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Slide Notes

--> give out guidelines on Use of English

- I'm going to talk about WSA. 2 main parts -
1) what we've done so far
2) what's ahead.

- "sustained and integrated" - to be explained later (non-aggressive, persevering, part of everyday life. does not translate into many extra hours, but it means a different way of doing things... and mindfulness about language use.)

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Whole School Approach to Effective Communication in English

Published on Oct 21, 2017

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH

A sustained and integrated approach
--> give out guidelines on Use of English

- I'm going to talk about WSA. 2 main parts -
1) what we've done so far
2) what's ahead.

- "sustained and integrated" - to be explained later (non-aggressive, persevering, part of everyday life. does not translate into many extra hours, but it means a different way of doing things... and mindfulness about language use.)

The journey so far

We can start by looking at what we've done so far
Photo by Infomastern

Two-tiered Approach

1) School-Level (Centralised): Standard English

2) Department-Level (Decentralised): Subject Literacy

There are two main aspects of WSA in our school.

Standard English (addressed at the school level, approach is centralised) and Subject Literacy (addressed in a decentralised manner by the various departments)
Photo by Sanctu

Standard English

What exactly have we done about the use of Standard English?
Photo by jovike

Standard English

  • Helmed by the English Department
  • English For Everyone (E4E)
  • Lesson Observation form
primarily takes the form of E4E.
There is also a lesson obs form implemented school wide.
Photo by jovike

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This is what E4E involves. Hardly a day goes by without an encounter with E4E

1) Common Spaces
2) Assemblies
3) Communication Systems

Make use of


- Toilets, corridors, canteen, noticeboards
- assemblies in the morning and afternoon
- TV broadcasting system and email system

1) Emails
2) Performances/ Presentations / Speeches
3) Posters
4) Video Productions

Messages communicated through

Students as ambassadors

Immersion
Awareness
Practice

Through all this we hope to achieve Immersion, awareness and practice

Bright Spots

  • Success as far as immersion is concerned.
  • E4E is definitely a part of the OPSS school experience.
  • A sizable group of students are involved in supporting the campaign.
  • No active resistance observed.
- What we see is that... there is success as far as immersion is concerned...

- hardly a day can go by without you encountering E4E (toilets, going up and down the stairs)

- students like what other students produced.
Photo by jovike

1. "Popcorn group"
2. "Facebook-Whatsapp group"
3. Fan Club

On the flip side...
figuratively, the entire E4E campaign is like a drama production

The teachers fall into 3 categories

Fan Club - about 20 of them and they happen to teach EL / Lit!

Challenges

  • WSA is perceived as an "EL Department thing".
  • Immersion has not been translated into awareness and practice.
  • Weak Links: (1) Standard English not being on people's minds; (2) Enforcement
The greatest challenge is that WSA is perceived as an EL Department thing.

People need to recognise that EL is important to the child.

Cannot be EL department only harping on this alone.

How are our beliefs formed? by the people in our circle... the people we mix the most with.

Subject Literacy

Let's take a look at what's been done about subject literacy.

Subject Literacy

  • Training on Subject Literacy by ELIS
  • WSA Forum
  • SC Engagement Session
  • "Different strokes for different folks" approach

1. The Army
2. Firefighters

(Chose picture of firefighters here because there are more firefighters than soldiers.)

The departments are either armies or firefighters

The Army - some (but not most) departments are like the army. They've adopted certain standardised approaches (eg certain ways to engage students in class, certain ways to guide essay-writing).

Most are firefighters (WSA has never been a big fire.) There's always a bigger, brighter fire elsewhere.
Photo by AMagill

Bright Spots

  • Subject Literacy done in all IP departments
  • Entirely needs-based. Full relevance.

Other observations

  • Unevenness across departments and within departments
  • Mostly implicit and incidental
  • Insecurity and a sense of inadequacy
  • Lack of dialogue across departments and within departments
  • Time constraints; difficulty balancing with other areas of work
(includes challenges, but not all are challenges)

- uneveness - not always a concern. We've chosen a decentralised approach, it'll definitely be uneven. but it is a concern if there are department members that are really weak in subject literacy, and it's not addressed.

implicit - not necessarily a bad thing. but it leads to under-reporting.

A lot of underreporting
little sharing
little awareness of what it is about, mainly because it's not the priority.

- people are not sure what subject literacy is, and they feel that it's got to be "sophisticated" enough or fanciful enough.

