The Best Practice

Journey
From DEECD to Region to Cluster to SHS

Literacy
DEECD Research papers
Literacy Teaching and Learning in Victorian Schools
Paper No. 9 Part A August 2006
https://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/publ/research/publ/
Literacy_Teaching_and_Learning_Paper_9-rpt-v1.00-20060831.pdf

Some Key Recommendations

v Schools should build their capacity to explicitly teach literacy

v Develop a school literacy plan
v Respond to diverse student needs
The article also provides a summary of the key milestones in DEECD literacy research and
initiatives from 1986 - 2005

Literacy
DEECD Research papers
Evidence-based research for expert literacy teaching
Paper No.12 October 2007
https://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/publ/research/publ/literacy-summary-paper.pdf

Some Key findings

v Instructional approaches need to be systematically organised in response to diagnosed

student need

v All teachers are teachers of literacy and need to teach explicitly the literacy demands of
curriculum learning in all stages of schooling

v Monitoring and assessment are essential elements in literacy provision at both an

individual and program level

v Building teacher capacity is vital with a substantial proportion of school effectiveness

attributed to teachers

Other key documents

v

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/research/researchelertissue9.pdf

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/
literacy7-10.pdf Looks at the key characteristics of effective literacy in all subjects 7 10 - 2010

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/principals/curriculum/201112litnumer.pdf
Literacy and Numeracy 6-18 Month Strategy 2011-12

Hume Region Literacy Strategies 2007 2012

Some Key strategies

v Allocate time for daily literacy learning

Primary schools: a two hour uninterrupted literacy block
Secondary schools: address the literacy demands of each domain

v Identify the literacy understandings and needs of their students

Use a variety of assessment tools; formal and informal
Analyse and use student data to inform planning
Match text difficulty to student ability

v Teach reading, writing, speaking and listening and viewing in context

Have a clearly defined teaching focus
Provide rich and stimulating tasks

Literacy placemats

http://www.youblisher.com/p/464504-Hume-Region-Classroom-TeachingTechniques/

Cluster Plans e.g. 2007-10

Some Key improvement strategies

Common Curriculum for principals in the Hume

Region and literacy leaders attend training provided

by the Teaching & Learning Coaches

Literacy leaders meet regularly,literacy leader

cluster workshops,literacy leader regional

workshops,teaching and learning coaches work in
schools

School Review 2010

Some recommendations:

Ensure consistency of practice across the school

Use data to inform action

Implement accurate assessment and explicit teaching practices to address the needs of
all students, including those of high ability

Explore agreed principles of teaching and learning, what good teaching looks like, what
makes a good lesson etc. In line with these progressively define a whole school
instructional model that identifies learnable and observable best practice: support the
implementation of these strategies in every classroom

Reinforce through learning walks, instructional leadership techniques

Differentiate planning and classroom programs

Develop a common unit planning proforma that;

identifies students at each level of need below, at, above expectations

specifies student learning activities/actions and teacher teaching strategies for each
level

includes a literacy and numeracy focus

Publish plans on the school intranet

Shepparton High School

2007

2008

Literacy Improvement Initiative

begins 2 Regional Coaches work
with 8 staff from different KLAs

Literacy Improvement Initiative

2 Regional Coaches work with 8
staff from different KLAs

Staff PD. Common understanding

of Literacy and agreement that
All teachers are teachers of
Literacy

A.P. trains as Literacy Coach

Principal, AP & Literacy Leader

attend Regional Common
Curriculum days

Cluster PD focusing on
Reciprocal Teaching, Read Write &
Talk

On Demand testing March and

September. Discussions on using
data to inform teaching

Literacy Intervention. Tutors work

with Year 7 & 8 students Oral
Language support. (Continues
through to 2014)

2009
Continue with Literacy

Improvement Initiative - coaching

Appoint Literacy Leader in each

KLA they work with Regional
Coach

2010 School Review. November change of

Government.

