Literacy Training – an NMR School Improvement Initiative

1. J Literacy Training – an NMR School Improvement Initiative Presented by Module 1

2. The 7 High Reliability Literacy Teaching Procedures (HRLTPs) • This approach to literacy was developed by Prof John Munro • It identifies the strategies readers need to convert written text information to knowledge • It uses 7 High Reliability Literacy Teaching Procedures (HRLTPs) to teach readers how to comprehend and learn from written text

3. The HRLTPs Getting Knowledge Ready Vocabulary Reading Aloud What questions does the text answer? Summarise Paraphrasing Review

4. J What do we mean by Literacy? • Literacy allows students to convert written information into knowledge. • These literacy presentations are about reading for learning, NOT learning to read.

5. J Why are we here today? Getting Knowledge Ready (GKR)

6. J Simple tools can have a powerful impact

7. J Today’s Roadmap Why use GKR? What is GKR? How do you use GKR? Teaching students to use the GKR independently Implementing these procedures.

8. L Think of the last time you read a newspaper article on a difficult or unfamiliar topic.

9. L How well do your students get their knowledge ready ? Rate your students on each scale from 0 (never) to 5 (always).

10. L What did your students score? How would you have liked your students to score?

11. L What might a low score mean? Sometimes students: • may form an image but have difficulty talking about it • need questions to help them put their images into words • need to hear what other students know about the topic to stimulate their memory • have had little experience talking about what they know or see ‘in their minds’ • need prompts to access the images in their head

12. L Will spending more time on literacy mean less time for content? Teaching without planning for literacy learning “Why don’t they remember what I teach them?” “So much to do, so little time to teach the content and worry about literacy!” “I have to waste so much time repeating myself.” In any area, literacy is the means by which information is converted into knowledge.

13. J An Egyptian King is buried in a Pyramid. Joined Here (learned) Student Short Term Memory Thinking Space Long Term Memory (Existing Knowledge) New Information Egyptian King is buried in a Pyramid.

14. J Many students store information in pictures and actions current spark Electricity

15. J What are the key phases of getting knowledge ready? Students : 1. Visualise and organise what they know about the topic. • Express it in words and sentences. 3. Bridge (link) knowledge to the written text.

16. J What might this look like for the topic “the rainforest”? Phase 1: “When you hear about rainforests, what do you think of? What do you see? Phase 2: “Describe the pictures in words and sentences” Phase 3: “Look at the heading on p 53. What do you think it’s going to be about?” The heading says “Endangered Species of Malaysia”. I think it will be about Orang-utans” “The forest is green and lush and has lots of animals”

17. J Another example… • What do you think of when I say “global warming”? • Say your ideas in sentences. • The heading on new text says: “Carbon emissions program may achieve goals”. What do you think it’s going to be about?

18. L Today’s Roadmap Why use GKR? What is GKR? How do you use GKR? Teaching students to use the GKR independently Implementing these procedures.

19. L Example text: “Lifeblood of Egypt” from a year 7 Humanities text.

20. L Before the lesson, look at the text and ask… • What key concepts do I want students to learn? • What facts do I want students to learn? • What key words and phrases do I want students to learn? • What prior knowledge could/do the students have? Year 7 Text

21. L Can you remember the three key phases of getting knowledge ready? Students: 1. Visualise and organise what they know about the topic. 2. Express it in words and sentences. 3. Bridge knowledge to the text.

22. J The following slides will explain various ways of implementing phase 1. • (more tools for your toolbox)

23. J Phase 1To help students visualise and organise their knowledge • What do you think the text will tell you? • What do you know about the Nile river? • Imagine you lived on the river Nile. What would it be like? • Why do you think the Nile was important? • Show pictures to the students and ask: • What might the text be about? • What might be the main ideas? • What might happen? • What questions might it answer? • What words might be in this text? • Describe the topic. For example“We are going to learn about the importance of the Nile river to ancient Egypt.”

24. J Phase 1To help students visualise and organise their knowledge Give a set of key words to groups of students. Ask students: • What do these mean to you ? • What can you see when I say each word? • Describe what the words remind you of • Are there questions you want to ask when you hear each word? • Listen to these terms. Make a picture in your mind that contains all of them. What is the topic ?

25. J Phase 1To help students visualise and organise their knowledge Think of the next topic you will be teaching students. Give a set of key words to groups of students. Ask students: • What do these mean to you ? • What can you see when I say each word? • Describe what the words remind you of • Are there questions you want to ask when you hear each word? • Listen to these terms. Make a picture in your mind that contains all of them. What is the topic ?

