Literacy Enrichment

The new year has started well in the world of literacy enrichment. It is very pleasing to report that teacher professional learning focussing on using reading strategies to improve comprehension is filtering into our classrooms, and the feedback from students has been positive. It is not just learning the strategy to use that is important, but the process itself. 

Students are learning to think about the purpose of the reading before beginning the task and to decide what reading strategies will suit their particular purpose. They are asked to monitor their progress and understanding as they read. Students then select the right strategy to rectify this.

One of the strategies we are using across the College is ‘stop and summarise’—a strategy that assists all students, no matter their ability or Year level. We know that parents and carers are always asking about ways they can support their children with their learning and suggest the prompts below as a starting point:

• Ask your child the purpose of the reading. Is it to understand a concept? Is it to learn about the motivations of a character? 
• Ask your child to summarise what they have just read after a short section. Get them to cover the page and tell you in their own words. If they can’t do this, encourage them to reread.

Mrs Rebecca Sadler | Leader of Learning - Literacy Enrichment