Disability in fiction

Children with disabilities are few and far between in children's fiction. The only ones I could think of straight off was the boy in ‘A Curious Incident of the Dog in the night-time’ by Mark Haddon and of course ‘Katy’, both in the original by Susan Coolidge and the newly up-to-date version by Jacqueline Wilson . It is almost as if children with any sort of disabilities do not exist except in specialised books of the sort ‘I have Asthma’ or ‘I use a wheelchair’ variety.
I am aware of this lack, as my son has Type 1 Diabetes and he has one very American book of short stories in which diabetes is the defining factor in all the plots, rather than an incidental fact of life, as it is for him.  He likes this book and often asks for us to read it to him as a bedtime story, and he also likes the book entitled ‘Why do I feel tired’ also about diabetes. But he has no heroes who have diabetes, except the real life sporting hero Steve Redgrave and now Theresa May. Quite a few celebrities like Tom Hanks have announced they have Type 2, but not only does he mean very little to an 8 year old, it is also an entirely different condition. My son, like many other children with a range of disabilities, needs heroes in books to just be that way as a matter of course and deal with it in the way he does.
I’ve noticed on television there are now a range of characters with disabilities and rather than it being the plotline, they just happen to be that person with a particular difference.  That is really the crux of the matter; if managed well a disability is no longer disabling, rather something that just makes a child different. No-one looking at my son would even know there was anything out of the ordinary with him and his school has given him the chance to be entirely enabled rather than disabled by his condition. So where are these children in books?
Here is a challenge for you– if you cannot find the children with disabilities in books, write them in yourself. You meet them every day, you know them well, they are in your classrooms. Start telling stories about them and stop them being the invisible children– and send me a copy when you get published!

Guided Reading

I confess; I love guided reading. I never mind planning guided work and I certainly enjoy delivering it. I love choosing the texts and thinking about how the children are going to enjoy reading something new and exciting for the first time.  I like thinking about how to use the book to it’s best advantage, drawing out the richness of the text and the pictures.  Of course to be able to do that you do need the resources and the rich text and illustration. Book 4 level 6 simply will not do for really engaging children with reading and books.

I’ve seen some fantastic guided reading sessions and also some that were quite the opposite. Most of it came down to preparation and knowing the text. Just picking a book at the right level will not necessarily give you the results you need. For example, I observed a teacher using a simple phonically decodable text to try and teach objectives about plot and prediction. Needless to say, it did not work as there was almost no plot or prediction in the book. If she had used a book like Not now Bernard by David McKee, she could have got everything she wanted from the text.

There are two issues that particularly impact on the quality of guided reading; one of them is time for the teacher to read the book, particularly in KS2, and the other is having the resources there in the first place. You cannot however teach a guided reading session without having read the book and I never feel reading a book should be an arduous task, but rather a pleasure! With the issue of resources, many schools library services (where they still exist) have collections with multiple copies of books. They are always delighted to be asked and it tends to be a very underused resource.  I have also been known to trawl local libraries for multiple copies of texts as well!

So you have your book and you are all prepared. How do you go about getting the most from this session?

Book introduction: This does not always have to be “look at the cover, what do you think the story is about?” or reading the blurb. You can just introduce the book, talk about the author or just get stuck in without a huge preamble.

Strategy check, including any words that may be beyond readability at this point and reminders for using phonics as a first strategy and phonemes already taught. This is particularly important for KS1 and it is also an opportunity to introduce names as these are often not easily decodable.

Independent reading: the children now read, the book or a few pages/chapter. They have an objective as part of their reading, like what is the character of John really like? Or find all the ways the author sets the scene. They do not read as a round robin as then they are only engaged a sixth of the time and can easily switch off. During this time you can go around the group and hear a few of them read aloud.

Return to the text: this works well in pairs, when they discuss what they have found out from reading. It is important that a lot of this can be a personal response and that children understand there is not always a right or wrong answer, but rather opinion and justification using the text.

Response to the text: The whole group then gets together and discusses what they have read.

Many books will require more than one session to really understand fully and to actually read. With a larger book I would ask children to read it at home prior to the sessions, otherwise they lose the thread of the story and it takes forever to get through.

If you would like a copy of a guided reading plan for The Very Hungry Caterpillar please contact me on Twitter @phonicsandbooks.

Phonics teaching- why is there any debate?

It is odd, that with phonics very much a part of the English curriculum and well embedded in most schools, that there is still an anti-phonics  voice, which suddenly seems to have reared it’s head again recently.  

So what did phonics ever do for us and why is it still a topic of heated debate?

