Presented at the Hands On Literacy conference, 15 Nov 2008, Singapore

1. Whole School Literacy –Whole School Literacy –
Aquinas CollegeAquinas College
Presentation byPresentation by
Marj KirklandMarj Kirkland
Teacher-LibrarianTeacher-Librarian
Aquinas CollegeAquinas College

2. What is ‘literacy’?
• “The ability to read and
write.” Australian Oxford Dictionary,
Penguin English Dictionary, Macquarie
Dictionary
• “Skill in or knowledge of a
particular subject.” Penguin
English Dictionary
• “The ability to use
language effectively.”
Macquarie Dictionary
• (Implicit in the above definitions is a
level of understanding of context,
audience, etc…)

3. New definitions of
literacy…
Shaping and
making meaning
of text in a
corporate
controlled
media
environment…
•Exposing
•Employing
•Expressing
•Ethics
Dr Allan Luke – Critical literacy –
Stresses the importance of teaching
students not just to read, but to
understand their world, to be
constructive sceptics.

4. Personal
Reflection:
Why is
literacy
important?
How would your
life be
different if you
had poor
literacy skills?

5. http://www.trauger.net/farsidepage.htm
Literacy –
A life raft!

6. Aquinas College
•Co-educational Catholic school
•Situated on the Gold Coast, Queensland
•650 students
•Mixed socio-economic population
•Mission statement: We offer “…a dynamic, challenging, rich and diverse
range of learning experiences.” We value “a process of constant curriculum
renewal.”
Community of learning

8. A little Background….
• There were already many literacy initiatives in place at Aquinas;
- Research into Boys and Reading
- Reading programs – Literature Circles (Years 8 & 9);
Readers’ Cup (Year 8)
- Romero Centre learning support
- literacy activities taking place in individual subject areas .
• Staff survey in 2004 identified written literacy as our greatest area of
need.
• Literacy Committee established 2005.
• Identified need for a systematic gathering and analysis of data.
What is the correlation between the literacy of our Year 8 intake
and our Year 12 exit literacy performance indicators?
What improvements could be made in teaching literacy in our
school?

9. Why a Whole
School Literacy Plan?…
• To outline ‘where we are’ with literacy;
• To establish our goals and priorities;
• To state how we are going to meet these
goals, including specific actions and
timelines;
• To place what we are presently doing in a
philosophical framework.
(Hill & Crevola, Characteristics of an effective literacy
strategy, Unicorn 24,2, August 1998, p.74-85.)

10. Who are key people to
involve in your
consultation process?
• Staff – they’d set written literacy as priority;
• BCE Literacy consultant;
• Key changemakers/stakeholders (3 – 4);
• Delineate roles for committee;
• Consultation with HODs;
• Keep Principal in loop;
• Feedback to staff and parent/community.

