Wednesday, 14 June 2017

Like a dyslexic


Like a dyslexic

This amazing 12 year old Australian girl Isley and the inspiring  Youtube.

https://www.dyslexiadaily.com/blog/like-a-dyslexic-12-year-old-isley-vid-worth-sharing/


Even Richard Branson loves 12 year old Isley’s Youtube video.

Every once in a while something comes across my desk that I just have to share.
likeadyslexic_3
Image from Isley
Even Richard Branson has been won over by this amazing 12 year old Australian girl Isley and the inspiring Youtube video she has created all about being dyslexic. 

Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Spelling-Sound like Fun


Sound Like Fun

An integrated approach to building early literacy skills that is fun, fast and effective.

Spelling

Professional Learning with Joy Allcock

The Spelling Programme is divided into five sections:
  1. Classroom Practice
  2. Background and Theory
  3. Word Detective
  4. How to Use Resources
  5. Assessments
Each section contains a variety of video clips and a series of downloadable documents or links to useful articles for further reading.
It is an integrated approach to building early literacy skills that is fun,fast and effective.  

All children learning to read and write English need knowledge of and skill with the following
  1.  Strategies- Knowledge of strategies that can be applied to understand what is being read and to create texts
  2.  Spelling Rules and Conventions- Knowledge of the spelling system that underpins written English.
  3. Morphology-Knowledge of the parts of words that carry meaning
  4. Orthography-Knowledge of the letters and letter patterns that represent the sound of English
  5. Phonological Awareness-Awareness of and the ability to identify, pronounce and manipulate the sound of english
  6. Vocabulary-Knowledge of the meaning and use of the words of spoken English.



Running Record

Running Records

Running Records

There was much discussion about running records, PM benchmark testing kits and using seen or unseen texts at our recent Literacy Cluster meeting at Howick Primary School. In response to the discussion, here are some guidelines that we hope will prove useful for your school to review your current running record procedures.

From TKI: Moderation: Moderation Resources

“The way schools operate their running record procedures often varies from teacher to teacher and across schools. A standardised approach to running records is important so dependable teacher decisions can be used to support student learning and contribute to overall teacher judgments. The Ministry of Education’s resource, Using running records, remains the standard of how to administer a running record. The resource is no longer being produced, but it is available from libraries around New Zealand including the National Library. Information is also available in Running records for classroom teachersMarie M. Clay, ISBN 978-0-868633-48-0”

From: Using Running Records: A Resource for New Zealand Classroom Teachers, MOE

Using Seen and Unseen Texts - Pg. 13
“The text used for a Running Record will usually be a “seen” text – one that the child has previously read. It will not, however, be a text that the child has read so often that they may have memorised the entire text.
Usually the seen text is a text that the child has previously read once only. Emergent readers however, may be given texts that they have read several times before, because this can help them feel at ease as they get used to the process of having a record of their reading taken. For example, if the teacher wants to monitor the child’s progress within the classroom, the text selected will generally be a text that the child has recently read during a guided reading lesson. The child’s familiarity with the text will support the reading by providing prior knowledge of the content and language, and so the reading is likely to be an example of the best processing that the student can do.
When the teacher wants to judge how the student will cope with more difficult material, the text may be one at the student's current instructional level (or above it) that the student has not read or heard before. Note that the difficulty of reading a particular “unseen” text will vary, depending on the amount of introduction to it that the teacher provides (for example, how much the teacher says about unusual vocabulary before taking the Running Record).
A Running Record taken on an “unseen” text often provides useful information about readers who are able to read more extensive texts confidently and well.”




So, our recommendations for school running record procedures are:

  1. Keep using PM Benchmark kits if you already use them, however:

  1. For Emergent (Magenta) level learners be cautious using any running record as the texts often have fewer than 100 words, and the learner usually doesn’t have one to one in place.

  1. For Early (Red, Yellow, Blue, Green) level learners, running records on seen classroom instructional texts should form the core basis of your Reading OTJ, and PM benchmarks can be used if you feel you need more information.

  1. For Early (Red, Yellow, Blue, Green) level learners who are below standard don’t put too much weight on comprehension and self-correction rates, as these learners need to be moved on regardless. If they have poor comprehension and/or self-correction rates continue to move them on, but address these weaknesses in future guided reading lessons.

