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Making Ireland Click is a campaigning four-part series, guided by Ireland’s Digital Champion, David Puttnam. on the skills Irish citizens need to be digitally literate. Over four half hour episodes, the series deals with digital inclusion and showcases work around skills needed to go online.
There are a range of useful adult learner resources, including videos on online banking and social media tips, available on the shows.
To learn more about Making Ireland Click see here
By Adam Black
“We at Shawlands decided that it would be nice for our Primary Two classes to learn a little about Scots language. On discussing this with the children they seemed very upbeat and interested. We decided to start off our learning process by teaching some classic Scottish songs (Skyscraper Wean/Cannae Shove yer Grannie Aff a Bus etc) and by reading ‘The Gruffalo’ in Scots. This worked well and the children were hooked!
We decided to create Scots language dictionaries where the children copy down a Scots word and write what they think it means before writing down the true translation. This created lots of hilarity in the class.
We then thought it would be good to seek a talk form a professional. The children love receiving visitors and when I contacted the Education Scotland Scots language team they were prompt and pleasant in their reply. We very quickly set up a date for Bruce Eunson to come in and speak to the children. Bruce had a lovely manner with the children and they were captivated from start to finish. They really enjoyed his use of Scots and the game he played with the red balls was one they adored (I also liked it and will steal it for my own literacy work!).
Bruce also introduced us to the NLS Oor Wullie Scots website. This is a fantastic resource which we wouldn’t have found ourselves. It has interesting activities which are easy to use. It has also captured the children’s imagination as several children have come into school with Oor Wullie annuals.
Overall we are delighted that we chose to look at Scots. The children are really benefiting from learning a little about their cultural history and are enjoying throwing the occasional Scots word into lessons. They loved meeting Bruce and practising with Oor Wullie. A enjoyable experience for all and one we will use with our classes for years to come!”
“All of the programmes featured in this publication by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning share valuable experiences and lessons. They reflect a view of effective learning families whereby each child is a member of a family, and within a learning family every member is a lifelong learner. Among disadvantaged families and communities in particular, a family literacy and learning approach is more likely to break the intergenerational cycle of low education and literacy skills..” (Elfert and Hanermann 2014)
http://uil.unesco.org/fileadmin/keydocuments/Literacy/en/learning-families.pdf
On 26th March 2016, Education Scotland ran the literacy event ‘Reading for achievement in your classroom’. And what a day it was! The event engaged with 70 delegates from secondary schools across Scotland but we didn’t want this just to be for those who could make it. One of the aims for the day was to keep the learning going after the event and as a result our literacy community has really heated up.
Delegates were asked to sign up in pairs comprising of one literacy specialist and one non-specialist in order to discuss literacy across learning in all subject areas and we were thrilled that so many schools were able to give staff the chance to attend the event in pairs.
The importance of literacy across learning and why it is the responsibility of all was addressed in the presentations given by Helen Fairlie and Madelaine Baker. The group shared their thoughts and ideas enthusiastically and we really had a chance to consider our own roles in improving literacy – and how that role can help change life chances and address the attainment gap.
Workshops offered further professional dialogue around Tracking, HGIOS 4, Literacy and the library and Focus on reading. There was lively debate and groups worked together to improve their understanding and to develop ideas to take back to school.
As the day developed, so did our SWAY – don’t know what a SWAY is? You can see a preview of this at the bottom of this blog . It can be viewed in full by logging into GLOW and accessing the Readachieve page. Don’t forget to check out the carousel slides on the literacy blether which give you a direct link to all our resources!
We added videos of all of the presentations from the literacy team as well as the 5 minute shout out videos from secondary school practitioners from across Scotland. Materials including power point slides are also available.
In the afternoon, delegates made a pledge to develop literacy across learning in their own schools. The pledges were uploaded and you can see them on the #readachieve page.
We will be following up the pledges with our delegates in spring/summer term to see how they are getting on.
If you want to join in the conversation and get the chance to follow the #readachieve story, make your own pledge or share work that you are doing in your own school, join the community at Readachieve or follow our twitter feed @lal_edscot.
You can also engage in professional learning and find helpful advice and support on literacy across learning at Literacy Across Learning.
You can get a sneak preview of the day’s events below. More will become available if you sign up to the literacy blether. Use #readachieve when you sign up and I will advise you how to get involved.
