CROSS CURRICULAR - Literacy
Literacy: a tool not a task
Message from the Literacy Coordinator
Literacy is a crucial element of any school for both students and teachers alike. Without literacy skills, students are unable to access the curriculum adequately and ultimately, the examinations they will be judged upon. Literacy allows students to access meaning, to make meaning and express their ideas coherently; these are vital skills which the Government and Macmillan Academy feel are essential to anyone entering the world of work after leaving education.
In October 2007, I had the pleasure of becoming the Literacy Co-ordinator for Macmillan Academy and, since then, have been working with students and teachers to develop resources and strategies to promote Literacy across the curriculum. Students will see these strategies in their registration periods where many reading and writing activities, along with games such as “Boggle” and “Scrabble”, are being introduced. In lessons, we are in the process of implementing a range of cross-curricular starter activities which will, hopefully, embed Literacy in every subject.
Furthermore, the spelling of subject specific key words is a central focus, with departments producing displays of these words which will then be integrated into teaching and learning. As well as this, initiatives such as “Reading Buddies” will continue. This year, Year 9 students have supported different groups of Year 8s with their reading skills every Thursday during Registration. This has had some success in raising reading ability, a success which we hope to repeat with our new “Rainbow Reading” programme which again has a Key Stage 3 focus. This initiative allows students to develop their ability of reading for meaning as they have opportunities to listen to an audio CD of their chosen book as they read. They then partake in various activities designed to assess the level of understanding they have progressed to.
In addition to this, Ms Gill O’Reilly from the LEA’s Families and Learning Division has held some parental support sessions this year. These have involved guidance being given to parents in order for support at home to be specific and targeted. We hope to continue the success of these sessions next year, along with some Literacy Refresher courses which will be on offer for parents, which I myself will run.
This is a very exciting time at the Academy in terms of Literacy with lots of new initiatives in place with many more to follow.
Ms E. Cox
Registration Activities (Year 7)
Below are some fun activities to help with literacy during registration time. Boggle games have also been distributed.
Post 16 Student Sheets
Coming Soon!
Teacher Resources