Medway Teacher Training Monday 3 rd December 2018

Medway Teacher Training Monday 3 rd December 2018

Aim • In looking at various key issues there are ways that in teaching the classes in a different way we automatically address and include all or more pupils? • To be effective in the classroom

To Clive Fank you for the letter and the lovele fings you Wrote about me. I apreesheyate it a lot. I am writing to Say I like it. and I now I Whow god I am. Love from George Age 8. Just left 6 th form.

I do not assume that pupils can…. • • • See in a problem free way: acuity and more Hearing is a satisfactory level Language is understood as I wanted/ intended Things have been remembered That are not affected by issues / a life outside of my classroom that is horrendous.

Consider • Legislation, rules, expectations and demands always run ahead of the resources. • There are often creative solutions but these relate to efficacy and outcomes rather than the being able to teach in five different ways simultaneously!

• A pupils written work will not exceed that of their language. • Are we looking to solve the wrong thing by emphasising literacy?

A Model of Speech, Language and Communication Skills Desire to Communicate A desire to communicate, an idea to express and the opportunity to express it Attention & Listening • Hearing • Vision • Attention control • Motivation Understanding the Meaning of Words • Concepts • Words – vocabulary and word meaning • Sentences – meaning of whole sentences Structure & Rules • Sound combinations to form words • Word combinations to form sentences • Sentences to form narratives Social Communication Skills • Conversational Skills • Ability to use non-verbal skills • Proximity/distance Working Auditory Memory Speech • Moving mouth to form sounds and produce words

Medical v Educational model • Certain things are “diagnosed” others are not. • A medical model presupposes medical solutions and that is a problem. • So what is the cure? • Most issues set upon a continuum. • You can identify and do not need to wait. • SEN techniques are basically advanced teaching. They harm no one.

Literacy issues • A whole variety of reasons • Dyslexia as a term explains a lot and hides just as much. • Does a definition help or give an excuse? • Either way we work with the child and hopefully the parent

Areas of confusion • In its simplest it is a difficulty with word. • Dys = difficult • Lexia = words • Whilst other issues are also there they are not dyslexia. • Do not use the medical model

Identification (Senco or Literacy Coordinator) • Single word reading accuracy • Single word spelling accuracy • Phonological skills: blending, segmenting, auditory processing, code knowledge. • Memory-digit span

Type of phonic approach • Synthetic. Through the use and blending of pure sounds then the word can be read / spelt. • Analytical. Through knowledge of sounds, blends, shape, context the word can be read / spelt. • It is critical that the sounds are purer and that a schwa (er sound) is not added when blending.

Video input • Taken from “The Death of Dyslexia” Channel 4 • Research here has still not percolated through. • Intense phonic input usually works and reorders brain function • NOTHING works all the time. • Take a break from input; outcomes matter more than input • Repeating the same approach for years is dull!

National Literacy Trust • Only one-third of teenage boys in the UK say they enjoy reading, a study by the National Literacy Trust suggests. • The Trust found a significant drop in boys' reading enjoyment between the ages of eight and 16 - from 72% at ages eight-to-11 to 36% at ages 1416. • Girls' pleasure in picking up a book also dropped off in the teenage years, though not quite as markedly. • At ages eight-to-11, 83% of girls said they enjoyed reading, but this dropped back to 53% at ages 1416. National Literacy Trust June 2017

Death of Dyslexia • Video from Channel 4 (2005) • • • Phonics usually work Short regular and timed inputs are effective “Effective instruction alters brain function” Dyslexia is NOT related to IQ or lack of Things have been added to technique wise.

Phonics • Decide if an inability to use phonics is due to memory, language, hearing or phonics • Schwa sound. Make sure the sound is purer. • Blending whilst using schwa is NOT blending • NLP exercise

Neuro Linguistic Programming • Where do the eyes go? • Certain tasks are usually coming from the same place of the brain. We can often find our own ways of getting an answer. • It is often helpful to know how the pupil is processing.

Phonics, kill or cure? • Largely, phonics work but……. • Jonathan Solity research findings: • First 100 HFW equate to 50% of spoken, written and read language in English • This principle stands up with French, German and Romanian • Definitions of dyslexia coalesce around phonic manipulation and processing thereof.

