the impact of literacy plus on pupil...
TRANSCRIPT
The impact of Literacy Plus on pupil engagement
An evaluation carried out by The Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE)
December 2010
CUREE4 Copthall House, Station Square
Coventry CV1 2FL +44 (024) 7652 4036 +44 (024) 7663 1646
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Contents Executive summary 3 Introduction 5 What is Literacy Plus? 5
The aims of Literacy Plus 5 The nine units of work 6 The individual sample lesson plans 7 The role of the TA in Literacy Plus 7
What does research say about effective teaching and learning for low attaining pupils? 7
Dialogic teaching 8 Co‐operative learning 8 Practical and relevant curriculum materials and activities 8 Positive classroom climate and teacher‐pupil relationships 8 The importance of making teaching and learning ‘visible’ 9
What effect did Literacy Plus have on pupils’ engagement? 9
Impact on pupils’ confidence 9 Impact on pupils’ speaking and listening skills 10 Impact on pupils’ ability to work independently 10
What effect did Literacy Plus have on pupils’ attainment? 11 How did Literacy Plus contribute to pupils’ improved engagement and attainment? 12
Careful selection of pupils 12 The importance of one‐to‐one support 13 Effective lesson design and enactment 13 Ways the lessons were adapted for particular contexts and pupil needs 17
How were the data collected? 18 Conclusion 19 Some implications for teachers and leaders 20 References and resources 21 Appendix 1: A sample Literacy Plus lesson plan 22 Appendix 2: Example lesson observation 23 Appendix 3: Data collection tools 27
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Executive summary What did this evaluation seek to find out? The guiding question for this small‐scale evaluation was: ‘What specific aspects of classroom pedagogy which feature in Literacy Plus teaching result in low attaining boys in Year 7 becoming more engaged in their own learning?’ What is Literacy Plus? Literacy Plus is an approach to designing units of work and sequences of lessons for Year 7 pupils designed to move them quickly from level 3 to level 4 in English, and improve their performance more generally in other subjects. There are nine units of work, each focusing on a particular aspect of speaking and listening, reading or writing. The sample lessons for each unit emphasise pupils learning through talk, pupils learning with and from each other, and independent work. Teachers are also expected to emphasise the transferability of the literacy skills pupils are developing to other areas of the curriculum. What impact did Literacy Plus have on pupils? Teachers, leaders and pupils from the six case study schools that took part in this study believed Literacy Plus made a big difference to pupils’ confidence, not only in Literacy Plus, but in other subjects too. Signs of their increased confidence included pupils putting their hands up and joining in discussions more, and feeling less worried about making mistakes in front of others. Clear progress was made in speaking and listening. As well as putting their hands up more, there was evidence that pupils were more prepared to have a go at reading, were more focused in lessons and worked better in groups (e.g. taking turns and not talking over other people). There was some evidence of increased independent working skills. There were signs that the opportunities Literacy Plus staff gave pupils to work independently affected how they worked in other subjects too – for example teachers and pupils commented on how the Literacy Plus pupils were able to stay on task and complete writing tasks without help. Progress was made in both reading and writing with most boys moving from level 3 to level 4 over the year. The boys commented particularly on the progress they felt they had made in writing – an aspect of literacy they considered to be their particular weakness before. What features of Literacy Plus helped? The Literacy Plus teachers, TAs and pupils felt that having classes of pupils who were at the same level and who were likely to see the benefit was very important because it helped create an environment in which the pupils felt able to express themselves and safe enough to take risks. It also enabled the pupils to receive more one‐to‐one support. Effective lesson design was also important. The key elements were:
a strong emphasis on oral work during which teachers and TAs co‐constructed understanding with pupils
clear objectives focusing on specific skills
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teachers and TAs working together to reinforce the lesson’s objectives, and
short, practical, engaging activities that were appropriately matched to the pupils’ needs and which enabled the development of skills and consolidation of understanding.
The teachers’ pedagogic skills were important too for realising the potential of these elements and also for:
fostering pupils’ beliefs in their ability to succeed, and
helping pupils to see how they could use the skills they were learning in Literacy Plus in other areas of the curriculum too.
How were the data collected? A Literacy Plus lesson was observed and focus groups were conducted with Literacy Plus teachers, TAs, heads of department for English, senior leaders, Year 7 and Year 8 boys in each of six schools in England. The secondary English consultant for each school’s local authority was also interviewed. Altogether 24 school staff, 32 pupils and six LA consultants took part. Staff, pupils and consultants were asked about their views regarding the impact of the Literacy Plus programme and the aspects of curriculum design and delivery that contributed to it. All comments made by the participants were recorded and subsequently categorised into themes. Example comments made for each theme (including attainment data where applicable) were then selected for inclusion in the report. The observed teaching and learning activities and dialogues were categorised into aspects of effective pedagogy which were also informed by research. Example dialogues drawn from across the schools were then selected to illustrate each of the identified pedagogical themes. Conclusion This small‐scale evaluation showed how the Literacy Plus programme was linked with a range of successful outcomes relevant to its aims. Year 7 pupils in the six case study schools moved from level 3 to level 4 in English by the end of the school year. The participants believed that the pupils were more confident, had improved speaking and listening skills and showed a greater ability to work independently not just in Literacy Plus lessons, but across the curriculum. The importance of the key elements of Literacy Plus in enabling these successes – learning through talk, making learning intentions clear, a progressive sequence of practical tasks designed to realise the learning intentions and positive classroom climate (helped through having classes of carefully selected pupils and TAs providing support to pupils individually and in small groups) – is supported by research concerning effective teaching and learning.
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Introduction 1. The Literacy Plus programme was launched by National Strategies in summer 2009 for use in schools from September 2009, devised at the request of teachers. It aimed to help secondary schools move Year 7 pupils quickly from level 3 to level 4 in English by giving targeted groups two lessons a week focused on key literacy skills. But Literacy Plus aimed to go further than just focusing on literacy skills because it aimed to improve the pupils’ performance more generally as learners by showing them how the literacy skills they develop could be applied in other work they do across the curriculum. 2. This evaluation sought to explore the specific aspects of classroom pedagogy featured in Literacy Plus teaching that resulted in low attaining boys in Year 7 becoming more engaged in their own learning. In six of the pilot schools there was evidence that Literacy Plus had a positive impact on pupils’:
confidence
speaking and listening skills
ability to work independently, and
attainment in reading and writing not only in Literacy Plus lessons, but across the curriculum too. 3. The key factors that staff involved felt were key to contributing to pupils’ improved engagement and attainment were:
careful selection of pupils and small classes supported by TAs which helped to create a positive classroom climate in which pupils felt safe to make mistakes, and
effective lesson design that included clear objectives, practical activities and an emphasis on learning through talk, co‐operative learning, and transferability of skills.
What is Literacy Plus? 4. Literacy Plus is a programme designed for use with pupils entering secondary school (Year 7) with lower than average levels of literacy, who are likely to have been assessed as level 3 in reading and/or writing in the English National Curriculum test at the end of Key Stage 2. It is anticipated that the target pupils will have made slower than expected progress and need additional support with literacy, but they will probably not have been diagnosed as having specific learning difficulties. It is designed to run in two timetabled sessions per week for one year (i.e. during Year 7), with each session supported by a teaching assistant (TA). 5. Literacy Plus is intended to be an additional supplement to pupils’ entitlement to English lessons. The teaching focuses on the aspects of speaking and listening, reading and writing that are essential for progressing from level 3 to level 4 in English and for learning effectively in other curriculum areas. Thus, Literacy Plus aimed to go further than just focusing on literacy skills because it sought to improve the pupils’ performance more generally as learners. The aims of Literacy Plus 6. The aims are:
To strengthen essential literacy skills. To move pupils quickly from level 3 to level 4 in English and improve their chances of
making two levels of progress in Key Stage 3. To help pupils reach the level 1 standard of Functional English. To raise pupils' attainment in other subjects that depend on literacy skills.
