Maximising Progress for Y6 Pupils in Literacy

1. Maximising Progress for Y6 Pupils in Literacy February 2009 Emma Sharp & Julia Dixon Primary Strategy Consultants

2. Aims and Outcomes • Identify the key barriers to pupil progress from level 3 to 4 and 4 to 5 in reading and writing • Explore practical strategies to move children on in their learning • Share the Y6 web based materials

3. Agenda 9.15 Arrival and coffee 9.30 Welcome and introductions 9.35 Maximising Progress 9.50 Reading 10.30 Coffee 10.45 Writing 11.25 Y6 materials 11.45 Key messages

4. Maximising Progress • Obstacles to progress in English • Overcoming obstacles to progress

5. Do you have pupils in your class that fit the following profiles? • Which of the characteristics most closely match those of the children in your class who are potentially ‘slow moving’ or ‘falling behind’?

6. Characteristics of children making slow progress in English The children: • are often boys • are generally well behaved • display a positive approach to learning • usually persevere with routine activities and tasks with limited challenge • lack self-help strategies and rely on peers for guidance

7. Children struggling to make progress from Level 2 to Level 4 • were ‘invisible children’, with the girls especially being quiet and undemanding • were often (in the case of boys) bubbly, lively, keen to respond to questions but unlikely to reflect or think before doing so • when stuck they put up their hands and waited to be noticed

8. Children struggling to make progress from Level 3 to Level 5 • were highly articulate and perceptive in small group discussions • picked up ideas quickly and were confident, motivated and enthusiastic • were overwhelmingly positive about reading • were, however, ‘easy to miss’ • were unwilling to take risks and didn’t like to make mistakes continued…..

9. didn’t ask for help and found difficulty in identifying their own successes • often worked exclusively in mixed ability groups, rarely working with children who were making similar rates of progress • often perceived themselves as additional support to less able pupils • said they would have liked more opportunities to work in ability groups or independently

10. Overcoming obstacles to progress:planning, modelling, sharing, guiding • Opportunities to plan and write within a range of contexts across the curriculum • Oral rehearsal throughout the writing process • ‘High value’ curricular targets used and applied across the curriculum • The classroom environment supports teaching and learning • Focused marking and oral feedback • Opportunities to develop higher order reading skills, e.g. inference and deduction • Engage with, and enjoy, texts that provide a high level of interest and challenge

11. Reading

12. "Reading aloud to children may be the single most important thing a teacher does." • Good range of text • Set of criteria for selection • Give pleasure and bring text alive • Engage children in text they might not otherwise meet • Encourage dialogue • Build up a repertoire of language, patterns, stylistic conventions • Promote reading and build up positive attitudes

13. Tell Me Book Talk – discussion, questioning and response to texts

14. Response Hooks The author creates atmosphere by ...... It makes me imagine... The theme of the story is .... The theme of the story is ... The author wants me to think ... The story is complicated by ...... The main features of this book are....

15. For and against

16. Reading Journals • Provide an opportunity to reflect on reading experiences • Create a dialogue with the teacher • Allow time for private thoughts • Give a specific, structured response on character, setting, story, language, information • Link to shared and guided reading • Mini-journals can centre around one text

17. Drawing, mapping and annotating • Draw a map of events • Compare maps of different stories – similarities and differences • Can support work on structure • Non-fiction structural organisers - point and evidence grid, cause and effect grid, argument versus counter argument list

18. Story and character charts

19. Comparison charts

20. Word association chains

21. Role Play and Drama • Provides immediate routes into the fictional world of a story • Allows active exploration of aspects of the text • Provides opportunity to investigate point of view

22. Readers Theatre and Forum Theatre • Allows an incident or an event to be seen from different points of view • Text can be marked up into a script by a group and then prepared for performance • Group acts out a scene, another group watch then direct the group to act or speak in different ways • Characters can be questioned in role • Alternative interpretations can be compared • Groups can each prepare a chapter and the a complete performance can be arranged

23. Writing in Role • Taking the role of a character enables the writer to look at events and other characters from a different viewpoint • Helps promote deeper understanding of the text

24. Talk to the author – Michael Morpurgo

25. Hot seating

26. Close Reading

27. Velvet

28. Velvet Shoes

29. Velvet Shoes Let

30. Velvet Shoes Let us

31. Velvet Shoes Let us walk

32. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in

33. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the

34. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white

35. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow

36. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In

37. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a

38. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless

39. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space;

40. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space; With

41. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space; With footsteps

42. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space; With footsteps quiet

43. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space; With footsteps quiet and

44. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space; With footsteps quiet and slow

45. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space; With footsteps quiet and slow At

46. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space; With footsteps quiet and slow At a We shall walk through the still town           In a windless peace; We shall step upon white down,           Upon silver fleece,           Upon softer than these. We shall walk in velvet shoes:           Wherever we go Silence will fall like dews           On white silence below.           We shall walk in the snow. Elinor Wylie

47. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space; With footsteps quiet and slow At a tranquil

48. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space; With footsteps quiet and slow At a tranquil pace,

49. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space; With footsteps quiet and slow At a tranquil pace, Under

50. Velvet Shoes Let us walk in the white snow In a soundless space; With footsteps quiet and slow At a tranquil pace, Under veils