Some ways to make sure that students are thinking hard when they read challenging texts in the classroom In a recent post, I explored ways in which a teacher (in this case of geography) might successfully manage students’ classroom encounter with a challenging text, so that it was made accessible to all students, who would... Continue Reading →
This post unpacks a typical approach to reading a challenging text, in this case in a geography lesson. It also describes a number of practices associated with strong ‘adaptive teaching’. Reading challenging texts in the classroom It is notoriously difficult in secondary schools for strong disciplinary literacy practices to become established across the curriculum, for... Continue Reading →
Reading is built on knowledge. But it’s a bit more complicated than that. This post was co-written with Barbara Bleiman (@BarbaraBleiman), and is also published on the English and Media Centre blog. In 2016, the passages on the new-look Key Stage 2 ‘Reading’ test caused some controversy, seen by many as being too demanding for... Continue Reading →
The piece below was written many years ago by a Year 9 pupil, Kanika, for a colleague of mine (@craigbmorrison) at Parkside Community College, Cambridge. It illustrates, I think, some features of what might be termed ‘exploratory’ writing – developing response, understanding and expression without recourse to P.E.E or P.E.T.A.L. or other formulae, and without... Continue Reading →
Short-burst pair or group talk activities which can be woven into reading lessons In other posts, I've suggested that the most effective whole-class reading sessions allow for seamless weaving together of whole-class discussion, individual thinking time and pair or small group talk. below are some examples of typical, short pair or group talk activities (30 seconds... Continue Reading →
This is an example of an approach to a text, which is designed specifically to help all pupils to develop their writing of literary narrative without recourse to the ‘features of descriptive writing’ or to checklists of literary devices. Over a series of sessions, it integrates whole-class reading practice with the planning and drafting of... Continue Reading →
See also Whole-class reading: an example lesson and a menu of approaches and Whole-class reading: another example lesson Recently, colleagues and I have been working hard with schools to develop whole-class reading practice which is both challenging and inclusive. This is a particularly current issue in primary schools, but is - of course - also pertinent to... Continue Reading →
Injecting challenge at Key Stages 3 and 4, using Key Stage 2 knowledge about grammar The not-so-new-now grammar curriculum at Key Stage 2 has resulted in pupils arriving in secondary school with a knowledge of grammatical terms which, even to some specialist English teachers, can be a little intimidating. It can also be confusing to... Continue Reading →
See also: Whole-class reading: a planning tool A description of a recent whole-class reading lesson, with commentary This is a description of another successful whole-class reading lesson which I taught recently to Year 4 and Year 5 classes (although the approaches are applicable to other phases.) It is a follow-up to a post last year... Continue Reading →
A reflection on some different ways to structure discussion of a text in the classroom. The example is from Key Stage 3, although the principles are applicable to any phase. The text below is one which we used to read with Key Stage 3 pupils at Parkside Community College, in Cambridge, when teaching about World... Continue Reading →
James Durran 