Diamond 9 is a great structure that can be used to facilitate group discussion.

Learners are given a topic, e.g. People who help us, and nine possible options. As a group they have to categorise the options from the highest to lowest priority, discussing and justifying their opinions.

During the Scottish Summary of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) Diamond 9 tasks were used to assess listening and talking skills in P4 and P7.

CLICK HERE for First Level videos and resources
CLICK HERE for Second Level videos and resources

Diamond 9 tasks can be differentiated across subject areas and Levels and used for a range of discussion topics.

CLICK HERE – Blank Diamond 9 template
CLICK HERE – Diamond 9 ideas TES

Group Talk Feedback – A Focus on the Individual can be used to facilitate professional dialogue around the concept of assessing group talk.

Sometimes the writer doesn’t give us the full picture. Sometimes they provide us with clues, but don’t write something explicitly. It’s crucial that we are teaching learners the comprehension skill of ‘Inferring meaning’, based on the evidence that is presented as well as their background knowledge.

In The CAFE Book, The Sisters suggest playing The Inferring Game. A simple game where the teacher provides learners with a statement:

e.g. “You are in school sitting at your table when all of a sudden you hear an ear-piercing noise and everyone walks out the classroom.”

Given a chance to work with a partner, learners would highlight all of the clues the writer has provided:
1) school
2) loud noise
3) leaving the room

Based on the clues given and their previous experience, of course . . . it was the fire alarm.

Click the links below to access some inference activities and games:

Inferences and Drawing Conclusions
What can you infer?
Inference Riddles
Detective Notebook
Inferring Activities

The clip below can be used to assist with the teaching of Making Inferences:

Let us know what resources you use to support the teaching of making inferences.

At the International Literacy Day conference on the 4th of September one of the workshops introduced the concept of Rap Battles, Word Wars and Poetry Slams.

South Lanarkshire practitioner Peter Kelly talked about how he engaged his S2 pupils in poetry with a 21st century twist. This was inspired by the Authors Live – Poetry Slam event, hosted by the Scottish Book Trust, where poets went head-to-head in a Poetry Slam . . . a little like a poetry talent contest.

Learners worked collaboratively to write pieces of poetry based on discursive subjects such as technology and TV talent shows. In South Lanarkshire learners went head-to-head across schools in the Authority. Check out the Word War Battles blog for more information.

Watch the video below to see the South Lanarkshire 2013 Word War Final:

CLICK HERE for a How-to on running a Poetry Slam

CLICK HERE for discursive writing activities for a Rap Battle

CLICK HERE for a guide on staging a Word War

This could be used as a way of engaging learners in topical debates whilst incorporating poetry, rhythm and rhyme. Although the resources are tailored at Third Level, the principles could be used with P7 as a transition event for S1. Mixing P7 pupils from feeder schools with S1 pupils from the Secondary could be a great transition project.

This year we remember John Muir – a man who influenced the preservation of the outdoors – as we reach the 100 year anniversary of his death, and celebrate the legacy he has left behind.

Each year many schools apply for the John Muir Award through the John Muir Trust. A great opportunity for an interdisciplinary topic on the life of John Muir can be facilitated by a fantastic free resource from the Scottish Book Trust. The Scottish Book Trust have produced a graphic novel to depict John Muir’s life as well as lesson plans and teaching notes. This would be ideal as a shared or guided reading text within midlle/upper Primary and lower Secondary.

CLICK HERE – Scottish Book Trust John Muir Resources

At the International Literacy Day conference on September 4th in Glasgow the Scottish Book Trust led an excellent presentation and workshop. As well as initiatives such as Bookbug and the Scottish Book Awards they also provide direct support for practitioners.

CLICK HERE for teaching resources tailored to each of the Curriculum for Excellence levels

CLICK HERE for the Authors Live section of the website – packed full of videos from the authors that children love

CLICK HERE for their blog designed for Teachers and Librarians

CLICK HERE for a menu of online CPD videos

Thank you to Sara Macaskill at Knockbreck Primary who informed this post.

The Literacy through Exploration PowerPoint within the Literacy Toolkit allows practitioners to investigate play based learning experiences, beyond the boundaries of the Early Years.

Opening a Literacy Surgery allows just that . . .

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Learners – equipped with their surgical gloves, mask and utensils – can put the grammar, spelling and language skills that they’ve learned into an active context.

Perhaps you want them to form contractions, make common words or even create sentences. A Literacy Surgery is a great technique that can be used to provide learners with the experience of developing these skills. The photo slideshow highlights some possible ideas; however, click the Pinterest image below to explore  the concept further.

You may also wish to CLICK HERE for free publications from Pearson which can be used to inform your teaching of language skills.

The books in each of the three categories – 3-7 years, 8-11 years and 12-16 years –  have been announced for the 2014 Scottish Book Awards. When searching for a new class text, why not use these as text for shared reading. Read all three, and ask learners to vote for their favourite . . .

CLICK HERE to register your school to vote in the 2014 Scottish Book Awards.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL LITERACY DAY!

Thank you to Anna Shimmield from Milton of Leys for the link to this resource.

If you read our post on Choosing a ‘good-fit’ text using the IPICK strategy, you’ll know that learners should be supported in selecting an engaging text that will promote enthusiasm around reading.

The BOOKMATCH strategy is another process that can be used to teach learners in the upper primary/ secondary  how to select a ‘good-fit’ text.

CLICK HERE for a link to suggested lessons which will support you in teaching the BOOKMARK strategy for text selection.

The following Literacy CPD events during the September inset days still have spaces available.

The Highland Literacy Group are co-ordinating three CPD events during inset on September 25th and 26th 2014.

Over the past two sessions, The Highland Literacy Group have been refreshing the support materials available to practitioners. We have updated our Probationer programme accordingly for the 2014/2015 session, and would like to offer supplementary training to complement the original HLP training programme. We are running an event called ‘Literacy Across Learning – Primary‘ on the CPD calendar which will introduce some of the new materials, including: Literacy Across Learning, Media Literacy and Higher Order Thinking.  This event is open to practitioners within the Primary sector.

Thursday 25th September 2014 – 09:30 – 15:30 – Merkinch Community Centre, Inverness

During the September inset we are again offering ‘Big Writing’ – hosted by Big Writing trainer, Anne Glennie. The whole-day event aims to provide practitioners with a programme which can be used to develop writing, including guidance on learning, teaching and assessment. The course costs £37 per head, and can be found on the CPD calendar. These events are open to Primary and Secondary colleagues.

Thursday 25th September – 09:30 – 15:30 – Mount Pleasant Primary, Thurso
Friday 26th September 2014 – 09:30 – 15:30 – Inshes Primary School, Inverness

All events can be found in the CPD calendar – put ‘Literacy’ into the Keyword box within the Search Panel. Click the image at the top of this post to access the Highland CPD Website.

Thank you to Peter Fenton from the EAL Highland team for giving us a heads-up to this link.

Another resource that can be used – but this time on the Interactive Whiteboard – to support questioning.

The Question Matrix can be used with individuals, small groups or the whole class. This would be ideal for topical discussions or textual analysis during Guided Reading.

CLICK HERE for a link to the Question Matrix resource.