  1. For Fluent (Orange, Turquoise, Purple, Gold, and beyond) level learners who are below standard don’t put too much weight on comprehension and self-correction rates either.

  1. For learners who are at or above standard, then poor comprehension or self-correction rate is a good reason to hold them at that level and address these weaknesses in future guided reading lessons.

  1. When making OTJs or entering summative data on your school database, PM benchmarks should not be relied on solely. They are a useful tool to complement in-class running records and teacher observations.

Tuesday, 13 September 2016

Literacy Cluster Meting HPS 2016

Literacy  Cluster Meeting HPS 14.09.16

Goals for Today

  1. Provoke reflection and review of your school literacy Prog. policies and interventions
  2. clarify the Riverina RTLit service and referral process
  3. address patterns of need in referred students
  4. share good practise dos and don'ts based on current research

Recognise
Reflect
Respond

Riverina School Website

  • RTLIT tab to referral form
  • 33 schools
  • timebound
  • no repeat referrals or SES students
  • highest literacy needs across your school, well below standard
  • one on one or small groups or in class or just with the teacher
  • collaborative approach with teachers and leadership
will come in an do assessment in the classroom environment only after all other avenues have been tried with little or no success
will decide after assessment on level of intervention eg small group, individual, whole class or just with the teacher

Phonological Awareness

all of our students have poor phonological awareness

An unmbrella term encompassing awareness of the phonological structure of spoken words, including:
  • rhyme
  • alliteration
  • syllables
  • onset-rime
  • individual phonemes: phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness specifically relating to the ability to notice and manipulate phonemes, the smallest units of speech, within spoken words, eg. c-a-t
children should have this awareness from the beginning so many have missed this experience early on. They can't rhyme or notice individual sounds.

Building Blocks of Phonological Awareness

5. Phonics
4. Phonological Awareness
3. Phonemic Awareness
2. Speech
1. Hearing

School starts at number 5 without addressing the first 4.

What does your school use to develop the first steps?

Speech therapy and hearing are very difficult to get support for, especially if there has already been an intervention prior to school.

Phonological Awareness

  • simple view of reading - sounds that letters make
  • PA is to reading what basic facts is to maths - instant knowledge of recall enables strategy development
  • teacher knowledge in NZ is generally poor - provide PD
  • utilise Literacy Online e.g. sounds and words
  • pick a programme - explicit - systematic - daily - transfer - consistency across teams e.g jolly phonics(y0-1), yolanda soryl(y0-y4), joy allcock(y1-3)
  • additional, incidental phonological awareness integrated throughout the day
Poor teacher training, at a national level there is not an across the board requirement for the learning of PA, some training colleges are better at it than others. Gaps are apparent at a training level.

Can be used at anytime in the day.

Phonological Awareness Assessment

PA specifically phonemic awareness is the BEST predictor of future literacy success
you need a ROBUST phonological awareness assessment in the first year
SEA does NOT measure phonological awareness. Currently NZ has no standardised PA measure for schools.
Assessments that are helpful: letter ID (ask for sound production) Gough Kasler Roper Phonemic Awareness, Pseudo Word

GKR Phonemic Awareness Test

Running Records

What are your current RR policies?

DOs
  • do use a seen text
  • do test fortnightly for strugglers
  • do test twice  a term for early levels  3-14
  • do test each term for fluent levels 15-21
  • do test R-T-R regularly
  • do use  them formatively for WALTs, what mistakes are they making, e.g. comprehension, visual(decode), symantic (word) or meaning
  • do running record refresher PD

DON'Ts
  • don't running record emergent
  • don't use PM benchmarks for emergent or struggling readers as they are unseen
  • don't solely use PM benchmarks to make an OTJ
  • don't just use RRs summatively to level groups
  • don't do anniversary testing early
TEXTS
  • use a range of publishers
  • choose texts carefully based on student needs
  • RTR should not be re-levelled if you think they are too hard
  • don't get hung up on levels - it's OK to choose texts at different levels for specific purposes
  • prioritise spending on books
RTRs are best used at the end of a level to transition up to the next level.
Book tape to keep the books looking good

GUIDED RADING DOS AND DON'TS

DOs

  • do introduce texts. Tell title and names, make connections, set reading purpose
  • do word level and strategy teaching regardless of learning outcome
  • do use setup time to re-read, "while I'm setting up read your reader"
  • do include HF word and phonics learning for emergent readers
  • do use RTR guides