Continue with Literacy Coaching

with regional coach

Developing Literacy Classroom

Profiles

Focus on writing and a common

Working with Hume Region

Participate in regular Literacy

Term 4 Staff Meetings centre

understanding of text types

across the school
PLTs with Cluster

Literacy Placemats/6-18 month

Literacy Improvement Plan
around building a Best Practice
model for SHS. Teachers agree
every teacher will:

Will write the lesson focus on the

whiteboard in every class
Explicitly teach vocabulary specific to
their subject or topic

2011

2012

National Partnership Funding work

Implement Best Practice Model

with Teaching and Learning Coach

HRLTP Year 7 Team

Year 7 Team attends Cluster PD

once a term with John Munro
HRLTP

Implement Best Practice Learning

Focus and Vocab

Term 4 2011 build further on Best

Practice Model for 2012: lesson

focus, explicitly teaching vocabulary,
getting knowledge ready, the hook,
review.

Updating 50% of 7-10 Courses with

new course template literacy & E
learning to be explicitly included

Focused classroom observations

Year 7 & 8 classes

Year 8 Team attends Cluster PD

once a term with John Munro
HRLTP

Individual Coaching of Year 8

Teachers and Domain Leaders in

High Reliability Literacy Teaching
Procedures (HRLTP)

Employ John Munro to work with

SHS once a term with teachers new

to Year 7 Team and Domain Leaders

Updating the remaining 50% of

7-10 Courses with course template

Student Data now stored in Student

Management Tool. Can be acessed
by all staff

2013

2014

Literacy/Best Practice Coaching

Employ John Munro to work with

by Julie Jerome Leading Teacher

Curriculum. Coaching of Year 7-9
teachers new to HRLTP

Employ John Munro to work with

S.H.S once a term with teachers
new to Year 7 & 8 and Year 9
teachers. Also teachers of VCE.

Continue with Best Practise

learning intention, explicitly

teaching vocabulary, getting
knowledge ready, the hook, review.

Walkthroughs Semester 2 - 7 12

Updating 7-10 Course Outlines in

line with Ausvels. Complete

Semester 2 Unit Plans using Best
Practice Unit Templates

Shepparton High School in

Semester 1 with teachers new to
school or new to 7 8 9 teams.
Semester 2 PD with whole staff.

Continue with Best Practice

lesson intention, success criteria,

explicitly teaching vocabulary,
getting knowledge ready, the
hook, review.

Focused classroom observations /

Walkthroughs whole school

Complete Semester 1 Unit Plans

using Best Practice Unit
Templates

Professional development Differentiation

2015

2016

Continue to work with John

Continue to work with John

Continue with Best Practice

Continue with Best Practice

Focused classroom observations /

Focused classroom observations /

Professional learning

Professional learning: Victorian

Munro; providing professional

learning to staff.
lesson intention, success criteria,
explicitly teaching vocabulary,
getting knowledge ready, the
hook, review.
Walkthroughs whole school

differentiation, eLearning,
curriculum auditing and
documentation (scope and
sequence, course overviews, unit
plans)

Curriculum documentation

stored in a common place for all

staff to access

Munro; providing professional

learning to staff.
lesson intention, success criteria,
explicitly teaching vocabulary,
getting knowledge ready, the
hook, review.
Walkthroughs whole school

Curriculum curriculum
mapping, continued curriculum
auditing and documentation
(scope and sequence, course
overviews, unit plans)

2016 UMNOS
UMNOS working with UMNOS attending seminars and success
coordinator professional learning.

Di Snowball provided reading comprehension professional learning.

Lorna Ward provided reading process and reading conferencing
professional learning.

Mobile libraries introduced.

Reading logs introduced.
English Learning Area: reading logs, explicit teaching of reading
comprehension strategies and reading conferences.

Vocabulary walls in all team offices.

Agreed reading comprehension focus strategies in all Learning Areas.