11. What would you include in a
Whole School
Literacy Plan
for your school?
5 – 10 points

12. Aquinas’ Literacy Planning Matrix:
8 Components of the Whole School Literacy Strategy
Focus Community Profile Shared Vision Strategic Community
Partnerships
Goal:
(2 years)
• The school's literacy plan provides a flexible
approach to a wide range of issues relating to student
diversity based individual needs.
• The community profile contains information on
community literacy practices and expectations and is
recognised in the school literacy plan.
• The school's literacy plan meets the needs of the
diverse range of students identified in the community …
• A clear, consistent, professional language is used
in discussing and planning literacy programs.
• Literacy is included in school programs for all
KLAs.
• The school's literacy plan includes oral, print and
multimedia.
• School documents use a consistent, professional
language to describe a repertoire of literacy practices.
• The school has provided written information to
parents about existing literacy programs in the school.
• Families are involved in and are encouraged to
support students' literacy development.
• Individual literacy programs developed.
• The whole school literacy program is enriched by
the planned integration of productive partnerships with
parents and community.
Present: • The community profile contains some information
about community literacy backgrounds which may
influence literacy programs. Some special programs.
• Some readily identifiable aspects of student
diversity are included in the community profile.
• The community profile is a description of the
school and its community.
• Information on students is mostly statistical data
not related to literacy teaching and learning.
• The school's literacy plan is confined to a
repertoire of literacy practices in the English program.
• Some common language and sharing of literacy
practices occurs when teachers plan co-operatively.
• Individual teachers decide upon the literacy
practices in their classrooms.
• Sharing of literacy practices occurs informally and
infrequently.
• The school has provided some written information
to parents about existing literacy programs in the school.
• Parents are not involved in class literacy
programs.
• Some community expertise in literacy is used in
an ad hoc manner in individual classrooms.
Evidence
of
present
profile:
• Mission/vision statement, educational brief & staff
handbook etc. detail cohort, define expectations of staff
& responsibilities in relation to literacy, teaching &
learning.
• Some statistical analysis has been conducted on
present literacy initiatives, cohort etc.
• Romero & McAuley Centres’ students ascertained;
some understanding of literacy strengths/weaknesses
translated into strategies and scaffolding.
• Some common language about literacy.
• Some discussion/sharing of tasks in some
subjects and across some subject areas but complete
isolation of some staff members from this process.
• Teachers/HODs have an understanding of need
for literacy across KLAs but action/planning does not
always reflect this.
• Lack of common language/knowledge because of
lack of knowledge management.
• Parent involvement in planning is minimal.
Parents are rarely consulted.
• Some written information about current literacy
programs and encouragement of parent involvement in
literacy practices at home is communicated from school.
• Guest authors used in some classrooms/class
levels.
• IEPs.
• Parents not involved in classrooms.
Needed
to attain
goal:
• Development of a literacy plan – goals &
suggested initiatives; needs of range of students
addressed.
• Ownership by HODs.
• Range of options available to staff to implement
plan; Flexibility but responsibility in approach to
teachers.
• Analysis and reporting of data.
• IEPs – Understanding of student needs in terms
of outcomes & levels; detailed literacy profiling of
• Development of literacy plan following extensive
preparation – incl. data analysis, consultation with
HODs/staff.
• Greater understanding/knowledge of syllabus and
its language/literacy requirements.
• Professional dialogue leading to practice across
KLAs.
• Common curriculum elements identified &
recognised across KLAs.
• Consistent, ongoing language used.
• Have clearer idea of where we are going and
communicate this vision.
• Launch & publish literacy plan.
• Parent information nights to provide information,
understanding and discussion of programs.
• Use community expertise where
appropriate/necessary.

13. What does our WSLP
include?
• The Whole School Literacy Plan
document,
• Action Plan 2006 – 2008, including:
Shared Vision
Standards and targets,
Assessment and monitoring,
Classroom organisation and pedagogy,
Intervention and Special Needs,
Leadership and professional learning.

14. Literacy – an Overview
Our Whole School Literacy Plan promotes a multi-faceted approach to
literacy:
• Developing a workable whole school literacy plan, with an associated
action plan;
• Scaffolding and modelling written assignments across the key
curriculum areas;
• Teaching research and referencing skills in each key curriculum area;
• Creating a reading culture through programs such as Literature Circles,
Readers’ Cup and Australian Readers’ Challenge;
• Using data collection to assess and improve literacy programs.

15. What effective literacy
programs are currently in
place at your school?

16. WSLP at Aquinas
Our Whole School Literacy Plan promotes a multi-faceted approach to
literacy:
• Developing a workable whole school literacy plan, with an associated
action plan;
• Scaffolding and modelling written assignments
across the key curriculum areas;
• Teaching research and referencing skills in each key curriculum area;
• Creating a reading culture through programs such as
Literature Circles, Readers’ Cup and Australian Readers’ Challenge;
• Using data collection to assess and improve literacy programs.

17. Scaffolding Assignments
“All writing for boys, up to the end of their
compulsory school years, should be done within
teacher-prepared templates or scaffolds.”
National Senate Inquiry Recommendations “The School Reforms Required to
Engage Boys in Schooling”, Ian Lillico (2000)
Scaffolds and/or templates break down tasks so
that students can readily engage with the task at
their own levels. Scaffolds provide shorter,
closed, clearly defined entry points that ease
students into tasks.

18. Survey all Year 8
assignments
Extended writing assignments in Year 8 fell into 6
genres:
• Expository/Argumentative Essay
• Film Review
• Biography (2 KLAs)
• Creative/Narrative
• Information Report (2 KLAs)
• Scientific Report.
Preparation for the tasks varied greatly!

19. Pretest Year 8
Expository Essay

20. How much would scaffolding
help?
• Decided to focus on one genre – Expository/Argumentative.
• We prepared a scaffold for an expository/argumentative essay, in
collaboration with the HOD and other teachers involved.
• Our focus genre was specifically team-taught to all Year 8 classes
by the classroom teacher and a member of the research team for
consistency of approach.
• This teaching used a scaffold for writing the genre, modelling and
deconstruction of the genre.
• The action research was embedded into an existing unit of English;
the post-test formed one of the assessment items for the unit.
• Post-test was a modified DART writing test. A blank Expository
scaffold was included with the test.

