Approaches to Non - Fiction Texts at GCSE  - Sponsored by WJEC Eduqas

Liz Cardiff

An exploration of how writers manipulate language for effect and how students can access and appreciate their craft. Resources and strategies for teaching the reading examination skills relevant to all boards will be presented, alongside additional ideas for early preparation at KS3 and KS4.  There will be direct reference to ways in which the development of reading skills can transfer to students’ own writing in the examination.

 FS2

KS4

Learn about successful classroom approaches to tackling the more challenging aspects of the linear 9-1 GCSEs. Using insights from the summer 2017 examiner reports and other evidence – including  Ofqual’s review of summer 2017 exam series - we’ll share practical and creative ideas and resources from practising teachers. How have they helped accelerate their students’ progress and confidence, or created that 'light bulb’ moment in developing understanding of text and task? The focus will be on embedding the key skills essential for success in English at GCSE level. This session is aimed at all GCSE English teachers, regardless of which Exam Board they are using.

Multi-Cultural, Multi-Racial, Anti-Racist Education: The Joan Goody Archive at The George Padmore Institute

Sarah Garrod, Jenny Green & Lawrence Scott - George Padmore Institute

The late Joan Goody was a long time member of LATE and NATE and chair of the Multi-Cultural Commission. Her papers have been gifted by her family to the archive at the George Padmore Institute – an archive of Black presence in Britain associated with New Beacon Books in London.  The papers include talks and submissions to educational reports. There is also an extensive photographic and audio/visual collection. This seminar will introduce the archive and the work of Joan Goody as an English teacher, particularly when she was head of the English Department at Clissold Park School and an advisory teacher within the ILEA, where she ran the Caribbean Teachers Exchange Programme.  Notable is the writing she did on the Role of Language Course at the Institute of Education with Jimmy Britton, Nancy Martin, Harold Rosen and Margaret Spencer. We hope that the introduction to the archive will provoke discussion about the historical importance of the papers for research and the insights they offer in framing strategies for today.

Harnessing The Power of Story to Build Empathy Skills

Miranda McKearney OBE - Chair of EmpathyLab

Empathy is a foundational life skill, with a profound bearing on wellbeing, behaviour, resilience and attainment. New scientific research shows that stories can play a vital role in building this skill, and this interactive seminar shares new approaches being tested in schools and libraries, in partnership with EmpathyLab.

Emma Wild & Dan Cooper-Gavin - Ofqual

An open discussion with Ofqual about how the new GCSE English language and GCSE English literature qualifications are going in the lead up to the second year of examinations. After an introduction from Ofqual’s Emma Wild and Dan Cooper-Gavin, the session will invite delegates to share their views about how the new qualifications are working in practice, and to discuss with them any particular areas of interest.

FLASH Marking: is it the answer to reducing teacher workload?

Leon Walker & Sarah Cunliffe - Meols Cop Research School

FLASH marking is a school led intervention developed by Meols Cop Research School into marking and feedback in English.  The presentation will detail the nature of the EEF funded trial which aims to find out if FLASH Marking has an impact on student attainment and reduces teacher workload.  It will also highlight how to go about setting up your own research trial and rigorously evaluate the impact on student attainment and progress.

Young Ambassadors: The Royal Society of Literature consultation

 Molly Rosenberg - The Royal Society of Literature

Founded in 1820 The Royal Society of Literature is the UK’s national charity for the advancement of literature. We encourage and honour writers, engage people in appreciating literature, and act as a voice for the value of literature.

We currently run a Schools Outreach Programme where we accompany RSL Fellows to state secondary schools. In the last couple of years we have visited pupils at schools in London, Bradford, Exeter, Oxford, Cheltenham and Hull with writers including Sir Tom Stoppard, Lord Melvyn Bragg, Imtiaz Dharker, Daljit Nagra, Grace Nichols, John Agard, Michael Morpurgo and Meg Rosoff.

We are looking to develop our current programme and are seeking your help, views and ideas. We particularly want to make sure that we develop and add value to our existing programme as well as making good use of our Royal status and the distinguished writers who are among our 522 Fellows. At this event the RSL’s Director, Molly Rosenberg, will present some ideas about a proposed Young Ambassador scheme the RSL is looking to establish followed by an informal discussion. We look forward to hearing from educationalists to assist us in developing a programme to help literature reach young people and their communities in the run up to our bicentenary in 2020 and beyond. Come and have your say in how the RSL could be involved with your school or community.

Debate in the English classroom – busting myths, broadening minds

Duncan Partridge -  English Speaking Union

Debating is: extra-curricular, only for the more able, irrelevant to the English curriculum, the preserve of the independent sector….

This session will challenge these and other misconceptions and demonstrate how debating skills can be taught in structured way and used to positively impact attainment in the English classroom.

