The year-long storytelling curriculum

Sue Lyle delves into an innovative teaching practice in which pupils develop their own creative story over the course of a school year. The year-long storytelling curriculum is easy to plan and can be taught in a way that meets learning objectives from the Early Years curriculum.

Sara Stanley is in inspired infant practitioner and I invited her to Swansea to work with teachers in four different schools for one day each. She worked alongside teachers in the Foundation Phase (age 3-7 in Wales) to introduce them to philosophical play in the classroom. One of the teachers, Lucy Martin in Glynncollen Primary School, decided to take on the challenge of introducing a year-long storytelling curriculum into her classroom. Mid-way through the year I visited her for a morning and documented some of what was happening through video, photographs and field notes. Later in this article I reflect on what I saw, but before we join Lucy in her nursery classroom I report on an interview I carried out with Sara who explained what the year-long story curriculum looks like.

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      string(5672) "the age of 13 months through to school age, highlighted the importance of adults being interested in what children are saying and entering into real conversations with them. Whitebread (2003) advocates that early years educators do the same by providing opportunities for meaningful conversations between groups of children, and between children and adults. Other research shows the importance of a child’s growing control of the spoken language for the development of thinking skills; the more precisely language is used, the more children are enabled to generalise, categorise, to manipulate ideas and to explore ideas of cause and effect (Riley and Reedy, 2003). The children’s communication charity I CAN affirms the importance of language as a key skill, “central to children’s intellectual, social and emotional development.”; children with poor communication skills are more likely to have behavioural issues in social situations.For schools and other educational settings, creating a literacy culture in the broader context, rather like a total immersion in a foreign language, encourages and supports the development of good reading skills. An audit might focus across leadership, teaching and learning, parent and carer engagement and wider or extra- curricular activities (Achievement for All). It is looking at where change is needed, being creative and thinking of new ways of presenting ideas; they may not always be conventional. 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Often, it is simple changes in multiple areas of practice which make the difference.Opportunities in school for pupils to discuss and share ideas and present to the wider group supports the development of many literacy skills; the Debate Mate core programme, working with schools in areas of high child poverty, has provided a further platform for this. In the classroom, it is allowing time for children and young people to work in groups, teams or in pairs, both on a formal and informal basis, and allowing time for thinking, reflecting, questioning and imagining. These skills are both developed through reading and develop reading: reading allows children and young people to develop their potential. Simple changes are often all it takes. Examples from schools working with Achievement for All show the change in a Year 3 boy who loved reading to his little brother at home, but was a reluctant reader in school, often disruptive and was at risk of not meeting his literacy targets. 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Not only did their children’s attainment improve, but many parents went on to achieve NVQ qualifications in literacy. Achievement for All works with schools, early years setting and further education colleges across the country supporting them in getting better outcomes for their children and young people. Through our evidence-based framework, we have reached over 100,000 children and young people experiencing challenges, needs and disadvantage, improving their outcomes in reading, writing and maths, up to 50% higher than the expected outcomes for all children. 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Reading

100 Million Minutes Reading Challenge Matters

17 Apr 2018

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Childfile

Child File - Developing Professional Practice

20 Jun 2017

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      string(5666) "books with work so that progress can be evidenced,a change to the curriculum and the looming pressure of tests etc. But for many children,this sudden abrupt change in the way they are expected to engage with their learningis difficult to adjust to and can cause a dip in progress as a result. Effective transition,needs to be a smooth and gradual process, that builds on and extends what has gonebefore and, as the pedagogical approach in the EYFS is often quite different to that inKey Stage 1, developing a shared understanding amongst staff is surely the first step.Planning also needs careful consideration. 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It is even withdrawn on occasions, as a punishment for ‘bad behaviour’ ornot working hard enough to complete set tasks. Sometimes teachers set aside specialtimes for play as a treat for working hard, often called ‘Golden Time’, which sends a clearmessage that play is a reward for hard work, and that real work is always adult initiated.Most schools have teacher led classrooms once the children move into Key Stage 1,and plan dedicated teaching times for teaching communication, language and literacy;this is usually done with rigour. The teaching can become activity focussed, centeringaround worksheets, cutting and sticking activities and other tasks designed andplanned by the teacher, some of which do little to motivate and extend the learning.Real learning, however, comes from when the children have the opportunity to practisetheir skills and apply their learning to different contexts and it is this time that is oftensqueezed out in the classroom, as more and more teaching is timetabled in.As adults, we must learn new things all the time, new skills at work, new hobbiesand skills for everyday life. Rarely is that learning truly embedded if we don’t see thepoint and how it links to something we know already, and without practice we oftenquickly forget. 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Special Needs

