Improving progress in
KS3 English
Richard Durant
Going for Outstanding
What do you see?
How can you explain what you see?
2
Croft by Stevie Smith
Aloft
In the loft
Sits Croft.
He is soft.
What can we work
out for definite?
What might the
poem mean?
3
Seven of what?
Seven of them pinned in blood by
long, shiny tails, three of them still
alive and writhing against the wood,
their heaviness whipping the wall
as they try to break free, ……..
4
Rattlesnakes Hammered on the Wall
by Ray Gonzalez
Seven of them pinned in blood by
long, shiny tails, three of them still
with power and loss, the wonder
of who might have done this
alive and writhing against the wood, turning to shock as all seven
their heaviness whipping the wall
suddenly come alive when
as they try to break free,
rattles beating in unison,
I get closer, pink mouths
trembling with white fangs,
hisses slowly dying in silence,
the other four hanging stiff
lunging at me then falling back,
entangled in one another to form
like ropes to another life,
patterns of torn skin dripping
twisted letters that spell a bloody
word I can't understand.
5
Today…..
• Support the leadership capacity of KS3 English
leaders
• Explore how to apply the essential criteria for
good and outstanding lessons
• Support heads of KS3 English in improving
student progress
6
What students say….
Good teachers……
• are fun but fair
• know their stuff
• make lessons interesting
• are helpful
• show you how to get better
• are patient
• give us the chance to talk things through and express our ideas
• give us choice
• bring variety into lessons
• make it a bit challenging
• will always try to answer questions
• give up their time to help
7
What students say….
Bad teachers…..
• talk too much
• have favourites
• dominate and control the lesson too much
• don't let us get on and work things out for ourselves
• keep going off the point
• clash with students
• keep repeating things
• Keep repeating things
• aren't organised
• are moody
8
From Inspection 2012: Proposals for
inspection arrangements for maintained
schools and academies from January
2012, Ofsted, 2011.
We propose to judge the quality of teaching by giving particular
attention to how well: teachers demonstrate high expectations,
enthuse, engage and motivate pupils so that they learn and make
progress; teachers set challenging tasks; teachers use their expertise
to deepen pupils’ knowledge and understanding and teach them the
skills needed to learn for themselves; teachers assess pupils’ progress,
provide them with constructive feedback and plan lessons to match
their needs; teaching and other support stretches each individual pupil,
including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs; and
how effectively pupils are taught to read and to develop their skills in
literacy.
9
Key Ofsted foci:
What do they mean – in practice - for
your role and for teachers?
1. teachers’ expectations
2. challenging tasks matched to pupils’ learning
needs
3. detailed and accurate feedback
4. monitoring of learning during lessons
5. enthuse, engage and motivate pupils
6. enable pupils to develop the skills to learn for
themselves
7. support provided for pupils with a range of
aptitudes and needs
10
Factor 1
Students are working harder than the teacher
11
Factor 2
Teaching is relevant, well-informed and purposeful
12
Factor 3
Students enjoy the lesson and are engaged with
their own learning
13
Factor 4
Students make progress
14
Factor 5
Assessment effectively informs learning and
teaching
15
Factor 6
Teacher questioning reveals, clarifies and extends
students’ thinking
16
Teacher questioning
• Closed
• Open
• ‘Known Answer’
17
? Different sorts of questions.
Which is which? What does it
depend on?
Why did Macbeth kill Duncan? (Y10)
Who can give me an example of a compound
sentence? (Y7)
Who can tell me what sort of sentence this is?
[Pupil reply: Is it a simple sentence? Teacher: Yes.]
(Y8)
18
Getting the best out of teachers
in your team….
• You are in a formal discussion with one of your
team. Their lessons are being consistently
judged satisfactory. How will you move them on?
• Improvise the discussion, using the character
and context notes you have been given.
19
Reading, writing and
communication (literacy)
Guidance for inspectors under
the new framework
...inspectors should expect to collect evidence
about literacy (communication, reading and
writing) from more than just English lessons and
assessment data. Literacy teaching and the
application of literacy skills will be a focus across
the school and in a range of different subjects.
20
Reading, writing and communication
(literacy)
Guidance for inspectors under the new
framework
Although it is right that key literacy skills in reading, writing,
speaking and listening should be taught primarily in English
lessons, there is a clear intention in recent government
statements of policy for these skills to be reinforced and
applied with accuracy across other subjects. This is
particularly important for pupils who may be working below
the levels expected for their age and who are finding it
difficult to master basic elements of spelling, punctuation
and grammar. For many, using fluent, clear and legible
handwriting is also a problem.
21
Reading, writing and
communication (literacy)
Guidance for inspectors under the
new framework
Special literacy foci for inspectors from 2012:
• responding to texts, particularly using deduction and
inference
• Inspectors are referred to NFER report, Effective
teaching of inference skills for reading
• Inference defined as “the ability to use two or more
pieces of information from a text in order to arrive at a
third piece of information that is implicit.”
• a more formal approach to correcting basic errors
extended to pupils’ speech and to writing across the
curriculum.
22
NC review
• Many issues have arisen
• Implementation postponed until 2014 at earliest
• Only local authority maintained schools are
bound by the NC
• Review urges that oracy should be a key feature
across the curriculum
23
KS2 Level 6 tests
•
•
•
•
Optional
Reading marked externally
Writing marked internally
Sample papers available on the Test orders
section of NCA tools (but you need a password)
24
Reading skills
RAF2 Understand, describe, select or retrieve information,
events or ideas from texts and use quotation and reference
to text
RAF1 Use a range of strategies, including accurate decoding of text, to read for meaning
RAF5 Explain and comment on writers’ uses of language,
including grammatical and literary features at word and
sentence level
WAF 5 Select appropriate and effective vocabulary
RAF6 Identify and comment on writers’ purposes and
viewpoints and the overall effect of the text on the reader
RAF3 Deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts
RAF7 Relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts and literary traditions
25
Writing skills
WAF2 Produce texts which are appropriate to task, reader
and purpose
WAF7 Select appropriate and effective vocabulary (see RAF5)
WAF8 Use correct spelling
WAF1 Write imaginative, interesting and thoughtful texts
WAF3 Organise and present whole texts effectively,
sequencing and structuring information, ideas and events
RAF4 Identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including
grammatical and presentational features at text level
WAF4 Construct paragraphs and use cohesion within and between paragraphs
WAF5 Vary sentences for clarity, purpose and effect
WAF6 Write with technical accuracy of syntax and punctuation in phrases, clauses
and sentences
26