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To strengthen the confidence and effectiveness of the learners so that they can work with greater independence.
The nine units of work 7. The nine units of work (see http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/196597) were designed to exemplify Literacy Plus planning. The units were written by National Strategies English consultants working together with teachers and were classroom tested. It was not intended that they should be treated as 'off‐the‐peg' planning for any class. The expectation is that teachers will adapt the material to suit their class while staying faithful to the learning objectives of the units. 8. Each unit comprises a sequence of 8‐12 lessons based on objectives from the framework for secondary English. The first lesson of each unit focuses on engaging the pupils’ interest in the topic and ensuring they understand the learning objectives. Most of the lessons involve a blend of skills‐building activities (for which suggested resources such as card sorts and example texts are provided) within an engaging, worthwhile context that leads to an outcome such as a presentation. It is anticipated that the outcomes of the unit will be celebrated and the pupils given the opportunity to reflect on what they have learned. 9. Each unit focuses on a particular aspect of literacy:
speaking and listening /discussion skills
reading o developing reading for information skills o understanding and responding to texts o independent reading skills
writing o sentences o organization o impact o style and accuracy o spelling
10. Pupils’ speaking and listening skills and ability to work effectively with others are promoted in a range of real life contexts through a unit about emergency services. Links are made with real life contexts. 11. Pupils’ reading skills are developed through three units. In one of these units, pupils build their skills in retrieving information and note‐taking etc as they work towards a final presentation in which questions are put to a panel of expert commentators on the Olympic Games for a children’s TV programme. Another unit uses the analogy of travellers on a journey to develop pupils’ independent reading skills. In another of the reading units pupils conduct a historical enquiry into the legendary figure of Robin Hood to develop their skills as critical readers – evaluating the quality and reliability of different sources. 12. In one of the writing units, pupils learn about sentence construction through constructing personal web pages and describing cartoon characters. Another unit focuses on writing for a website to promote using vocabulary and sentences for precision and impact. In other units, pupils develop a DIY toolkit of writing strategies, and learn and apply a range of writing and communication skills such as letter writing through a campaign to save a local park from closure. Pupils learn and practise spelling strategies through a unit comprising science experiments.
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13. The units are not designed to be used in any particular order. Teachers are encouraged to select and adapt the units that best match the needs of the group and which complement the work the pupils are doing in English and elsewhere in the curriculum. Also, although each unit focuses on a particular aspect of literacy, there are opportunities for pupils to practise all aspects of literacy (speaking and listening, reading and writing) in every lesson. The individual sample lesson plans 14. All the sample lesson plans are set out in the same way for clarity (see Appendix 1 for an example). Although it is not expected that teachers necessarily use the same planning format, the lesson plans exemplify certain principles:
starter activities actively involving all pupils provide a pacy introduction to the lesson linked to the focus of the unit and what follows in the lesson
guided group or pair work that provides opportunities for the teacher and TA to meet the specific needs of a selected group
plenaries for pupils to reflect on their learning, their progress and themselves as learners.
15. Certain features of effective teaching and learning are inherent in the units, including:
pupils learning through talk
pupils learning with and from each other
independent work
an emphasis on transferability of skills to other subjects /lessons, and
teachers promoting perseverance and success. The role of the TA in Literacy Plus 16. TAs have an important role to play in Literacy Plus lessons through working with pupils one‐to‐one in a planned way, which can include:
updating a pupil who has missed work
working on filling a specific individual knowledge/understanding gap, and
supporting an individual pupil who is struggling with an aspect of the work. 17. TAs are also encouraged to support small groups of pupils within the Literacy Plus lessons in guided groups. It is beneficial if TAs also work with pupils outside the Literacy Plus lessons as they can help pupils to see how they can apply their new skills in other subjects.
What does research say about effective teaching and learning for low attaining pupils? 18. Low attaining pupils typically suffer from low self‐esteem, lack confidence, have less independence, and poorer levels of concentration. They may also lack motivation and show disaffection. Research (e.g. Dunne et al, 2007) suggests a number of strategies that are effective at promoting their participation and engagement in learning. They include:
dialogic teaching
co‐operative learning
practical and relevant curriculum materials and activities, and
positive classroom climate and teacher‐pupil relationships.
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Dialogic teaching 19. Research (e.g. Myhill et al, 2006; Smith & Higgins, 2006) shows that pupils benefit from participating in a reflective, conversational style of discussion that promotes and extends their responses. This kind of interaction encourages a fairly even distribution of dialogue between teachers and pupils and promotes higher order thinking. It is achieved through teachers asking:
speculative questions that invite pupils to offer opinions, hypotheses, ideas etc
process questions that invite pupils to explain their thinking
probe questions to encourage pupils to say more/expand on their answers
uptake questions to open up discussion to other pupils. 20. Skilful questioning can prompt pupils to do more thinking in lessons, helping them to acquire ownership of knowledge. But much also depends on the feedback teachers give in response to pupils’ answers. Teachers who prompt the most in‐depth pupil talk encourage reciprocal engagement (by signalling genuine interest in pupils’ answers), making use of their ideas in the discussion, accepting different answers and co‐constructing pupils’ answers. Co‐operative learning 21. There is extensive evidence (e.g. Bell et al, 2008) that shows how structured group work helps to enhance emotional development, improve confidence and self‐esteem and support increasingly independent learning through good decision making. It also enhances pupils’ reasoning skills and increases achievement and attainment. Research (e.g. Wegerif et al 2004) shows that in order to ensure the participation of all pupils during group work, teachers need to provide pupils with training and support for group discussion. This includes modelling the way they want pupils to talk with each other, eliciting ground rules for talk in the pupils’ own words and providing the kind of collaborative activities that promote the active involvement of pupils. Practical and relevant curriculum materials and activities 22. The value of varying the curriculum so that pupils have the opportunity to learn in meaningful contexts with plenty of hands‐on, practical activities is a recurrent theme in research (e.g. Bruner, 1960; Bell et al, 2008). In an ideal world it would be possible to draw out from pupils issues that are real to them, but it is often necessary to create or contrive problems for them. Positive classroom climate and teacher‐pupil relationships 23. The psychologist Carl Rogers, who is widely recognised as an expert in fostering positive classroom relationships, believed that the way to creating successful relationships was through listening to pupils, being caring and showing empathy. According to Rogers, teachers with this outlook:
fully accept the fear and hesitation as they approach a new problem and rejoice in their satisfaction when they achieved
accept a pupil’s occasional apathy as well as their efforts to achieve major goals
acknowledge pupils’ personal feelings that both promote and disturb learning. Rogers found that when he showed empathy, his classrooms became more exciting places of learning. Pupils started to tell him their feelings and ask questions. Classes like these helped pupils become more interested and independent learners.