• Following an analysis of 17. 9 million words, found that there were 195 unique graphemes and a total of 461 grapheme phoneme correspondences which children could be taught. However, our research suggested that approximately 60 phonic skills (including letter sounds) appear optimal and account for the majority of the phonetically regular words (in all four databases). This means that approximately half the GPCs taught by the majority of the synthetic phonics programs are redundant, and irrespective of their frequency in reading schemes, appear with relatively low frequency in children's real books. We then took the 89 most frequently occurring, monosyllabic words, and optimal GPCs and found that they accounted for approximately 90% of the monosyllabic words in all the databases. These findings were taken as strong evidence that Pareto’s law could be applied to written English, and that if children are taught and optimal number of skills they will be able to read the majority of the words that they encounter in written English.

• Percentages vary but: • Top 20 words in German account for 35% • Top 100 words in English account for 50% • Pareto’s principle • 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

• Solity contends that the teaching of phonic alternatives are confusing. • Principles of Instructional Psychology a rational for teaching a relatively small number of frequently occurring GPC. • Pupils are usually self correcting so “bread is not read as breed”. • Phonic books are constructed to practice various sounds/ blends. This in does not reflect normal writing and can take the interest out of the story,

This is the tale of three Billy goats Gruff. One grey, one brown and one white. They lived in a field and they love to eat grass from daybreak till last thing at night. They had grass for their breakfast and grass for their lunch, and for tea they had more stuff. Soon there was not a lot of grass left in their field"Let’s move on, " said the Billy goats Gruff. Now over the stream they could see a fine meadow, as lush and as green could be. "It's time, " said the youngest "to cross the red bridge, " and his brothers just had to agree. What brave billy goats! For each of them knew that under the bridge in a shack lived a horrible troll who kept watch all the time, and goat was his favourite snack.

Billy the kid, his mum and his dad. Trott, trott. "Let me get a fat red plum. A fat red plum or fill me up, " said Billy the Kid. "Yes!" said Mum and Dad. "Yum, Yum!" Stop! A Big, bad troll. "Troll! Let me cross, " said Billy the Kid. "Let me get a fat red plum. " "No, " said the big bad troll. "Mum, " said Billy the kid. "The Troll is big. The Troll is bad, Get me a plum. "

• • • Teach first 100 HFW Teach main GPC avoid many alternatives Learning by rote is fine for the basics. 100 EXERCISE Much of education is based on key facts but curriculums often move on before these are firmly established. Pupils then start looking to operate by techniques rather than understanding.

Look, Think, Say, Cover, Write and Check • Effective but dull! • Use in short bursts • Try it!

• Look at the word • Think about the word. Draw around the shape of it. • Say the word and the individual letters • Cover the word • Write the word out • Check if incorrect then repeat • Work on the same words for a week. Remember to take a break. Effective but dull!

• We are often having to play “catch up” with many of our children. • They are aware that the work they are doing is something that “younger” pupils are doing. • Self esteem is dented. • Precision teaching (rote) allows for success. Concentrate on HFW and you put a good foundation in. • JR story

Paired reading • Simple but effective. • Several variations available • See handout • If parent can use this at home, even for a few minutes at a time it can make a profound difference.

Modelling • People need to see how something is done. • People need to actually practice this to get it right. • The process if showing people ( particularly parents) is positive when it happens. • “He knows his one to ten”……. . 11?

Copy the next slide carefully. Look at your paper as well as the sentence.

• My hovercraft is full of eels • Copying information has a very limited use.

SSS • The rise of computer games and the fixed focal length that people sit at is causing problems. • Lack of exercise of muscles around the lens. • Pupils can identify all sorts of issues. • Distortions in the environment • People cannot readily compare their eyesight with other peoples eyesight.

1 • A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

2 • A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

3 • A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

4 • A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

5 • A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

6 • A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

7 • A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her. • The Darwin Awards. Fantastic site

Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome • No real empirical evidence that a coloured lens will actually aid / help. • You will find people who will say it does. • It can cost a lot and will raise hope. Some opticians offer this but will have huge expertise to look at other issues around structure of the eye. • Computer games operate at a fixed focal length and this can lead to visual issues as well

But what else? • • Misunderstanding of information Processing of information APD Sequencing Organization Memory issues Behaviour Life in general! • Is that still Dyslexia?