26. J Morning tea?

27. J What do I know about GKR? • GKR allows students to convert knowledge/ experiences/ impressions into spoken and written form to connect to new text. Now some fun and games

28. L The following slides will explain various ways of implementing phase 2. • (more tools for your toolbox)

29. L Phase 2 – Students express it in words and sentences Students talk about their visual images of the topic in sentences. • Visualize what it would be like living as an Egyptian family 3000 years ago. • Why would you want to live near a river? • What can you see happening on the river and along the banks?

30. L Phase 2 – Students express it in words and sentences • What questions would you like answered? • What? Why? When? Where? How? • What clothes did the Egyptians wear? • Why did Egyptians believe in life after death? • When did Egyptians eat dinner? • How did Egyptians catch the fish in the Nile? • Where did Egyptians live?

31. L Phase 2 – Students express it in words and sentences Think Pair Share • What would life have been like living on the Nile? How would it have been different to living in Melbourne today? • Think in silence for 30(?) seconds • Share your ideas with the student sitting next to you. • Share your ideas with the class or a group.

32. L Phase 2 – Students express it in words and sentences Ask me about the topic / Interview • Imagine you are interviewing an Egyptian farmer. • What questions might you ask? • One student could take the role of the farmer and the second will interview him/her about their experiences

33. J Phase 3 - Bridge to the written text Prior knowledge Prior knowledge expressed in sentences Ready for new written text

34. J The following slides will explain various ways of implementing phase 3. • (more tools for your toolbox)

35. J Phase 3 Bridge to the written text Read the title aloud. Say it in other ways. Question why specific words were used • Read aloud the title “Lifeblood of Egypt”, say it in other ways and suggest why these particular words might have been used. • Suggest other words for “lifeblood” ( for example, artery, lifeline) • Suggest why the word “lifeblood” was used (for example to indicate that it was necessary for life)

36. J Phase 3 Bridge to the written text Suggest purpose of the text • What will the text tell you about? • What are the main ideas in this text? • What questions might be answered? • What new words might be in this text?

37. J Phase 3 Bridge to the written text Scan and decide the purpose and content of text • Scan the text, title, headings, sub-headings, illustrations, and diagrams. What is the theme? What do they tell me ? • What do you think the text will tell you? • What will the text tell you about what is was like for the ancient Egyptians? • How did they feel after working next to the Nile? • What the weather was like there, how they used the Nile to build the pyramids?

38. J Phase 3 Bridge to the written text Plan a strategy for reading the text • Where will you pause while reading? • How will you review what you know and have read? • What will you do if what you read doesn’t make sense? • What will you do as you read if come to a part/word that you don’t understand ?

39. J What are some GKR activities? • Visualise • Relate to students’ experiences • Guess themes and ideas • Discuss illustrations (questions) • Determine author’s purpose • Ask 5W 1H questions (why when where what who how) • Brainstorm, Venn diagrams, graphic organisers etc • Draw or act out • Guess the writing style • Look at headings/ subheadings and contents pages • Key words (find and define) • Topic sentences (try to understand the topic of each paragraph) • Alphabet game/word games • Worksheet

40. L Today’s Roadmap Why use GKR? What is GKR? How do you use GKR? Teaching students to use the GKR independently Implementing these procedures.

41. L Teaching students to independently use the GKR procedures Students need to: • Learn each procedure separately • Practise the procedures regularly • Say what they did and how each procedurehelped them. • Experience success using the procedures

42. L Self Talk Students who self talk ask: • What do I think the text is about? • How will I work it out? • What does the organisation of the text tell me? • What type of text is it? • What questions might it answer? • Do I need to change my mind? • What picture will I make in my mind? • How can I say it in sentences?

43. L Today’s Roadmap Why use GKR? What is GKR? How do you use GKR? Teaching students to use the GKR independently Implementing these procedures.

44. L How can these procedures be used in your teaching? • Implement the procedures gradually. • Select one or two strategies and use them consistently. • You can be a lone ranger but a whole school approach is best.

45. J How do you build these into your teaching ?

46. L What should you notice when students get their knowledge ready? • Increased engagement and focus • They read longer with a clearer purpose • Increased motivation to learn new topics • Better understanding of how new texts and ideas fit with prior knowledge • More scanning of text to locate content • They make strategic decisions about how they read the text. • They know how to use key features of the text to understand the information.

47. J Handy hints • Time activities to suit your purpose • Introduce gradually • Choose the best activities for your group • Expect gradual change • Persist • Experiment • Explain the procedures to the students • Buddy up • Teacher modelling the procedure

48. L Between Sessions At the next session please bring • The PMI form • Stories • Planning sheet • Successes and questions

49. L For extensive on-line research bibliography go to http://www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/eldi/selage/publications/index.html

50. An NMR Literacy Improvement Initiative Teacher development presentation and PD materials by Northern Region teachers: • Alistair Forge • Yota Korkoneas • Lillian Leptos • Les Mitchell • David Mockridge • Karen Money • Petrina Scanlan • Effie Sgardelis • Jan Smith