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24. Carol Dweck’s (2000) work on pupils’ persistence in the face of learning challenges showed the importance of adults encouraging learners to believe that poor performance on a task is something that can be improved by effort and persistence. Praise that celebrates pupils’ efforts and strategies is helpful for this. Other effective strategies include enabling pupils with low esteem to recognise their strengths and areas of competence as well as their weaknesses by allowing them to initially work in their comfort zones so that they start successfully and providing immediate feedback to acknowledge learners’ success or progress. The importance of making teaching and learning ‘visible’ 25. Hattie’s (2009) synthesis of 800 meta‐analyses relating to achievement shows the importance of teachers:
making learning the explicit goal
sharing challenging learning intentions and success criteria
planning interventions that deliberately encourage mastery of these intentions
seeking and giving feedback, and
adapting teaching as a result of feedback from learners.
26. Challenge and feedback play a central role in this process. Teaching interventions need to be challenging enough to bring about a change in pupils’ thinking. When the challenge level is high it is more likely that the learner will seek and need feedback. In order to provide this feedback, teachers need to find out from the pupils about the learning that has occurred. From this they can give effective feedback and where necessary intervene to alter the direction of learning. Hattie highlighted how the feedback to the teacher about what the pupils can and cannot do is a more powerful form of feedback than the feedback the teacher gives the pupils.
What effect did Literacy Plus have on pupils’ engagement? Impact on pupils’ confidence 27. When asked about the difference Literacy Plus had made, teachers, leaders and pupils from all six schools involved in the study were unanimous that Literacy Plus had had a very great impact on pupils’ confidence and this in turn affected the extent to which pupils engaged in lessons – not just Literacy Plus, but across the board – as the comments below show.
“Above all else it’s confidence”. (Head of English)
“I have definitely noticed a massive increase in confidence. I believe that it’s not just in English, but across subjects. They are more enthusiastic and motivated. They don’t need so much reassurance when writing now”. (English AST)
“They are more confident about being able to answer in class and engage in the lesson. The students have said that in science and art they don’t sit back and say nothing any more. They are not afraid to put their hand up and do so ahead of the rest of the class”. (Deputy head)
“These are the pupils who are usually reticent to join in class discussions because they feel they will look stupid. Literacy Plus has supported them in overcoming that barrier”. (Deputy head)
“The video diaries are quite striking confidence wise – we took video diaries to a local authority workshop. A boy who was quiet at the beginning of the year talked confidently in the video diary at the end. They were better able to talk about their learning and how they thought they had improved”. (Literacy Plus teacher)
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“Such was their confidence, they presented what they had done in Literacy Plus to around 30 heads of English at a local conference – and they prepared the presentation themselves”. (Head of English)
“I feel a lot more confident, I don’t mind putting my hand up in class now – if I get it wrong, I get it wrong – you learn from your mistakes”. (Year 8 boy)
“I feel like I can put my hand up in any lesson now – I feel more confident”. (Year 7 boy)
“I am more confident when we’re asked to do role play”. (Year 8 boy) 28. This boost to pupils’ confidence was important as research (e.g. Dunne et al, 2007) has shown how low attaining pupils often lack confidence and suffer from low self‐esteem. Impact on pupils’ speaking and listening skills 29. As indicated by some of the comments above, much progress was made in speaking and listening – again not just in Literacy Plus lessons but in other subjects too. This was highlighted by teachers, leaders, TAs and pupils.
“Most progress has been in speaking and listening – for example, in Year 8 they (the pupils who had been involved in Literacy Plus the previous year) are the ones putting their hands up to answer in English lessons. They like the fact that they know something before the others in English if they have learned it in Literacy Plus first. They have a go at reading in class when they wouldn’t before”. (Literacy Plus and English teacher)
“They take turns – there’s no interrupting. They know that listening is as important as talking – they tell pupils in other lessons to listen because ‘then you’ll know what you’re doing’”. (TA)
They have come on a lot better with group work – now they seem to work as a team”. (Literacy Plus teacher)
“I’ve seen improvements in the way they collaborate – they apply the rules that they have learned from Literacy Plus – like taking turns and not talking over other people. (Literacy Plus teacher)
“One boy last year was very disruptive in lessons – now he is focused on the teacher”. (TA)
“One boy wouldn’t speak at the beginning of the year – but he is talking confidently now”. (HLTA)
“I used to be quiet in history and science, but not any more”. (Year 7 boy)
“I say more in lessons now, but sometimes there are too many people or I get too nervous – like in French”. (Year 8 boy).
30. This improvement in the pupils’ willingness to contribute to discussions was important as research (e.g. Myhill et al, 2006; Smith & Higgins, 2006) shows the importance of pupils verbalising their thinking in lessons for helping them to acquire ownership of knowledge. Impact on pupils’ ability to work independently 31. Some progress in pupils’ ability to work independently was noted. The Literacy Plus staff found pupils’ level of independence difficult to judge because during Literacy Plus lessons staff felt it important to provide the pupils with much support:
“Because of the level they are at it is hard to leave them to work independently – the pupils do need an input and a group leader”. (HLTA)
32. Nevertheless, they were careful to provide the pupils with opportunities to work things out for themselves. A Year 7 boy explained:
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“When you are a bit stuck the teacher gives you a little clue then leaves you to it to see whether you can find out for yourself. She doesn’t just tell you the answer – you have to struggle yourself out of the struggle”. (Year 7 boy)
33. It was clear that support early on paid dividends, as this Literacy Plus teacher explained:
“A TA will sit with a group of pupils prompting the pupils and keeping them on task as some have poor concentration. By the end of the year, the pupils were supporting each other”.
34. Increased independent working skills were more apparent to staff who weren’t responsible for delivering the Literacy Plus programme.
“Teachers can see evidence of improvement in other lessons – particularly regarding speaking and listening, but also in independence – they can complete work such as essays without asking for help. They used to keep coming up for help – they don’t need so much reassurance now”. (English AST)
“One ‘complicated character’ can access more of the curriculum and his attitude has improved as a result. I witnessed him in science at the start of Year 7, unable to understand the teacher or what was in the book and unable to synthesise data. He is in a much stronger position now through what he learned in Literacy Plus”. (Deputy head)
35. Some of the boys also clearly felt that Literacy Plus had given them the skills they needed to work more independently:
“We can write essays all by ourselves – even the teachers think we are up to the standard so don’t give us any help – except with spelling a word if we are stuck”. (Year 8 boy) “I don’t have to ask for help – last year I had to ask for help most of the time”. (Year 8 boy)
What effect did Literacy Plus have on pupils’ attainment? 36. Progress was made in both reading and writing. Most of the boys moved from level 3 overall in September to level 4 overall the following July, but sometimes progress in writing lagged behind that of reading. One Literacy Plus teacher commented:
“It is difficult to break the bad habits of writing – while the structure of the work improves, spelling is harder to change”.
37. One school compared the national curriculum Key Stage 2 SATs results for the Literacy Plus pupils with (control) pupils who had entered the school with similar profiles. While most of these pupils had come to the school with a low level 4 in reading, none had achieved level 4 in writing. By the following July, the entire Literacy Plus group had achieved level 4 in reading (while the proportion of the control group fell to 60%) and virtually all (98%) had achieved level 4 in writing (compared with 65% of the control group).
Reading Writing
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38. Boys in all of the case study schools were also aware of the impact Literacy Plus had had on their writing. They commented how they had previously felt weak at spelling, punctuation and paragraphs in particular and it was precisely these areas that they felt they had improved at as a result of Literacy Plus.
