Teaching and
assessing reading skills:
(26th
October 2002 9.15-12.15)
Aim of this
session: to get a better idea for teaching English at KS3
Ø
As a teacher
you need to do formative assessment – assess pupils work in order to give
them advice/ adapt work levels accordingly.
Ø
Remember, you
can use writing to help you read better and reading to make you write better.
-
whiteboards
have been brought in as part of the KS3 strategies
-
they are
often related to starter activities – you could have these placed on the
desks immediately and instructions on the board, so pupils commence work
straight away
-
Pupils have
to turn their boards around when they are done, so that teachers can do an
immediate check – as best they can.
Two Examples of
starter activities we used today:
v
Write the
word ‘life’ then write the plural ‘lives’
Find
three more examples where the singular form ends with f/fe and
the
plural ves
Examples: wife – wives, calf – calves, scarf –
scarves, loaf – loaves.
RULE:
Most nouns ending in f
drop the f and add ves in the plural. There are exceptions, such
as roofs. ff words just
add s, e.g.
sniff/sniffs
v
Write a
singular word which ends in y and its plural
Examples include: boy – boys, buy – buys,
donkey – donkeys, baby – babies, city – cities.
v
Teach pupils
early on that names can end ‘ley’ (e.g. Tuffley) but nothing else
does (e.g. happily) – although occasionally there are exceptions to the
rule, but very rarely.
Objectives are clearly stated in the National Strategy
framework for teaching English. The activities we have looked at so far cover
some of the objectives in the Year 7 Word Level Spelling section. The
additional booklet ‘Year 7 spelling bank’ shows you how to teach
the set objectives effectively.
Year 8 objectives often involve going over Year 7
objectives, so the same starter activity you use for one class could be used
for several others.
Noun Phrases:
Objective number 2: ‘expand nouns and noun
phrases, e.g. by using a prepositional phrase’
·
Define what a
noun is. ‘I went to a shop and I bought a …’. Everybody has
to write down a one-word item (e.g. pen/banana/tortoise).
·
Then do a
two-word item, then three, four and five-word item. These will be noun phrases.
·
A four-word
item could be: ‘ beautiful exotic yellow flowers’ – a noun
phrase.
·
So, we have
expanded a noun to make a noun phrase – confirm what you have done at the
end
Activity:
Write a poem
called ‘The Box’, the first two lines will be dictated, then items
will be given and you have to construct a noun phrase with the item.
But
containing the following indispensable items:
(a piece of furniture)
(something from
the kitchen)
(a favourite view)
(2 sad memories)
Several books
including (…..)
A small
photograph (……..)
(Something
official)
(Something
unofficial)
(2 cherished
memories)
(something happy)
(something sad)
(something
significant)
Imagine this box, which should not be too large, then take it and hide it with as little fuss as you can somewhere you know its contents will be safe.
Objective number 8 (Text level – Writing, - Write to imagine, explore, entertain) reads:
‘Experiment
with the visual and sound effects of language, including the use of imagery,
alliteration, rhythm and rhyme’
·
By doing this
exercise it certainly achieves parts of this set objective. After writing the
poem it is a good idea to ask a few pupils to read a few out, as evidently
personality comes out and you may learn new things about people. It also gets
people to trawl through memories, and can be a good introduction exercise for a
group.
·
Next, read
the original poem to class –
it is likely they will be curious to read or hear the original after
having created their own.
·
Write on
board: likes/ dislikes/ puzzles/ patterns
·
These four
words help spark a good discussion and they should keep them in mind when
reading the poem
·
In pairs
discuss what the box could be and come back in about 5 minutes as a class to
discuss ideas
These are
structured around this pattern:
R O T A S
O = Model
– teacher needs to
demonstrate what they need to do (model for them)
T = Try – who can tell me what to do next?
Who’s got some suggestions? You do a paragraph, they do a paragraph.
Think of improvements.
A = Apply – pupils try to do it themselves, you may
help.
S = Secure – completely on their own, for example as
homework, to secure what you have done. (plenary)
Analyzing
stories: looking at Almond’s ‘The Middle of the World’
Objective 12 and
15 (under Text level – Writing, Understanding the author’s craft)
12.
Comment,
using appropriate terminology on how writers convey setting, character and mood
through word choice and sentence structure.
15.
Trace the
ways in which a writer structures a text to prepare a reader for an ending, and
comment on the effectiveness of the ending.
Objectives tell
you what to do with a story, specifics to focus on.
Know your
objectives clearly – this will make the lesson tight. Type them out and
have them in front of you to keep you focused (once you are very familiar with
the objectives you can use ‘tags’)
After reading the
story aim to link writing and reading via a discussion of likes/ dislikes/
patterns and puzzles.
Likes included
– a recognizable character, interaction/ dialogue/ use of speech,
description, etc.
Puzzles included
whom was ‘we’ refering to? Where were certain places?
·
Use talk as a
way of learning. It is not enough to say ‘write a story’. Need to
look at specific objectives: character/ setting/ ending. Set up your own
agenda, which includes several objectives.
