WIXLIB

Phonics ObservationsDuring your School Based Training this year you willbe observed four times teaching phonics. Your progresswill be recorded using the phonics RoLOs (Record ofLesson Observation) contained in this booklet. Thisdocument is graded and provides clear statementsabout your performance in each part of the lesson.It has been designed to provide you with a clearindication of how you can progress to grade one –an Outstanding Teacher of Phonics.A range of commercially produced phonics schemes arenow used in Nursery and Primary schools. Take time tofamiliarise yourself with the scheme that your schooluses before planning a session using the university’sphonics planning proforma. Also make sure that you arefamiliar with the alphabetic code.Your supervising teacher/mentor should complete theRoLOs and then set SMART targets with you in orderfor you to achieve your full potential. It is important thatyou evaluate each session critically. You should thinkabout the following: What did the children learn? How do I know? What aspect of the lesson went well? What would I change? How will I progress the children? How has my subject knowledge (content and/orpedagogy) improved?English Sessions Prior toEarly Reading Week PlacementIn preparation for your Early Reading Placement, therewill be an emphasis on language acquisition anddeveloping early literacy. Taught sessions will focus on: The sound system (phonology) of English and howspeech sounds are produced (phonetics) The relationship between spoken sounds and theirwritten representation (phonics) The reading process and the Simple View of Reading The alphabetic code (from a simple to complex code) Articulating pure sounds Segmenting and blending phonemes within words Approaches to teaching phonics Planning an effective multisensory phonics lesson8 mmu.ac.uk

Faculty of Education 9

Early Reading Week Placement Tasks1. Preparing for Reading – EYFS(Nursery and Reception)Find out about how children are being introduced toand encouraged to interact with, books in preparationfor reading. What opportunities are children given todevelop the listening skills inherent in phonologicaldevelopment?To complete this task you will need to: Identify the areas in provision that contribute tothese aspects Talk to staff about how they approach planning forreading and phonics Observe children and staff interacting with books Consider the role of the teacher in supportingchildren’s interactions with textsTo gain maximum understanding from your datacollection, you will need to consider the followingquestions: What opportunities do children have to listen andrespond to stories? What opportunities do children have to join in withsongs, nursery rhymes, poems and music? Have you observed any activities designedspecifically to promote speaking and listening skills? What opportunities do children have to explore andexperiment with sounds and words?Record your findings as a short report for inclusion inyour Early Reading File.2. Explore the provision for readingacross the schoolLook at the provision for and promotion of readingthroughout the school.Make notes and comments on: Availability of library or book areas in school andclassrooms Use made of the areas by children Quality and range of the books and attractivenessof areas Any strategies such as writing book reviews, postersetc. to support engagement Strategies that link with parents to support reading Consideration of language, disability, beliefs, genderand cultural diversity in books10 mmu.ac.uk Reflection of the global dimension or promotion ofintercultural understanding Book weeks and other whole school readingpromotion activities held Other strategies/interventions such as paired readingwith older pupils etc.Record your findings as a short report for inclusion inyour Early Reading File.3. Observe a Phonics Lesson Make notes about the details of the phonics lesson.Consider some of the points below:Prompts for Phonics Lesson Observation What teaching strategy is used when revisitingphonemes, graphemes, GPCs (graphemephoneme correspondences)? What new learning is taking place? Does the teacher use a story, action, song or othermnemonic to help the children remember thenew learning? Note any activities where the children arepractising blending phonemes for word reading. Note any activities where the children arepractising segmenting phonemes for spelling. Note any examples of the teacher correcting amisconception. How is this managed? Consider how the teacher ensures all thechildren are engaged in the lesson. Describe how the teacher differentiates throughtasks, questions or support for different children? Using a University phonics plan proforma,retrospectively complete the plan identifyingwhat the teacher does in each part of the lesson Pay particular attention to the planned activitiesfor each part and how the teacher is makingassessments in relation to the children’sunderstanding Discuss the planning and assessment process withthe teacher at the end of the session and record thatdiscussion in writing Bring your completed phonics plan proforma andrecord of discussion to your University sessionspost-placement

