Schooliform

[Julia9054]

You called?

Looks like a school instituting a morning reading session, with teacher reading aloud and students following, rationale being that for many kids it will be the only time they read a book, with literacy is a key focus of Ofsted. Also allows school to expose classes to wide range of literature they would otherwise never see. Naturally they will like some but not all. Overarching aim seems to be to encourage a love of reading. Obviously this is a terrible fascist thing.

I'm sure you'd find a better way to ensure students actually read their books rather than just dicking about pretending to read. If they have to track with a ruler it's easy to monitor, and if the kid has to slide their ruler down at an appropriate speed then they might as well just read.

Also makes it easier for teacher to aid students struggling to find their place

Covering up the text below the line you're reading actually discourages fluency. It's fine for younger pupils, or those that have certain types of dyslexia, but hampers a fluent reader as we naturally scan ahead as we read to gain meaning and context rather than reading word for word.

 

[multitool]

Covering up the text below the line you're reading actually discourages fluency. It's fine for younger pupils, or those that have certain types of dyslexia, but hampers a fluent reader as we naturally scan ahead as we read to gain meaning and context rather than reading word for word.

Remember they are being read aloud to. Not just reading to themselves, with synonyms for tricky words provided by the teacher.

 

[multitool]

Did you miss the fact that parents complained and teachers - you know, the actual education professionals we trust to educate and inspire our children - took industrial action because of this nonsense?

And you think this is the only school using this system????

I thought you knew better.

As ever, there will be far more to this that meets the eye. I'm going to have a punt that this was a school recently taken over by a new academy trust, possibly as a result of special measures, who are introducing an RTL system but haven't got some of the staff on board for whatever reason. It might be that the trust are cack-handed, or it might be that the striking staff are dicks. Who knows. But I bet the reading stuff is merely the ostensible reason.

As for parental pushback, always happens. Our local papers were full of it when some of the local secondary schools went this way.

Lasted about three weeks. Then the community started noticing that the schools seemed to be functioning a whole lot better.

 

[Julia9054]

Remember they are being read aloud to. Not just reading to themselves, with synonyms for tricky words provided by the teacher.

So being forced to read at someone else’s pace.
You might find this article interesting outlining some of the problems with the “following along” method for both fluent and emergent readers
https://learningspy.co.uk/reading/p...t=Far, far better to allow,a good thing to do.

 

[newfhouse]

Lasted about three weeks. Then the community started noticing that the schools seemed to be functioning a whole lot better.

In three weeks? I detect bullshit.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Well, of course, the people designing this haven't thought it though at all, and you know better...

This is a recipe for never criticising anything done by "experts"...or does this just apply to experts you agree with?

An interesting school:

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/parents-slam-st-ives-school-26409429

https://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/23693900.astrea-academy-trust-st-ivo-academy-teacher-strikes/

 

[newfhouse]

So being forced to read at someone else’s pace.
You might find this article interesting outlining some of the problems with the “following along” method for both fluent and emergent readers
https://learningspy.co.uk/reading/problem-reading-along/#:~:text=Far, far better to allow,a good thing to do.

Fascinating. Thanks.

 

[multitool]

So being forced to read at someone else’s pace.
You might find this article interesting outlining some of the problems with the “following along” method for both fluent and emergent readers
https://learningspy.co.uk/reading/problem-reading-along/#:~:text=Far, far better to allow,a good thing to do.

He appears to have changed his mind somewhat since he wrote that in 2017...

https://learningspy.co.uk/category/reading/

 

[multitool]

In three weeks? I detect bullshit.

OK.

You know better...

 

[multitool]

This is a recipe for never criticising anything done by "experts"...or does this just apply to experts you agree with?

There are always 'experts' guiding whatever the current trend in education happens to be, are there not?

The proof of the pudding is in the eating

An interesting school:

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/parents-slam-st-ives-school-26409429

"Parents" does not mean all parents. It means a vocal minority. As I said, there were a raft of schools in a local city that underwent radical changes in the way they operated, and some parents were up in arms...in part because it looked like one of the aims was to make parents actually take some responsibility for their children. Local paper was full of clickbait stories for a couple of weeks every time one of the schools converted. Then silence.

https://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/23693900.astrea-academy-trust-st-ivo-academy-teacher-strikes/

Again, you'd have to look under the bonnet to see what is actually going on. Could be an already demoralised staff and a cack-handed head, could be anything.

 

[multitool]

Fascinating. Thanks.

Are you equally fascinated by his blog posts 3 years later where he rows back considerably?

And who is "David Didau" anyway? A secondary English teacher looking to get out of the classroom and into the more lucrative training world? Who knows.

 

[Julia9054]

He appears to have changed his mind somewhat since he wrote that in 2017...

https://learningspy.co.uk/category/reading/

Nothing in that blog about echo reading and teaching fluency contradicts the article I posted.

 

[multitool]

Since this thread is about uniform, here is our new-found guru, David Didau, on that very subject:

https://learningspy.co.uk/behaviour/school-rules/

 

[multitool]

Nothing in that blog about echo reading and teaching fluency contradicts the article I posted.

Well he sort of does, later on that page where he extols reading aloud to students to improve their vocabulary and memory. My guess is that he expects them to read along. He doesn't say how he would ensure that they are.

I'm not that impressed with the blog post to which you linked. Looks like a lot of half-understood science being squeezed into whatever shape he desires. He is, after all, not a neuro scientist, but a classroom English teacher with no scientific training.

I'm curious as to why you value and trust what he says.

 

[newfhouse]

Are you equally fascinated by his blog posts 3 years later where he rows back considerably?

Like you, I’ve only been introduced to his blog tonight so have only skim read. Yes, fascinating.

And who is "David Didau" anyway? A secondary English teacher looking to get out of the classroom and into the more lucrative training world? Who knows.

I only know him from a few paragraphs on a page but for some reason I am more convinced by his words on this matter than yours. Cognitive bias based on my own experiences? Perhaps, but that’s where I am until persuaded otherwise.