I started teaching so long ago that it was certainly almost the dark ages for reading. The book stock in my first school was very limited and largely based on the Ginn 360 scheme, which gave a progression, so weekends and holidays were spent rummaging in charity shops to build up a personal class collection which would support the broader range of needs.

The prevailing advice from inspectors was that those with identifiable specific learning needs must be individually heard daily, those not quite keeping up at least three times and the better readers at least once.
With a class of 39 children that created a need for a lot of reading time.
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An integrated day, child-centred approach afforded some time, while playtimes and lunchtimes offered more. USSR, Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading happened straight after lunch, sometimes, but not often becoming ERIC, Everyone Reading in Class. Parent helpers were always welcomed. In the era of tape recorders, children had a personal tape, to be able to record themselves reading and to listen back to themselves as a self-correction activity. Almost another adult.

Phonics were taught, either directly to the whole class, to specific groups of children or within games situations. Approaches were multisensory, with sand trays, sandpaper shapes, plastic models, painting letters while saying out loud. We often did “rainbow letters”, overwriting or painting letters with different colours along strips of cardboard that came from the local materials bank. There was a link between gross motor and fine motor skills, enhanced by the use of blank paper exercise books with different width guide lines.

At the same time personalised phonics skills and sight vocabularies were regularly checked, developed and supported with spellings home and regular tests. Spelling was based on the look, cover, write and check approach, developing aspects of short term memory.

Cliff Moon’s Individualised Reading approach effectively colour coded the available reading schemes into bands within a defined readability level, from approximately age 5, rising by 6 months for each colour. Variation occurs, but an example from a school is below.

If each colour was stocked with sufficient books, this allowed free access to children to change books as and when they finished them, rather than waiting for a defined change time. Any commentary on the book was oral or shared through the home-school record, with any written responses limited to a postcard to the author.
It is important to recognise that the colours also had an essence of reading age embedded, so that progress could be described both in terms of colour movement and reading age, which can be compared with chronological age as a rule of thumb. Colour coded schemes also highlight children who are “stuck” and might need particular guidance.

Home-school reading record books became all-purpose reading records and comment books, shared by teachers and parents, with comments made at the time of hearing a child read. Individualised reading records were kept.

This approach created an understandable spine, with defined progression embedded. It allowed consideration of the different needs of readers, in that where a child needed some guidance within a book in order to be able to read it, defined a teaching level book. All books below this would be fluent level books, while any book above the guided level might be at a frustration level.
For reading at home, children could select from their fluent colours, changeable daily if needed. Inevitably, the movement from one teaching level to another determined the books read at home, so there was an element of motivation engendered, as well as a desire to be seen to be making progress.

Guiding teachers, children and parents within these books was achieved through bookmarks which had been written with a specific level in mind. Based on a “can do” approach, the statements, such as talk about the setting or a specific character, were given to encourage conversation between reader and listener. Colour coded to link with the books being read, they had an appreciable impact.

Beyond and around the spine, other books were available. Children took home a non-fiction book each week within their library exchange period. “Free reader” was the ultimate accolade, when self-selection from the available books required different guidance and knowledge from the teacher of the available texts. Non-fiction texts were displayed within the topic corner, available for reading, but also for study skill lessons, using the books to enhance the literacy curriculum, through note taking and information gathering. The index and contents offered opportunities for alphabetical order and judgements about suitability of the text.
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Author sets of books became a feature of each classroom, changed each term. This allowed consideration of author styles and approaches to writing across the class. In many case, the range of books written by the chosen authors allowed access across the whole class. One or more of the books would be chosen as teacher books to share with the children.

Free readers need the skills of choosing a book for themselves. To facilitate this, children were taught the “five-finger” rule; read the first page and fold one finger for each word that caused a problem. If five were counted, it’s probably too difficult. They also had to read the blurb to support their decision, made in discussion with the teacher. Children also had the (adult) right to say that they were not enjoying a book.

Children learned to read and enjoyed the process, in doing so becoming avid readers. Proof? For want of better, SAT English L4+ scores at age 11, usually 85% plus in classes with 20%+ SEN. Others will have greater evidence, from different approaches.

By now the reader will have noticed a theme developing.

• A good range of reading material should be available, organised to support progress. Colour coded would be my preference, as it saves some teacher decision making.
• Teacher awareness of available material and individual reading abilities and interests is essential.
• The reading journey should be guided and supported as well as guided personal practice and a dynamic that encourages sharing books as widely as possible.
• Adult engagement with different aspects is essential; diagnostic if necessary, such as miscue analysis and developmental feedback, written records of books read and qualitative statements of reading. Consider a home-school diary, especially for those who need close monitoring, and make sure that there is a positive dialogue, not just a parent notebook.
• Reading between guided sessions is essential to fluency. This can be in the form of expectation to read to a certain point in a specific timescale. Just to say to read at home for homework is not a sufficient driver.