“I don’t make as many spelling mistakes now as I used to”. (Year 8 boy)
“I am better at punctuation, how to construct sentences and spelling”. (Year 8 boy)
“My writing is more reasonable and descriptive”. (Year 7 boy)
“I can punctuate better and I’m better at harder spellings and using connectives. In the sponsored spell I got 70 out of 100!” (Year 8 boy)
“I’m better at spelling and layout [paragraphs and punctuation]. (Year 8 boy)
“I’m better at writing essays in history because I know about punctuation and where to put paragraphs”. (Year 8 boy)
“I used to be slow at writing – I am a lot faster at writing now”. (Year 8 boy)
“I can write long paragraphs like an essay. I’ve learned to do really long essays – I’ve just done one in English”. (Year 8 boy)
“I know how to put the detail into an essay now”. (Year 8 boy)
“I’m as quick as everyone else now”. (Year 8 boy) 39. One boy commented how Literacy Plus had helped him improve at reading: “I can read better now – I read more out of school than I did.” (Year 8 boy)
How did Literacy Plus contribute to pupils’ improved engagement and attainment? Careful selection of pupils 40. Schools chose pupils to be in the Literacy Plus group because they felt they were likely to benefit and sold Literacy Plus to them as a great opportunity – making them feel special and lucky to be chosen. Schools went by Key Stage 2 data in the first instance – choosing those who had achieved a high level 3 / low level 4 in writing and/or reading as this is the level the Literacy Plus resources are targeted at. But they also chose pupils who they felt were of the right nature – children who were calm rather than disruptive and likely to see the benefit themselves. Some of the schools in the sample aimed to create an equal balance of boys and girls, but others did not predetermine the gender make up of the group. Careful group composition enabled staff to build a positive classroom climate in which the pupils felt comfortable about voicing their thoughts and ideas as these comments show:
“We didn’t feel humiliated because people were the same level as you”. (Year 8 boy)
“With normal lessons it is really hard. When Literacy Plus comes, I feel I am in a different world [by which he meant he felt more able to express himself]”. (Year 7 boy)
“In Literacy Plus I feel like I can be myself and say more because people don’t laugh at your ideas”. (Year 7 boy)
“Usually in lessons if I got something wrong people would shout and say no, but in Literacy Plus everyone stays calm and says ‘no, not the right answer but a good try’”. (Year 7 boy)
41. Literacy Plus staff and the English consultants commented on how carefully selecting pupils (and staff) for Literacy Plus classes contributed to successful outcomes:
“Other schools in the local authority operated differently – they didn’t hand pick the pupils. They had too large groups and groups with more boys in them which made delivery more difficult”. (Literacy Plus teacher)
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“Where the group was selected for the right reasons and had good teacher and TA support, the units and the learning that was enabled were successful. When grouping was random and teachers selected because they had free time rather than being the best for the job, it did not prove so successful”. (LA secondary English consultant)
42. In order to ensure that the group could start straight away in September, one school consulted the primary school teachers and analysed the available data the previous summer. This was felt to have the effect of settling the pupils well into the school. (The fact that they felt special and there was a positive atmosphere in the classroom helped too). Other schools waited until the children had started at their school and carried out their own assessments to help with the selection process. This meant that these children unfortunately therefore started the Literacy Plus programme later in the autumn term (around half‐term). The importance of one‐to‐one support 43. All the Literacy Plus pupils and the Literacy Plus teachers and TAs felt that having opportunities for teachers and TAs to work closely with individual pupils in small group and one‐to‐one situations, combined with having pupils at the same level was important to the success the pupils experienced because it helped create a classroom climate in which pupils felt able to express themselves, feel safe enough to take risks and receive more verbal feedback.
“Often, it isn’t that they don’t have the ability; it’s that they don’t have the confidence. Working with them in small groups, teachers can foster the idea of confidence that they don’t get working in a larger group. Often these pupils will think that they are no good and it’s working with them more closely that they are able to see they can achieve”. (Head of English department)
“It is possible to deal with the social and emotional barriers on a smaller scale”. (English AST)
“Everyone gets to know each other very well. This helped one boy in particular to come out of himself. The pupils felt special – they felt they were being helped to learn”. (TA)
“They felt they were given more personal feedback on how they were doing – not just written comments which you possibly get in a mainstream lesson, but you actually get quite a lot of verbal comment from either the teacher or TA which they found useful” (secondary English consultant).
44. The boys felt the same.
“We had a lot more one‐to‐one time. The teacher [and/or TA] was able to help us on the thing we felt was hard – like spelling and starting sentences”. (Year 7 boy)
“You don’t get distracted that easily as it is quiet so you can think more”. (Year 8 boy)
“Working in small groups makes you behave better because you can’t get away with it”. (Year 8 boy)
“Because there were only a few of us in a group it was easy to talk and learn from mistakes”. (Year 8 boy)
“I feel more comfortable working in smaller groups”. (Year 7 boy) Effective lesson design and enactment 45. A number of elements appeared to help foster engagement and successful learning:
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an emphasis on oral work/ learning through talk which enabled teachers and TAs to co‐construct understanding with the whole class and with individuals, and paired or group work which involved setting up ground rules for talk
clear objectives focusing on one skill each time with opportunities to practise
teachers and TAs working together to reinforce the lesson’s objectives, and
practical activities, such as card sorts involving joining up parts of sentences and short, focused writing tasks were “stimulating and engaging” and appropriately matched to the pupils’ needs – the progressive succession of activities during each lesson enabled the development of skills and consolidation of understanding in mini plenaries at several points of the lesson.
46. The teachers’ pedagogic skills were important too for realising the potential of these elements and also for:
fostering pupils’ beliefs in their ability to succeed, and
helping pupils to see how they could use the skills they were learning in Literacy Plus in other areas of the curriculum.
47. The boys particularly appreciated how the practical activities and the oral work helped them to learn and engage with learning:
“We do things that don’t put us under a lot of pressure, but which are actually quite hard”. (Year 7 boy).
“Listening to each other, discussing and listening to each other’s answer [has helped me to improve]”. (Year 8 boy)
48. Some effective examples of each of the key elements identified above are given below. They highlight the teachers’ pedagogic skills involved in realising their full effect. Appendix 2 shows how one teacher skilfully combined all the key elements identified here into a single Literacy Plus lesson. Emphasis on oral work 49. A large proportion of the observed Literacy Plus lessons (70%+) involved whole class teacher‐led conversations with the pupils, which gave the pupils frequent opportunities to rehearse ideas before writing them down. The teachers aimed to involve all the pupils in conversation several times during the lesson in ways that provided opportunities for pupils to develop their thinking and understanding. Research (e.g. Myhill et al, 2006; Smith & Higgins, 2006) shows how pupils benefit from participating in a conversational style of discussion that promotes and extends their answers. This kind of interaction encourages a fairly even distribution of dialogue between teachers and pupils and promotes higher order thinking. It is achieved through teachers asking:
speculative questions that invite pupils to offer opinions, hypotheses, ideas etc
process questions that invite pupils to explain their thinking
probe questions to encourage pupils to say more/expand on their answers
uptake questions to open up discussion to other pupils. 50. In this example, the Literacy Plus teacher (an HLTA) was aiming to develop her pupils’ understanding of simple sentences. Having asked the pupils to compose three kinds of simple sentences (statements, questions and exclamations) individually, the HLTA then invited pupils to share with the group some of the sentences they had written:
HLTA: Ok, let’s have a couple of statements. Jordan can you start us off? Jordan: My name is Jordan.
