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The Mobilise Project in our school has successfully improved classroom practice and outcomes for pupils. It has developed school-based PLCs, embraced evidence and research, and supported the school's SDP priorities.
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MOBILISE TEACHMEET ENGLISH
Why Do We Engage in the Mobilise Project? 3rd Year of Mobilise (Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants , Cognitive Theory and Memory) The Mobilise Project has been a successful model in our school improvement because: Measurable impact on classroom practise, improved outcomes for pupils Improvement sustained and embedded Development of school based PLCs: major factor in all staff’s CPD. Staff embrace evidence and research Supports our school’s SDP priorities.
Our Research Evidence Journey So Far… We started with reading, after all reading is paramount in the developing of writing: Writing is a difficult trade which must be learned slowly by reading great authors; by trying at the outset to imitate them; by daring then to be original and by destroying one's first productions.(Attributed to André Maurois, 1885-1967) When I was teaching writing — and I still say it — I taught that the best way to learn to write is by reading. Reading critically, noticing paragraphs that get the job done, how your favourite writers use verbs, all the useful techniques. A scene catches you? Go back and study it. Find out how it works.(Tony Hillerman, quoted by G. Miki Hayden in Writing the Mystery: A Start-to-Finish Guide for Both Novice and Professional, 2nd ed. Intrigue Press, 2004)
Our Research Evidence Journey So Far…Closing the Vocabulary Gap (Alex Quigley)/ Teaching Children to Read (National Reading Panel) 1. Train teachers to become more knowledgeable and confident in explicit vocabulary teaching. 2. Teach academic vocabulary explicitly and clearly, with coherent planning throughout the curriculum. 3. Foster structured reading opportunities in a model that supports students with vocabulary deficits. 4. Promote and scaffold high quality academic talk in the classroom. 5. Promote and scaffold high quality academic writing in the classroom. 6. Foster ‘word consciousness’ in our students (e.g. sharing the etymology and morphology of words). 7. Teach students independent word learning strategies. (page 21, ‘Closing the Vocabulary Gap’, by Alex Quigley)
Impact of the English Mobilise Project So Far…. School Based Leads: “The Mobilise Project has been really important - having an English focus, it links directly into our School Development priorities which are reading in particular and also supports the work I am doing to support staff and improve practise alongside Chris Whitney. Having a research based focus ensures there is real credibility to the ideas that we discuss and consider and also adds weight to discussions at school. It has helped provide firm direction for staff professional development in our staff meetings and I have encouraged staff to reflect on practice in light of the mobilise units. This has opened up some interesting discussions and staff have set themselves targets to try within the classroom. We then discuss these after the next mobilise meeting and it ensures the focus on moving forward and continuing to review and consider our own practice doesn't lose momentum. For me personally, I find the opportunity to meet with other English leads in a relaxed and very non-competitive or threatening environment, where we can be totally honest, really valuable. Listening to each other's ideas and reflections has provided me with much food for thought and I find you 'chairing' of the meeting supportive and encouraging.” Thank you again “Spending time as part of a Professional Learning Community has given us the time as a staff to reflect upon our practice and to consider how we can make more of a difference using evidence based research to support our thinking. Also, working within cluster groups enables us to share good practice and to try new things out within our own school setting.”
Impact of the English Mobilise Project So Far…. Within my own school: Y6 teacher Focused vocabulary sessions are essential in our school and now part of whole- class guided reading sessions. More time is provided for children to enrich their vocabulary banks by researching the meaning of unfamiliar words and also finding antonyms and synonyms. Children are given opportunities to put new vocabulary in context rather than simply finding the definition; it’s important that our children can actually use the new vocabulary properly and much of this is done through teacher modelling followed by paired work. Words are repeated and revisited regularly (and displayed) and this process is followed with every new guided reading text. When taking part in modelled writing, as a teacher, I try to use relevant words from our vocabulary lists and then children are encouraged to repeat this during independent and guided writing sessions. Any extra time available (5 mins at the end of the day) is used to revise vocabulary and encourage children to ‘give me a sentence with… in it’.
