Journey into Structured Literacy

 I'm not sure when exactly it was that I started exploring structured literacy.  

I wish it was when I first started teaching as my students would have experienced a much stronger literacy development in classes I taught.  It wasn't. I wish it was when my son (and oldest daughter) struggled to learn to read and I couldn't understand why, when they had just said the correct word on the page before, they couldn't say it again on the next page.  Reading Recovery helped my daughter (perhaps it was our personalities that got in the way of her reading with me at home) but my son had Reading Recovery for twice as long as students were meant to get.  I knew that reading and writing didn't 'click' with him.  He was a good talker! I wish I knew of Structured Literacy when he had a dyslexia diagnosis as a 9 or 10 year old.  Maybe I could have supported him or known the kind of learning support to access for him to guide him into a different way of learning what he needed to be confident in basic literacy. I didn't. Teacher guilt. Mum guilt.

Prior to 2019 the extent of my 'phonics' teaching was linked to handwriting where we would say "a is for apple, 'a', 'a', apple" as the letter a was neatly formed on the lines or a little bit of 'Jolly Phonics' with touches of a multisensory approach - the sound stories and actions linked to the letter sounds and names and then cvc words in isolation. In 2019 our school had some phonics training for the junior (Year 1 - 4) teachers with Yolanda Soryl.  This was a good starting point for my journey into Structured Literacy as that year I worked with some Year 4 students who, like my son, didn't 'get' the code of reading or writing - especially evident in their writing.  I upskilled myself and looked for opportunities to get some professional development and attended 'Spelling is Telling' with Carla McNeil of Learning Matters.  Looking for low cost ways to support 'target' students I found free decodable texts to 'back' up the sounds I was teaching. I was trying but still 'fumbling' around with what I know students needed for success but not really sure 'how' to get them there or to teach them.  2020 was a bit more of the same - another amble, rather than following a set route, through the park of Structured Literacy although a nationwide 'lockdown' gave me time to explore SL more and I participated in various webinars and watched videos of experts in SL and even Speech Language Therapists talking about phonemic, orthographic and graphemic awareness.

2021 is a key year in my Structured Literacy Journey.  I resented the time needed to put into learning a new way of teaching literacy as this was on top of all of the expectations of day to day teaching, Team Leadership as well as a PB4L role I had as a Kahui Ako Leader in my school.  It was 'on top' of everything else.  While I resented the time, I didn't resent the learning. With other teachers and most importantly, my students, we began teaching literacy in a more structured way using The Literacy Collective supported by Carolyn and Ande of Clarity Education.  The resources were brilliant (despite having to print them off and laminate them for use with my students - more time involvement) and my students really got into using them in class.  Another lockdown allowed me to develop teaching skills with the support of TLC slides and 'Screencastify' where I taught the focus sounds using the resources and, using Seesaw, uploaded these recordings along with the TLC follow up tasks.  Another teacher in our team digitised the TLC worksheets for students to interact with on Seesaw and they loved these way better than the paper version.  Feedback from a few parents was key for me here, their children had been in a play based first few years of school (I love play and still feel that our children need to be able to play to explore their world and learn about it) but like me, their teachers didn't yet know the power of Structured Literacy and the need for direct, explicit and responsive teaching of the sounds of speech, letters and how they work together for ALL learners.

                                    TLC practise tasks                      Enlisting my daughter to create resources

This year our principal has supported the Year 5 and 6 team with a subscription to the iDeal Leanring Platform which is a New Zealand based Structured Literacy option with a clear scope and sequence.  I am still getting my head around this, and teaching a new year level (I was in Year 4 last year) but as with TLC, I appreciate the clarity of where to start and where to next as well as the support of the slide presentation and follow up resources for students.  I especially like that there are downloadable decodable texts that I can use with my students who did not respond well to a balanced literacy approach - like my oldest daughter and son (my middle daughter took to reading and writing like a duck to water).

The beginnings of a 'sound wall' using TLC resources

The Class Chapter Book

'Reading aloud is the foundation for literacy development. It is the single most important activity for reading success.'

Neuman et al. (2000) cited in 'The Reading Book' by Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey (2019)

Since I have been teaching Year 3 and Year 4 students I have enjoyed daily time in our class chapter book.  This has been supplemented by Chapter Chat NZ (find them on facebook) who has introduced some great books that students have loved. We have loved books by Suzanne Selfors - Imaginary Vetinary Series and Peter Brown's Wild Robot Books. Last year my Year 4 Class enjoyed 'The Mouse and the Motorcycle' by Beverly Cleary. At the end of 2019 we read 'Fish in a Tree' by Linda Mulally Hunt, I was aware that this was set at a higher age group for my class but as I had a few students with dyslexia in my class I thought it important for others in the class to 'see' what it might be like for others and for the students with dyslexia to see that it is different but it doesn't need to be a 'bad different'. Reading these books with my class has opened for some students a love of story, of wanting to read the books themselves and grown their listening skills as they are engaged in the story being read and want to hear what's happening. Students are visualising the story that is being shared with them orally. Reading along with chapter chat has allowed students to make connections with other students exploring these stories through twitter and it has encouraged them to take the text further, being creative with it, exploring vocabulary, responding to comprehension questions and inspiring their own writing.