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HLTA: Is it a statement, or does it have an exclamation mark or a question mark at the end? Does everyone agree – is it a statement? Pupil 2: It could have a question mark. HLTA: How could we turn it into a question? How would I know it was a question? Pupil 3: Because you’d be telling them. Pupil 4: You could use intonation. Pupil 5: You could change it to, ‘Is my name Jordan?’ TA: We came up with ‘What is your name?’ HLTA: What makes that a question? Pupil 6: It’s asking. HLTA: What word makes it a question? Pupil 7: ‘What’. HLTA: If we didn’t put that word in, would it be a question without ‘what’?
51. In this next example, the HLTA invited pupils to orally peer assess each other to show ways they could improve, skilfully showing the relationship between reading and writing in the process:
Pupil 1 read some text from the IWB. HLTA: Do you know what would have made that reading better? Pupil 2: He could have taken a breath at the full stop. HLTA: It would have changed it – that’s what the punctuation is for. Pupil 1 reads again with expression. HLTA: Much better Keith because you put that punctuation in. Well done!
52. Peer assessment helped the pupils to self assess their own work:
Pupil read his set of simple sentences about himself. HLTA: That sounded like one long sentence to me. Why is that? Pupil: Because I didn’t put the punctuation in! HLTA: Ok, read it again! Pupil reads again. HLTA: See what a difference putting the punctuation in makes!
53. In order for such oral work to be effective, research (e.g. Wegerif et al, 2004) shows that it is important that the class is involved in discussion about how to be a good speaker and listener. There was evidence that the Literacy Plus teachers in the sample established ground rules for talk as in this example:
Teacher: What makes a good speaker? Pupil 1: Not mumbling. Pupil 2: Being loud and clear. Teacher: What makes a good listener? 99.9% of you are excellent listeners – why’s that? Pupil 3: Not talking to our friends. Pupil 3: Eye contact. Teacher: Yes. If I do this [looks away] that’s quite rude. It’s hard as a teacher because I can’t give everyone eye contact.
Clear objectives focusing on one skill each time 54. For example, the objectives for the lesson about simple sentences described earlier were:
to revise the distinguishing features of a sentence
to understand how punctuation affects meaning
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to identify the main types of sentences – questions, statements and commands and to learn to punctuate them correctly
to understand the concept of simple sentences. 55. Hattie’s (2009) synthesis of 800 meta‐analyses relating to achievement shows the importance of teachers sharing challenging learning intentions and planning interventions that deliberately encourage mastery of these intentions. Teachers and TAs working together 56. There were many planned opportunities for one‐to‐one conversations between TAs and pupils to reinforce the lesson’s objectives. This example was taken from the lesson on simple sentences. The pupils had been asked to compose some simple sentences about themselves:
A pupil read out the sentences he had written to the TA. TA: Are they all simple sentences? …Which aren’t? ….What could you do about this one? Pupil looked at the sentence: ‘I love playing with my cat Misty but I call her Misty Blue’. The pupil put a full stop before the word ‘but’ and changed the ‘b’ of ‘but’ to a capital letter. TA: Do we start sentences with the word ‘but’? [Pupil crossed out the word ‘but’ so that the sentences read: ‘I love playing with my cat Misty. I call her Misty Blue’]. TA: See if you have done the same with the next sentence. Pupil corrected the next (complex) sentence in the same way. TA: Really good, well spotted! (Reads the next sentences). You have put in a couple of complex sentences here – what makes them complex? …What kind of a word is ‘sometimes’? What kind of a word is ‘but’? Pupil: It’s a joining word. TA: Yes, so we don’t need them! You’ve done really well with that!
Short practical activities 57. The value of varying the curriculum so that pupils have the opportunity to learn in meaningful contexts with plenty of hands‐on, practical activities is a recurrent theme in research (e.g. Bruner, 1960; Bell et al, 2008). All the observed Literacy Plus lessons involved a progressive series of short, practical activities (see Appendix 2 for example). The objectives of one lesson for example, were to identify the key/main points in a text. The teacher started the lesson by asking the pupils to find three key words from their previous lesson in their ‘piggy bank’ and note them down before inviting them to share their ideas with the rest of the group. Then the teacher formed the pupils into groups and gave each group a paragraph about why Robin Hood was popular. The pupils were asked to identify what the paragraph was about (the ‘topic sentence’) and bullet a list of supporting evidence. Having shared their ideas, the pupils then took part in a hot seating activity in which one pupil took on the role of Robin Hood and the others used the information they had gathered as a starting point for asking Robin Hood questions. Fostering pupils’ beliefs in their ability to succeed 58. Carol Dweck’s (2000) work on pupils’ persistence in the face of learning challenges showed the importance of adults encouraging learners to believe that poor performance on a task is something that can be improved by effort and persistence. Praise that celebrates pupils’ efforts and strategies is helpful for this. The teachers and TAs frequently emphasised and praised the pupils for the understanding they were developing. Observed examples included:
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“Fantastic! You’ve all got the idea of simple sentences!”
HLTA (recapping over one of the lesson objectives) “Did you understand the concept of simple sentences? One or two of you were a little confused when you were writing, but I think we’ve ironed that out now!”
“What I liked about that group is they helped each other out and all of them contributed”.
“See what a difference putting the punctuation in makes!” Making transferability of skills clear 59. This example was taken from the first lesson of the programme at one school in which a teacher aimed to provide an overview of the whole course. As part of that introductory lesson she emphasised the transferability of the skills they would be learning, then checked their understanding:
Teacher: Can you explain to me why you are here? Pupil 1: Because you’re going to help us with literacy. Teacher: What else would you say – what’s the goal? Pupil 2: To achieve level 4 and 5. Teacher: Just in English? Pupil 3: It’s going to help you in dance, drama, history and science. Teacher: Where else? Pupil 4: Maths, Spanish and PE. Teacher: Yes, some of the skills you will learn will help you with other subjects. Sometimes I will ask you what other subject this will help you with. When you do some of the activities you’ll think ‘this is fun’, but it’s also useful in other subjects.
Teacher: I’ve picked up that you’re good at listening to me, but you struggle to listen to the others. What subjects do you need to be good at listening? Pupil 1: In PE you have to listen Teacher: If you’re outside, do you have information on the board? No, you have to listen! What other subjects do you need to listen in? Pupil 2: Science and maths. Teacher: Yes, because you may have to explain to someone else. Pupil 3: Drama and dance. Teacher: Yes they’re like PE – you need to have good listening skills for these subjects too.
Ways the lessons were adapted for particular contexts and pupil needs 60. All the Literacy Plus teachers generally followed the National Strategies sample lessons because they recognised the activities were strong and the structure well considered. The Literacy Plus programme appeared to have sufficient structure to enable delivery by a range of staff, including an HLTA as well as experienced English Specialists without the need for specific training (other than being introduced to the programme). As these Literacy Plus teachers explained:
“I think the units are quite self explanatory and quite easy to follow. I think it is very well structured, so training is not required”. “They are designed so you can just pick them up and teach them”.