Early Years: Planning The Transition from Play

16 Apr 2018

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      string(5660) "process, that builds on and extends what has gone before and, as the  pedagogical approach in the EYFS is often quite different to that in Key Stage 1, developing a shared understanding amongst staff is surely the first step.Planning also needs careful consideration. It is all too easy to fall into a default mode of teaching, a comfort zone, where the style and method of delivery is dictated by the preference of the adult, or the subject norms instead of the needs of the child. Young children need a range of styles and methods from informal and wholly child initiated, to very formal and wholly adult initiated, the important thing is that the best method is used for the desired outcome and the age and stage of development of the child is considered. For example, you sometimes see very young children sitting on the carpet for extended periods of time with phonic flashcards; this fits well with the idea that phonics is ‘real learning’ and the pressure is on for children to pass their phonics check in Year 1 – so it needs to be done. Or does it? Is there another way? Consider the teacher who uses the outside space as a resource for learning, or the sand or water tray for children to fish out words and digraphs, or chalk to practice writing, or hoops with letters in to collect objects. This is an interactive, multisensory engaging lesson that achieves the desired objective, and takes into consideration the age and stage of the child. It can be extended easily, if the children show signs they are ready to move on. This is a recognised approach in Reception, but often does not continue into Year 1, often due to a lack of understanding of play based learning and early years pedagogy. Play in school is often viewed as something children do when they have finished their ‘real work’, a treat or a chance to let off steam so that they can concentrate better afterwards. It is even withdrawn on occasions, as a punishment for ‘bad behaviour’ or not working hard enough to complete set tasks. Sometimes teachers set aside special times for play as a treat for working hard, often called ‘Golden Time’, which sends a clear message that play is a reward for hard work, and that real work is always adult initiated. Most schools have teacher led classrooms once the children move into Key Stage 1, and plan dedicated teaching times for teaching communication, language and literacy; this is usually done with rigour.  The teaching can become activity focussed, centering around worksheets, cutting and sticking activities and other tasks designed and planned by the teacher, some of which do little to motivate and extend the learning. Real learning, however, comes from when the children have the opportunity to practise their skills and apply their learning to different contexts and it is this time that is often squeezed out in the classroom, as more and more teaching is timetabled in. As adults, we must learn new things all the time, new skills at work, new hobbies and skills for everyday life. Rarely is that learning truly embedded if we don’t see the point and how it links to something we know already, and without practice we often quickly forget. Children are no different, but it is not that uncommon to find schools that timetable teacher led activities throughout the day, with no opportunity for children to make choices about how to practise and extend their learning. Another issue with the teacher led classroom is the issue of speaking. Without doubt the ability to speak well in a variety of contexts, using a rich and wide vocabulary paves the way for success at reading and writing. Some schools employ methods such as ‘talk for writing’ which are successful, but do we need to go further? What about ‘talk for learning’? Talking about concepts, questioning and explaining your thinking are key for the development of high order learning and need daily practice. Just how much time is planned for children to question each other, discuss concepts, explain their methods, challenge each other’s thinking in the average classroom? It would be interesting to see how much talking is planned for in the school day. The problem with a knowledge based curriculum is that it encourages a timetabled approach and an over emphasis on schemes of work, but if learning is to be meaningful it should be to meet a need, to solve a problem or satisfy a curiosity and its purpose needs to be clear. Not many of us undertake learning for its own sake, we need a reason to attend a class or do a piece of research either to solve a problem, or to open a future opportunity, but all too often young children are taught to do things without the purpose being clearly explained or shown. The teaching of Mathematics is a good example of this, children are often taught skills out of context in line with a scheme of work and then have limited opportunity to apply their skills. Adults set up Maths corners with weighing tables, or give out worksheets with lines to measure, or ask children to sort shapes or count their faces, or recognise coins. Why? What is it for? What does it mean to the children? And more importantly when the lesson is over how or when will they practice using their skills? Surely it is better to teach children the skills they need in order to do something else and making sure all opportunities are used – measuring round heads to make headbands, weighing ingredients for cooking, working out how many chairs we will need to put out for assembly, sharing fruit or sweets for"
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Leadership

Early Years: Planning The Transition from Play

7 Nov 2017