Product reviews for The Literacy Toolkit

For many years we have been saying that literacy is not the sole responsibility of the English Department. We have been encouraging all our staff to see themselves as literacy teachers who should actively and consciously develop our students' abilities to speak, listen, read and write in increasingly developed and complex ways. Many schools have made great progress in these areas but we are all looking for ideas and strategies to move our collective practice forwards. As Ms Sara says, “Literacy should be seen as a vital part of the school culture”. The aim of this book is to support Middle and Senior Leaders, not just Literacy Coordinators, in doing just this.

Drawing on her years of experience as teacher, mentor and literacy adviser, the author sets out first the principles and theories of literacy and literacy development, then offers fifty strategies, all of which can be modified and personalised to particular subjects and groups of students, before offering advice and guidance on whole school or whole department/year group strategies.

The book is aimed primarily at Key Stages 3 and 4 and takes on boards the new National Curriculum. The book however could also be valuably applied to Key Stages 1 and 2 as well as to post-16 and adult education. It would be extremely useful in developing a school's Learning to Learn course and/or their pastoral and tutor time. Many of the strategies could be used regularly during tutor time, which can often be wasted as an opportunity for learning.

To begin with the author sets out a broad, workable definition of literacy. This looks beyond the written word to take in a wider understanding of communication. Theories of literacy are explained as well as overall approaches which will best support students' skills and confidence. The author is a strong believer in the use of visuals and images to develop students' literacy. She sees value in texts which are sometimes looked down upon in terms of literacy, such as comic books and computer games, and highlights the complex narrative structure of these mediums as well as their potential to develop reading skills and understanding of plot structure and characterisation.

The central part of the book explains fifty practical activities for developing literacy across the curriculum. These focus on reading, writing, speaking and listening and can be used in a wide range of subjects, including Maths and PE. They are sufficiently open as to be adaptable to different subject content while still keeping a strong Literacy focus. The author is particularly keen on the development of speaking and listening skills, two things we often taken for granted, in the hope they will naturally develop. Yet we know that reading and writing relies upon them.

Taken together the strategies provide a wealth of possible approaches to literacy which are suitable for real classroom situations and curriculum subjects. They can allow the whole school, or a team of teachers, create that positive experience of literacy which will allow students to become increasingly independent in their learning and confident about their ability to make progress and achieve. They will also help a school develop consistency across all teachers and subjects in approach to aspects such as paragraph or sentence structure, skim reading or scanning, apostrophes or capital letters.

All the strategies come with the necessary proformas and sheets. Detailed instructions are given, with an emphasis on group and paired work as well as on the use of fun and the competitive element to motivate and inspire students. The author is particular keen to stress the ways in which the activities support a Learning to Learn curriculum as well as the Every Child Matters agenda.

In the final section, the author explains various whole school strategies which could be used by Middle or Senior Leaders as well as Literacy Coordinators to assess and evaluate literacy across the whole school, to plan strategies, to develop and train staff, to monitor impact and celebrate achievements. In particular there are strategies and lesson plans for using Form Time (i.e. PSHE and/or Registration time) to develop literacy including oracy.

As the author says at the end, “Imagine a school in which every student loved to read, loved to talk, loved to write.” This book will help any school in moving closer to that ambition. “Begin the journey now. Together we can make a difference.”