61. But all the teachers adapted the lesson plans/resources taking the group and their context into consideration. For example, while one teacher supported the need to include writing in every lesson, the pupils she was working with had very poor speaking and listening
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skills so she felt she needed to spend a lot of time on this. Aware that they were reticent to write, she also tended to get them to do short bursts of writing on white boards (which the pupils could then quickly wipe clean). Instead of writing a paragraph as suggested in some lesson plans, she asked them to 'write one brilliant sentence', as that was all she felt they could manage, at least at the start. Another teacher used additional resources such as a pyramid constructed from paper which showed the vocabulary, connectives, openings and punctuation required for each of the national curriculum levels 1‐5. 62. Having a framework also appeared to free the teachers up to be creative. For example, one of the teachers wanted to introduce more non‐fiction texts so went to a travel agent to gather a selection of descriptions of real places for the ‘Are we there yet?’ unit. Another teacher made the lessons more visually exciting; for example, she used a real bucket for the bucket of ideas, a real saw (borrowed from the design and technology department) for splitting text into paragraphs and a real hammer for connectives. She also made innovative use of the IWB. For example, she set a clock timer to seven minutes for the independent writing activity which helped to maintain the fast pace of the lesson and also help to make the writing task feel manageable and achievable. 63. Other teachers were also careful to ensure pupils had understood the concept they were working on and this affected their planning: if the pupils seemed to understand, they moved on; if they didn’t the teachers would find a different way of teaching it. One teacher, for example, put on extra lessons to consolidate learning where the pupils didn’t seem to have grasped the concept of planning using spider diagrams. 64. The secondary English consultants explained the importance of having a structure yet scope for flexibility to adapt the lessons and units to pupils’ needs:
“The plans and resources were good at demonstrating the level of expectation and level of challenge expected for these pupils”.
“I like the way the units build on existing knowledge and encourage enthusiasm for making progress – the fact that things can be worked on until skills are secured, rather than units of work that have their allotted time and then all move on”.
How were the data collected? 65. The research question guiding this small‐scale evaluation was:
‘What specific aspects of classroom pedagogy which feature in Literacy Plus teaching result in low attaining boys in Year 7 becoming more engaged in their own learning?’
66. Six schools who had piloted the Literacy Plus programme in 2009‐10 and who were continuing to run the programme in 2010‐11 were visited during November 2010. Each school was located in a different local authority in England (Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and Lancashire). In each school, a Literacy Plus lesson was observed and focus groups lasting approximately 30 minutes were carried out with staff delivering the lessons (Literacy Plus teachers and TAs), senior staff (heads of department for English, English ASTs and deputy head teachers), Year 7 and Year 8 boys who were currently or who had been involved in Literacy Plus the previous year. In total, 24 staff and 32 boys were involved in the study. Telephone interviews were also conducted with the secondary English consultant with responsibility for Literacy Plus in each local authority (six consultants in total).
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67. The focus group questions for both staff and pupils focused on their views concerning:
the impact that the Literacy Plus programme had on pupils’ engagement and attainment
the aspects of curriculum design and delivery that contributed to the perceived impact.
Some of the schools also provided data they had collected regarding the impact of the Literacy Plus programme on their pupils. 68. In addition to finding out their view of the impact of the Literacy Plus programme and the contributory factors, the LA consultants were also asked about any training/support they had provided. 69. All comments made by the participants were recorded and then categorised into themes related to perceived impact and contributory factors. Examples of comments made for each theme (including attainment data where applicable) were then selected for inclusion in the report. 70. The observed lessons were written up to provide:
an account of the activities that took place, and
examples of effective dialogue between teachers/TAs and pupils during the lesson. The observed teaching and learning activities and dialogues were categorised into aspects of effective pedagogy which were also informed by previous research. Example dialogues drawn from across the schools were then selected to illustrate each of the pedagogical themes identified. 71. The data collection tools (lesson observation, focus group questions and interview schedules) are available in Appendix 3. An example of the way a lesson observation was recorded is provided in Appendix 2. 72. We would like to thank the Literacy Plus staff at the six schools that took part in the evaluation for welcoming us into their Literacy Plus lessons, and the Literacy Plus staff, senior leaders, boys and local authority secondary English consultants for willingly sharing with us their experiences, and their views and data concerning the impact of the Literacy Plus programme.
Conclusion “I love it because it engages them, takes everything in small steps, and builds their confidence to do things wrong in a small group situation. They learn that it’s OK to go wrong – that we can pick up on it and put it right. I love it because it’s interactive and because we are able to build such good relationships with the pupils”. (HLTA Literacy Plus teacher) “It has given this particular group of pupils [middle band but struggling] a voice and more attention than they would have had otherwise”. (Curriculum area leader)
73. In line with its stated aims, this small scale evaluation found evidence that linked the Literacy Plus programme with successful and speedy progress for Year 7 pupils from level 3 to level 4 in English. Alongside the enhanced attainment in reading and writing, Literacy Plus had a positive impact on pupils’ engagement in learning. They were more confident learners,
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had improved speaking and listening skills, and a greater ability to work independently not only in Literacy Plus lessons, but across the curriculum too. 74. The contributory factors identified by staff using the resources appeared to be factors suggested by research as effective at promoting the participation, engagement and attainment of low attaining pupils. Research (such as Myhill et al, 2006; Smith & Higgins, 2006) shows that pupils benefit from participating in an interactive, conversational style of discussion that encourages pupils to think and helps them to acquire ownership of knowledge. There was much evidence that the Literacy Plus programme supported learning through talk. This report provides many examples of teachers asking open questions to invite pupils to explain their thinking, and opening up discussions to include all pupils. TAs offered further opportunities of talk for learning individually in one‐to‐one situations. 75. Another aspect of learning through talk is co‐operative learning. Research (such as Bell et al, 2008) shows the value to pupils of supporting others’ learning, particularly for enhancing self‐confidence. To enable pupils to develop their speaking and listening skills, research (such as Wegerif et al, 2004) shows the importance of teachers training pupils and modelling the way they want pupils to talk with each other. There was much evidence of pupils learning such ‘ground rules for talk’ through the Literacy Plus programme. 76. Research (such as Bruner, 1960; Bell et al, 2008 and Hattie, 2009) shows the importance of providing pupils with practical and relevant tasks, and of teachers making learning intentions clear. The Literacy Plus programme provides clear learning intentions and structured, progressive sequences of practical tasks designed to encourage mastery of these intentions. Teachers can adapt the tasks to make them more relevant to their own contexts and perceived pupils’ needs and in the light of feedback from their pupils. 77. Finally, research (such as Rogers, 1969) shows the importance of creating a positive classroom climate and teacher‐pupil relationships which are achieved through listening to pupils and showing empathy. Creating classes of pupils at the same level and the availability of one‐to‐one TA support was very important for this because it helped the pupils to express themselves and feel comfortable about taking risks. As shown by research (such as Dweck, 2000), encouraging pupils to believe that they can improve through praising their effort and the strategies used was important too.
Some implications for teachers and leaders 78. This evaluation sheds light on some lessons that can be learned from the schools who piloted the Literacy Plus programme. Leaders and Literacy Plus teachers may like, for example, to:
liaise with primary schools during the summer term regarding the selection of pupils to enable the Literacy Plus programme to start at the beginning of September
make the transferability of skills pupils gain from Literacy Plus a selling point to teachers of other subjects
ask colleagues teaching Literacy Plus pupils in other areas of the curriculum to note evidence of the difference Literacy Plus is making
collect evidence about the impact of Literacy Plus to demonstrate its continuing value in your school, such as videos of pupils talking about their learning at the start and the end of the year. (You may find the tools in Appendix 3 a useful starting point for this).
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invite a colleague to observe a Literacy Plus lesson and discuss afterwards what worked well and what worked less well. For example a Literacy Plus TA could observe a Literacy Plus teacher and vice versa. (You may find the observation tool in Appendix 3 and the example lesson observation in Appendix 2 a useful starting point for this).
