Student writing improves when we embed writing instruction into every class. If, in every lesson, we consider how the focus of the session will lead to students writing and practising one of the key skills below, we ensure that our pedagogy is skills-based. In other words, writing becomes a routine part of our teaching because every lesson is conceived with one or more of these writing endpoints in mind:
*Selecting and using vocabulary
*Adopting different sentence structures
*Choosing strategies to achieve a purpose
*Developing structures across paragraphs and a whole written piece
So how can we apply the same approach to reading? In a text-rich subject such as English, how do we create a framework in which every lesson can also contribute to improving students’ reading?
One challenge is that it is often easier to identify the writing outcomes of a lesson than its reading outcomes. It can therefore be useful to think of reading instruction as revolving around four main skills (see the table below). Every time we use a model text for creative or persuasive writing, or examine a passage from a novel or play as part of a text response unit, we can ask: Which of these reading skills would be an appropriate and meaningful focus for this lesson?
| Main reading skill | What students need to do | NAPLAN example |
| Identify purpose and main ideas | Recognise what a text or section is mainly about, why it has been written, or the key message it communicates. | Who is the most likely intended audience for this? Which of these could be a headline for the text? |
| Locate and understand information | Find, retrieve and connect explicitly stated facts, details and information. | Match the person to the things they did according to the text. |
| Analyse how a text creates meaning | Understand how language, structure, images and other techniques are used to influence meaning or achieve a particular effect. | Modality is… Which words are examples of modality in this text? |
| Infer and interpret meaning | Work out implied meanings, including what a word, phrase, action or detail suggests without stating it directly. | Which meaning of the word… is used in this text? |
For example, in a novel unit, we might be regularly re-reading passages from the text to find and explore evidence. Any of these types of tasks done regularly during this will practice the four main skills above:
*Main idea: If this passage was a chapter on its own, which of these would be the best name for the chapter?
*Locate and understand information: All of these statements somehow describe what happens in this passage. Which do you think most accurately describes what happens and why? Or Which of these statements is true and put a box around evidence from the text that supports the statement.
*Infer and interpret meaning: Underline words that create a sense of… (for example, that things are out of control and are happening quickly)
For lots more practical ideas about how to embed writing instruction into your classes, come along to our reading PD in September. Click here for all the information.
