Learning to read and write: encouraging and empowering young readers and writers
After the local authority funding ran out for my work as an early literacy intervention teacher, I returned to full-time class teaching in September 2012. I enjoyed the buzz of the classroom and there was clear evidence of progress* yet I increasingly found the work load and time constraints prevented me from meeting the needs of individual children within my class. I was left with the sense that, for some children in the group, I was doing little more than scratching the surface with the resources available to me.
At the end of the 2013 summer term, I left my full-time post as a Year 2/3 class teacher in order to set up my own business delivering literacy support in the local area. Without advertising, I quickly had 38 private lessons booked for the summer holiday period.
One of the Year 3 boys I was asked to work with had been in my class for the academic year. In spite of his (and my) best efforts, his reading assessments showed he had made little progress during his time with me. I used the British Ability Scale reading test in his first private lesson, and repeated the test at the end of the summer holiday. Although I had noticed a marked improvement during his personalised lessons (in his use of strategies and his ability to self-correct as he read), I was expecting little change in his reading age in such a short amount of time. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find that the test results recorded a 9 month increase in his reading age after our 9 lessons together. Other children I worked with during the summer of 2013 also showed encouraging evidence of progress at the end of their course of one to one lessons.
I am convinced of the great benefit offered by a course of personalised professional support, designed to meet a child’s individual needs in reading and writing. Over the past five years (2013 - 2018), I have gathered more evidence to support this belief, as I have worked with a growing number of children and young people.
*My end of Key Stage 1 results were externally moderated in the 2013 summer term. Boys and girls were found to be above the national average in reading.
At the end of the 2013 summer term, I left my full-time post as a Year 2/3 class teacher in order to set up my own business delivering literacy support in the local area. Without advertising, I quickly had 38 private lessons booked for the summer holiday period.
One of the Year 3 boys I was asked to work with had been in my class for the academic year. In spite of his (and my) best efforts, his reading assessments showed he had made little progress during his time with me. I used the British Ability Scale reading test in his first private lesson, and repeated the test at the end of the summer holiday. Although I had noticed a marked improvement during his personalised lessons (in his use of strategies and his ability to self-correct as he read), I was expecting little change in his reading age in such a short amount of time. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find that the test results recorded a 9 month increase in his reading age after our 9 lessons together. Other children I worked with during the summer of 2013 also showed encouraging evidence of progress at the end of their course of one to one lessons.
I am convinced of the great benefit offered by a course of personalised professional support, designed to meet a child’s individual needs in reading and writing. Over the past five years (2013 - 2018), I have gathered more evidence to support this belief, as I have worked with a growing number of children and young people.
*My end of Key Stage 1 results were externally moderated in the 2013 summer term. Boys and girls were found to be above the national average in reading.