References and resources
Bell, M., Cordingley, P., Gibbons, S. & Hawkins, M. (2008) Review of individual studies from systematic research reviews. Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCDA). Summary available at: www.gtce.org.uk/tla/rft/curriculum0809/
Bruner, J. S. (1960, revised edition 1977) The Process of Education. Harvard University Press. Summary available at: www.gtce.org.uk/tla/rft/bruner0506/
Dunne, M., Humphreys, S., Sebba, J., Dyson, A., Gallannaugh, F & Muijs, D. (2007) Effective teaching and learning for pupils in low attaining groups DCSF Research Report 011. Summary available at: www.gtce.org.uk/tla/rft/low_attain0609/ Dweck, C. (2000) Self‐theories: Their role in motivation, personality and development Philadelphia: Taylor and Francis. Summary available at: www.gtce.org.uk/tla/rft/challenge1007/ Hattie, J.A.C. (2009) Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta‐analyses relating to achievement. London: Routledge. Summary forthcoming at: www.gtce.org.uk/tla/rft/ Myhill, D., Jones, S. and Hopper, R. (2006) Talking, listening learning: effective talk in the primary classroom. Open University Press, Maidenhead. Summary available at: www.gtce.org.uk/tla/rft/talk_prim0506/ Rogers, C. & Freiberg, J.H. (1969, 3rd edition 1994) Freedom to learn. New York: Merrill. Summary available at: www.gtce.org.uk/tla/rft/rogers1008/ Smith, H. & Higgins, S. (2006) Opening classroom interaction: the importance of feedback, Cambridge Journal of Education, 36(4) pp.485‐502. Summary available at: www.gtce.org.uk/tla/rft/curriculum0908/ Wegerif, R., Littleton, K., Dawes, L., Mercer, N., & Rowe, D. (2004) Widening access to educational opportunities through teaching children how to reason together. Westminster Studies in Education 27 (2) pp. 143‐156. Summary available at: www.gtce.org.uk/tla/rft/achieve1106/
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Appendix 1: A sample Literacy Plus lesson plan Unit notes: http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/196658?uc=force_uj Word resources: http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/196667?uc=force_uj Powerpoint: http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/196688?uc=force_uj
Lesson 3
Are we there yet?
Lesson objectives
Use prediction as a strategy to interpret texts
Select textual references to support ideas and explanations
Starter 10 minutes
Use resource R3.7 (PowerPoint) or other selected images. Show slides of different travellers and after each slide, pupils are allowed time to talk in pairs about where each person might be going and what clues make them think so.
Introduction
Explain that stories, like journeys, have a beginning and it is often possible to predict or at least speculate about what may happen/turn up next. If we do this it can help us make more sense of what we are reading/where we are going.
1. Model a prediction exercise using a front cover of a novel and talking through what it suggests about the book.
2. In groups of four, each pair within the group considers two different titles on resource R3.8A and discusses what each might be about, noting ideas in the box. Pairs then explain to each other how they came up with their ideas and what evidence they used.
3. Mini plenary – take feedback on the strategies used.
4. Model searching for clues in an opening to predict how plot might develop. Use the opening sentences from a well‐known novel articulating your thoughts as you highlight evidence.
Independent Working in the same groups using resource R3.8B, each pair reads the opening paragraph of the two novels they selected in the previous activity and reconsider the predictions they made. Does this add to or change anything said before? Groups highlight any clues or evidence in the texts that help them predict what type of story each opening paragraph introduces.
Guided With TA, work with different groups in both activities.
Main 40 minutes
Development
Individual support
Plenary 10 minutes
Using resource R3.8C, encourage pupils to check their predictions against summaries of the novels. Ask pupils to consider whether anything in the titles or opening paragraphs was misleading? Take feedback. Complete passport strategy self‐assessment.
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Appendix 2: Example lesson observation Based on lesson 3 of the ‘Are we there yet?’ unit (see Appendix 1) Literacy focus: Reading Theme: Reading journey Objectives: Using prediction as a strategy to interpret texts; selecting textual references to support ideas and explanations Lesson duration: One hour Class composition: 10 Year 7 pupils; five girls and five boys Activity 1: A whole group question and answer session involving matching pictures on the IWB to reading strategy labels (questioning, visualising, predicting, empathising, inferring, scanning, and reading backwards and forwards). The teacher pointed to each picture in turn and asked pupils to suggest a reading strategy that matched it. Once the class had agreed on the strategy, the teacher moved the label to the picture. At the end of the activity, the teacher explained how the pupils would be practising one of these reading strategies during the lesson to help them to become better readers (but did not tell them which) and that by the end of the lesson they would be able to tell her how it helped them. Activity 2: The teacher presented the pupils with a series of stimuli (such as clips of music from around the world, the TA in role (for example wearing a garland of flowers, a towel, a snorkel and flippers and miming Hawaiian dancing) and an ornament parrot. After each clip, the teacher asked the pupils to write down in their notebooks the name of a country they thought was represented by the music etc as well as a reason for their view. Afterwards the teacher went through each of the episodes in turn, asking several pupils to say which country they thought it represented and to give their reason. Activity 3: The pupils were asked to predict what a story could be about from the front cover and give a reason for their view. The pupils were shown three front covers on the IWB. The same pictures were available in their booklets. The teacher rehearsed their ideas orally for the first front cover and modelled how they would record them by writing on the IWB next to the first picture – I think this story is going to be about … I think this because … She then asked the pupils to write what each story could be about and the reason for their view. The teacher and TA visited all the pupils to provide one‐to‐one support. Afterwards, the teacher invited pupils to share their thoughts and reasons with the whole group. Activity 4: The pupils were asked to predict what the story could be about based on the opening text. She asked pupils to read sections of text from the IWB out loud to the rest of the group. She modelled underlining a line of the text and asked the pupils to suggest the literary device. (The pupils were studying literacy devices in English). She then asked them to use the device to predict something about the story. Having demonstrated with one of the texts, the teacher asked the pupils to work in pairs, choose another of the texts, underline their evidence, write their prediction and write how their prediction helped them. She started a clock timer on the IWB, and gave the pupils seven minutes to complete the task. The teacher and TA visited all the pairs to provide one‐to‐one support. Afterwards, the teacher invited pupils to share with the rest of the group what they had written. Plenary: The teacher asked, ‘How does the strategy of predicting help us to be a better reader?’ She drew ideas from the pupils and briefly recapped the activities the pupils had been involved in during the lesson.
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Exit quiz: ‘What am I?’ For example: Teacher: I am a strategy that helps me see pictures? Pupil: Visualising Teacher: Very good!
Characteristics of the lesson Dialogic teaching The teacher engaged the pupils in a large number of focused conversations involving several pupils throughout the lesson (the pupils were engaged in talk for about 70% of the lesson). For example:
Teacher: What does inferring mean? Pupil 1: Looking for detail Teacher: Kind of … Pupil 2: Look closely Pupil 3: Read carefully Teacher: It’s not obvious, so you’ve got to do what? Pupil 4: He’s got to work it out.
