Literacy and English

Improving students’ literacy – their ability to read, write, speak and listen – is at the core of teaching and learning at Lilydale Heights College. Every teacher at the College is a teacher of literacy as it is a fundamental element for learning in every subject. Classes across all subjects regularly engage in short, low stakes writing (Writing-to-Learn) and discussion (Substantive Talk) activities aimed at clarifying student thinking and understanding. Students are also supported in the classroom to learn and use the subject-specific vocabulary required for understanding each subject, and to think and write like a scientist, or designer, or historian, and so on.

Our Independent Reading Program has been up and running since the second week of term, with students in Years 7-10 reading material of their choice for 20 minutes each day. This program aims to build a culture of reading within the College and to help students develop their reading comprehension skills and vocabulary. Students are encouraged to speak to a teacher if they are having trouble finding something they want to read – we love to connect reluctant readers to the right book, magazine, or graphic novel. Parents can encourage student engagement in Independent Reading by asking students what they are reading at school and assisting them to find something interesting to read at home.

In English classes, teachers have been continuing to improve teaching and learning based on our work with Misty Adoniou, a renowned expert in the field of literacy education.

As many of you may already know, the focus of our work with Misty has been on annotating texts with students and completing modelled think-alouds. This collaborative approach has proven to be incredibly effective in helping students build their comprehension and critical thinking skills.

Annotating texts with students involves having them engage in active reading by marking up the text with symbols and annotations. This process helps students to identify important elements of the text, such as main ideas, supporting details and inferences, as well as to make connections to their prior knowledge.

Completing modelled think-alouds, on the other hand, involves demonstrating for students how to think critically about a text. This approach helps students to see the thought processes involved in reading and comprehending complex texts, and to develop their own critical thinking skills.

Students have been showing significant improvements in their reading comprehension and critical thinking skills, and teachers have reported a noticeable increase in student engagement and motivation.

What students think of modelled think-alouds and annotation: 

“Annotating a text helps me because I am able to have a better understanding of the text and explore words with my teacher that I don't know the meaning of.” 

“Annotating a text helps me because it verifies, and furthers my understanding  of a text, by making me really think about the text. It helps me make text to self, text to text, and text to world connections on what I’ve just read.” 

“Modelled think-alouds help me understand about what I am reading and listening to my teacher’s think aloud  breaks the text down for me.”