My experience is that all but a very, very few learn to read using phonics. In fact I can only think of one child who completely failed to learn to read using phonics. He went off to secondary school still not reading and he had very specific language difficulties. The Reading by Six OFSTED report (2010) clearly states that successful schools have rigorous and systematic phonics programmes, coupled with high expectations and their pupils learn to read regardless of social background or disability.

This bit about disability does seem to be a bit contentious; I hear many teachers bemoan the fact that the weakest children in the class just do not learn phonics and so are getting further and further behind. I have seen a child with Down’s Syndrome begin to read with phonics simply because he was present when the rest of the class were learning phonics. He had additional help but without the expectation that he could take part with the rest of the class, I do not think he would have begun to recognize letters. He was Year 2 and obviously not at the same level as his classmates, but he was beginning to recognise initial sounds, entirely due to being present when the class were being taught. I do not think he would have begun the journey if he had been taken out of every phonics lesson because he was not at the same level.

The seven year Clackmannanshire study by Johnston and Watson (2005) really set the systematic phonics teaching in motion. It resulted in the Rose Review and this lead to the publication of Letters and Sounds. The study found two particularly significant things: firstly that the gains made by children taught using systematic phonics  remained right up until Year 6. Secondly that children not taught at the same pace never caught up.

There seems to me to be no case for arguing against phonics with these two outcomes alone being a very strong case for teaching systematic phonics.  Yet teachers tell me again and again it is not suitable for all children and what about those children who are already reading when they come into school?  I say, how wonderful, already reading, that is great, but they still need phonics as firstly, they will be unable to decode more complex words without it and secondly, it can severely impact on spelling if they have no phonics skills by the time they enter KS2. I know a very bright and able child who learnt to read without phonics who finds spelling quite hard now he is in Year 3 ,as he has poorer skills in selecting the correct grapheme because he never needed to learn phonics when reading. I know another similarly bright child who learnt to read using phonics and he is now, not only a better reader but a better speller than his contemporary. He was reading fluently by the time he took the decoding check but it did not make any difference to the outcome of the check.

I genuinely do not understand why anyone would be against teaching systematic phonics. It works and helps children to read and write- what more do you need?

 

 

Writing about Writing

I have been thinking a great deal about the writing process recently.  This is mainly due to the fact I have been doing a lot of writing myself,  mostly about writing! I was asked to write a blog page about writing for one organisation and then very excitingly I was asked to write a book by a big publisher. Now I have always wanted to write a book and whilst this was not the book I had in mind (it’s non-fiction for children rather than fiction) it is all about writing fiction.

Writing your own book is a little like having a baby– you really cannot envisage what it will be like beforehand. The book I’ve written was just a selection of notes and scribbled pictures (I say pictures, but they bore no resemblance to true drawing!) and then some very talented designers turned my words into something amazing.

What struck me was how I had correctly conveyed my ideas in words to be turned into lavishly illustrated pages and  exciting activities. I must, therefore, have written something well enough to be understood clearly. There were comparatively few alterations I wanted to the proofs, which seemed astounding to me. I realised the power of a clear turn of phrase or precise instruction.

You cannot get every child published in order for them to realise this, but there are many platforms they can use, where to all intents and purposes, they are being published and can have a large audience of readers. It can be as simple as an article in the school newsletter, or a blog page, or a site like Lend Me Your Literacy. Suddenly they can have an audience who will respond.

Showing the proofs of my book to friends and family I got my first audience for my book, my new baby. Of course my brother noticed a tiny spelling error I had not spotted but that was useful as it was in time to be corrected. Their comments did not feel like criticism– it felt like help. If we can train children to be the same sort of help to each other, just imagine the value of peer support in class.

My excitement at having accomplished this writing was unmatched. I write all the time, including for my own pleasure, but nothing came close to this excitement of having a proper book published.  I’ve never experienced a feeling quite like it– I’m sure the people I met at the publishers thought me quite mad when I kept saying how much fun it all was. I’d found, not only writing for a purpose, but writing for pleasure combined and how I wanted to transmit that to children.

I can always remember enjoying writing. When I was six I had a teacher who never seemed to check up on what we were doing.  I was not that keen on maths so I scarcely did any maths that year. Instead I wrote, I wrote books, pages and pages of stories. Many off my stories were in ‘chapters’ and about a magical snowman. I wrote virtually a whole exercise book about this snowman. It was my first ‘book’ and I was so proud of it. I can’t remember anyone doing anything to make me love writing, I just did.  I know many children are not like that, but if you start young, I’ve seen whole classes of nursery age children passionate about writing and wanting to communicate their ideas for other people to read and enjoy. 

