From Oral to Written Narrative Moira Lloyd, School Improvement Service Stacey Hicks, Beverley High School Rebecca Coe, Beverley Grammar School

Course materials From Oral to Written Narrative, a pack of activities and ideas aimed at Key Stage 2, Black Sheep Press. Talkabout……secondary school, a pack of activities to develop situational understanding and verbal reasoning skills, Black Sheep Press Moira also add TAs developed own resources to work alongside these

Characteristics of Students with SLCN Disorganised in time Disorganised with possessions Difficulties structuring work Disorganised in place Difficulties with comprehension Difficulties with vocabulary Difficulties generalising from specifics A long time to process information Frequently distracted Moira

Choosing the cohort Y7 Low level 3 in KS2 NC writing test Group of 4 likely to work well together Pre intervention testing in 3 schools Moira to explain test inc control

Objectives To build confidence orally – doesn’t involve written/reading/ worksheet activities - all oral sessions Group of 4 – build relationships Build up listening and understanding, memory, expressive and social skills Improve written work/vocabulary Moira theory Stacie/ Becca to add in comments re pupils reactions to this approach

General Strategies Teach students to file and organise their work Show them the classroom rules Explain the purpose of an activity Emphasise key points Slow everything down Chunk information Give students time to answer Some theory given to TAs

General strategies Provide list of vocabulary for new topics and check understanding Visual cues and concrete materials Use gesture and action Give direct instructions Give written directions and instructions for assignments. Demonstrate and talk through tasks

Lesson Structure Warm up Revisit previous lessons New concept Activities to reinforce concept Summary Becca and Stacie to extend this with what they did.

Using Cue Cards When? Who? Where? Problem Solution Dialogue Emotion Stacie to explain and demonstrate

Personalising the resources Stacie to cut and paste some white board presentations. Becca to describe her experiences.

Pupil Responses ‘I love coming here!’ ‘It’s not like a real lesson’ ‘I think these lessons are working because I can write down my ideas better & describe things better.’ ‘I now know that I have to use when, where, what, who, how & also that a story has a problem & a solution.’ ‘I found these lessons very helpful because now I can get my ideas out of my head & onto paper.’ ‘It also helps me in my Humanities, French & Spanish lessons.’ ‘I’m now more confident.’

TA Responses ‘It didn’t take long to see a definite improvement in the pupils’ performance.’ ‘This Oral to writing Narrative programme clearly builds the confidence & ability of the pupils using it.’ ‘Even those that don’t like writing have enjoyed using this method & have achieved in their lessons & wanted to go on to do writing once the ideas started to flow.’ ‘A brilliant programme that has been proved to work in English lessons as well as other subjects.’

Outcomes Increased TA self confidence Increased pupil self confidence both socially and in class interactions Improved skills Improved motivation Increased lesson enjoyment Improved working relationships