Over the last couple of years I have observed the choices of books my students make for their 'cave' or independent reading times. These have included the 'How To Train Your Dragon' books, anything by David Walliams, books by Dav Pilkey, Harry Potter Books, Books by Jeff Kinney, Andy Griffiths, Tom Gates, Geronimo Stilton, Ella Diaries, and Stacy Gregg's horse books. When considering a class chapter book, I like to read books the students probably haven't read before and have found these the most successful for read alouds.

I am reflecting on this now as I chanced upon a series that I was unaware of (not uncommon) but picked up and read the first one last night (currently my summer break but always thinking school...). I'm now keen to get hold of the next 3 in the series! This is The Dragon Defenders series and has been authored by a New Zealand Author: James Russell, making it even more awesome. I enjoyed the first book in this series because it introduced a family living on an island in an 'off the grid' and 'plastic free' environment. It demonstrated that one doesn't need devices to be entertained. While demonstrating these 'values' the author and illustrator have also utilised Augmented Reality to give 3D imagery to the story. I wish I had known about #nzreadaloud a few years ago when this book first came out...or even last year when they worked through the 4th book of this series!

Getting involved with Chapter Chat and also NZ Readaloud gives teachers resources to increase the learning opportunities for students with chapter books as well as to make connections with other classes in New Zealand reading the same text. You know your students are enjoying the story from the silence in the room and when students get the book we are reading from the school or local library so they can read along too!

What chapter books have you found successful as books to read to your students?

The 'Art' of Teaching Literacy

Today I had the opportunity to participate in the Otago Literacy Symposium held at Elmgrove School in Mosgiel.  It was my second time going to this particular symposium.  These are great opportunities to get some PL from real teachers in real class environments as well as educational psychologists and current lecturers of training teachers. As it is in school term break there was no need to feel guilty for being away from my students plus I get time to process what I have heard and seen. An added bonus was that they had filtered coffee too!

We need to connect to the joy and passion of learning.

The keynote presenter was Sarah Aiono of Longworth Education. She spoke of the need for the 'Science' of Teaching Literacy and that the 'science is strong'. Science is the foundational skills of learning and we need to have balance so that we don't swing too far in one direction so that students don't make progress and that in play, the environment should show the science behind the literacy. Sarah's focus today was the ART, the JOY.

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift.

Kate DiCamillo

A 2017 UK study by The National Foundation For Education Research identified that as reading progress went up, the enjoyment of reading when down.  This was most prominent in 11 year old boys and further to this, since 2003, girls pleasure in reading has dropped.

“Children’s success in life depends not on whether they can read, but on whether they do” 

― Guy Claxton, What's the Point of School?: Rediscovering the Heart of Education

Literacy was described as a tool to connect but not necessarily the learning itself as it is needed to access all other curriculum learning areas.

• Bring back the magic and the joy
• Encourage curiosity
• Connect the literacy to what matters to our students - they will do it if it matters

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.

Albert Einstein

Inspiring Writing

 It seems to be my male students who don't jump at the chance to put pen to paper.  This appears to be a wider issue than just my current class and last years class...and many years previously. But sometimes the girls aren't keen either.  My previous post about Writing Resources had a few options that could garner the interest of some of these students.

I was checking out some resources on Teach Starter and '7 Ways to Guide and Inspire Reluctant Children to Write' piqued my interest. On reading this blog post, I was drawn to the idea about a 'story box'.  We are still working through the School Kit 'Get New Zealand Writing' project and over the last two days we have been exploring 13 items in a tin and writing words associated with these.  When they didn't need to write sentences but rather lists, students who often choose not to write, got writing pretty much straight away.











Is it the 'hands on' opportunities?
Is it the language building?
Is it that sentences don't have to be correctly constructed?
Is it the 'mystery' of the story tin?

The idea presented in the Teach Starter blog of a story box is one I am looking into setting up each week to prompt or generate writing ideas.  Not just a tub of possible story starters but 'story seeds' by way of objects, pictures, textures along with relevant story starters.  To begin this process (when we have completed our Get NZ Writing project next week) I will use a 'passion profile' students completed last week to help me select a direction.  Relevant vocabulary in the 'story box' will help to scaffold writers who find spelling a challenge too.

                        

Writing Resources for Teaching and Learning

This post is mostly about resources teachers can explore and consider whether they are useful in their classes, with their group of students and with the tools available to them. Many of the links that follow have been discovered through the NZ Teachers (Primary) Facebook group and some from Literacy Symposiums in Otago or Southland as well as others I have 'stumbled' across when looking for solutions to challenges in my teaching and learning.

