CLV festival 1

I spent today at the Cramlington Learning Village Festival of Learning.  300 participants in a maintained school.  Fewer big names than Wellington College perhaps, but more authentic teacher presenters I suspect.

I deliberately went out of my subject for my workshop sessions.  The second session I attended was 'Implementing Literacy Effectively into lessons'.  Here are my summary tweets from the session (written after the event):

#clvfest Literacy is vital to attainment and opportunities. Many definitions of literacy but includes reading, writing, speaking.

#clvfest Subjects don’t always think about literacy BUT if you’re a teacher IN English, you’re a teacher OF English @learningspy

#clvfest CLV aim to break cycle of poor reading and improve reading for all students, narrowing gap. Starting with year 7&8.

#clvfest Shared ideas about reading in participant’s schools. Discussion about value of silent reading for poor readers.

#clvfest Started to tackle literacy in Humanities and English but other departments involved.  e.g. word walls in Science and Art

#clvfest Some strategies developed from primary schools: VCOP http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6010767 PEE burger http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/151657/2058289/PEE-Burger-UPDATED.png

#clvfest other ideas include: vary length of text, discuss reading, position reading as part of school life, check readability http://www.niace.org.uk/misc/SMOG-calculator/smogcalc.php

#clvfest On World Book Day at start of every lesson each teacher read out part of a short story.  Kids (and teachers) wanted to know what happened next.

#clvfest In humanities there is a LOT to read. They’ve started to  use reciprocal reading strategies http://www.fresherschools.com/index.php/free-resources/literacy-resources/13-reciprocal-reading-group-cards

#clvfest CLV uses Accelerated reader in 7&8.  Organised by excellent librarian, progress monitored by kid’s English teacher and learning guide (tutor).

#clvfest Use different ways to practice spelling in different subjects.  Spell and sort in maths.  Read out terms – kids spell them and put them into correct groupings.

#clvfest Use a literacy marking criteria grid in all 7&8 subjects.  Marked out of 11!  Get simple number to track progress or target intervention.