Christopher Such

I've made a blog-post where all the resources I've shared - from science curriculum documents to tier two vocabulary lists - can be downloaded. Help yourself! primarycolour.home.blog/2019/11/02/one…

@MeganGierka @athenaeumbc And it just gets better and better.

@athenaeumbc Speaking of books... @Suchmo83 I cannot put my brilliant friend down! I'm about 1/3 of the way thru 🥰

Fewer than half of US adults read a book last year. Even fewer read an actual novel, and the trend is looking worse still for teenagers. Why is nobody talking about this??

"Reading lessons involve precious little actual reading, especially of whole texts. There is a lack of text discussions aimed at developing pupils’ appreciation of written language and their active, personal role in reading." In England, they are grappling with the same issues as US schools. From @Suchmo83's latest:

@karenvaites This model is more about helping teachers towards a shared theory of reading development. The practicalities of what the 'explicit teaching and meaningful text experience' looks like (including lots of scaffolded reading practice) is the subject for an entire book...

Also, I'm sitting with @Suchmo83's model of reading comprehension. It all feels accurate. I wonder if there is a way to incorporate the broader themes of the piece, around the role of volume of practice with actual texts.

@laurapatranella @karenvaites I find that the best way is to present it all together and then boil it down further with a short summary. Here is my 9-minute summary that I direct participants of professional development towards after the sessions we have together: youtu.be/JvtUxB5WM1k?si…

@karenvaites @Suchmo83 I love this model, but how do you distill it to most teachers..and/except really you need to understand how interconnected the pieces are. 🙂‍↕️

@mobo40 I really hope you find it to be useful. 🙂

Very happy to arrive home to my book today. Thank you @Suchmo83 Still buzzing to have won this 😊

Huge misconception in education: that every lesson, activity, etc. has a 1-1 corresponding skill outcome that must be observable and assessable. "Why are you reading aloud to 8th graders? Can't they read?" "Yes. But my reading to them is enriching their souls. So hush up."

🤔What if a 3-minute task could flag students with DLD? Ward et al.'s (2024) meta-analysis of 46 studies established that children with DLD score 2 standard deviations below typically developing peers on sentence repetition. Ou new study extended that work. We found that fourth graders with dyslexia who qualified for speech-language services scored significantly lower on sentence repetition than dyslexia-only peers (Hedges' g = −1.61), suggesting the task may help identify broader language vulnerability within dyslexia-identified populations. 🔗Read it here: rdcu.be/ffZQd

@MeakerR @furlong_kate @Team_English1 @EnglishWales That's really lovely to hear. Thanks for sharing.

@furlong_kate @Team_English1 @EnglishWales @Suchmo83 is an inspiration and cannot recommend his book enough to inspire a whole-school approach to reading.

Does anyone have any successful whole school reading strategies that they use and are willing to share? @EnglishWales @Team_English1

📢 3 more expert speakers, 3 exciting, research-led perspectives, 1 powerful day of professional learning – @Suchmo83, @AmandaWilson910 & Charity Novick are joining #rEDEastAnglia at @MilCollege this June! ✈️ 👉 Book now: tinyurl.com/mryr325c #TransformingPD #TransformingLives

@turing_hamster @MrZachG This tends to require knowledge of GPCs covered in the first 18 months of most systematic phonics programs I've come across, alongside strong blending using these GPCs.

@turing_hamster @MrZachG In terms of when a pupil is ready for their decoding practice to primarily be with 'normal' text, a sensible heuristic is to do this once the kid is making sensible decoding attempts throughout unfamiliar words (without resorting to a partial-decode-then-guess strategy). >>

phonics is a critical piece, but it's not the ONLY thing a kid needs to be a strong reader kids need to know the phonics skills with ease. that allows them to focus on comprehending the text so what should you concretely do after phonics? build reading fluency via repeated reading 1. use decodable texts (texts that mostly follow the phonics rules and use Heart Words that the student has learned) 2. model how to read the text to the child. this teaches them the prosody and flow of how it should sound 3. (optional) echo reading. teacher reads a line, student reads the line back 4. have the student read it independently a couple more times, giving feedback on their reading 5. assess their comprehension. it's a good signal of whether the repeated reading worked. it allows them to comprehend texts that they may not have been able to with only one cold read

@MeganGierka @turing_hamster @MrZachG Absolutely agree that scaffolded use of 'normal text' should be introduced to while class instruction while kids are still learning phonics. I tend to find that the latter stages of the second year of phonics instruction is a good time for this.

@turing_hamster @Suchmo83 @MrZachG I recommend introducing scaffolded text alongside decodable as students were beginning to master most phonics programs, usually a few months into 1stgr

@DeputyGrocott Timelines in here might help. Start with Y6: drive.google.com/drive/folders/…

I know asking for resources is a bit old hat on here now 😔 but I’m looking to get the children to create a ‘big picture’ history timeline. So putting key events and civilizations in one timeline so they can see where the Ancient Greeks ‘fit’. Does anyone have anything like this?

This is likely to get some pushback. Everyone knows how hard parenting is and any finger pointing raises hackles. But it’s worth saying that lots of teachers - and indeed parents - are saying this privately. It’s a conversation politicians find hard to open, but needs to be had.

@MeganGierka @MelK_Ed Just to note: a 'pass' mark on the phonics screening check is usually 32/40.

@MelK_Ed @Suchmo83 Same 😭 we have so much to learn from our friends across the pond. How many kids do you think would pass this screener by end of gr1 here in the states? Phonics screening check: 2025 materials - GOV.UK share.google/dubDL49hR8wswc…

Wednesdays I tutor a group of 5th graders who had ✔️Fundations ✔️Into Readings foundational skills ✔️ IMSE’s version of Orton Gillingham With all that phonics why can’t they spell? Bc practices like this aren’t best practice. It’s a pointless a waste of precious time

@etaknipsa There are organisations out there that try to make this happen, but I think it's increasingly difficult given the number of households where both parents work.

@Suchmo83 Yes DBS worries killed the zeal for volunteers if I recall which was a shame . LTU where I now work encourages and trains trainees to go in as volunteers to hear readers on their days off. I reckon there could be mileage in volunteers if trained properly..

I've seen a fair few people suggest recently that the 'science of reading' can essentially be boiled down to two messages: 1. Explicitly teach kids to decode (i.e. systematic phonics). 2. Build knowledge. But in many schools, these two things alone will fail. >>

@etaknipsa Even in Y6, I would frequently take my class outside with skipping ro ps for 5 minutes to blow off the cobwebs in the middle of the afternoon. We accept that adults won't concentrate after lunch for 2+ hours straight, but then expect 6-year-olds to do exactly that. Bizarre!

@etaknipsa On a similar note, it astounds me how many children in KS1 don't get afternoon play time in order to find time for just a little more history or science or maths. I think it is glaringly counterproductive. >>