The Way Forward

Overall Approach (Continue to be...)

  • Two-tiered
  • Concerned with both Standard English and Subject Literacy
  • Needs-based
  • Sustained and integrated
affirm the place of Standard English in WSA.


Sustained - cannot be a sprint. Language habits take many years to form, it'll take a long time to change.

Integrated - not too many extra activities. will create resentment.
Photo by Sanctu

Overall Approach (change needed)

  • WSA should be part of everyday living in OPSS
At this point we do see a little bit of this. Sometimes I hear KPs talking to their teachers about the use of language.

part of all our T&L related work.

Role of KPs is important. (Teachers do take the cue from us.)
Photo by Sanctu

Standard English

  • KPs (as Heads and ROs) to help enforce standards (refer to "Guidelines on Use of English")
  • Tools and platforms: Guidelines on the use of EL; Lesson Observation Forms; Post-obs conferences; work reviews; KP walkabouts
- take a quick look at the Guide to use of English

Notes: Doesn't have to be a major point. Understand there are other prioritiies, but this should be raised
Photo by jovike

Subject Literacy

  • Continue with "different strokes for different folks" approach
  • No micro-managing at the school level
  • IP Heads have full autonomy to decide on the details.
  • Keep the baseline in mind (to be explained)
  • Progress should be determined by looking at the outcomes.
IP heads are the clearest about what needs to be done, and how WSA should feature in the department's work.

Will not prescribe - there should be how many sharing sessions... you should buy books on subject literacy.

Subject Literacy

  • Periodical online conversations for accountability and inspiration
  • PE Department and Art Unit will be collaborating with ELIS and blazing the trail for PE and Art at the national level.

Baseline

  • Teachers model the use of appropriate subject-specific language.
  • Teachers create opportunities for students to acquire knowledge of subject-specific language.
Basic standard/level expected

Baseline

  • Teachers create opportunities for students to use subject-specific language.
  • Students are able to articulate subject knowledge using appropriate language. This should include the correct use of both content and function words.

Some examples

Photo by mattcornock

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Strategies to make thinking visible, and you do it through language

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Teach them to verbalise their understanding.

Teach them to respond to command words

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Talk Moves (Eg)

  • Seek Clarification ("Can you elaborate on X?", "Can you be more specific about X?")
  • Ask students to restate others' ideas ("What do you think X was saying?", "Can you put in your own words what X just told us?")
Photo by mattcornock

Talk Moves (Eg)

  • Probe for reasoning ("Why do you think that?", "How can you support that?")
  • (Complete framework and examples can be found in notes from "Opening Up Talk for Learning in Subject Classrooms")
Photo by mattcornock

Opportunities for Classroom Talk (Eg)

  • Group presentations
  • AfL practices (eg check-in, check out, peer conferencing)
  • Debates
  • Think-pair-share
Photo by mattcornock

Judicious
Meaningful
Effective

Some key words

Note: not going for anything fanciful (recording multiple videos, or doing multiple drafts), but going for what works.

Don't overdo it. Every lesson--> what do you think? can you elaborate on that?
Photo by plenty.r.

Some Suggestions

  • Facilitate sharing of subject literacy strategies in an economical manner (emails/short sharing sessions/sharing of resources that support subject literacy).
Does not have to be one long monstrous sharing session. could take just 5 minutes.
Photo by nhuisman

Some Suggestions

  • Invite teachers who have attended ELIS workshops / WSA Forum to share their takeaways/identify good strategies.
  • Share subject literacy resources with your department members (Check out ELIS' website).
Photo by nhuisman

Some Suggestions

  • Develop staff competence in a targeted way. (Eg focus on the weaker department members; share effective subject literacy strategies that are easy to scale up.)
(eg easy to scale up – PEEL)
Photo by nhuisman

Some Suggestions

  • Identify points of synergy between WSA and other pieces of work (eg AfL, MP4).
  • Integrate WSA into the department's regular work (Eg Designing SOW, creating lesson materials)
not to do additional work, but to do work better
Photo by nhuisman

Questions to ponder

  • How might we motivate teachers to adopt classroom practices which support students' development of communication skills and subject literacy?
  • How might we gauge progress in teachers' use of Standard English in class?

Questions to ponder

  • How might we gauge progress in teachers' use of strategies that strengthen subject literacy?
  • How might we gauge progress in terms of student outcomes with regard to both use of Standard English and Subject Literacy?