Talk 4 Writing ● Talk 4 Writing developed by Pie Corbett, England ● Aim is to develop written language skills by first targeting oral language skills ● Valuable for all ability level students ● Designed as a stand alone writing program to be ran alongside an evidence

based phonics program, a handwriting program and focussed comprehension work

● Should be used daily ● http://www.talk4writing.co.uk/

Suggested Term Timetable of Implementation:

1/2 Weeks - Poetry

4 Weeks - Fiction (Imitation and Innovation only)

2/3 Weeks - Non-fiction (Imitation and Innovation only)

Invention may be conducted immediately, after a short delay, or in another

subject area for non-fiction.

PREPARATION

Cold writing task

Set key focus and goals for unit

Select, adapt or create a model text

IMITATE

Oral learning of model text

Reading as a reader (predict, infer, connect, evaluate)

Reading as a writer (ideas, organisation, voice, word

choice, conventions)

Boxing up the text/Editing the story map

INNOVATE

Planning

Whole class/group teaching

Daily shared, guided and independent writing

Daily feedback

INVENT

Guiding and independent writing

Application across the curriculum

Hot Task

Feedback

Publication or performance

“You cannot create out of nothing;

imagination is manipulation of what you

already know.”

Pie Corbett

Letters and Sounds ● Devised in UK under Primary National Strategy in the UK 2007 ● Synthetic Phonics program ● Provides explicit guidance for teachers ● Aimed at PP - Year 3 and also for students with ‘gaps’ in their phonics

knowledge ● Encourages the development of speaking and listening and important

foundation skills for developing phonic knowledge ● Six phases - timetable of graphemes, words, activities ● http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/

Synthetic Phonics is a way of teaching children to read. It has been identified both here and overseas as the most successful approach to the teaching of reading and spelling. The ‘synthetic' component reflects the practice of 'synthesising', or blending together. The ‘phonic’ part reflects the process of linking individual speech sounds (phonemes) to written symbols (graphemes). Essentially, when a child learns to read using Synthetic Phonics they learn to link letters to speech sounds and then blend these sounds together to read words. They also learn to separate (segment) words into their constituent sounds and link these sounds to letters in order to spell them.

Dyslexia: Defining Features and Effective Strategies

● Dyslexia is a specific learning disorder. People with dyslexia will have average or above average abilities in other areas. It is important to look for strengths and encourage these in children with learning difficulties.

Characteristics Difficulty learning letter names and sounds

Slow and inaccurate oral reading

Dislike or reluctance to read

Problems sustaining attention to literacy activities

Spelling and written expression difficulties

Poor phonological awareness

Slow rapid automatised naming

Reduced short term auditory memory and working memory

Sequencing difficulties

Organisational problems

Accompanying Challenges Oral language

listening (phonological awareness, auditory memory, foreign languages)

Speaking (word finding, multi-syllabic words, sequencing ideas, foreign languages)

Written language

reading (mechanics - rules, corresponding letter/sound, speed, comprehension)

spelling and writing (mechanics, speed, expressing ideas)

Behavioural

AD/HD (40% comorbidity), Executive Functioning (organisation, planning and monitoring performance), anxiety and

depression, oppositional behaviour, obsessive-compulsive behaviour, parents may have similar challenges

Identifying and Responding to Dyslexia

Minimise impact/screening - Response to Intervention (Wave 1, 2 & 3), high

quality literacy programs including explicit teaching of phonological

awareness (typically 6 months of intervention)

Psycho-educational assessments - formally diagnosed by Psychologist

Remediation and accommodations (IEP)

See Shared/Admin Shared/All Staff/SAER/DSF Resources - Liz for handout

‘Remediation for Students with Learning Disabilities’, DSF Apps, DSF

Grammar Scope and Sequence

Effective Teaching of Literacy: A Structured

Approach 5% of children will learn to read effortlessly with or without formal instruction, a further 20 - 30% will learn to read relatively easily once exposed to formal instruction. For the remaining 60 - 70% learning to read is a more formidable challenge, with 20 - 30% of these finding it “the most difficult task that they will need to master throughout their schooling”. (G Reid Lyon, 199)

Early Literacy Essentials Oral Language

Teach vocabulary explicitly and ensure that children interact with words on

multiple occasions.

Ensure children develop the capacity to read frequently and across a range of

genres.

Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

5. Phonemic Awareness - Blending, segmenting and

manipulating individual phonemes

4. Onset-rime blending and segmenting

3. Syllable blending and segmenting

2. Sentence segmenting

1. Rhyming/Alliteration

44 phonemes in the English language

26 letters to write the 44 phonemes

175+ graphemes

Important to model the phonemes correctly (e.g. /b/ not ‘buh’)

That tricky ‘SCHWA’ sound - Ə

An unstressed neutral sound vowel sound (sounds like ‘uh’)

Most common vowel sound in Australian English

The, mountain, sister

Alphabetic Knowledge

Children need to know the sound for each letter, the letter name and their

forms in order to read, spell and use alphabetic order

Try displaying the alphabet in an arc instead of a line so that the letters are

all in front of you

Phonics The reversibility of reading and spelling

Phonics refers to the understanding that there are systematic and predictable

relationships between speech sounds (phonemes) and written letters (graphemes)

This knowledge is known a the ‘alphabetic principle’

Phonemes Graphemes

(Sounds/Spelling) (Letters/Reading)

Systematic (preplanned and progressive) and explicit (modelled, practiced, applied)

instruction

Beyond Phonics Reading and spelling knowledge includes:

Speech sounds (phonology)

Phoneme-grapheme correspondence

Patterns and generalisations

Orthographic rules

Meaningful parts (morphemes - prefixes, suffixes, root words)

What language the word came from (etymology)

Memory and metacognitive strategies

Remediation for Students at Risk

Explicit instruction

Emphasis on PA and phonics

Structured and sequential teaching

Lots of practice, revising and assessing

Clear evidence of progress

Multi-sensory or meta-cognitive strategies

Guided and repeated oral reading with appropriate error correction and feedback to improve reading fluency

Direct and robust instruction in vocabulary, reading comprehension and spelling strategies

DSF Understanding Learning Difficulties

A practical guide

● Valuable resource to assist in writing IEP’s ● Recommended teaching strategies for all areas of Literacy and Number ● Recommended teaching accommodations ● Information sheets outlining classroom activities (eg 13) and teaching

strategies (eg 20) ● Booklet and CD can be found in the office - see Jonelle

DSF Understanding Learning Difficulties A guide for parents

● Very similar to ‘A Practical Guide’ ● Outlines specific learning disabilities, how they are diagnosed, successful

intervention programs (including IEP’s), assistive technology, the rights of students with learning disabilities in the education system

● Book is stored in the office - see Jonelle