So I am really excited about my first proper book. I know it will be a never to be forgotten experience. I hope there will be lots of children who manage to achieve that same joy in writing that I have.

Write Your Own Book will be published by Dorling Kindersley towards to the end of the year.

 

Reading for Pleasure in the new National Curriculum- June conference

Did you know how important it is going to be to have reading for pleasure as part of your curriculum?

“Pupils should be taught to read fluently, understand extended prose (both fiction and non-fiction) and be encouraged to read for pleasure. Schools should do everything to promote wider reading. They should provide library facilities and set ambitious expectations for reading at home. “

The New Curriculum, which comes into force in September this year for all but Years 2 and 6 (they will need to follow it from next year), starts the reading framework with the above paragraph.  From Year 1 the statutory requirements clearly state that children should be reading for pleasure. Most teachers already know this and make it an essential part of their teaching- there is rarely anything entirely new!

Reading for pleasure is of course, something we all wish for the children we teach and so is a welcome development that will hopefully have real and lasting impact on the children currently in primary school.  Studies have found that reading for pleasure is more important to a child's educational achievement than their family's wealth or social class, which is certainly something to stop and make you think. If it has that much power it ought to be the focus of everything we do.  Yet until this move for a new curriculum it has never been a focus of much attention in many schools as it does not appear in any SATs scores or league tables. But taking it to the logical conclusion, if you get the reading for pleasure bit right, you are improving those scores as children do better when they are children who read for pleasure.

So how do you encourage reading for pleasure? And how do you measure progress in reading for pleasure? (No wonder there is very little assessment guidance available!)  Of course we all want the children we teach to be reading for pleasure, but how can you actually make it happen? What resources might you need and what might you need to change in your current curriculum to promote a love of books and make it central to all that you do?

On 11th June there will be a whole day conference in Enfield, North London, which will begin to explore some of these issues. With guest speakers from a wide range of backgrounds, the day aims to motivate you to come to grips with the reading for pleasure aspect of the New Curriculum.

The author Joe Craig will be running one of the sessions. Joe has written many books around the character Jimmy Coates and is not only a great speaker, he is one of those authors boys love to read. Also attending will be Margaret Bright from Enfield Schools Library Service, to talk about, among other things, the summer Library Reading Challenge and the new Reading for Pleasure library boxes. Ruth Fairclough from Bookstart will be doing a session, as will Gina Menon from Raynham Primary, to talk about the wonderful  library they have at the school.  In addition there will be sessions on the background and research into the impact of reading for pleasure and how you can incorporate it into the life of the school.

This day promises to be an exciting one and not one to be missed. Book your place now as spaces are limited and will be given on a strictly first come first served basis.

Contact jacqueline.harris@hotmail.co.uk to book your place now.

 

Helpful hints for phonics decoding check

The week of 16th June 2014 is the third annual decoding check for Year 1 children and resits for Year 2 children who either failed the test or did not take it last year. Despite the proximity of the week, there are still things you can do to prepare children at this stage.

· In the couple of weeks leading up to the check, go over particular graphemes again. The analysis of the last couple of years show the most mistakes were on split digraph and the Phase 3 /oi/  grapheme. This was regardless of whether they were real or pseudo words. Further analysis has shown that unless the pseudo words were too similar to real words as in the first year (remember ‘strom’ and ‘frist’) or unless they had bizarre spellings (‘quorg’ and ‘quigh’) children were equally able to read real or pseudo words. So don’t worry about pseudo words, concentrate on the graphemes and use www.phonicsplay to encourage decoding skills.

· Do as much reading with children as you can. Expose them to opportunities where they have to decode and read for meaning. Whilst it is still true that some really good readers, who are almost past the stage of needing to decode, do find the check particularly challenging, with a real focus on decoding unfamiliar words, those children should not have problems with the check. They do however need reminding to carefully use their phonics rather than quickly glancing at a word.

· This year the pass mark will not be made available till after the results have been sent in. This is because in previous years statistical analysis has shown the very unlikely event; that there was a spike in the number of children who just managed the pass mark. The insinuation is that teachers were ‘helping’ children to pass and so the pass mark will be delayed, only being made available on Monday 30th June. Whether this has a big impact on the national and local data remains to be seen….

Whilst OFSTED do have a huge focus on the phonics and the decoding check data, it is important to remember that there will be some children who are just not at that point yet. So long as it is a handful of children and not half a class, that is perfectly acceptable. OFSTED always look at what you are doing to support those children who are underachieving rather than expecting every single child to be at the same level.