21. Post-test results:
The post-test showed a significant improvement in
results for most students, with the average pretest
score of 9.27 moving to 10.65 in the post-test.
This represented a 15.33% change in results.
DART Expository Pretest & Post-test Comparison
8.5
9
9.5
10
10.5
11
Expository Pretest Expository Post-test
Scorerange6-15

22. Scaffolds on Aquinas Website
Scaffolds have been prepared for all Year 8 & 9
assignments and placed on the ‘Online
Learning’ section of the college website.
• Biography
• Narrative
• Information Report
• Scientific Report
• Film Review (2 documents)
• Book Review
• Expository and Argumentative Essay
• Newspaper Headline Article
• Formal Report (2 documents)
• Letter to the Editor
• Analytical Exposition – Comparative Essay (Music & Drama)
• Language of essays (3 documents)

23. Assignment work forms a major facet of school
library service. Ensure that the Library is user
friendly for teachers too!

24. What effective reading
programs do you have in
your school?
What elements make a
reading program
effective?

25. Where
does
reading
fit in our
students’
lives?
Mobile phones
& IPods
Hobbies
Sport
Internet
Computer
Games
Part-time
work
Social
life
Television
Our students

26. ‘Reading at Risk’ report…
1982 1992 2002
% of U.S. Population
Reading Literature
56.9 54.0 46.7
•The percentage of adult Americans reading literature has dropped dramatically
over the past 20 years.
•The decline in literary reading parallels a decline in total book reading.
•The rate of decline in literary reading is accelerating.
•The decline in reading is significant across gender, race, education levels and
age groups.
•The steepest decline in literary reading is in the youngest age groups.

27. • Name______________________ English Teacher____________________
•
•
• 1. WHAT do you read? (can circle more than one)
•
• Magazines Newspaper Novels True stories Internet
•
• 2. HOW OFTEN do you read books? (circle one)
•
• Every day Every week Once a month Never
•
• 3. Where do you borrow your books from? (can circle more than one)
•
• School Library Friends Home Gold Coast Library I Buy them
•
• 4. How do you find new books to read? (can circle more than one)
•
• Friends Teachers Teacher-Librarian Displays TV
•
• 5. Do you enjoy reading? (circle one)
•
• Not at all Not much It’s OK A fair bit I
love it
•
• 6. How many hours do you spend reading books each week?
•
• 7. How many hours do you spend watching TV each week?
•
• 8. How many hours do you spend on the computer each week?
•
• 9. Give two reasons why you do/do not enjoy reading.
•
• _________________________ ___________________________
•
• 10. What books did you read at school in Years 6 & 7?
•
• _________________________ ___________________________
•
• 11. Name three favourite books you have read.
•

28. Profiling our Incoming
Year 8s’ Reading Habits
Hours spent per week
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Reading TV Computer
Reading – 3.5 hours per week
Watching TV – 11.5 hours
Computer – 7.1 hours

29. Year 8s - How often do
you read?
50.4% students say they read once a month or less.
How do we entice reluctant and/or ‘non-readers’ to read?
How often do you read? 2007 & 2008
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Daily Weekly Monthly Never
Series1
Series2

30. Why aren’t they reading?
1. Associate with failure
2. Time and energy
3. Negative peer pressure
4. Not stimulated by ideas
5. No encouragement to read
6. Not their priority – rather
DO than read
7. Negative perception - Think it’s
solitary/anti-social
8. Can’t find a good book
Patrick Jones, 2007

31. Reading alternatives

32. Reading improves
academic performance
Creating a reading culture through programs such as Literature
Circles, Readers’ Cup and Australian Readers’ Challenge
• Literature Circles – all Years 8 & 9
• Readers’ Cup – all Year 8, leading to the regional and state
competitions.
• Australian Readers’ Challenge was offered
to all students, parents and staff.
• Reading lists prepared for
KLA enrichment.
• Male teacher role models.
• Request book helps selection.

33. Literature Circles books:
high interest, varied reading age, student choice

34. Literature Circles provide an excellent way of encouraging reading within the
classroom, differentiated to individual students’ reading age and interests. It
involves group work, self and peer assessment and the display of their work to
other students. Teachers use test results to choose Year 8 groups. Activities are
completed for homework.

35. How do Literature
Circles work?
• Teachers chose groups (use Torch Test).
• Groups chose books – choice is important!
• Groups set pages to read.
• Students chose roles for next week.
• Roles were completed for homework.
• Next lesson involved discussion,
evaluation, journal writing, group
feedback to class, role swapping for next
week, continuation of reading.