Y2 teacher The impact from the evidence made from the PLC’s have been dramatic and so worthwhile. As a result of our PLCs, I have completely changed our approach to reading during lesson time and home time. We created fluency bookmarks based around the fluency rubric. We use the rubric to baseline and measure the impact of our work. The children know that they have 5 nights worth of reading activities to help improve their fluency. We trialled this in school during our guided reading lessons so that the children knew what was expected and to explain the bookmark. One side of the bookmark is for the children, which they can use as a self-assessment tool at the end of the week. This just breaks down fluency in child speak so they can set themselves challenges. The other side is for parents to explain each night activity. By really discussing the vocab from the book and what the words mean, children have shown a much clearer understanding of the story, giving them more confidence when reading these words which they might not have attempted before, thus improving pace of reading. We then also keep referring back to them even weeks after we have read those books. The strategy that has had the greatest impact on my class is Echo reading.Thechildren are able to hear the modelled sentenced focusing on use of punctuation and expression. The children have then worked hard to incorporate this into their echo. This has had huge impact on confidence and willingness to read as well as fluency. As they have already heard themselves echoing as fluent readers, they then feel confident to offer to read in front of their peers independently. Children that would never do this are starting to volunteer and they are reading much clearer, without pause and with expression. Children have then been able to recognise, using the bookmark, where they could improve their fluency. It has had a tremendous impact on the children’s confidence, comprehension, enjoyment of reading and most of all fluency!
Y3 teacher The main focus of our PLC’s have been reading and we have seen a huge impact in Year 3. We have been working on improving fluency. Before attending the PLCs, I wasn't actually teaching fluency. Of course I was modelling my own fluency but I hadn't thought about how to transfer my own skills to the children. The first change implemented was that during guided reading children follow the text with a ruler instead of their finger. The ruler is placed above the line that is being read so to not impede fluency once the end of the line is reached. It sounds very basic but it really has made a difference. All children are now able to follow and keep up with the text. After reading the research provided, I was astonished to see that 'reading in your head' has not been proven to help. Typically, I would ask children to read in their heads so to not distract other children. I now encourage the children to read aloud. Another strategy that we have tried is echo reading. All children have a copy of the text. I read a sentence, modelling expression and fluency and then then the children repeat. I couldn't believe how well they picked it up.
Y3 teacher Alongside explicitly teaching fluency, we now explicitly teach vocabulary too. We dedicate one whole class guided reading session per week to vocabulary. I read the text to the class and they follow using a ruler. If there are any words that they don't understand, they underline or circle them. Once the text is finished, we go back over the words and discover their meanings. Some words are known by other children, we always develop “student friendly definitions.” We always use the words in a number of different sentences to help children remember their meaning. We put the selected words on the working wall and revisit during the week. We also revisit previous week's words (after giving the children time to forget them) and most children are able to recall their meaning. I feel that our children who are generally word poor, are definitely becoming more word rich. I have really enjoyed taking part in the English PLCs , the impact they have had on my own practise has been staggering.
Y5 teacher The children have really benefited from an increased focus on vocabulary. We have seen an impact across all subject areas, not just reading, as they are keen to find new vocabulary in all subjects. They are becoming much more aware of root words and really push themselves to use new vocabulary in their writing. The word wall has given us an area to display some really interesting tier 2 words. The children have become used to using these across all areas of writing and this means their use of a larger range of vocabulary is becoming second nature for some. Having these conversations about prefixes, suffixes and root words might sound a bit bland but actually the children are really keen to share and discuss new words they have found that are similar. This work has definitely created a vocabulary buzz within our classroom.
Reading Lead This year, we have received a great deal of CPD training at our English PLC’s which, when working alongside our school’s English Lead, made us question the effectiveness of how Guided Reading was being taught across the school. After being presented with the Scarborough Reading Rope material, we began to audit Reading within our school. Every class had children with background knowledge, vocabulary ,word recognition, comprehension and fluency issues. As a result of this monitoring, we devised a new timetable for whole class Guided Reading. They focus heavily on vocabulary and fluency at the beginning of the week, followed by two days of inference, deduction, summary and explanation, (all the while continuing to build fluency as they read the same piece of text.) At the end of the week, children have the opportunity to focus on their specific area of required effort , with the intention of closing their gaps. The impact so far has been considerable. Children are enjoying all reading the same text together and are becoming more word conscious. They are retrieving simple information from texts much more quickly and because they have heard and read the same text each day, they are much better equipped to tackle the more difficult comprehension questions. The quality of the teaching of Guided Reading is much more effective and focussed and teachers have a better knowledge of the gaps that their children have and how to fill them now.
