CatholicOutlook August 2015
At parent at Sacred Heart Primary, Mt Druitt, engages in the Home Reading program.
Year 3 students were in the top two bands
for writing, which was above state and
national average.
Underpinning the Focus160 program
is teacher professional learning and the
analysis of student data.
Teachers are learning to use the data
they collect on a daily basis to inform the
next steps in teaching for each student
in their class. Teachers do this using a
framework called the ‘gradual release
of responsibility’.
The teacher provides a great deal of
support to students when learning a new
concept, skill or strategy and gradually
releasing responsibility to the student to
do the work so that they are capable of
working independently.
The aim is for learners to become selfregulated, taking what they know and
applying it to new learning.
A focus on writing
In implementing Focus160, St Oliver’s
Primary, Harris Park, uses a variety of
evidence-based best teaching practices,
including learning intentions and success
criteria, regular case management
meetings for students who are at risk and
instructional walks with school leaders.
Year 3 teacher Alicia Sandersan
applies a broad and balanced literacy
approach and a stronger focus on student
progression in literacy.
“We are using the Focus160 structure
and ensuring that every student has guided
reading, modelled writing, guided writing
and independent writing every day, along
with shared reading,” Alicia said.
“Using learning intentions and success
criteria consistently and then using that as
part of the marking criteria against their
writing, tracking data and giving feedback
to students, has been really important in
progressing students.”
Year 2 teacher Catherine Jean-Louis
said the approach had impacted student
learning with the success criteria, helping
students to understand the work that is
required of them.
“Success criteria and learning intentions
have given students a lot of power in their
writing because they are very clear about
what it is they need to do,” Catherine said.
“We’ve also emphasised the writing
process so the students are quite motivated
and driven to plan, draft, edit and
proofread their writing.”
Catherine said there has been a focus
on teacher collaboration which ultimately
benefits the students.
“Collaboration is really important so that
our teachers are on the same page and it
also means there are many eyes watching
the students and gleaning information
about them,” Catherine said.
“It also means we look at how we teach
writing following a writing process,”
EM4 – high-yield strategies to
support literacy
In Stage 4 (Years 7-8), the EM4 provides
structured professional learning support
to English and Mathematics teachers and
leaders in secondary schools.
University of Toronto Ontario Institute
for Studies in Education Associate, Dr Lyn
Sharratt, introduced high-yield strategies
for effective teaching: learning intentions,
success criteria, accountable talk,
descriptive feedback, case management and
data walls.
St John Paul II Catholic College,
Nirimba-Schofields Cooperating
Principal, Philip Smith, said one of the
real learnings they have had working
with Lyn Sharratt was the ability to have
specific conversations using data about the
students, their needs, and what has been
happening in the classroom to support
student learning.
Teachers have been able to collaborate
and talk about what they need to do to
move their students forward.
“Schools leaders are giving teachers
the opportunity to meet in front of the
data walls; to have conversations as
professionals to see what part of their
teaching and learning they need to work on
to help with literacy,” Phil said.
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St John Paul II Learning Community Facilitator, Anya Meek, with a Year 8 student.
Accountable talk
At St John Paul II teachers have been
focused on developing students to
confidently utilise their oral skills in the
classroom to improve their writing skills.
Learning Community Facilitator, Anya
Meek, said the key learning for this
year had been a focus on the high-yield
strategy of ‘accountable talk’, utilising
descriptive feedback.
“The strategies structure the talk and
make sure students can get the most
out of their conversations to assist in
developing their ideas when they start
writing,” Anya said.
“They can build on each other’s
knowledge and understanding, working to
improve their own ideas.”
While St John Paul II is still very early
on in the program, Phil said the data was
showing that the students were engaged,
there had been an improvement in writing,
reading and comprehension skills.
“The data is showing that the students
are actually moving northward,” Phil said.
Home reading program
Sacred Heart Primary, Mt Druitt, has
introduced i