How to Teach Reading

Should dyslexic/anxious children be made to read out loud? – The Practice Gap

Should struggling readers be expected to to read out loud in class? Should they be expected read or write the same amount as everyone else? It’s a fraught question and getting your approach wrong can have significant, negative consequences for our most vulnerable learners. Unfortunately, the majority of teachers and schools, for the very best […]

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Are SEN children different?

Dyslexia, SEN

It’s a truism in education to say that all children are different, and of course they are, each child is a precious, unique individual with their own set of characteristics, experiences, and perspectives. At the same time, we are also hard-wired to notice difference. When we meet someone for the first time, we don’t think

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The Dos and Don’ts of Teaching Spelling

Spelling

In the same way that a child’s spelling ability tends to lag behind their reading ability, it seems that the understanding of how to teach spelling seems to lag behind the understanding of how to teach reading. We used to teach spelling more effectively, hand-in-glove with reading as the other side of the reading/writing coin.

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Short vowels? Long vowels? Are they?

Phonics, SEN

This is a question that exercises some. It generally isn’t one of my hills-to-die-on, BUT, you do need to be aware that using these terms can be a real problem for some children. If your pupils genuinely understand what is meant by ‘short’ vowel and ‘long’ vowel then great, these terms can be useful metalanguage

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