Numeracy • Techniques learnt rather than an understanding. • We often assume that correct answers mean the pupil has an understanding. • Subitising

In a slide • The problem is that numbers are abstract. • The pupil then operates with techniques and memory but no sound understanding with which to manipulate and adapt. • Use a visual approach to give understanding and information on how things are being processed. (See numberlines)

Is knowing the same as understanding? • A correct answer does not mean that the thought process has been sound. • Knowledge is cumulative. We naturally assume that a correct answer comes from a correct understanding.

• There is a need to address the difference between knowledge and understanding. • This is the key area that media and others do not understand. • It is acceptable to be poor at numeracy but not at literacy.

Dyscalculia is not like dyslexia for numbers • Current thinking suggests that it is a congenital condition, caused by the abnormal functioning of a specific area of the brain. • Between 3% and 6% of the population are affected. • These are appear to have different root issues.

Do not work out using a written method • 5 +6 = 42 + 43 = • 998 + 36 = • If you know 4 x 25 = 100 how can you use this to work out 40 x 24? • There are 34 sheep and 28 goats on a ship. How old is the captain?

Other reasons for difficulties in maths • • • Poor visual/spatial perception Speech and language difficulties Self fulfilling prophecy; ‘I’m no good at maths’ Inappropriate teaching/ child’s absence (ABT) Behavioural difficulties (Chemical) Hearing or visual impairment Memory difficulties General learning difficulties (History) Dyspraxia or other motor control difficulties

• Knowledge is cumulative. We naturally assume that a correct answer comes from a correct understanding. • Our approach is spiral one. That is we revisit topics over time rather than an approach in Singapore where addition is taught for two years. If there is misunderstanding we will still move to the next topic. • This can build in low confidence. The pupils understands that their knowledge is not secure.

Some Indicators • • • Counting on fingers Missing relationship between addition and subtraction Very slow to learn number bonds Slow with correspondence one = 1 = one person Counting in ones Cannot count on. Starts at one each time Poor understanding of place value Cannot link symbols to concepts, – is take away Does not understand the role of zero Lack of problem solving strategies DVD Clip 9. 56 -11. 26

Look at identifiers • Refer to accompanying sheet and identify pupils that are possibly affected. • Discuss in pairs as to which pupils this could be? Often pupils who are neither strongest or weakest, usually they are trying hard not to be noticed.

Assessments to run • Subitizing. Can the pupil identify 3, 4 or 5 items without counting them? Most people can. • Can be done with dots on a page or pictures of animals / items? • It will be a concern if the pupil has to count each time.

Counting • Is this done on fingers? Fine if this is age appropriate but not if the pupil is standing out from the others with this method • Are they counting in “ones”? • Does the pupil start at one each time?

Counting • Is the pupil counting without hesitation? • Can they count in twos without hesitation? • When counting in twos are they actually counting in ones but sounding out every other number?

Counting • For older pupils can they count forwards in twos or threes? • Pupils learn the usual sequences as you would a song. Try starting at 3 and count forward in twos.

Counting • During an assessment some may like to use a number line. So with 21 – 19 it is common to see a pupil count back 19. • I will often jog the paper with the number line on it. Enough to make them loose their place by one or two. • If they need to start again or if the answer is 3 for example then there is an issue.

Adding • When faced with 2 + 7 or similar when the larger number is second will they start with the 2? • The issue here is that as numbers are not understood changing the order could change the answer.

What is one more? • Depending on the pupils age will have in impact on the number that you start with. Older pupils 57 or 157. Then say • “What is one more”?

What is two or three more? • Here there is an added “twist”. When asking the pupil to count on by two or three check that they are not silently counting in ones. • You will notice an increase concentration; possibly moving of the lips or even hear them speaking the sequence out loud.

From the pupils that you have. . • Apart from not being able to do maths! • What are the indicators that show / suggest that they are struggling?

Sequences • Things are often learnt like words to a song. Mistakes can be made that have more to do with the way that the words sound. i. e. • 60. 70, 80 90, 20 • 80, 90 100, 101 • 14, 16, 18, 90 • The answers being given are not related to an understanding of number rather they have much to do with the rhyme and rythmn of the sound.

Complimentary addition • 21 -19 is also 19 + 2; if you simply count on. • However for the pupil with difficulty they will not see this. • The original question says take away and they are not prepared to do anythingelse at all.

