WoW – transformation                                                                             CPD Focus – Embedding Reading Warriors

                                                                   Developing Voice Confidence

READING	WRITING	ORACY
Reading widely Reading for pleasure	Spelling of subject-specific vocabulary Use of WAGOLLs to model/scaffold (visualisers, mini-whiteboards)	Purposeful and structured communication with others

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THIS WEEK

 

Which reading strategies will you use this week?  (Reading Warriors, Frayer Model, Popcorn Reading? Calculate the readability of the texts used in your lessons?)

 

• Study Groups – The feedback proforma is due in by the end of June to RLO (template here).
• CPD Focus – continued focus on reading.  Current Reading Ages for every student will be available on Classcharts soon.  Continue to use Reading Warriors (resources are saved here) and the Reading Quick Wins approaches (here) where possible.
• Reminder: CPD – please complete last week’s Gatsby CPD if you haven’t already. 
• REMINDER: Setting work – please ensure that work is uploaded, as per department approach (i.e. Class Materials or Assignments), for every lesson so that isolating students can complete.
• THIS WEEK! – Walton Connects T&L Meeting on Wednesday 12^th May for 30 minutes to explore the following: what are the most effective ways of encouraging reading within our classrooms? This will be on the benches between C and D block unless it is raining (in which case we will have to postpone).

                                                                                                                  

REFLECT

 

 Feedback - Plan - Teach

Link to this term’s CPD focus – Embedding Reading Warriors, developing voice confidence

Key Priorities

• Embedding Reading Warriors when appropriate
• Giving students to opportunity to use their voices within your lessons (whether reading their work or from a text)
• Promoting wider reading within your subjects and reading for pleasure

 

 

The last eight weeks have passed in a whirlwind of re-establishing routines, reconnecting with our students and redefining ‘brilliant teaching and learning’ within our Covid-safe classrooms.  We have also been implementing a whole-school approach to promoting independent reading.  

 

As professionals, we have been assembling a jigsaw; piecing together the students’ knowledge, skills and other information enabling us to gain an accurate picture of our learners’ needs.   One fundamental piece of this jigsaw is Reading Ages; all students now have up-to-date Reading Ages (coming soon to Classcharts).  Reading has been a necessary CPD and T&L focus since January and we are trying to embed the Reading Warriors (clarify, question, predict, summarise) model within our lessons. 

 

As professionals, we desire – more, we expect – lessons to have an impact on our students.  Cue Alex Quigley’s so-called ‘Arduous Eight’.  He writes: ‘When it comes to reading, teachers are a little like Goldilocks. When it comes to spotting difficult texts – whether it is the class reader in year 5, or a maths word problem at GCSE – teachers know what is too easy, what is too hard, and what is just right for their pupils.’

He continues to say, ‘Given the reading challenge of the academic curriculum, every teacher benefits from recognising exactly what typically makes for a difficult text for their pupils. With some targeted training on reading, every teacher would be even more informed as they mediate reading with their pupils.’

 

He suggests that the ‘Arduous Eight’ enables teachers to support students in helping pupils successfully grapple with tricky texts.

 

 

 

As Departments, the checklist above may be used to calibrate the texts that we use with our classes.  See the worked example for a science text below:

As we move forward with embedding reading strategies across school, the next phase will be to explore how our individual subjects promotes disciplinary reading (i.e. what does it mean to be a good reader in Science?).  Quigley’s ‘Arduous Eight’ certainly provides some food-for-thought here.

 

Remember to hit the ‘Excellent Reading’ button on Classcharts to build our students’ confidence with hearing their own voices reading aloud.  

 

 

Useful references:

See Alex Quigley’s full blog here:

 

Teaching and Learning Policy (containing blended learning approach)

WLD planning template (updated January 2021)

TOP TIPS

 

Remember that you have all shared resources in WLD Teachers – CPD – 2020/21 – Reading Warriors

(here)

As well as Reading Warriors, try one of Alex Quigley’s approaches summarised on this slide below and saved in our Reading Quick Wins PowerPoint.

This week, try and include one-sentence summaries into your teaching:

CPD CASCADE

 

The National College

Please contact RLO if you have forgotten your login.

Internet Safety - DTU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOiWFQQQ_04

 

ACEs training - PHO (emailed information 7^th April)

https://thenationalcollege.co.uk/hub/view/webinar/adverse-childhood-experiences

 

Mental Health Training – Free - PHO

• It's FREE
• Open to anyone
• Do it when you want, you just need to register for a dated cohort.

https://www.place2be.org.uk/foundation

 

Combat Reading

Gwynne Ash and Melanie Kuhn: Fluency Instruction: Research-Based Best Practices.

 

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