4. Teach a phonics lesson using theteacher’s plan Arrange to teach a phonics lesson working from theteacher’s plan Arrange with the class teacher or mentor to observeyour lesson using the first phonics RoLo in thisbooklet Consider your targets to continue phonicsdevelopment in KS1 block Consider how you can further support yourdevelopment in teaching phonicsEnglish SessionsPrior to SchoolBased TrainingEarly Reading File ContentsEarly Reading Week Preparation for reading Provision for reading across the School Observation of a phonics lessonKey Stage One Placement Understanding the child as a reader Phonics assessment notes Notes from developing comprehension skills and alove of readingKey Stage Two Placement Understanding the child as a reader Notes from developing comprehension skills and alove of reading Example of child’s piece of writing Notes from developing comprehension in guidedreadingDifferences between focus childrenThis part of your training will focus on developingliteracy skills and the child as a reader and a writer.The Simple View model will be revisited and appliedto both reading and writing. Taught sessions will focuson the following: Planning for literacy The writing process and the Simple View of Writing Routines for reading – developing word recognitionand comprehension skills Spelling – decoding and encoding, a reversibleprocess Handwriting as a phonics core skill The teacher as a readerFaculty of Education 11

Key Stage One Placement Tasks1. Understanding the child as a readerSelect a child in your class that you can work with ona regular basis. Initially, you should meet with thischild on a one-to-one basis. You should build a positiverelationship with the child.During your first week in school, establish the child’sattitude towards reading i.e. their reading preferences,whether they think it is important to read or not,their family as readers, what they read at home (e.g.Playstation games, comics etc), do they consider this tobe reading, do they have a favourite book or author, dothey visit the library, do they have books read to themat home, what level on the school’s reading scheme isthe child working at etc? Put your notes from this intoyour Early Reading File.2. Planning and Teaching PhonicslessonsWork with the child in their phonics group. Initially youshould teach a lesson to the group using the teacher’splanning before you are formally observed. Then youmust arrange with your class teacher/mentor to observeyou plan and teach the following phonics sessions:a) With support plan, teach and evaluate a phonicslesson, which your class teacher/mentor will observe(2nd RoLO).b) Plan a single lesson independently, which again yourclass teacher/mentor will observe (3rd RoLO)c) Plan a series of three lessons, one (usually the last) ofwhich is observed (4th RoLO).Planning a series of lessons will ensure that youhave the opportunity to give formative feedback. Itwill support evidence of your awareness of formativeassessment and progression in learning. You may ofcourse teach more phonics lessons than this but youwill receive feedback following each observed lesson.After receiving the feedback you should reflect on yourteaching and the impact on the children’s learning andfill in the evaluation section in this booklet.3. AssessmentYour feedback from your lesson observations shouldconfirm that you are able to make use of formativeassessment to monitor pupils’ progress, set targetsand plan subsequent lessons (QTS Standard 6 b, c).In addition you are required to:12 mmu.ac.uka) Carry out a summative phonics assessment with yourselected child, using the materials provided by thescheme in use at the school. Reflect on the benefitsof such an assessment to both learning and teaching.Put this in your Early Reading File.b) Carry out a diagnostic assessment such as miscueanalysis (Benchmarking). This will enable you toassess other strategies the child may be using toread, and their level of comprehension. Put this inyour Early Reading File.c) In June 2012, the Government introduced a PhonicScreening Check for Year 1 pupils as a requirementfor all maintained schools. It is important that youfamiliarise yourself with summative assessmentsand understand how the information gathered fromthem is used to influence teaching and learning (QTSStandard 6 a, b).Discuss the ‘Phonics Screening Check’ with the LiteracyCo-coordinator or Year 1 teacher. How was it delivered?What training was provided? Were struggling decodersidentified? How will the results be used to improveteaching and learning?Add notes from this discussion to your EarlyReading File.Your class teacher/mentor should confirm that youhave carried out these assessment tasks by signingthe assessment box in the mentor’s section ofthis handbook.4. The Teacher as a ReaderDeveloping comprehension skills and alove of readinga) Using your knowledge of children’s books, selecta non-reading scheme book that you think mightappeal to the child. Read the text with the child.Take it in turns to read and note how the childbehaves with the text. What strategies are theyusing to decode unfamiliar words and make senseof what they read?What questions might you use to support the child’sunderstanding of the text?Does the child approach the reading of this text in adifferent way to the reading scheme books? If so whatare they doing and why do you think this is the case?b) After your final session with the child write a shortparagraph that considers:

How the experience of getting to know a child willinfluence your career as a teacher. The impact of the activity on developing the childas a reader.c) If this is your final placement, reflect on thedifferences between your focus children in the twoplacements. Consider similarities and contrastsbetween the settings. To what extent do youconsider age, resources, reading interest of the childetc. influence the differences that you have noticed?Your notes, impact study and contrast of focus children(if final placement) should be included in your EarlyReading File.Faculty of Education 13

Key Stage Two Placement (Primary) or EarlyYears Placement (Early Years) Tasks1. Understanding the child as a readerSelect a child in your class that you can work with ona regular basis. You should build a positive relationshipwith the child.During your first week in school, establish the child’sattitude towards reading i.e. their reading preferences,whether they think it is important to read or not,their family as readers, what they read at home (e.g.Playstation games, comics etc), do they consider this tobe reading, do they have a favourite book or author, dothey visit the library, do they have books read to them athome, what level on the schools reading scheme is thechild working at etc? Put your notes from this into yourEarly Reading File.2. The Teacher as a ReaderDeveloping comprehension skills anda love of readinga) Using your knowledge of children’s books, select anon-reading scheme book that you think might appealto the child. Read the text with the child. Take it inturns to read and note how the child behaves withthe text. What strategies are they using to decodeunfamiliar words and make sense of what they read?What questions might you use to support the child’sunderstanding of the text?Does the child approach the reading of this text in adifferent way to the reading scheme books? If so whatare they doing and why do you think this is the case?For Early Years placements consider what conceptsabout print the pupil understands. What do they knowabout the language of books and the predictablepatterns of stories?b) After your final session with the child write a shortparagraph that considers: How the experience of getting to know a child willinfluence your career as a teacher. The impact of the activity on developing the child asa reader.c) If this is your final placement, reflect on thedifferences between your focus children in the twoplacements. Consider similarities and contrastsbetween the settings. To what extent do you considerage, resources, reading interest of the child etcinfluence the differences that you have noticed?14 mmu.ac.ukYour notes, impact study and contrast of focus children(if final placement) should be included in your EarlyReading File.3. Phonics for SpellingIn the earlier stages of spelling development childrenrely heavily on phonetic approaches to spelling words.When children spell phonetically they go through thefollowing process: Orally segment a word by identifying all of thephonemes through that spoken word Select the appropriate graphemes to represent eachof the phonemes in the wordIn order to do this effectively they need a goodknowledge of the English alphabetic code(see appendix 3).Select and analyse a child’s piece of writing in terms ofspelling development. Using the spelling chart adaptedfrom Gentry (Appendix 2) note the key features of thechild’s approach to spelling providing examples ofwords from the text. You should record your findingson the next page.3. Developing comprehension inguided readingComprehension or gaining meaning from print is thepurpose and reward of reading. Guided reading offersan important opportunity to teach comprehension skillsand monitor progress through questioning, discussionand activities that interact with the text.For this task, plan and teach a guided reading session.Following this, review the teaching and learningthat took place using Barret’s taxonomy of readingcomprehension (Appendix 4). In response to this, plana further guided reading session incorporating a widerrange of questions and responses. Write up your notesfrom this and add to your Early Reading File.For Early Years PlacementsReading comprehension is considered to be closelylinked with language comprehension. In your earlyyears setting consider how language comprehension isdeveloped and monitored. How is vocabulary taught?How do discussions about texts develop the children’sinterpretation of texts? Consider how these skills forma foundation for later reading success. Write up yournotes from this and add to your Early Reading File.