Crossing decade boundaries • Comes up with addition with younger pupils so 8 + 5 is difficult and 17 + 9. • Subtraction causes the issue to be seen more clearly. 21 -19 or 45 – 39 produce a wide variety of answers. • 11 -2, 31 – 2 or 41 – 3. • If all the pupil has is a technique they will struggle. Either very slow or incorrect.

Principles • Depending on the age of the pupil will depend on the type of example you use in each case. • Surprisingly the issues do not change much over time. Counting on fingers, counting in ones, complimentary addition seem to remain even with secondary pupils

Being found out! • The pupil already knows and is very sensitive. • They are likely to be very practiced at hiding their problem. • You already have a strong sense that something is not right. • They are likely to be under immense pressure as discovery of the issue may well not be seen as a relief.

Who? • There will be some obvious candidates for support that you will have in mind. • However, are there now other pupils who may be successfully hiding! • At this stage I am inviting you to “guess”, this is not fact. It is however worth considering. It is quite common to hide a difficulty by excellent behaviour, neat but slow work as much as doing the complete opposite of that!

Typical symptoms / indicators of dyscalculia seen in school. • • • Poor basic number fact recall eg. counting in 2 s or Lack of understanding of place value Counts in ‘ones’ often using fingers 21 – 19 = 18 Cannot generalise knowledge eg. 10 -6 is the same as 10 p – 6 p • 21 – 19 has to be minus. Never count forward. Inflexible as their method is everything!

• For some low attaining pupils, it appears that over-dependence on counting methods based on objects (fingers or counters), removes the need to commit number facts to memory. • It also removes the need to develop an understanding as the technique does provide an answer. In that sense the pupil’s understanding is how to get an answer. • Therefore they can’t develop effective mental strategies.

Observation and assessment • You are observing a cognitive process! • Very easy to make assumptions • Knowing is not the same as understanding • Incorrect method can give the right answer

General strategies • Visual / patterns…… very important • Identify and build on pupil’s strengths, interests and maths knowledge • Unlike some other subjects maths is either ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, treat wrong answers with respect and sensitivity • Plan alternative ways of recording • Concrete rather than abstract

Why concentrate on simple addition? • What is being attempted is changing the thinking process of the pupil. It all begins with numbers no longer being abstract. • The pace pf the curriculum means that the underlying issue is not addressed. Rather the pupil searches for a method that works as opposed for an understanding. Avoiding the “red pen” and/ or being right is the important and immediate concern.

General multi-sensory strategies • Visual approaches are key • Real or “concrete” material? • Existing school resources are usually fine to use, such as Unifix or Multilink • Numicon • Integrate hearing, saying, seeing and feeling (visual or kinaesthetic are the most effective way of learning numeracy concepts) • Money?

Teaching approaches need to; • Be understanding based • Be carefully structured • Pupils operate in a way to cause them to process differently. • Encourage the active participation of pupils

Structured learning experiences • • Teach foundation knowledge (See later slides) Teach in very small, progressive steps Carefully limit all memory demands Provide an intensive, cyclical teaching programme • Guide pupils carefully from concrete work to abstract work but no need to hurry.

Basic Number Skills • • • 1: 1 correspondence Stable order – consistent number word order Cardinality – final word is quantity of items Abstraction – anything can be counted Order-irrelevance – items in a set can be counted in any order or direction • Amount, word and symbol matching (2 items, two and 2)

Strategies for Learning Addition and Subtraction • Children need to learn some basic number facts and then use them to work out the other facts. • The basic facts are; 1. Number order and basic counting on and back 2. Understanding 0 (zero and in place value, i. e. 704 would be a different number without the 0) 3. Understand adding/subtracting 10 4. Know number bonds to 10 5. Know doubles (eg. 3+3=6 or 8 -4=4) 6. Understand place value

Mechanical practice does not help but…. . • Some facts need to be known by heart in order to help reasoning. It is not a huge amount but this will still be hard. • The paired facts of counting numbers 4 - 9 • All the paired facts of 10 • Doubles facts to 9 + 9

Three reasoning strategies • Near doubling • Reasoning to and through 10 • Complementary addition (21 -19 is 19 +2)