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Developing a culture of reading in the class.

• Create a book corner which actively encourages engagement.
• “Author of the term”; a collection of books by one author, to be read and then followed up.
• Postcards to an author; Fold A4 in half; Side one, a pictorial interpretation of the book, side two a postcard commentary, aimed at the author.
• Letters to an author, alive or dead; offers opportunity for commentary instead of formal book review.

Display potential

• Reading walls, considering an audience. Potential for home activity?
• Photocopy book covers. Speech bubble commentary from children.

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I LOVE books
·         Wordsmiths. Ten interesting words I have found in ……….(book title)
·         Settings, characters. Descriptions into art, art into words.
·         Settings in a box. 3D theatres allowing story telling, possibly animation.

In 1995, I wrote an article for Books for Keeps, based on 3D models. Can be read here:-
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/92/childrens-books/articles/other-articles/books-into-art

• Storyboarding a book? Eg a book as a 5-picture cartoon.

 
Parents as partners
While parents are considered as partners within this process, there is no guarantee that they will all have a clear understanding of expectations, nor can it be assumed that every child goes home to a literate household.

Schools need to be aware of this dynamic, to avoid stress either to the child or the parents. Support and help may be needed and, where there is limited scope for support, this may need to be the focus for in-school intervention, such as additional TA time for reading.

Many schools have developed parent evenings specifically devoted to reading guidance, with modelling to parent of how to share books, not just talking about reading policies.

Where this was repeated over time and with an assurance that every parent participated, the impact on reading progress was often very impressive.

TEN SIGNS OF A SUCCESSFUL (ENGLISH) TEACHER

(Exeter University; Primary Improvement Project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust 1997)

This project looked at learning dynamics within reading classes and found the following:-

• A high level of personal enthusiasm for literature, often supplementing the school’s resources with their own books.
• Good professional knowledge of children’s authors and teaching strategies
• Importance of literacy stressed within a rich literacy environment
• Progress celebrated publicly and children’s confidence increased
• Teaching individualised and matched to pupil’s ability and reading interests
• Systematic monitoring and assessment
• Regular and varied reading activities
• Pupils encouraged to develop independence and autonomy, attacking unfamiliar words, or teachers backing pupils’ judgment as authors
• A high quality of classroom management skill and personal relationships with pupils
• High expectations, children striving to reach a high standard, whatever their circumstances

 

Why has science been somewhat sidelined in primary schools, when it offers so much in the way of stimulus for talk, reading and writing?

The TES today 19.09.2017, reported the outcomes of a report commissioned by the Wellcome Trust which argues that the subject is not being given enough priority or time by most of the nation's primaries. 

They found that on average, across all primary school year groups, more than half of classes (58%) did not get two hours of science a week. The figures are based on two surveys of teachers, including one of staff who led on the subject for their school.

Wellcome also identified a fear among teachers that children would ask a question they would not know the answer to, and a belief that science is messy, expensive, time-consuming. The study was published to mark the launch of Explorify, a new free digital resource for school science.

The downgrading of science could be tracked back to around 1997, when that incarnation of the curriculum coincided with the National Strategies for Literacy and Numeracy (not English and Maths) and the delivery of QCA packs of “foolproof” science recipe booklets. Science teaching by numbers… Teachers learned not to think as scientists, but to follow the instructions. In other words, they forgot to think for themselves.

I trained as a primary science teacher, extended through Environmental Science and spent a period seconded to the Assessment of Performance Unit looking at how primary children learn in science situations.

Like many practical areas of the curriculum, such as art, organising for a class of thirty is challenging, as it takes a significant resource base, space can be at a premium and time can be a limiting factor. Space, time and resources have been perennial issues and probably always will be.

In the beginning of my career, the integrated day, based on groups undertaking challenges, were the norm. This meant perhaps a group of up to 8 working on a challenge; one table devoted to science (or other topic area), another to art, perhaps one to writing, one to maths and one to reading. Yes, that is five groups of 8, the size of my classes from 1974-1979 and no TA…

When I became a head and LMS enabled the hiring of TAs to support learning, I was lucky enough to find someone with science and technology as interests, so we could create quality learning opportunities in both subjects, based on small groups supported by the expert TA. In between supported science, teachers would set up science challenges for small groups to undertake with some independence. It’s the practice in decision making, developing rational lines of investigation, that, to me, have always underpinned primary science.

