Warnervale Public School

To Learn to Live

Telephone02 4392 1358

Emailwarnervale-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Focus on Reading

Thank you to the interested parents who joined us at this month's P&C meeting to hear Ms Clarke talk about Focus on Reading. This program has been a major focus of our Professional Learning this year and an exciting addition to our pedagogy toolkit.

 

 

Focus on Reading 3–6 is an intensive professional learning program that supports teachers from Years 3–6 to understand and explicitly teach reading strategies that will enable students to access the range of texts that they are required to comprehend in the middle years. 
The evidence is clear that when schools systematically and deliberately engage students over time in research-validated comprehension instruction real reading improvements can occur. When … instruction has been successful in schools it has always been long-term – occurring over a school year at minimum … and when done well, will yield … consistent and striking benefits for students (Pressley, 2002).

Students engaged in Reading activities

 

The program is designed to enhance student motivation to read and reading performance beyond the early years. The program: 
• is built on the fact that reading can be improved through research-validated instruction 
• addresses the unique needs of learners and the demands of learning in the middle years 
• incorporates the use of current and emerging materials developed by NSW Curriculum and Learning Innovation Centre and other Department of Education and Communities directorates 
• connects with NSW primary syllabuses 
• is registered with the NSW Institute of Teachers. 
The program emphasises:
 • the integrated teaching of six research-based metacognitive comprehension strategies along with the importance of vocabulary knowledge and fluent text reading 
• the importance and use of rich texts, particularly subject-based texts, multimodal texts and the types of texts that interest and motivate middle years learners 
• the significance of engaging students in rich talk of the kind that encourages them to ‘show their thinking' through talk 
• ‘deliberate' teaching that: – begins with insightful assessment – involves planning for explicit instruction based on students' needs – supports and scaffolds students through modelled, guided and independent teaching – provides clear and purposeful feedback and constant opportunities for student reflection 
• the importance of understanding and catering for diverse learning needs including students with special needs, ESL students and students who speak Aboriginal English. 
The Focus on Reading 3–6 includes elements that facilitate whole school change by consolidating and embedding new teaching and learning practices into school and classroom structures. The professional learning model consists of two phases that gradually build on and complement each other, yet each Phase is registered separately so that schools can choose to take on one phase at a time.
 
For more information visit NSW DoE curriculum Support.