Training session 6 - Early Literacy 1: Synthetic phonics, reading fluency and comprehension

Induction tutor materials

It’s important that secondary school teachers have a fundamental understanding of what systematic synthetic phonics is, how it works and where they might receive additional support from their mentor and school if needed.

Duration: 90 minutes.

Outcomes

1. Understand that all subjects benefit from improving pupils’ literacy skills.
2. Learn that synthetic phonics is evidence-based.
3. Know that phonics is understanding the relationship between letters and sounds.
4. Understand that fluency comes with overlearning and supports reading comprehension.
5. Know that reading comprehension of texts is improved by vocabulary and concept knowledge (building schemas).
6. Learn that reading for pleasure can be promoted using high quality texts and other strategies.
7. Reflect on and share implications on their teaching and on their own development.

Preparation

These resources provide information to support the session plan options below:

• Education Endowment Foundation (EEF): Resource Hubs per phase
• Education Endowment Foundation (EEF): Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools
• Department for Education, Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High Quality Phonics
• Education Endowment Foundation: Preparing for Literacy
• Principles of Instruction: Research-Based Strategies That All Teachers Should Know
• Education Endowment Foundation (EEF): Working with Parents to Support Children’s Learning
• Education Endowment Foundation (EEF): Reading comprehension strategies

Before this session takes place, early career teachers (ECTs) should have the following:

1. Exposure to key knowledge from initial teacher training (ITT) Core Content Framework on relevant sub-standards.
2. Information on the science of learning and the 5 habits of planning.
3. School input as needed.
4. Relevant conversations with colleagues.

The following self-study materials provide context and exemplification:

• Pairs and groups
• Practice, challenge and success
• Questioning
• Developing pupils’ literacy

Session structure:

Welcome and recap (5 minutes)

Provide a relevant recap on previously taught content. Set up the norms for this session.

Developing early literacy skills (10 minutes)

This time can be used to make sure all ECTs understand why this session is relevant to them.

Reasons include:

• it's an early careers framework requirement
• all subjects benefit from improved literacy skills
• learning adaptable techniques for older pupils
• providing a consistent approach across phases
• improves understanding of how to support pupils with SEN, EAL and disadvantage

Learning the meaning of the alphabet (25 minutes)

You could:

• introduce how younger pupils develop early literacy skills for reading and spelling
• introduce the balanced approach to reading
• look at the evidence supporting the use of systematic synthetic phonics in schools to teach letter-sound relationships
• introduce technical terms such as phonemes, graphemes, and letters
• introduce the 2 key processes, as well as blending for reading and segmenting for spelling
• cover strategies such as using the etymology and morphology of words to help older pupils to remember and spell subject specific vocabulary
• cover how to teach pupils to read and spell irregular, high frequency words, such as ‘the’
• share the phonics schemes and interventions currently used in your school (if relevant)

Becoming a fluent reader (15 minutes)

You could:

• explore how fluency is developed by overlearning and practising reading, so that working memory is free for comprehension and not just decoding
• explain the importance of supporting and engaging parents to help their children to read fluently
• share examples of high-quality texts and consider how we can develop pupils’ intrinsic motivation to read
• share the reading schemes used to develop fluency in your school, if relevant

Developing reading comprehension (25 minutes)

You could:

• consider the reciprocal link between oral language skills and reading comprehension
• share frameworks appropriate to the phase the ECTs work in
• model how expert readers comprehend texts

Action planning and next steps (10 minutes)

This section provides ECTs with time for reflection, quizzing, and action steps. You can also look ahead to the next training steps.

Related ECF strands

ECF ‘Learn that’ statements covered:

• 1.6. High-quality teaching has a long-term positive effect on pupils’ life chances, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• 3.9. To access the curriculum, early literacy provides fundamental knowledge; reading comprises two elements: word reading and language comprehensions; systematic synthetic phonics is the most effective approach for teaching pupils to decode.
• 3.10. Every teacher can improve pupils’ literacy, including by explicitly teaching reading, writing and oral language skills specific to individual disciplines.

ECF 'Learn how to’ statements covered:

Communicate a belief in the academic potential of all pupils by:

• 1d. Seeking opportunities to engage parents and carers in the education of their children (such as proactively highlighting successes).

Deliver a carefully sequenced and coherent curriculum by:

• 3c. Working with experienced colleagues to accumulate and refine a collection of powerful analogies, illustrations, examples, explanations and demonstrations.
• 3d. Using resources and materials aligned with the school curriculum (such as textbooks or shared resources designed by experienced colleagues that carefully sequence content).

Support pupils to build increasingly complex mental models by:

• 3f. Discussing curriculum design with experienced colleagues and balancing exposition, repetition, practice of critical skills and knowledge.

Develop pupils’ literacy by:

• 3m. Demonstrating a clear understanding of systematic synthetic phonics, particularly if teaching early reading and spelling.
• 3n. Supporting younger pupils to become fluent readers and to write fluently and legibly.
• 3o. Teaching unfamiliar vocabulary explicitly and planning for pupils to be repeatedly exposed to high utility and high frequency vocabulary in what is taught.
• 3p. Modelling reading comprehension by asking questions, making predictions, and summarising when reading.
• 3q. Promoting reading for pleasure (by using a range of whole-class reading approaches and regularly reading high quality texts to children, for example).

Meet individual needs without creating unnecessary workload by:

• 5h. Making use of well-designed resources (such as textbooks).