Unless schools begin to address what might actually be a systemic issue, science and other foundation subjects will continue to suffer, yet they offer significant opportunities for use and application of knowledge and skills learned in maths and English.

Some extracts from mid-1980s ASE publications.

And some other blogs that look at different aspects of primary science. It doesn’t have to be difficult!
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Creating Primary Scientists ​
Primary Science is a practical subject
In search of the Triantiwontigongolope
Rafting
Messing About on the River
Exploring scientifically
​November is a rotten month
​Observation; get them to look
Creating Nature Detectives
The world is not wallpaper
Exploring Science From shiny Things

The past few years have seen a gradual increase in my work with mentors, through a variety of routes. There are common themes and some contextual nuances, but, at the centre is the significant importance of the mentor, whether for a trainee in initial teacher education, an NQT, RQT or perhaps coaching someone through a short term need.

​This area of interest, therefore, was one that I was happy to share during Pedagoo Hampshire 2017, albeit as a stand-in speaker as a favour to Martyn Reah.

​While there are some simple and straightforward expectations, the need to develop the professional thinking skills, as well as subject pedagogy, requires skills from the teacher that can eventually lead to significant self-development. 

One year ago, September 2016, the government published a new document, in which it set out standards for mentors for Initial Teacher Training. many of these I would describe as "grandma sucking eggs", but, as experience has taught me, working with teachers, they come in all shapes sizes and experiences, from those who have actively volunteered for the role, purposefully to enhance their careers, to some who have suddenly found themselves as a mentor at the last minute.

​To some extent, the standards are self explanatory, so I have copied a version that we use at Winchester University, to set the scene for expectations. The quality of the professional relationship is key to a successful period in any class. How well the mentor can unpick aspects of practice, in order to share both the overview and the detail, without overloading the trainee, is an important element. 

​It is also worth mentioning that schools which choose to take on trainees of any description become de facto teaching schools, with every member of staff potentially being asked for help or advice at some stage. Therefore, the best prepared schools are those where everyone knows that a trainee is starting, and expectations of each staff member, as well as an understanding of the phases of development.

​The responsibilities for the trainee can be shared, with classroom mentors being supported by colleagues who may have recent study skills that might be useful to the trainee as they prepare written submissions for their PGCE or QTS status. Equally, using the available collective expertise can be useful in general discussion. Perhaps a colleague has completed a diploma, masters or some other qualification and can help with academic phrasing or referencing, perhaps offering to read the piece ahead of submission.  

There are two distinct areas where there are likely to be different needs for support. The first is in the personal capacity of the trainee. The four standards, 8, 3, 7 and 1 are likely to be the essence of the starter; professionalism, subject knowledge, behaviour expectations and general expectations of how the classroom should be running.

​Professional relationships, between the mentor and the trainee, trainee and teaching assistants, wider staff involvement, parents and children, will become self-evident, from the very outgoing to the excessively shy; I've met both extremes and every shade in between. The green boxes in the diagram below seek to summarise what might be seen in a potentially successful trainee. While they are self-explanatory, any suggestion of concern, in any of these areas, is likely to raise questions in a mentor's mind. These questions might, in themselves, become limiting factors. In this regard, the mentor has to unpick their own personal biases, in order to interact professionally. However, concerns are concerns and may eventually have to be addressed. We are talking basic teacher capabilities. 

The second layer of teacher standards are likely to be more challenging, in that these are the practical aspects of teaching and learning; standards 2, 4, 6&5, leading back to 2. Progress and outcomes, leading to detail in planning of teaching and learning expectations, with in-lesson and post-lesson judgements (assessments) and adaptations to initial planning, leading to good outcomes that demonstrate progress across a period of time, eg week, fortnight, month.

​This is a significantly important area. A trainee will have had very little experience longitudinally. They may have had anything from a few weeks' experience to HLTA over time, but they may still need to get to grips with what "good outcomes" look like and the right decisions to make in order to promote further progress. Even an experienced teacher changing year groups or changing school settings may find this challenging. Moderation activity, aka talking about what the children are doing, between the trainee and the teacher is essential, to enable the mentor to guide decision making and develop baseline expectations. Visiting the year above and the year below is also a useful guide, to see where children have come from and what they are expected to be able to do the following year.

​The baselines will, in effect, guide in-lesson decisions. A clear idea of the journey of the lesson and the outcome expectations enable appropriate decisions to be made, including the use of sharing time, working alongside an individual or group to support their working approach.

