Conquering the “Dirty 30” Misspelled Words #2
We’re in the process of moving the ‘Dirty 30’ posts over to That Spelling Thing. Come and have a look around at our newish site.
“Dirty 30” – most misspelt (or misspelled) words at GCSE #1
At That Spelling Thing, we believe every single secondary teacher, no matter what their subject, should have an easy to implement strategy for spelling in their classroom. A good strategy should capitalize on what students already know and remove the need for remembering every word by sight. Our unofficial motto is No More Look Cover Write Check! and we mean if from the bottom of our hearts. According to Professor Greg Brooks, the English code behaves predictably 77% of the time. … Read More
Literacy for Young Adults Part 2
NEWS: Due to recent discussion around the inclusion of phonics in adult literacy, I thought I’d better mention that all lessons in both Part 1 and Part 2 of Literacy for Young Adults are age-appropriate linguistic phonics. It’s not about c-a-t says cat! Community literacy, offered in an informal one-to-one setting, is a powerful tool for people who are wary of classrooms – and that includes many people who have tried and failed to learn to read and spell in … Read More
Literacy for Young Adults Part 1
NEWS: Due to recent discussion around the inclusion of phonics in adult literacy, I thought I’d better mention that all lessons in both Part 1 and Part 2 of Literacy for Young Adults are age-appropriate linguistic phonics. It’s not about c-a-t says cat! Community literacy, offered in an informal one-to-one setting, is a powerful tool for people who are wary of classrooms – and that includes many people who have tried and failed to learn to read and spell in … Read More
Literacy in the Youth Justice System
Today saw the publication of Charlie Taylor’s Youth Justice Review. Cynic that I am, I settled down to read it expecting to find a heap of material for an argumentative blog post. Keeping in mind that I’m writing about education rather than the more contentious devolution of YOTs, I’m happy to announce that I can only summon up a reasonably strong “Yes, but”. That Reading Thing came out of working with a little school for boys with emotional and behavioural … Read More
Literacy for Teens who “Don’t do education”
In the early years, That Reading Thing was used mostly with young people who had some connection to the local youth offending team, either in the YOS system or at risk of being on their books at some point. “I don’t do education” was a common statement at the first session. That sentiment was echoed by a woman from the Basic Skills Agency who actually said “You can’t sit a young offender down at a table and teach them to … Read More