DON'Ts

  • dont teach students to GUESS unknown words - always prompt based on their level of phonological knowledge first, what sound does it begin with? what blends can you see?
  • don't rush many groups - less is more
  • don't do round robin reading, teacher listening in turn, silent reading instead, choral reading
Educate parents that its ok to have books they have seen before, readers don't have to be new every time, reading is about going to the library, reading to and with your child, rhyming words, wordplay etc.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

  • more than just ability grouping or indiviualised programmes
  • differentiated students learn better with different approaches from the teacher - teachers should not be thinking about equitable TIME with learners, they should be thinking about equitable APPROACHES with learners
  • Y2+ struggling learners need to see the teacher daily. Capable readers can see the teacher once or twice a week
  • low literate cultural capital Maori and Pasifika, low SES children require phonics based programmes in comparison with other children who do fine in a whole language style programme. What does this mean for your school?

FAIR isn't veryone gettin the same thing
FAIR is everybody getting what they need to be successful

GOOD CLASSROOM PROGRAMMES

employing amazing practitioners with proven literacy strengths for the crucial NE/Y1 level (not the newest in off the street in December)
make deliberate decisions about planned independent literacy activities 
squeeze all the learning time possible
daily whole class big book may not be an appropriate teaching method beyond NE/Y1 - consider alternatives eg sophisticated picture books
-ssr using appropriately levelled books rather than library corner
individual book boxes for strugglers

SCHOOL BASED INTERVENTIONS

Tier 3 intensive interventions RTLB RTLit - last call after the previous tiers have been used

Tier 2 targeted school-based interventions

Tier 1 core classroom instruction

Tier 2 interventions prior to RTLit intervention:
  • Reading Recovery
  • Quick 60
  • ALL
  • Rainbow Reading
  • ...
  • pre/post test interventions
  • TA support within the ususal programme is NOT a tier 2 intervention

What Tier 2 interventions does your school use?

Options being used by others:

Parent/Grandparent Reading session - reading club

TEACHER AIDES

  • TAs are wonderful assets but they are not trained teachers
  • TAs within classrooms should not always be given the hardest to teach students to work with
  • use TAs to support more able students to free up the teacher
  • TAs can successful intervention programmes BUT choose prescriptive, monitored programmes, and provide training eg.
 - Yolanda Soryl Phonics
 - Early Words
- Rainbow REading
- Quick 60
- Teacher designed

REFLECTION

SEA CAP -  who does this? Is it still relevant? What information do you really need to know about a beginning student?


- Train your junior teachers in reading recovery to make a difference to classroom practise, or at least have them observe the RR teacher a few times


--
Posted By Blogger to Professional Learning @ HPS on 9/13/2016 05:06:00 pm

Monday, 22 August 2016

Effective Writing Programme with Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey

Developing an Effective Writing Programme with Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey




Literacy Learning-Vocab Instruction

Literacy Learning -Vocab Instruction





5 Pillars

  • Phonological awareness
  • Alphabetic principle/word knowledge
  • Vocabulary
  • Comprehension
  • Fluency

Phonological Awareness


D x C = R
Decoding x Comprehension = Reading Success

Fluency




Vocabulary Development

  • Life-long learning that begins early
  • Influences thinking and understanding
  • Strong vocabulary early, deepened and broadened throughout schooling

There are three tiers of Vocabulary Instruction

Tier two words need to be taught explicitly




  • Explicit instruction at greater intensity and duration
  • Repeated readings over multiple days
  • Planned opportunities for student responses
  • Multiple encounters with a word over contexts
  • Every day definition not dictionary

Knowledge of Language
Phoneme


Morpheme


Framework for robust teaching of vocabulary using a story book

  • Read the text for enjoyment and for its storyline -celebrate the message
  • Select 3-10 tier two words for teaching
  • Over a series of lessons explicitly teach the selected words

             -Child-friendly definition: Children say the word
             -Show the word in context of the story
             -Describe the word out of the story context
             -Choose ways for children to interact with the word
                     i) give reasons, examples or ask questions for the work
                    ii) engage the children in making choices about the word
                   iii) using all the words, relating words in the same context, children create examples

Practice and reinforcement over time is critical.