​reflection within and outside the lesson guides decisions about subsequent learning.
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Planning for development over time is essential to avoid elements being missed. Trainees, on whatever route, have a mountain of paperwork to keep, to be able to show their development against the teacher standards. this can be aided by forward thinking and ensuring that structural elements of the programme are embedded in the timetable, so that they can be achieved, hopefully in timely fashion. In many ways the elements are articulated in the two slides.

Using this proforma as a checklist might ensure that each partner knows exactly what should be done each week, so nothing is left to chance and gets missed, leading to a backlog of activity later in the experience. Variation due to the vagaries of school life should be expected and addressed within a revised timetable.

Trainees have to understand issues of learning over time. Working closely with medium term plans, over one or two weeks, it is possible to timetable periods where the trainee leads, is an observer or participant observer working with a group, feeding lesson outcome reflections to the teacher if passing on the next lesson or receiving such detail when taking over. This professional dialogue acts as prompts to dynamic thinking. Selecting work to annotate and investigate through the week allows more detailed discussion at the end of each week in preparation for the following week.

​Within lessons, it is fine of a mentor feels the need to act as a "parrot on the shoulder"; having a quiet word in the trainee's ear to prompt timely action. If the school has a system of microphone and earpiece, this could be an alternative means.

​Videoing the lesson can provide the basis for post-lesson analysis and discussion between mentor and trainee.

The "busyness" of a classroom, especially with younger children can sometimes prove daunting to early career trainees. The mentor has the role of unpicking what is going on within the complexity, so that the trainee can start to focus on specific areas, based on their mentor model and also from feedback on their own practice.

​Something as seemingly simple as in-lesson transitions can be the point where a trainee finds limitations in their practice. 

​The difficulty for an inexperienced trainee is that a good teacher can make teaching look easy. They may need guided observations to be able to tease out the key themes, then begin to delve into the nuances. A mentor "talking their thinking", making their actions overt, might seem an odd thing to propose, but it can be sufficient to guide the trainee within the dynamics of the classroom.

Knowing the children well is a key aspect of success. I would advise mentors to regularly ask their trainee to identify a couple of children and to give a short verbal summary of what they know, as if they were talking to a parent or perhaps writing a short report with a parent in mind. 

Knowing the individual needs of some children will be significant. Any child on the special needs register should be highlighted to the trainee, but they should also have the skill to spot developing needs in children who may not yet have been recognised as having a need. They need a framework, based on the 2014 SEN changes and I would offer the diagram below as a useful aide memoire, to be able to guide their thinking and provide the framework for a professional discussion with their mentor and the SENCo.

Reflection should become part and parcel of everything a trainee does, within the classroom and outside. Everything may be new, subject to internal chaos, needing sorting into internal "folders", to be used as appropriate when there is a need. 

​Reflection, supported by opportunities to discuss their thinking, will ensure that the trainee, over time, becomes a thinking professional colleague. Some have one year to achieve this. It is incumbent on the school, through the mentoring and colleague support, to ensure that they are led along this path. It should not be left to chance.

​At then end of the day, schools and mentors are creating the next generation of teachers, perhaps for themselves, but certainly on behalf of the education system. It is a responsibility, but it is also a privilege to see any trainee develop into an independent colleague.

​For this reason, I'd like to see some kind of accreditation available to mentors, to be able to transition to becoming in-house tutors, on a par with university colleagues, responsible for in-practice pedagogy.

​No-one reading my blogs will be surprised that I like this book by Paul Dix! It's a book written with humour, humility and humanity, deriving from experience.

In any school, the climate is set by the adults in charge. How they choose to set up rules and regulations, sometimes generic, often quite prescriptive. Some choose to take this to an extreme and employ “no excuses” policies, while others work through the children taking responsibility for their own self-regulation.

Schools are based on countless interactions each and every day. The quality of these interactions enables a child to have a sense of belonging or to feel alienated and distant from the organisation, with the latter potentially demonstrating as dissociated behaviours leading to further alienation.

Consistency is a central feature of a successful behaviour management system. Everyone knows what is expected, because it is talked about and publicised effectively. The teachers have a clear understanding which allows them to interact easily and speedily. This knowing enables mutual regard and levels of trust, which in turn are enabling. Children like to feel that they are liked for themselves and will acknowledge when they are in the wrong, if the systems allow for this. This approach enables rapid restorative actions.

A sense of belonging is instilled if you are noticed and acknowledged. This might be formally, as a personal greeting on entry to the classroom, handshakes, or simply a friendly smile and noticing, as children enter the classroom. If you have a place that is yours, either a tray and hook for your things in a Primary school or a locker and a set place in a classroom in Secondary, it confers you as a school/class member.