Finally– don’t panic– phonics is a tool for learning to read rather than the end result– we want readers and not just decoders in our schools.

 

The Foundation Stage- A Parent's View

I have been thinking a great deal about the Foundation Stage, which might be a little odd as my son is now in Year 1. Actually it is only with perspective that I am able to see the true nature of the Foundation Stage and how it really does what it says on the box– lay the foundations for future learning.

I am the sort of middle class parent who might be expected to want a quite formal learning environment. I am certainly the type of parent Mr Gove has in mind when he wants the traditional teaching brought back into schools. This is because my son is very able and exactly the sort who needs a great deal of challenge to keep him happy and learning.

We have been incredibly lucky with schooling so far. My son attended a wonderful outstanding Nursery school. He spent much of his first year there dressed up, either as Spiderman or Batman, or in a princess dress. The staff told me in no uncertain terms they were not going to teach him to read. In fact they did teach him to read, but not in any formal way at all. My son’s interests actually lay in writing so they taught him really excellent motor skills.  He’s a left hander so might be expected to be poor at handwriting like his mother! My mother was called into school when I was seven to be told I still could not use scissors and I was the last person in my class to be allowed to use a pen. My son will have no such difficulties due to the excellent motor skills he was given at Nursery. Also because he was so interested in writing the staff showed him how to form letters correctly and when he asked what letters were, they told him. They never sat him down and forced him to write, he chose to do it and consequently has remained a very keen writer; he entirely understands why writing is useful and enjoys it.  It also meant that by the time he started Reception he had a good idea of most of his letters and had done such good Phase 1 work he was easily orally blending  and segmenting.

Reception was another wonderful experience for him. The staff described him as being busy all the time. Of course that was because he was allowed to be busy all the time. He often planned what he was going to do that day on the way to school and the amount of work he undertook was amazing. We saw the Learning Journey book and it absolutely captured who he was. It was full of him organising things and playing complex games, sometimes by himself and sometimes with others. It had a detailed observation of him making a cinema. This involved over 80 minutes of sustained concentration (how many Year 4 children do you know who can do that?) while he arranged the chairs after negotiating the space with other children. Then he made tickets, using both his reading and writing skills and maths– he decided how many tickets he would need and how many he still had to make. He also made a clock to show when the film would start and accurately worked out how many minutes time it would be.  This was not an isolated event, he often undertook projects of this nature, using such a variety of skills I joked he could run the class.

Other learning opportunities included making a car park for all the bikes, using spacial awareness, numbers and large quantities of chalk. He also wrote little notes, all the time. We regularly got notes shoved under the door on the weekends, mainly asking when we were going to get up. He wrote (and still writes) every day, for choice. He wrote lists, always adding to my shopping list at home, as well as lists of things at school. He put labels everywhere, including on the front door when  ‘selling’ the soup we had made together. He also did maths all the time– though he would not have known that was what he was doing. When we were out he used to start mentally adding things at the shops, which meant he had no problems turning that into formal written sums. And crucially he actively enjoyed all this work; he was hooked on learning.

I should add at this point we have never been pushy parents, nor did we do any ‘work’ with our son at home. (In fact I’d be perfectly happy if he had no homework now!) All we did is talk to him from the moment he was born, take him regularly to the library, also from babyhood, and read to him everyday; his father as much as me. I know we gave him lots of experiences and vocabulary but I credit the Nursery and school with his academic performance.

The reason I started thinking about his Foundation Stage years was because he is doing so well in Year 1. I have watched him use all those skills he developed in previous years and apply them to what he is doing now. That, I believe, was the true strength in his excellent teachers. They understood that application is the essential element, so often missing from teaching I have observed. My son did phonics every day, but the key to the teaching was the staff enabling him to use his phonics and the same was true of his maths. The casual observer might have thought he was ‘only playing’ but it was really consolidating huge amounts of learning. And he was not the only one– I look at his class now and the majority are reading and writing with confidence.

Whilst I know my son is very bright and loves learning, I do not believe he could have achieved what he has done this year without the teaching he received in Nursery and Reception. For that I thank the staff, because they let him be the person he is, no-one put him off learning or trying out ideas, instead he had what I consider to be the very best start to his education, one that will carry him forward for the rest of his life; truly it is  the foundation stage and he got the best.

Seen in an Outstanding Nursery

I am 3.

I am not built to sit still, keep my hands to myself, take turns, be patient, stand in line, or keep quiet.

I need motion, I need novelty, I need adventure, and I need to engage the world with my whole body.

LET ME PLAY.

(Trust me, I’m learning)