Teacher: What strategy were we using? What were we doing out of all the pictures? Pupil 1: Justifying. Teacher: Mmm, we said things like ‘I think she’s going to Hawaii because …’ But it could be more than one strategy … Pupil 2: Visualising because I pictured in my head. Teacher: Yes … but we didn’t need to visualise because we could see the parrot and Mrs Shaw? Pupil 3: Empathising. Teacher: Mmmm, I don’t think we were really feeling – can you think of another strategy that fits better? Pupil 4: Predicting. Teacher: Why? Pupil: We were only making guesses. Teacher: That’s exactly it – we were making use of the strategy of prediction – to be better readers. How can it help?
Ground rules for talk The teacher had previously introduced ground rules for talk. She reminded the pupils of them at times when they were so enthusiastic to speak that they started to call out their answers or talked over each other, as in this example:
Teacher: Wait a minute, what’s the rule? Pupil: One person talking. Teacher: And we’re not doing that …
Opportunities for pupils to develop their thinking Throughout the lesson, the teacher stressed the importance of the pupils justifying their answers, as in this example:
Teacher: This parrot could be in a few places … Pupil 1: I thought Africa because parrots are in the jungle. Pupil 2: I thought Australia. Teacher: Whereabouts – the city?
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Pupil 2: No, in the forest/jungle. Pupil 3: I thought Jamaica because there’s quite a few beaches.
Making connections between aspects of learning The teacher frequently pointed out where the pupils had or might use the same strategies in other lessons, as in these examples:
Teacher: We’ve done this in English and history when we had artefacts – can anyone remember what we did then? Pupil: We had to predict what it might be then research it on the Internet.
Teacher: So we’re looking at the picture and predicting – think back to the library talk we had – it’s the same kind of strategy.
Teacher: What about history – if we’re faced with a text with the word peasant in. What will you think in your head? Pupil: It will be a long time ago. Teacher: “Let’s underline this bit – what’s the device? You’ve done it with the polar bear in English – so it’s nothing new!” Pupil: “Description”. Teacher: “The writer has used description – that’s his device”.
Teacher motivating pupils to persevere and succeed The teacher frequently praised the pupils for the effort they were making, the strategies they were using, and for giving their opinions.
“You’re doing very well with justifications – that’s the hardest part, giving justifications!”
“A fantastic justification!”
“Have confidence to know you’re right!”
“Give your brains a rest for a minute – you’ve been working really hard!”
“It was in fact Morocco, but it had all the influences you said”. She was upfront about the more challenging parts of the lesson and gave them a strategy for dealing with them.
“Next we’re going to look at story openings – it’s tougher. No‐one’s pretending it’s easy, so we’re going to work in pairs”.
“Have a think. If you’re not sure, do what you think – there might not be a right or a wrong answer. Write it down and then we’ll talk about it”.
She reminded the pupils why the focus of the lesson was important.
“We were making use of the strategy of prediction – to be better readers”.
TA support for individuals and pairs The TA worked with the pupils on an individual basis at points in the lesson to scaffold next steps. For example:
TA: What have you underlined? What device has the writer used? (Points to the speech marks). Pupil: They’re talking to each other. TA: So your device is speech. What do you predict from the speech that the story is going to be about?
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Teacher modelling
Teacher writes on the IWB (saying the words out loud): I think this story is going to be about …I think this because … You fill in the … Teacher: Now I’m going to underline this bit here. What can we predict about the person? Pupil 1: He’s quite greedy Teacher: Is there a reason why? Pupil 1: He doesn’t want to waste any more time. Pupil 2: He has a feeling something bad will happen. Teacher: I think that too – so I predict he hasn’t got much time (modelled writing on the sheet on the IWB).
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Appendix 3: Data collection tools
a) Literacy plus observation schedule – Staff
Activity Notes
Lesson design (E.g. Interactive starter, guided group work, plenary, one‐to‐one support)
Teaching strategies used (E.g. Dialogic learning, modelling)
Activities the learners are asked to do (E.g. Opportunities to practise and develop their thinking, speaking and listening skills through doing a presentation, making notes, retrieving information etc)
Opportunity for learners to participate orally (E.g. Number of learners who contribute during whole class interactive session/group work and extent of interactions encouraged)
Opportunity for learners to work collaboratively (E.g. Small group work/ pair work activities)
Opportunity for learners to work independently (E.g. Teacher/TA scaffolding task and stepping back)
Ways staff make connections between aspects of learning (E.g. Referring to work being done in other lessons)
Ways staff motivate pupils to persevere and succeed (E.g. Through praise, stepping the work)
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b) Literacy Plus focus group questions – staff Impact
How do you know/set out about finding out whether what you are doing in literacy plus lessons is working?
What successes do you feel you achieved last year? (E.g. Did you notice any improvements in your learners’ oral contributions, ability to collaborate, ability to work independently, make connections?)
What aspects of the literacy plus lessons do you think most contributed to the successes you had?
Curriculum design and delivery How do you design the literacy plus lessons (E.g. Adaptations of the National
strategies sample lessons)?
How have you adapted your planning and teaching to respond to feedback from pupils? (E.g. APP, AfL, evidence from work completed; oral feedback etc.)
What teaching strategies do you use (E.g. Dialogic learning/group work/one‐to‐one, modelling)?
What kind of activities do you ask the learners to do? Which are most successful in promoting engagement, independence and progress in learning?
How do you go about fostering learners’ beliefs in their ability to improve and succeed? (E.g. Step the work, praise effort and strategies used?)
How do you enable the learners to work collaboratively/structure group work so that it is productive/effective?
How do you go about fostering learners’ oral contributions?
How do you foster independent learning?
How do you make connections between aspects of learning/make cross curricular links? How often do you do this?
c) Literacy Plus focus group questions – Year 8 boys
Can you tell me about the activities you did in your literacy plus lessons last year when you were in Year 7?
Can you remember which aspects of literacy you felt you were not so good at when you started in Year 7?
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Do you think you’re better at these things now? Can you say how/in what ways? What can you do now that you couldn’t do so well at the start of Year 7?
What do you think helped you to improve? (What aspects of the literacy plus lessons/teaching)?
Do you think you say more in lessons now than at the start of Year 7? Can you give an example? Did the literacy plus lessons help? How?
Do you work better in groups now than before the literacy plus lessons in Year 7 – eg. Do you say more? Did the literacy plus lessons help? How?
Do you feel more able to work independently/without help now than before the literacy plus lessons? Can you give an example? Did the literacy plus lessons help? How?
Have you been able to use what you learned in the literacy plus lessons in other work? Can you give an example?
d) Literacy Plus focus group questions – Year 7 boys
Can you tell me about the activities you do in your literacy plus lessons?
Which aspects of literacy did you feel you were not so good at when you started at this school?
Can you feel yourself making improvements in these areas? Can you say how/in what ways?
What do you think is helping you to improve? (What aspects of the literacy plus lessons/teaching)?
Do you think the literacy plus lessons are helping you to say more in lessons? Can you give an example? What has helped you to say more?
Do you think the literacy plus lessons are helping you to work better in groups – for example do you say more, do you learn more when working in groups? How have the literacy plus lessons helped?
Are you feeling more able to work independently/without help now that you’ve been to literacy plus lessons? Can you give an example? How have the literacy plus lessons helped?
Are you able to use what you have learned so far in the literacy plus lessons in other work? Can you give an example?
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e) Interview questions for LA secondary English consultants
How did you support the literacy plus programmes in schools / the [named] school? Did you provide any training and/or resources?
How useful and influential were the sample resources and additional guidance provided by the National Strategies?
How would you judge the success of the literacy plus programme?
Which aspects of the literacy plus programme do you think most help to promote successful outcomes for pupils?