Behaviour management can sometimes feel like “keeping on keeping on”, posters, messages in class or assemblies, or selected gatherings, eg simply having the boys of their toilets are messy. It is about clarity of expectations, well articulate, a collegiate staff approach and appropriate “follow through” that is supported by everyone.

Parents are a key group in this regard. Excellent communication is a hallmark of schools that enjoy better behaviour relations, as the parents support the school approaches.

Spotting children being good can be a very positive way to define what is expected. In a Primary classroom, this can be as simple as a thank you to a child for sitting well on a carpet. It could be a special recognition in an assembly, or a star of the day in class. Marbles in a jar can become a motivation, if there’s a tangible reason for their collection. It’s also a collaborative effort, embedding a team culture into a classroom. However, as Paul Dix points out the “token economy” can be counter-productive, as merits, or similar, are showered on some children, alienating others. Unintended consequences?

Calmness is tested by poor behaviour. But keeping calm through difficulty can be a significant factor in rapid resolution. Children recognising where they are at fault enables fair solutions to be sought. Paul uses the term “botheredness”. This takes time, patience and a drip feed of positive reinforcement; the teacher being bothered models botheredness to the children.

Passing on praise from another teacher, a parent or someone from the wider community is an important aspect. Someone has spotted something good, bothered enough to mention it and this needs to be fed back to the children. A “well done” goes a very long way, equivalent to a “thank you”.

Security and certainty are a necessary part of being an adult in school. The opposite can lead to insecurity and uncertainty in children, which results in getting into trouble, sometimes inadvertently.

This is an excellent book, that will challenge many experienced teachers, but, with newbies, will give insights into good and less useful practices, as they come to terms within their new role. Hopefully, it’ll enable them to “smile before Christmas” and to run classroom that turn into places where high quality learning takes place at all times.

As a headteacher, I’d often tell children that I was the highest paid nag in the school, that their parents expected that of me and that the teachers were paid to do that too, but that we’d prefer not to be doing that all the time. Even as young as four, they seemed to understand that…

Paul’s conclusion is that “a focus on adult behaviour is the only responsible approach”. Staying calm and in control of yourself, is a start point for controlling others.
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Or to quote Vic Goddard, of Passmores School, “We make the weather” …

“The teacher’s job is not to transmit knowledge, nor to facilitate learning. It is to engineer effective learning environments for the students. The key features of effective learning environments are that they create student engagement and allow teachers, learners, and their peers to ensure that the learning is proceeding in the intended direction. The only way we can do this is through assessment. That is why assessment is, indeed, the bridge between teaching and learning.”
― Dylan Wiliam, Embedded Formative Assessment

The term plenary has crossed my path this week. It’s an interesting word, which seemed to derive from the three-part lesson that was seen as good practice when the National Strategies came about. It was the final part, the drawing together of what had occurred during the lesson and deriving significant learning points to take forward into subsequent lessons.

Or that was the supposed intention.  

For some, the plenary became a last activity to fill the final five minutes of a lesson, which may or may not, have a bearing on any learning during the lesson. It stood as a finale, in the same way as “starter” activities could also be separate activities, argued as a means to get children thinking in a particular subject at the transitional stage of a lesson.

This week, plenaries have been discussed as in-lesson interactions, where teachers spot a need and engage with a proportion of, or the whole class, to address a misconception. The problem with in-lesson “plenaries”, in the hands of an inexperienced practitioner, is that they can be done for the sake of being seen to be done.

Interventions, of any description, need to have a rational purpose.

“I’m stopping this child, group, class lesson, because I need to check x, in order to reassess, or reset where the learning is going.” It can even be articulated in that way to the children. It might be an occasion to use different resources or models, scaffolding ideas to ensure some additional information is embedded, to be incorporated into a task, allowing a greater degree of success in the outcome. It is the point where the teacher assumes the role of coach or mentor, unpicking the fine details of, sometimes individual need, fine tuning teaching and learning demands appropriately.

It is, to all intents and purposes, the point where teacher standards 6&5 impact on standard 2; spotting a need, addressing it and ensuring some positive achievements. In Dylan Wiliam’s terms, it is the point where the reflective teacher becomes reactive, based on the evidence of the child, group or class needs.

In other words, just good teaching.
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“feedback should cause thinking. It should be focused; it should relate to the learning goals that have been shared with the students; and it should be more work for the recipient than the donor. Indeed, the whole purpose of feedback should be to increase the extent to which students are owners of their own learning,”
― Dylan Wiliam, Embedded Formative Assessment
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