Curriculum: Learning, Teaching and Assessment > Literacy and Numeracy > Upper Primary Literacy Grant > Literacy Aspects >

Planning to manage literacy aspects of a class task

Even though teachers may provide excellent learning experiences and thorough and explicit teaching in the aspects of planning, students who struggle with literacy often need intensive support in this aspect, especially in locating information.

It may be necessary for a supporting teacher and class teacher to tease out exactly and precisely what is expected of students in order to complete a task so that the expectations of both teachers are in alignment. Students who struggle with literacy may need far more explicit information about what is required than their peers.

Some students also need a 'bottom line', a clear idea of the minimum or core requirements for success in a task. A far greater effort is often needed for a struggling student to complete the same task as peers. For some students, success will depend on learning to understand and to manage the task strategically. For example, the students may need to know, if applicable if all elements of the task are of equal value so that time and effort are spread efficiently across all the elements of the task to get maximum success for effort. This is especially so for students for whom Standard Australian English is not the first or home language.

The UPLG initiative focuses on these aspects of planning:

Reading to understand the task
Locating information
Selecting information
Selecting language and vocabulary pertaining to the topic
Note making

Reading to understand the task

Working with peers as they read to understand the task is of great value for students who struggle with literacy.
Experienced teachers of middle phase learners have found the following strategies useful:

Students are provided with an example of a finished piece of writing with the same generic features and similar word length as an expected response to the task. The example is read by peer group members so that all students get a general sense of the genre and task expectations.
Students work in a group to read the task sheet and to identify what they are being asked to do. Students are encouraged to paraphrase their understandings of the task. Students highlight key words and important elements.
Students explore their knowledge of the topic by brainstorming. They then cluster similar ideas under headings while a group member records what they know. (The supporting teacher ensures that students who struggle are provided with a hard copy of this record.)
A teacher supports students to decide what, when, why and for whom they are going to write. (This also helps a teacher to ensure that a student has understood the task.)
A student lists responses to the following questions.
- What do I know? (from the brainstorm exercise)
- What do I still need to know?
- How will I find out?
Students might use concept maps and flow charts to help visualize the structure of their response.

Locating information

This is one of the areas with which students who struggle with literacy experience most difficulty. Teachers and especially teacher librarians can help by directing these students towards resources which are age appropriate and most accessible.

In locating information teachers support students as they develop the reading skills of scanning to find key words in the contents page, index or search engine, and skimming by reading headings, topic sentences and summaries to get a general idea of how relevant the information is before deciding to read more carefully. Lots of practice in this area will benefit students in their transition to high school.

Selecting information

When a student has found pages which contain relevant information a major support strategy is to have these pages photocopied. A student can then use a highlighter to identify the key ideas and the most relevant words and phrases.

Selecting language and vocabulary pertaining to the topic

Level four outcomes expect students to use the specialized language and vocabulary of a topic. In science for example, a student writing about the weather would be expected to use words like precipitation, barometer and so forth.

Using the same printouts as in Selecting information students underline words which especially belong to the topic. Note taking templates can contain a section where students list these words to use throughout their written task. Supporting teachers can ensure that students have a correctly spelled list of all the relevant words of the topic.

Note making

Students sometimes want to copy whole sentences cited in their research. This is especially so for those for whom composing takes such a great deal of effort. When students understand that note taking and reformulating sentences helps to make sure that their final work is really their very own and understand what plagiarism means they are usually more willing to use single words, phrases and paraphrases of ideas in their note making. This is especially so when a student's own ideas are respected and they are encouraged to talk about them and to compose sentences around them.

Students may need support in mastering these essential points of note making:

Use bullet points
Key points only (no sentences unless direct quotes)
One point per line
Use more than one source of information.

A note making template, adjusted to the needs of a particular task is a very important scaffold for students who struggle with literacy. (See Using templates).

^ Top of page