·
Looked at
handouts entitled ‘Key features’ and ‘A sequence for teaching
writing’ (see handouts on the net)
A collection of poems and speeches.
There are lots of
voices in her poems – great to perform.
Excellent to use
when looking at the differences between spoken and written English.
Active reading strategies;
DARTS - directed activities related to text
(basically giving pupils something to do with the text whilst they are reading
it)
Aim: to get pupils to read a poem 4 time:
Ø
Envelopes
given out to pairs
Ø
The poem is
inside the envelops cut up in sections and pupils have to try and put it in the
correct order
Ø
This
encourages you to read the poem several times
Ø
After 5/10
minutes ask pupils who put what first and why
Ø
Then ask who
put what last and why (for example the end is tied to the beginning, repetition
of first verse)
Ø
Then give out
the poem in its original form – pupils should be keen to see if they got
it right and will read it again!
Ø
Then read
poem to class
Finally we looked at the worksheet: ‘Activities which encourage close reading’,- which gets you thinking about how you are going to get pupils to read and thus meet the objectives required.
Then we looked at the handouts
‘Role-play’ and ‘Active
Learning Strategies’ (see
relevant handout section on website)
Finally….
·
Remember
– all we’ve covered today would take 2-3 weeks to do with a year 7
class.
·
At the
majority of schools, the head of department will advise you on what objectives
you are aiming to cover over a specific timeline
·
The
objectives are for you to use as a teaching tool.
Prothorough (1995) states:
“The
ultimate test of any reading curriculum is what it does for the students who
follow it.” (P47)
By publishing a
national reading curriculum and for it to have any beneficial effects is
dependent on allowing teachers adequate time and resources to organize
individual reading programmes for their own schools and to improve their methods of monitoring and
recording pupil progress.
Key Stage 3:
Difficulties in selecting texts that will be suitable for whole class use, particularly in balancing the criteria involved.
“Professional
judgements have to weigh up the relative importance of:
-
The purpose
to be achieved by this reading,
-
The literacy
qualities of the text,
-
Its likely
popularity with students,
-
Its
suitability for the individuals in the group (in terms of difficulty, attitudes
conveyed and emotional impact)
-
The way in
which it relates to the total English programme”
(Protherough 1983, pp.146 –68)
When planning programmes of shared reading Protherough suggests the following types of structure:
1) Clusters (a short term form of planning)
-
Bring together
poems, short stories/ novels that are similar in some respect (genre, theme,
technique) but where differences are also prominent.
-
Studies have
shown that pupils discover how reading one text changes how we read another,
and how the clustering makes the features and functions of each example stand
out – even without specific teaching.
2) Sequences (for long term planning)
- these are developmentally based and aim to place chosen texts in some order of difficulty or complexity
- the idea is that pupils can successfully approach work that is technically or conceptually demanding – as long as they have previously encountered such features in similar texts.
3) Deliberate repetition (for either long-term/short-term planning)
- attempts to establish that we have different reading
experiences when we return to a text (National Curriculum does not specifically mention the need for re-reading)
Protherough underlines the particular abilities the National Curriculum states individuals should be developing in relation to their reading:
1) approaching , to search and to select, to determine function, audience, readability;
2) scanning, to gain an overall impression, to assess suitability,
3) skimming, to identify where information is located (using indexes, contents lists, chapter heads), to note key points, to answer questions,
4) reflecting, to learn or consider, to analyse, to evaluate, to compare.
Furthermore, in relation to personal reading Protherough suggests:
v Guiding personal reading – place emphasis on encouraging students’ own individual reading
v Talk to them about their previous reading histories and their reasons for choosing texts
v Need to widen the range of texts with which an individual can engage.
Protherough also highlights:
“The Cox Report stressed the idea that developing as a reader means not only becoming more functionally adept in society but also growing as a human being”. (P42)
For example, through such ways as sharing experiences of books that have been significant for them; describing what happens ‘inside their heads’ during a shared reading or framing the reason for their opinion of a poem or story could all help them develop emotionally.
By looking at such strategies should also enable the teacher to learn about her pupils in regards to what pleasures they get from reading and how children of different levels of ability actually read, as well as discovering more about the pupils personalities.
Finally a few quotes from Dean (2002) in relation to Key stage 3:
“The English strand of the key stage 3 strategy offers all English departments the opportunity to review their current reading practices, and a chance to attempt new ways of planning and teaching reading. As in all areas of the strategy the focus should be on learning” (P65)
Also, it is important to remember that:
“Each one of us has a unique literacy biography. Everyone experiences and has experienced texts in quite different ways, and we bring unique personal life events to texts, which fashion and change the meanings we subsequently take from them” (P63)
Bibliography:
Dean, G. (2002) Teaching English in the Key Stage 3 Literacy Strategy. London: David Fulton Publishers
Protherough, R. ‘What is a reading curriculum?’ in The Challenge of English in the National Curriculum; Protherough and King ed. Routledge