Talk 4 Writing

Talk 4 Writing developed by Pie Corbett, England

Aim is to develop written language skills by first targeting oral language skills
Valuable for all ability level students
Designed as a stand alone writing program to be ran alongside an evidence
based phonics program, a handwriting program and focussed comprehension
work
Should be used daily
http://www.talk4writing.co.uk/

Suggested Term Timetable of

Implementation:
1/2 Weeks - Poetry
4 Weeks - Fiction (Imitation and Innovation only)
2/3 Weeks - Non-fiction (Imitation and Innovation only)
Invention may be conducted immediately, after a short delay, or in another
subject area for non-fiction.

PREPARATION
Cold writing task
Set key focus and goals for unit
Select, adapt or create a model text

IMITATE
Oral learning of model text
Reading as a reader (predict, infer, connect, evaluate)
Reading as a writer (ideas, organisation, voice, word
choice, conventions)
Boxing up the text/Editing the story map

INNOVATE
Planning
Whole class/group teaching
Daily shared, guided and independent writing
Daily feedback

INVENT
Guiding and independent writing
Application across the curriculum
Hot Task
Feedback
Publication or performance

You cannot create out of nothing;

imagination is manipulation of what you
already know.
Pie Corbett

Letters and Sounds

Devised in UK under Primary National Strategy in the UK 2007
Synthetic Phonics program
Provides explicit guidance for teachers
Aimed at PP - Year 3 and also for students with gaps in their phonics
knowledge
Encourages the development of speaking and listening and important
foundation skills for developing phonic knowledge
Six phases - timetable of graphemes, words, activities
http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/

Synthetic Phonics is a way of teaching children to read. It has been identified

both here and overseas as the most successful approach to the teaching of
reading and spelling. The synthetic' component reflects the practice of
'synthesising', or blending together. The phonic part reflects the process of
linking individual speech sounds (phonemes) to written symbols (graphemes).
Essentially, when a child learns to read using Synthetic Phonics they learn to
link letters to speech sounds and then blend these sounds together to read
words. They also learn to separate (segment) words into their constituent
sounds and link these sounds to letters in order to spell them.

Dyslexia: Defining Features

and Effective Strategies
Dyslexia is a specific learning disorder. People with dyslexia will have
average or above average abilities in other areas. It is important to look for
strengths and encourage these in children with learning difficulties.

Characteristics
Difficulty learning letter names and sounds
Slow and inaccurate oral reading
Dislike or reluctance to read
Problems sustaining attention to literacy activities
Spelling and written expression difficulties
Poor phonological awareness
Slow rapid automatised naming
Reduced short term auditory memory and working memory
Sequencing difficulties
Organisational problems

Accompanying Challenges
Oral language

listening (phonological awareness, auditory memory, foreign languages)

Speaking (word finding, multi-syllabic words, sequencing ideas, foreign languages)
Written language

reading (mechanics - rules, corresponding letter/sound, speed, comprehension)

spelling and writing (mechanics, speed, expressing ideas)
Behavioural

AD/HD (40% comorbidity), Executive Functioning (organisation, planning and monitoring performance), anxiety and
depression, oppositional behaviour, obsessive-compulsive behaviour, parents may have similar challenges

Identifying and Responding

to Dyslexia
Minimise impact/screening - Response to Intervention (Wave 1, 2 & 3), high
quality literacy programs including explicit teaching of phonological
awareness (typically 6 months of intervention)
Psycho-educational assessments - formally diagnosed by Psychologist
Remediation and accommodations (IEP)

See Shared/Admin Shared/All Staff/SAER/DSF Resources - Liz for handout

Remediation for Students with Learning Disabilities, DSF Apps, DSF
Grammar Scope and Sequence

Effective Teaching of
Literacy: A Structured
Approach
5% of children will learn to read effortlessly with or without formal instruction, a
further 20 - 30% will learn to read relatively easily once exposed to formal
instruction. For the remaining 60 - 70% learning to read is a more formidable
challenge, with 20 - 30% of these finding it the most difficult task that they will
need to master throughout their schooling.
(G Reid Lyon, 199)

Early Literacy Essentials

Oral Language
Teach vocabulary explicitly and ensure that children interact with words on
multiple occasions.
Ensure children develop the capacity to read frequently and across a range of
genres.

Phonological and Phonemic

Awareness
5. Phonemic Awareness - Blending, segmenting and
manipulating individual phonemes
4. Onset-rime blending and segmenting
3. Syllable blending and segmenting
2. Sentence segmenting
1. Rhyming/Alliteration

44 phonemes in the English language

26 letters to write the 44 phonemes
175+ graphemes
Important to model the phonemes correctly (e.g. /b/ not buh)
That tricky SCHWA sound -

An unstressed neutral sound vowel sound (sounds like uh)

Most common vowel sound in Australian English
The, mountain, sister

Alphabetic Knowledge
Children need to know the sound for each letter, the letter name and their
forms in order to read, spell and use alphabetic order
Try displaying the alphabet in an arc instead of a line so that the letters are
all in front of you

Phonics
The reversibility of reading and spelling
Phonics refers to the understanding that there are systematic and predictable
relationships between speech sounds (phonemes) and written letters (graphemes)
This knowledge is known a the alphabetic principle

Phonemes

Graphemes

(Sounds/Spelling)

(Letters/Reading)

Systematic (preplanned and progressive) and explicit (modelled, practiced, applied)

instruction

Beyond Phonics
Reading and spelling knowledge includes:
Speech sounds (phonology)
Phoneme-grapheme correspondence
Patterns and generalisations
Orthographic rules
Meaningful parts (morphemes - prefixes, suffixes, root words)
What language the word came from (etymology)
Memory and metacognitive strategies

Remediation for Students at

Risk
Explicit instruction
Emphasis on PA and phonics
Structured and sequential teaching
Lots of practice, revising and assessing
Clear evidence of progress
Multi-sensory or meta-cognitive strategies
Guided and repeated oral reading with appropriate error correction and feedback to improve reading fluency

Direct and robust instruction in vocabulary, reading comprehension and spelling strategies

DSF Understanding Learning

Difficulties
A practical guide
Valuable resource to assist in writing IEPs
Recommended teaching strategies for all areas of Literacy and Number
Recommended teaching accommodations
Information sheets outlining classroom activities (eg 13) and teaching
strategies (eg 20)
Booklet and CD can be found in the office - see Jonelle

DSF Understanding Learning

Difficulties
A guide for parents
Very similar to A Practical Guide
Outlines specific learning disabilities, how they are diagnosed, successful
intervention programs (including IEPs), assistive technology, the rights of
students with learning disabilities in the education system
Book is stored in the office - see Jonelle