37. Literature Circles Roles…egs
Songwriter: Turn the theme and/or plot of your book into a song. You may use
the tune of a song you already know. Present the song to your group e.g. on
tape.
Detective: Make a police identikit of one of the characters from your
book/novel. Which passages of the book gave hints about your character’s
appearance?
Publisher: Make a new cover for your book, including a blurb for the back
cover, which you have written yourself.
Family Member: Imagine that you are a relative of one of the main characters
in your book. Bring a piece of realia (an object) and tell how it relates to
your character in some way. This explanation needs to also be written
into your book.
Designer: Make a two-sided CD cover for an album of four songs related to your
book. The front cover should feature a piece of artwork and the album title, and
the back should list the songs. Separately, write down an explanation of
why you chose those song titles and how they relate to the themes of
your book.
Year 8 : 6 roles
Year 9 : 19 roles

38. Extensions for gifted students:
•Author study – biography, themes, life experience
•Reading several books by the same author
•Extended reading by genre
•Exploring topic by reading novels with other points of view
•In-depth non-fiction study of interest area
•‘Series’ reading
•IT extensions in response –
Adobe Photoshop, Flash,
Inspiration, Crossword Maker.

39. Display
student
work.

40. Literature Circles has
encouraged
me to read because…
“…it gets you interested in books and you find great ones.”
“I found that if you pick a good book it can be quite enjoyable.”
“…you have to read to be part of the activity.”
“You have to read because your group is relying on you.”
“I never knew that books are that good.”
“I never read at home unless I have to for school.”
“I didn’t really get into books but I do now.”
“Having a home run experience appears to typically lead to
greater reading interest…” Stephen Krashen

41. Success depends on:
• Students’ perception of how much choice they had in which book
to be read. The greater the level of choice and the more
democratic the decision about group reading, the higher the level
of ownership of the task.
• The suitability of the text to students’ reading ability. Used pre-
testing reading levels of ascertained students to determine texts
used. Where teachers pre-read books and chose books which they
thought were most suitable for their students, the better the
match of book to reader. Teacher help with group work was also
enhanced. NOTE: Books MUST be high interest NOT text!
• Composition and dynamics of the group. Groups of similar reading
age worked best; teachers were divided in their preference for
same/mixed sex groups. Ascertained student groups were
accompanied by full-time learning support teacher/aide. (Parent?)
• Group reporting back to the class, self and peer assessment
improved group responsibility. An eagerly anticipated focus time at
the end of the lesson gave each group the opportunity to showcase
their best work.
• Enthusiasm of the teaching team!! Teachers pre-read
books and pre-choose books suitable for their class.
Teacher reading of adolescent novels increased.

42. CREATE A READING CULTURE!
Encourage recreational reading of all sorts – alone,
in groups discussing what they read, Fiction and
Non - Fiction. Provide a specialist reading area.

43. Writing Workshops with
Archie Fusillo & James Roy
Author Talk - Markus Zusak

44. Enjoy the fun and
challenge of Readers’
Cup

45. Data Collection &
Analysis
• Torch Test – all Year 8
• English Competition – Years 8 & 12
• Maths Competition – Years 8 & 12
• QCS results
• OP scores
• Test scores used to inform group
formation for reading programmes

46. Literacy, whose business?
• EVERYONE is responsible.
• Don’t assume pre-existing skills.
• Why do we teach? Because we believe that we
can make a difference. This is supported by
research:
“Highly effective teachers and their
professional learning do make a difference
in the classroom.” Rowe Report, 2005
• The PROCESS is more
important than the
PRODUCT!

47. Keys to Success
• Needs defined by staff;
• Up-to-date with current research;
• Key players on the team;
• Support from Principal and BCE;
• Feedback to stakeholders.
• CONSULTATION, CONSULTATION,
CONSULTATION!

48. Where to from here?
• Whole School Numeracy Plan –
established 2007.
• Other ‘whole year level’ units e.g.
‘Schoolies Fully Sik’ – financial
literacy unit for Years 11 & 12.

49. Become an integral and
integrated part of the
curriculum
• Part of The Whole School Literacy Plan
• Integrated into planning
• Reading across curriculum areas

50. Joke of the Day
The shopkeeper was dismayed when a
brand new business much like his own
opened next door and erected a huge
sign which read
BEST DEALS.
He was horrified when another competitor
opened up on his right, and announced its
arrival with an even larger sign, reading
LOWEST PRICES.

51. The shopkeeper panicked, until he got
an idea. He put the biggest sign of all
over his own shop. It read:
MAIN ENTRANCE
MAIN ENTRANCE TO LEARNING!