The choice of the Glasgow Science Centre reflected two UNESCO themes for 2015:
Dr. Alasdair Allan, MSP, Minister for Learning Science and Scotland’s Languages provided the keynote speech and launched the Scots Language resource, biographies of famous Scottish scientists in Scots and English. Of special interest is the Scots Scientist James Clerk Maxwell who predated Einstein and contr
ibuted to the understanding of light.
Dr Allan said: “Literacy, has a massive effect on the sustainable development of communities around the world.
“Literacy attainment is a key focus in Scottish education and raising the levels of literacy learning is something we’re aiming to address with the Scottish Attainment Challenge.”
Professor Sue Ellis, University of Strathclyde, co-author of the research Closing the Attainment Gap has highlighted the importance of understanding and teaching different literacy strategies for different subjects.
The benefit of interdisciplinary learning was the theme of the key note address from former BBC presenter scientist Heather Reid OBE. Workshops reflected this interdisciplinary approach.
This is one of a series of thought pieces from the Literacy and English team at Education Scotland. In this one, Helen Fairlie discusses some well-known research about reading for pleasure from the National Literacy Trust.
The lead up to Book Week Scotland seems like a good time to consider how we motivate learners to read independently for their own enjoyment. An equally important question for me, though, is why does the amount that we read for enjoyment make such a big difference to our learning?
This paper was published by the National Literacy Trust in 2006, however the research that it refers to still tells us a lot about the difference that reading for pleasure makes to our progress in literacy, as well as revealing a lot about how motivation to read works.
Get involved and join the conversation!
Please read the research, consider your own practice and what happens in your establishment.
Some questions to consider…
We will be hosting the conversation on our Literacy community 23rd Nov – 3rd Dec. Join us here .
Find out how to get or update your Glow membership – How do I get a Glow login?
To find out more about Book Week Scotland (23rd to 29th November, 2015) go to the Scottish Book Trust website.
Join Literacy Week 2015: a week full of literacy-related events throughout Europe this fall!
The European Literacy Policy Network (ELINET) supports Literacy Week 2015, which aims at raising awareness for low literacy throughout Europe. It will start on 8 September 2015, UNESCO’s International Literacy Day, and run until 17 September 2015. ELINET spiced up the campaign by organizing a contest for the best literacy event, as well as an official closing event featuring high-level speakers in Brussels on 17 September.
The Literacy Week 2015 website (www.literacyweek.eu) already shows over 90 registered events! Those registered before 17 August 2015 automatically took part in the contest. A jury will assess the creativity, feasibility and resourcefulness of registered events and invite three nominees to the official closing ceremony in Brussels, where the winner will be presented with the Literacy Week Innovation Award.
Aside from the prize ceremony, this distinguished literacy event will also feature a story exhibition, panel discussions, a reception, and speeches by prominent speakers: Tibor Navracsics (European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport), Marianne Thyssen (European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility), H.R.H. Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands (UNESCO Special Envoy on Literacy for Development), Barbara Bush and Dorothy Bush Koch (Founder and Honorary President of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy), a Learner Ambassador and high-level panellists from different sectors.
Making rockets!
UNESCO International Literacy Day has been celebrated for over a decade. This year the theme is Literacy and Sustainable Societies. There will be a large range of partners coming together to share the diverse range of approaches used in Scotland to cultivating literacy skills and to explore science as a context for developing literacy skills for all. Family learning will be featured as an approach to engaging families with children from an early age to develop literacy skills through inspiring and fun experiments!
Following the success of last year’s network of networks’ celebration of UNESCO International Literacy Day in the Emirates Arena we invite you to join us on Tuesday September 8th at Glasgow Science Centre from 10.00am until 3.30pm.
This year’s theme is Literacy and Sustainable Societies. See the UNESCO info graphic about Literacy and Sustainable Development
Our keynote speakers are Dr Alasdair Allan Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages, and Heather Reid OBE CPhys, FinstP (Heather the Weather).
Participants will have the opportunity to attend a morning and an afternoon seminar as well as to explore the science centre. Further details will follow.
Places are limited so register here now.
The workshop, delivered in partnership with Dundee Adult Learning Team, will highlight everyday activities that families can do with materials found around the home that will support a love for sciences and increase literacy and numeracy skills.
Join us at International Literacy Day 2015 in the Glasgow Science Centre for the workshop “Babble and Dabble”!