Geography and Literacy

Learning outcomes:

• To develop strategies for raising achievement in Geography through improved literacy skills

Learning outcomes:

• To develop a department approach to developing literacy through Geography

Stumbling blocks

• What is it about literacy that gets in the way of your students making the progress they should? Is it:

• Speaking and listening,

• Reading,

• Writing

• Identify the blocks.

Is it Speaking and Listening?

• Plan for and create opportunities for speaking and listening in lessons

• Teach and develop the skills of speaking and listening

Some thoughts about developing speaking and listening

• Make the talk meaningful – give it a purpose

• Do something with the talk

• P4C, Communities of Enquiry, Socratic talk

• Speaking and listening exercises

• Learning partners

• Talking heads together

Is it reading?

• What is it about reading that is the problem?

• Plan for the development of reading skills

Some thoughts about reading

• Continuous, Close, Skimming, Scanning,

• Active reading

• Reading for exam success

Is it writing

• What types of writing do your students need to master?

• Teach the skills of writing

Some thoughts about writing

• Types of writing

• Have something to write about

• Organising your thoughts

• Getting started

No matter what it is …

To develop any literacy skill:

• Teach it

• Provide examples

• Model it

• Scaffold first attempts

• Independent opportunities

(Underpinned by AfL principles)

AfL principles

• Include a literacy objective• Share literacy outcomes and success

criteria• Reflect on the literacy during and at the

end• Self and Peer assessment opportunities

during and at the end• Feedback – written and oral –

teacher/student, student/student

What next?

• Create a plan for developing literacy – it might look like your subject improvement plan

• Select a number of actions, decide what to do, when, who, how, with what etc

• Monitor and evaluate progress and be prepared to change and add as necessary