Diane Relf was concerned by what felt like an unbridgeable gulf between Year 7's vocabulary and comprehension, and her aspirations both for their inclusion in history and their later academic success. As a subject leader without the benefit of any history-specific training at the start of her career, she embarked on a journey of intensive reading…

This guidance report aims to help secondary schools improve literacy in all subject areas. It provides seven recommendations related to reading, writing, talk, vocabulary development and supporting struggling students. Throughout the report, recommendations emphasise the importance of disciplinary literacy. Disciplinary literacy is an approach to…

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL, the teaching of another curriculum subject through a foreign language), although more widespread in Europe, is still relatively innovative in England. Since the government's decision to remove the requirement for all pupils to learn a foreign language at Key Stage 4 (ages 14-16) the numbers of pupils…

A schools council study concludes that: secondary students are not being taught to read thoughtfully, texts and worksheets are too difficult, insufficient time is allotted to silent reading, and reading comprehension should not be taught as a discrete skill. The SRA Reading Laboratories are suggested as one tactic for improvement. (SJL)

Developed for use in small groups, this unit focuses on developing some of the reading skills pupils need if they are to progress from Level 3 to Level 4 of England's National Curriculum. It is meant to supplement, but not to replace, the English curriculum for Year 7 pupils. The unit builds on the successful approaches of the National Literacy…

Adapted for whole class use, this unit focuses on developing some of the reading skills pupils need if they are to progress from Level 3 to Level 4 of England's National Curriculum. It is meant to supplement, but not to replace, the English curriculum for Year 7 pupils. The unit builds on the successful approaches of the National Literacy Strategy…

The author outlines reading experiences appropriate to students in the middle grades, including reading strategies, study skills, comprehension development, and experiences with literature. Provision of these experiences in the middle school curriculum, through both formal instruction and integration into other curriculum areas, is discussed. (SJL)

This paper describes Directed Activities Related to Text (DART), procedures that were developed and are used in the Reading for Learning Project at the University of Nottingham (England) to enhance learning from texts and that fall into two broad categories: (1) text analysis procedures, which require students to engage in some form of analysis of…

"The Geography Teacher" provides hands-on reference and educative material for K-12 Geography teachers. The journal also pioneers innovative ideas for contemporary teaching methods, including lesson plans. This issue contains the following: (1) Ask Dr. de Blij (Dr. Harm de Blij); (2) Refugees in America (TGT); (3) Guinness and the Irish…

Using data collected by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), the authors of this study examined the reading achievement of 14-year-old boys in India and England. They sought to determine the factors involved in the academic achievement of these boys in the natural sciences. Factors studied, in addition…

This training pack contains 13 modules, each lasting approximately one hour and 15 minutes, which introduces schools in England to the Literacy across the Curriculum element of the Key Stage 3 National Strategy. Each unit starts with a list of objectives, suggestions for use, resources required, and an overview of the session. Associated handouts…

Special needs teachers and subject teachers simplified text in British secondary level science and humanities courses and used the text with a class of mixed attainment groups. Subsequent assessment indicated that marks of higher achievers were consistently high and marks of low achievers were significantly improved compared to a control group.…