Strategies for Addition • Identify and build on known number facts that the pupil is confident in • Discourage counting methods and encourage mental calculations • Use an ‘empty or partially number line’ model. • Always start with the bigger number, this reinforces the interchange of the two numbers e. g. 7+5 and 5+7. • Identify near doubles, i. e. deducing 6+7 from knowing 6+6 • Adding 9 by adding 10 and subtracting 1 • Bridging through 10: calculating 8+6 as (8+2=10)+4 • Partition; 74+32 is 70+30 and 4+2 • Rounding to a multiple of 10 and adjusting e. g. 35+18 by 35+20 and then -2

Empty line method • To add 36 and 22 • • +20 ____________ _[____________]__________________ 36 56 • Then add on the 2 • • +20 +2 ____________ [____________ ][_______]___________ 36 56 58 • Initially the strategy will be learnt using a empty number line but as the child progresses a question of scale is not considered and is not important.

Nearly empty number line! • 0 5 • 10 15 20 20

Progression in Place Value • To a KS 1 pupil a ‘unit’ is one number • They then progress to thinking of a ‘unit’ to refer to a group (e. g. 4 tens) • Pupils then need to extend beyond working with units (groups) of ten to have effective mental strategies. • To move on to multiplication pupils need to be able to consider one of the numbers as a unit e. g. for 9 x 5 you need to treat the 9 as a unit (group) to be taken 5 times. NOT ONES • Regarding a ‘unit’ as part of a whole i. e ½ or 1/10 is a further development

Who and Where are you supporting • This changes what you can deliver. • If you are dealing with a whole class or small group then checking understanding will be more difficult • In a secondary setting the blank number lines in pencil are an excellent way. Ask pupils to operate like this to see their thinking

Partitioning • Easily allied with number lines but not exclusively so. • Various ways of doing this but allow the process to be seen.

Speed--------- • Pupils know that the work they are being asked to do is too simple. • They also know that they still struggle. • Lots of simple work required very quickly gets around this. • “It is not that you don’t know the answers but this about how quickly you can give them”

Place Value • Dealing only with numbers up to 100, many children internalise the rule that suggests a 1: 1 correspondence between words spoken and what is written. The English system doesn’t explicitly spell out the place value for numbers under 100. • E. g. twenty-two is 22 • Three hundred and twenty-two is 30022

Strategies for Place Value • Use concrete models that emphasis the ‘unit’ or group in units, tens, hundreds etc. Base ten blocks, Dienes blocks, coloured beads, number tracks, number lines with the tens & hundreds highlighted. • Encourage pupils to partition numbers in a variety of ways, e. g. 62 as 60 and 2 or 50 and 12 or 70 less 8 • Use the empty number line method

Multiplication • Is where the pupil moves from counting to calculating. • Rather than look at strategies for this the focus is still around addition and subtraction…why? • Numbers must stop being abstract. Progress is built on that.

How long to see improvement? • With literacy knowledge for reading and spelling is required. This can be gained without understanding (at the word level) • With numeracy, understanding plays a far more significant role. • We are looking to change an existing method (the wrong one!) with numeracy.

• The pupil has taken years to reach this point and their methods are likely to be deeply embedded • The improvements that are seen are going to come in process rather than answer. • Being “right” is something that will make the pupil resistant to change. • Survival during numeracy will have been the main driver for a long time. • Belief that things could ever be different is something that will need to change.

The new curriculum • There is a need to address the difference between knowledge and understand. • This is the key area that media and others do not understand. • i. e. In Year 6 all pupils to know their times tables. This is knowledge and may or may not equate to understanding.

• addition • more than total + • Add sum of • and increase Plus

. . and finally • The main reason appears to be…… • The main approach appears to be….

Visual • So often the strategy we go when dealing with language issues. • Bead strings, Number lines(good for secondary) • A visualisation to numeracy gets nearer to the pupils to showing their working and thinking than most things. For once the method is often visible.

• Sir Thomas More: Why not be a teacher? You'd be a fine teacher; perhaps a great one. • Richard Rich: If I was, who would know it? • Sir Thomas More: You; your pupils; your friends; God. Not a bad public, that.

References • Progression through High Frequency Words Valerie Thornber • Teaching reading through real books Dr J Solity • Language for Learning. An excellent resource and training

• References • Overcoming difficulty with number. Ronit Bird • Dyscalculia Guidance Butterworth and Yeo • The Dyscalculia Solution Emerson and Babtie • Clive Williams Specialist Teacher. Goldwyn School. Ashford Kent. TN 23 3 BT