The seminar is presented by Duncan Partridge, Director of Education at the English Speaking Union, an international education charity, which is celebrating its centenary this year and which has as its focus the development of young people who are: confident communicators, critical thinkers and empowered citizens. 

Using Diverse Literary Texts to Develop Critical Thinking

Andrew McCallam - English & Media Centre

Oracy for Reading
 
Kathleen McBride - Voice 21

Providing students with opportunities to engage in authentic conversations about texts, and equipping them with the skills to do this, supports the development of higher level reading comprehension skills. This seminar will explore how a dialogic approach to reading, in which students learn to reason, discuss, argue and explain, impacts both on attainment and engagement. 

GCSE (9-1) English Language Script Analysis - Pearson

Debra Myhill - University of Exeter

In this session Debra Myhill, Director of the Centre of Research in Writing at the University of Exeter, will look at the outcomes of a recent linguistic analysis of GCSE writing scripts at different grade ranges and the implications for teaching the next cohort of students.

Discovering Literature: digital resources from the British Library

Dr Andrea Varney - British Library

In this seminar, the British Library Learning team will introduce you to Discovering Literature, a website aimed at GCSE and A Level students and teachers that aims to enrich the study and enjoyment of literature. Bringing together digitised original sources (including manuscript drafts, letters, photographs, maps, and more) with expert articles and film content, the resource focusses on illuminating the social, political and cultural contexts in which key writers were working, and the writing processes behind their works.

Corpus for schools: Using corpus resources in A-level English language classes

Dr. Dana Gablasova & Dr. Vaclav Brezina - Lancaster University

This seminar is primarily intended for teachers who want to learn more about using corpus resources in English Language A-level classes.  In particular, the seminar will focus on the use of corpora to teach about the effects of sociolinguistic factors in language use (e.g. age, gender and region). The seminar will introduce participants to a new free corpus resource, an interactive website providing access to the spoken part of the British National Corpus and enabling a comparison of speakers according to different social categories. The website also includes lesson plans and visualisations of the data, allowing students to further improve their quantitative and research skills. The seminar will show how the platform as well as other corpus resources can be integrated into the classroom as part of group activities or they can be used by students to carry out their own linguistic investigations.

The People and the Places: Exploring the personal stories of the people who participated in the First World War and then left a lasting written legacy.

David Rich - First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme & Patrick Turnham - Bourne Grammar School

This seminar supports the teaching of First World War Literature across Key Stages Three, Four and Five. The session explores how students of English Literature can use a trip to France and Belgium to apply context to the works they are studying. Similarly, the session will provide suggestions and ideas for developing context and analysis in the classroom. Schools yet to take advantage of the free government funded battlefield tour programme will also be able to sign up for a 4 day visit to Flanders and the Somme for a member of staff and two students. More about the trip will be shared at the seminar, together with some suggested teaching and learning resources for the battlefield and for the classroom.

CLiC – digital skills for reading literature

Michaela Agnes Mahlberg, Viola Wiegand & Anna Cermakova - University of Birmingham

This seminar introduces free resources to support the teaching of the new English Language and Literature and English Literature specifications. We will demonstrate how the CLiC web app (http://clic.bham.ac.uk/) can be used in the classroom to exploit digital methods to support the reading of narrative fiction. CLiC currently makes it possible to access over 130 books. The texts are predominantly from the 19^th century and include many of the classics as well as books explicitly set for A-Level and GCSE specifications (e.g. Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, or A Christmas Carol). In this session, we will show how CLiC can be used to explore language patterns within a book, make comparisons between different texts, and find similarities across a wide range of texts. We will also illustrate how students can use CLiC as a tool for revision and exam preparation and to complete work for the NEA. During the session you will have the opportunity to try out some examples on your laptop, tablet or phone – if you want to.

The benefits of developing a news reading culture in KS2 and KS3

By 

Nicolette Smallshaw, Head of Education, First News

Saturday 24th June, 10.35am

Seminar SS8

On-going engagement with news stories can enhance pupils’ core reading comprehension skills; promote learning across the curriculum and nurture positive attitudes to reading. This seminar will explore the benefits of developing news reading communities in KS2 and KS3 classrooms, and offer practical suggestions on how to maximise learning opportunities with news.

Developing news reading classroom communities in KS2 and KS3:

Supports the delivery of the demanding reading curriculum requirements at KS2 and KS3, and paves the way to essential skills needed at GCSE

Provides a unique way to engage both reluctant readers and challenge the more able with non-fiction texts, and keep children reading in KS3

Enables pupils to have choice with their reading journeys and habits, and supports the Reading for Pleasure agenda

Encourages reasoned thinking and the opportunity to develop oracy skills with topical news debates and dilemmas that naturally spark children’s curiosity

Provides the opportunity to gradually build robust critical news literacy skills from a young age that are crucial in the era of social media and ‘fake news’

All these ideas that will be explored in this seminar.