Inclusion – deep, wide and welcoming

posted in: Secondary literacy, Thoughts on Education |

This is a post about inclusion in schools, not just the inclusion of policy documents but the inclusion of real-life school, the inclusion that states explicitly, “you belong here regardless of how hard you find this”. At the start of each That Reading Thing training, participants read the following: 1. What did Cal tell that big man at the pub? He was mad! 2. Bliss is in the galaxy of Blob. When you reach Blob, you have to stop at … Read More

Phonics & Adult Literacy

posted in: Post-16 & Adult Literacy |

13 September 2017 I wrote the following on the 14th of April, 2009. Eight years and five months later, a decision has been made to include structured phonics in literacy for adults who are working at the lowest levels. I’ll blog further on the specific proposals but this is a good starting point. **** This morning (13/04/09) in the Guardian, Peter Kingston writes about the possibilities of using phonics in adult literacy. The NRDC report he refers to is Improving … Read More

Evidence 4 ~ One Story

posted in: Evidence, Secondary literacy |

One particular line of numbers caught my attention. F 13 05:11 06:05 00:06 5 hrs continuing White British truancy It’s the “Data Story” of a thirteen year old white British girl with truancy issues who struggles with reading and agreed to start meeting with a ThatReadingThing tutor.  I’m going to call her Amber. At their first session, her reading age was 5 years and 11 months which is what we would expect of a child at some point in Year … Read More

Evidence 3 ~ A Second Look

posted in: Evidence, Secondary literacy |

Here is the same data with a few extra details.  Here are the things I notice: Those with the greatest gains, started with a reading age of 8 or so One of the girls made a 2 year gain in one week. I would assume that her spelling age is now well behind her reading age. Of the three with the smallest gains, one has English as an additional language and a head injury, one is very new to the … Read More

Evidence 2 ~ Another Project

posted in: Evidence, Secondary literacy |

These numbers come from an inner city volunteer literacy project. The reading ages were measured using the Burt Reading Assessment which is usually available free online. I’ll add more details about the learners as I get them. It will be interesting to see who has statemented learning needs, who speaks English as an additional language and who has particular behaviour problems. (Or all three.) A huge thank you to all the tutors and young people for their hard work! Sex … Read More