Everyone is advantaged by a structured literacy approach

Inquiry question: What strategies will best support students literacy learning in my class?

Bridging the gap between neuroscience, evidence-based research and classroom teaching

‘Structured Literacy approach’

Liz Kane Literacy

Tuesday 16th April 2019

Reading is like Tennis - Tennis is complex

• Specific skills that develop to a level of automaticity
• The strategy of how to play the game
• We wouldn’t teach children the whole game of tennis, rather specific skills

In the same manner, we shouldn’t go to the whole to teach children to read.

Children with good memories and guessing strategies can look as though they are reading. Then you present them with words they have never seen before.

Centre for Independent studies education researcher

Jennifer Buckingham

The English alphabet has 22 letters (44) sounds and (over 200) spellings of the sounds.

What does the last 20 years of research tell us?

What happens in the brain when we learn to read?

What implications does this have in how reading should be taught?

Phonemic awareness

• To learn the alphabet the brain first must learn to speak
• Brain not wired for reading
• We use circuits in the brain that we already use for recognising faces to start recognising letters
• The challenge is to turn the letters into sounds

Dr Stanislas Deheane

Phonemes - a set of motor movements that are encoded with the sound signal

explicitly showing the movements as well as hear the sound.

Phonemic awareness - Identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in words

is a strong predictor of reading success

David Kilpatrick

Aggressively teach the code to these kids. - orthographic mapping

http://www.multisensoryeducation.net.au

The English Alphabetic Code - the most complex code

Teach 5-year-olds the consonants and vowels of the word

Lesson sequence

Authors to follow up

• The Simple view of Reading (Gough and Tunmer 1986)
• Scarborough’s Reading Rope (2001)
• Excellence and Equity in Literacy Education James Chapman and Bill Tunmer
• Alison Arrow
• Canterbury University Literacy Education
• Maryanne Wolf

So what does this mean for me?

• In Term 2, I am going to be very intentional about teaching ‘the code’ explicitly.
• I am going to carry out a number of phonological awareness assessments.

Ko wai au?

Tēna koutou katoa
Ko Putahi toku maunga
Ko Wairoro toku awa
Ko Ngatokimatuwhauroa toku waka
Ko Kohewhata toku marae
Ko Ngāpuhi toku iwi
Ko Te Uri o Hua toku hapu
Ko Aotearoa toku wāhi

I te taha o tōku matua ko Tamati Ferguson rāua ko Edith Ferguson nee Pure ōku tūpuna

I te taha o tōku whaea ko Taurariki Kamana rāua ko Tukura Kamana nee Karika ōku tūpuna
Ko Thomas Ferguson raua ko Tekura Viikirangi Kamana ōku mātua

Ko Murray Ikihele tōku hoa rangatira

Ko Lee, Ko Ethyn āku tama

Ko Mia, Ko Brooke āku tamāhine
Ko Naketa Ikihele toku ingoa
No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

Play-based learning road trip - Reflections

As part of our OCoL (Ōtara Continuity of Learning) group here in Otara, Auckland we have scheduled a number of road trips. These are opportunities to see learning and spaces in action.

Last week we had the great pleasure of visiting three spaces - Glen Taylor Primary School, Botany Downs Kindergarten and Kings School ELC. What an awesome experience. Each space was different, unique and totally catered to their people! 

Here's what I learned:

Glen Taylor

* Unproductive behaviour is minimised in PBL - for the whole time we were there 1.5 hours every child was engaged and doing/learning something. 

* Collaboration works - this school had two classes with a space between and the students just went between depending on their interests. The noise level was minimal as they were in two separate spaces.

* Resources - there were some super cool resources in this space it reminded me to really look at what I have available to my students.

Kings School ELC

* Environments impact behaviour

* Defined spaces help focus learning - they had an office set up like an office!

* They were also sewing with their students

* Op Shops are your friend! There are some cool sturdy pieces available that make the room look calming and homely, it doesn't break the bank and minimises waste.

Botany Downs

* If set up right, the classroom can be the third teacher

* Agency was executed at its finest in this space. There were 40 students in this space and all engaged in something.

* Think about your childhood and what was great learning for you, then try and replicate this for the children in your space.

Obviously what I saw was heavily influenced by what is on top for me right now - I am really thinking about the rights of the child and our role in ensuring they experience a magical childhood! 

My biggest takeaway from today though was probably THE ENVIRONMENT - how might I be more intentional about creating a space that nurtures curiosity and wonder?

Watch this space for my discoveries.

Be authentic!

I'll be posting this quote on my hobby/business page Kia Mahira: Educational Coaching, Collaboration and Consulting later today. I'm a self-professed addict to learning and love the challenge of getting a bit better each day. I've had this blog for over 10 years and as I search through some of the posts I enjoy reflecting on my own transformation over the years.

How do you get a bit better each day?

Inquiry at WRS and my Inquiry

I've been put in charge of leading Inquiry at my school. I have some experience in inquiry from my experience in the International Baccalaureate programme and I've started to re-visit Kath Murdochs 'Power of Inquiry' book.

I'm really excited about stirring curiosity and wonder in our school, we're only a few weeks in and already our students are asking some awesome questions:

We took our kids on a Wonder Walk yesterday…that was super fun…amazing questions - had underestimated them “Why are the Pacific Islands so small? “How many hours to get to Hong Kong?” “Why is my b/day in Oct” #nzbfc630

— Robyn Wills (@flexie) February 4, 2019

Leading inquiry in a school that hasn't done it before is challenging but very exciting. So with this, much of my time will be spent 'facilitating, presenting, preparing' information to share with my colleagues. 

So now, given this extra responsibility and my desire to grow in my teaching craft, I am curious to have my own 'Teaching as Inquiry' blend 'inquiry-based learning' and 'reading and writing' together.

Here is my draft inquiry:

What role do systemic phonics and our handwriting programme play in inquiry-based learning?

Humans of South Auckland - My story

I've been profiled on the Humans of South Auckland page. I am a long time advocate of storytelling, and most recently have encouraged the art of storytelling to build positive team culture.

There is always somewhat of a risk when sharing your story for the whole wide world to see. You open yourself up to critique and judgement, but in sharing my story I was hoping that I would inspire others to keep going, even when it's tough - especially when it's tough.

Feel free to leave a comment! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

My Read-aloud challenge 2019

I've read this book a number of times now and totally agree with the underlying message, which I interpret to be:

Read-aloud to your children, no matter what age, it's good for them!

This year, I am challenging myself to read 3 books to my class every day! Sounds easy right?! It's so not. I tried last year and really struggled to squeeze it in. However, what I did notice was that when I read to my 5-year-olds a few times a day their 'reading stamina' - for want of a better phrase - got better and better! They were often engrossed in what I was reading and as I read some more than once, twice or even thrice, they started reading with me.

To keep myself accountable, I am going to try and document the books I read here. I am hoping to gather data on children's 'reading stamina' through weekly reflections and record their oral language development using JOST. Wish me luck!