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.

Examiner Woes part 1

At this time of year, I am mostly to be found marking online scripts.

Examining is an important job, and one that I really enjoy doing - especially writing question papers.

However, at this point in the examining season, 2 weeks into electronic marking, I start to get a bit stir crazy.  So here are a few comments which, next year, you might like to pass on to your students.

1. Don't write anywhere except on the lines. If you need to write more, get additional sheets and use them.  It may be slightly different for different online marking software, but for the one I use it's a real pain to try and find the answer.  We can't flip over the page, or easily check at the bottom of page, or follow arrows and stars. Use extra paper.

2.  Get a decent pen.  The scripts are scanned, and pale inks just don't show up well.

3.  Data is plural.  That means that 'Do the data show....' is actually gramatically correct.  Your examiner  does not appreciate being told that they are wrong, or having the script corrected.  A smiley face doesn NOT make it better.

4.  If asked for 3 conclusions writing 'X does have an effect....', 'X doesn't have an effect...', and 'X could have an effect....' will not get you any marks.  Make up your mind and choose one.

5.  If you're going to write 'I can't believe you asked this' then make sure you get the answer right.