Phonics for SpellingWhat developmental phase is the child at?What are the next steps for this child?Activity completed on (enter date)Faculty of Education 15

16 mmu.ac.uk

Record of Lesson Observation for the Teachingof Early Reading – Specifically PhonicsLesson One –Delivering a Teacher’s Plan –to be completed in early reading weekThis grid is designed to support students, school basedtutors, mentors and university tutors when observingthe teaching of phonics. It is designed to enable specificfeedback on subject knowledge, planning and teachingto encourage both student and observer to recognisethe impact their teaching has on children’s progressionin learning.After a lesson observation, highlighted sections ofthe grid should identify where the student is currentlyin terms of their practice, together with targets forthe future, which should ensure that they are ableto move themselves on into the higher grades insubsequent lessons.Grading should be made within the context of therequirements for the placement and so by the end ofthe placement, any student is able to achieve a grade 1.Not all statements will apply to all lessons.Faculty of Education 17

18 mmu.ac.ukThere are some opportunities forassessment for learning built into thelesson.The student is able to discusschildren’s learning.The student is aware of assessmentfor learning but does not alwaysprovide appropriate opportunitieswith the lesson.The student is beginning to be able todiscuss individual children’s progress.The student begins to attempt torevisit and review phonemes /learningalready taught.The review, in parts, attempts to bewell paced and active.Children are encouraged to contribute.The lesson contains no opportunity forchildren to review phonemes/learningalready taught.Children are disinterested and fail toengage in an active way in the lesson.Some children are encouraged tocontribute but often do not engagewith the learning.Revisit and ReviewThe student is clear about what thechildren will learn in the lesson.Grade 3Learning objectives are sometimesappropriate but often lack clarityand focus.PlanningGrade 4Children are encouraged to contributeat an appropriate level.The review is generally well pacedand active.The student ensures that childrenrevisit and review phonemes/learningalready taught.The student is able to discuss childrenwho had difficulties and those whoexcelled.There is clear evidence thatassessment for learning opportunitiesare being used in the lesson.The student has planned learningwithin the lesson around anappropriate learning objective.Grade 2Children are encouraged to contributeat their level with appropriatedifferentiation for the less ableand more able. Additional adultscontribute to the learning and/orassessment.The review is consistently well pacedand active.The student consistently ensuresthat children revisit and reviewphonemes/learning already taughtin a systematic way.The student is able to discuss childrenwho had difficulties and those whoexcelled and to identify next stepsfor them.Assessment for learning is used toinform future planning.The student has planned for theprogression of learning within asequence of lessons and can providea justification.Grade 1

Faculty of Education 19The student teaches and models theskills of segmenting and/or blendingas part of the lesson.The student teaches the skills ofsegmenting and/or blending as part ofthe lesson.Some children are clear about whatthey are learning.New learning sometimes introduced.The student fails to teach the skills ofsegmenting and/or blending as part ofthe lesson.Children are unable to identify whatthey are learning.Lesson consists solely of consolidationof prior learning rather thanopportunities for new learning totake place.New learning is generally introduced.Children are generally clear aboutwhat they are learning.The children practise articulatingphonemes and the student addressesany incorrect articulation.The children practise articulatingphonemes.There is no opportunity for thechildren to practise articulatingphonemes.The student generally demonstr

of phonics, both school and university based and to develop your future practice. It is also intended to focus your attention on Teaching Standards 3 and 6 [DfE 2011, Appendix 1] and to support your progress as you move from being a good teacher of phonics to becoming an outstanding teacher.