First up, we have the Google Suite at our school and creating Google docs using Voice to Text extension is a great tool for students who find the task of writing laborious to the point where they are reluctant to put pen to paper. Students who have challenges with dyslexia and dysgraphia can find this a useful way to let their stories see the light of day! Text to Speech is also useful for these students to check that their writing makes sense and to think about where punctuation may need to be added.

School Kit - Get New Zealand Writing
This is a great resource to be completed in the first term of the year.  School Kit develops great kits, free to NZ teachers but often there are limited numbers.  My class is currently working on creating poems to share with a buddy class guided by materials in a kit and lesson plans using the headings 'find', 'apply' and 'produce'. We created a shared colour poem and are finding 'sticky words' that will be used in the creation of poems on 'postcards'.  Even without the actual kit, there are some fabulous ideas you can use in the free downloadable resource linked above. There are facebook groups where teachers are sharing what is being created to further inspire you and your students with this project.

 

The Game of Awesome
This is part of a 'success for boys' initiative and card packs can be accessed through 'Down the Back of the Chair' or downloaded and printed/ laminated. Some of the cards involve things like nose picking and toilet talk so are very appealing to students in general as well as the target users: boys. I recommend going into the Teacher Support Material for this game as it provides alternative ways to play as well as 'planning templates' you can use to scaffold the cards into plans for writing. You can take this further and create your own sets of cards (there are blank ones available) relating to a topic you are exploring with your students e.g. Seaweek or Fairytales.

The Literacy Shed
This is amazing for inspiring ideas in writing. Depending on the age group you teach and current events, you may need to be selective of the material that you choose to use to inspire your class.  Along with videos and photos there are suggestions of ways you can use the resources for writing in your classes. Some even have teaching plans such as 'The Little Shoemaker' however to access the actual plans you will need to be a member of 'The Literacy Shed +'  with paid access.

The Writing Book
This book is part of a collection including others on Oral Language, Reading Comprehension and Publishing and Display.  It is one of my 'go to' resources for looking at the process of learning in writing as well as mini lessons and planning templates to guide students such as burger plans for learning how to construct paragraphs. There are some free resources you can access via the link above to give you a 'taster' on what is on offer.

Mentor Sentences
I somehow stumbled across this idea early in 2017 when I came across this post while trying to find ways to support a small group of students in their understanding what a sentence actually was and how to correctly use simple punctuation.  A weeks free lessons was the clincher to give this a go and using the text: I wanna Iguana, I trialed it.  Students didn't know much about verbs and nouns, but they got adjectives reasonably quickly. This strategy also provided a way to work on handwriting (when they copied the sentence), to see themselves as editors - changing words to make the meaning clearer or the create a better picture in the readers mind and then even using the sentence structure in a different context.  Students were creative and fun in the way they used the sentence structure and most were enthusiastic to share their created sentences with the class.  

While attending the Otago Literacy Symposium in 2017, Gail Loane was the key note speaker.  I have been inspired by her book 'I've Got Something To Say' many times over as it shares a love of writing and the written word.  In a workshop with Gail, she used a section from Piano Rock by Gavin Bishop, the language was delightful and her work with us using this text as a springboard was fabulous. Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson was recommended as a further way to build grammar its use and style into teaching writing in our classes/ workshops. This serves to help me understand the structure of our written language so I can better teach students. I downloaded this to my iPad via Amazon/ Kindle. I love this sentence from his book: "Grammar and mechanics are not rules to be mastered as much as tools to serve a writer in creating a text readers will understand."

Book Creator
While I have admired 'Book Creator' and played around with it, I haven't really used it effectively and this is something I want to change this year. This is available as an app for iPads and also as a free app on Chrome . As teachers, we can set up a class and students use a code to join the class.  There are some options as to what students can do with the texts e.g. publish to what audience, for teachers to consider.  Creating and sharing a digital book gives real purpose to writing and this is moving writing into the kind of realm that much of our reading happens in currently. Another great feature of 'Book Creator' is that it can be used in conjunction with 'Seesaw' to share with our parents and whanau.

Seesaw
While Seesaw has some tools to support writing development in students (through the activities you can use or create), its power, I believe, lies in the way it can document the process and growth of learning in all areas including writing.  Seesaw is a cross platform Learning Journal.  We are using this with our Year 1 - 4 students currently but there is no reason why older students couldn't also utilise this. Students can photograph their writing books, connect google docs or slides they have been constructing, add in 'book creator' creations and even add movies that are used to 'tell stories' or document what they have discovered. Students can share these (depending on the settings selected by the teacher in conjunction with the learning community) with parents and maybe also their classmates, inviting them to add feedback and feedforward through comments - text or voice and even video comments. Seesaw has both free and paid options.

What tools have you used and found useful in your class?