UPDATED: March 31, 2011
English 4-11 Contents 2009-2010
NUMBER 39 SUMMER 2010 |
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Workshop for Literacy The Workshop for Literacy is an eclectic approach to the teaching of core skills for reading and writing thruogh contextual learning. It provides opportunities for teachers to enhance their knowledge and understanding of how children learn to read and write and thus to become diagnostic practitioners. Jennifer Drysdale reports on a pilot project that has been running over the past two sessions in Early Years classes in 32 Primary schools in Fife.
Bringing the Story to Life ARG Krindlekrax! Angela Colvert describes how she and her Year 6 class brought a story to life for some Year 5 children in the same school as together they created an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) based on the book Krindlekrax by Philip Ridley.
'It's very fun and exsiting' - using Twitter in the Primary classroom As part of focussing on the development of traditional writing and new literacies, Martin Waller describes ho he has used the social networking system Twitter with his Year 2 class as a means of engaging children in evaluating and reflecting on their own learning. Its use has created a greater understanding of real world literacy and helped develop digital literary skills within this online community of practice.
Bringing real life learning into the heart of the classroom Amy Arnold describes ho a group of Year 3 learners were immersed in everyday real life learning and literature using the Mantle of the Expert approach to learning.
Shapeshifters and COLA - all about Ali Sparkes Popular children's writer Ali Sparkes speaks to Gill Robins.
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NUMBER 38 SPRING 2010 |
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From Home to a Country Far Away This article looks at a'Literacy for All' project in a school whose children, although from diverse backgrounds, were enabled to form a cohesive community through the use of common ground. The project, inspired by the book A Country Far Away resulted in a multimodal resource now used across the country as well as within the school.
Contemporary Approaches to Classic Texts - Beowulf In this final article in the Contempoary Approaches to Classic Texts series, Gill Robins explores the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf with a class of year 5 children. Describing how exploratory talk lays the foundation of the project, she goes on to evaluate the children's multi-media responses to a timeless tale of good and evil. The article concludes with a reflection on the quality and value of the learning which these projects have prompted.
The Children's Bookshow Sian Hardy looks at the benefits of taking children to see a performance, in this case 'The Children's Bookshow', a national tour of children's authors and illustrators featuring Guo Yue and Clare Farrow. She also looks at the reactions in the follow-up workshops.
Agenda for Action: UKLA's Vision for Future Literacy Education David Reedy, President of the UKLA, mindful of the two recent major reviews of Primary Education by Sir Jim Rose and by Professor Robin Alexander, sets out UKLA's own Agenda for Action. In doing so he reflects on what it means to be literatre in today's society, on the role of literature in all its richness in children's learning and on how we might take a more enlightened approach to assessment.
Couldn't Read, Couldn't Write, We Knew We Were Rubbish, But You Should See Our Work Now! Part 2 The first part of this article discussed how a holistic approach to learning and creative strategies, which allows for differences in learning styles, enable pupils who struggle with literacy in the lower secondary school to become successful, competent and able learners. In this part, the literacy journeys ot two pupils with challenging behaviour are considered with a particular emphasis on the importance of the pupil's voice and the use of ICT in providing ways into learning. The article concludes with reflections from both the pupils and the author.
Visual Literacy - Bollywood Style: Part Two - Involving Parents As outlined by Rubina Din in the Autumn 2009 issue, an Action Research project based on using Bollywood films was set up by Birmingham LA consultants to improve children's writing. The success of this project led to work with parents to support children's language and literacy development.
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NUMBER 37 AUTUMN 2009 |
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Contemporary Approaches to Classic Texts - William Shakespeare's Macbeth Shakespeare is increasingly studied in primary schools and Gill Robins shows how a contemporary approach is a rich experience of communication in many forms, providing an introduction to the subject that enhances children's experience when meeting Shakespeare as a set text in Year 7. 'Reading is an adventure': Developing Reading Engagement in the Primary School With international studies indicating that the number of British children with unfavourable attitudes to reading is abnormally high, Michael Lockwood outlines how a project was undertaken to identify and promote best practice to help reduce this problem. Couldn't Read, Couldn't Write, We Knew We Were Rubbish, But You Should See Our Work Now! In the first of two articles Marion Hampton describes the strategies which enable children who struggle with literacy in the lower Secondary School to become successful, competent and able learners and to feel the power of being literate. Visual Literacy - Bollywood Style This action research project was set up by Birmingham LA consultants after the success of a visual literacy project. In this, the first article of two, Rubina Din explains that after some scepticism the project captured not just the pupils' imagination but teachers' and parents' as well, and resulted in improved standards of writing. The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Awards Geraldine Brennan looks at the background to the Frances Lincoln awards, how the 2009 winner was chosen and how to enter the 2010 competition. News ... Notices ... Research |