are four stages through which a particular text type can be made explicit, taught to students

1 Building knowledge of the topic 2 Modelling the text type 3 Joint construction 4 Independent writing

Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning Gibbons, 2002

What Works: Writing

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1. Explicit vocabulary instruction 2. Direct and explicit teaching of

comprehension strategies 3. Provide opportunities for extended

discussion of texts 4. Increase student motivation and

engagement. 5. Make available intensive and individualised

interventions for struggling students, that can be provided by trained specialists

(M. Kamil)

What Works: Reading

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Reading

Vocabulary Comprehension Motivation Peer Discussion

What Works: Reading

Explicit Instruction

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Three Goals of Vocabulary Instruction

1. Provide students with skills/opportunities to learn words independently

2. Teach students the meanings of specific words 3. Nurture a love and appreciation of words and their use "Kindling students' interest and engagement with words is a vital part of helping all students, but especially less advantaged students, to develop rich and powerful vocabularies”

(Graves, 2006, p. 120)

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Vocabulary Instruction (Beck & McKeown,1985)

Tier 3 Tier 2 Words concentrate, analyse,

justify

Tier 1 Words chair, happy, bed

totalitarian, cellular respiration

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• Approaches to develop independent word learning; dictionary and thesaurus skills

• Approaches to deepen understanding of specific

meanings; peer teaching, demonstration of concept, acknowledging the word in other contexts Intentional teaching of selected words

• Repeated exposure and use of words and phrases

(see PDST website for related resources)

What Works: Vocabulary Instruction

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What Works: Comprehension

Comprehension

Predicting

Inferring

Visualising

Clarifying

Synthesis

Determining Importance

Making Connections

Questioning

Gleeson, M., Building Bridges of Understanding, 2013,

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• Meaningful learning goals

• Positive learning environment

• Literacy experiences relevant to students’ lives

• Collaborative learning to increase engagement for students

(Kamil et al, 2008)

Student Motivation

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What does a school community that values literacy look like?

Parents Students

Teachers /BOM Classroom

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Building Blocks of SSE

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Gather the evidence

Analyse the evidence

Draw conclusions

Write school self-evaluation

report

Devise school improvement

plan

Implement and monitor

improvement plan

The 6 Step Process

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Learner outcomes

(Attitudes, Skills & Knowledge)

Learning experiences

Teachers’ practices

Targets Actions

Teaching and Learning Framework

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Exploring the School Improvement Process

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• What does the data tell us?

• What does the data not tell us?

• What else do we need to know?

Data Analysis

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Draw Conclusions

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Learner outcomes

Learning experiences

Teachers’ practices

Targets Actions

Teaching and Learning Framework

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Where To Next?

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• Establish/refine school structures to sustain improvement

• Explore ‘big picture’ literacy

• Consider possibilities for data gathering

• Engage in data gathering

• Engage in data analysis

• Make judgements based on the evidence

• Other?

Moving Forward…

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Video: A School’s Experience of the SSE process

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• www.pdst.ie www.schoolself-evaluation.ie

Resources

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Subject Specific Resources to Support Literacy

(www.pdst.ie/node/465) Graphic Organiser Reflection Template and Circle of Concern Semantic Map and Peer Teaching Cooperative and Group Role Cards Vocabulary Vignettes and Graphic Organiser Vocabulary Guidelines and Prefixes Martin Luther Text Speaking and Listening Checklist Reading Checklist Vocabulary Knowledge Checklist Writing Checklist Calendar of meetings Literacy Link Minutes and Agenda Template Common Greek and Latin Morphemes Morphemes in Science Website referred to on the day

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School-Self Evaluation Teaching & Learning Framework; 6 Step SSE Process; gathering, collating & analysing relevant data; implementing the SIP for

literacy, numeracy and any other area of teaching & learning.

Assessment for Learning (AfL) Learning outcomes/context of learning/success criteria; effective feedback; questioning; Bloom’s Taxonomy and self & peer-assessment strategies e.g. rubrics.

Integrating ICT eAssessments & ePortfolios – Mahara, Google Apps for Education... ePlanning & Collaboration – Google Apps for Education..... Tablet Technology Integration – Effective use, pedagogy...... Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) – Google Classroom, Edmodo SSE – On-line tools for gathering, collating & analysing relevant data Visual - Visualisers, Animoto, Wordle, Tagxedo, Photo-story.... Auditory – Audacity, Vocaroo, Audioboo...... Reading comprehension – Freerice, Studystack, Quizlet...... Kinaesthetic – Tarzia, Cube Creator......

Subjects /Programmes & Generic Support Health & Wellbeing – PE, SPHE, mental health, anti-bullying and promoting the welfare & protection of students Junior & Leaving Certificate subject support & planning JCSP, TY, LCA & LCVP programme support School planning (policies) Co-operative learning ICT for teaching & learning Differentiation/mixed ability teaching

PDST Websites

www.pdst.ie pdsttechnologyineducation.ie scoilnet.ie (portal for resources) teachercpd.ie (on-line courses)

PDST Leadership Programmes

Misneach.....New Principals Tánaiste.......New Deputy Principals Tóraíocht.....Aspiring Leaders accredited by Maynooth University Forbairt .......Experienced Principals & ALNs Spreagadh...NAPD & PDST collaboration

Overview of PDST Post-Primary Supports for Leading Learning in the 21st Century

www.pdst.ie/schoolsupport

Models of support: whole staff days (circular 002/2014), Croke Park hours, subject departments/groups of teachers/co-ordinators (circular 0043/2014) It is essential to fill out the on-line application form @ www.pdst/schoolsupport in order for your application to be considered

Numeracy SSE & strategies for implementing problem solving, estimation, a common approach to maths language and a numeracy rich environment across the curriculum.

Literacy SSE & strategies for improving oral language, writing, reading comprehension, and the use of broadcast /digital media across the curriculum.

www.pdst.ie

The PDST is funded by the Teacher Education Section (TES) of the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and is managed

by Dublin West Education Centre

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This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ie/ . You may use and re-use this material (not including images and logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike Licence. Please cite as: PDST, PowerPoint Presentation Title, 2014

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