Teaching Strategies, Tactics, and Methods

Critical reading involves the reader posing questions or applying models and theories to a text. As a result, the reader will have a clearer understanding of what the text is saying, what it’s trying to say and what it means.

Rather than just skimming a text, critical reading takes a deeper look at it and takes it apart – it allows us to understand how it works and find out what makes it tick.

Having a critical eye when reading doesn’t mean we’re looking for the faults and flaws in a piece of writing. Instead, it means we’re analyzing and evaluating what we read rather than simply taking it at face value.

Why should we read critically?

Critical reading is an incredibly important skill. It allows us to advance our understanding and learn more from what we read.

To read critically means to use your judgment when you’re reading. If you only take things at face value without taking the time to consider the context, what it means beneath the surface, and so on, you can miss important details.

You can also be misled, depending on the type of text. For example, authors of persuasive writing can heavily emphasize their points and hide the opposing side to create an unbalanced argument, all to persuade you to take their side. It happens most often in advertisements. So it’s essential to have a critical eye and analyze if what you’re being told is true.

In other texts, such as fiction stories or articles, the author’s interpretation and viewpoints also come into play. Opinions are subjective, so it’s important that we read them carefully and understand both sides by reading critically. The writing might have omissions, inconsistencies, and oversights that can influence the argument or message the text is trying to make. We should take care to look for these and see the big picture.

Critical reading also allows us to form our thoughts and opinions. If we all took the things we read at the surface level, we’d all have the same ideas about everything. How boring! It’s important to analyze, evaluate and be critical so that we can interpret texts for ourselves and form our views and opinions.

How can you read critically?

Being a critical reader is a skill that can take time and practice. But there are key things that you should reflect on when trying to read critically. These are:

• The key points. What are the main points that the text is trying to make? At this stage, it doesn’t matter if you agree with them, just that you completely understand what the author is trying to say. It helps you to understand the purpose of the text.
• The target audience. Who was the text written for? Identifying the text’s intended readers can help us understand its purpose more deeply.
• The style of writing. How has the text been written? Looking for persuasive writing techniques, such as exaggerating the key points, is a good way to see whether the author is taking a balanced approach. In addition, analyzing language, style, and structure is important in critical reading.
• Your interpretation. One of the most important parts of critical reading is forming an opinion or performance based on the text. Consider the points the text makes and consider whether they’re accurate, truthful, exaggerated, omissions, untrue, or something else.

What is evidence in Critical Reading?

When critically reading something, evidence is used to support an argument or opinion. Evidence is used to show that you’ve carefully read the text you’re talking about. It’s used to prove your point so that arguments and opinions aren’t just taken at face value or without question.

If you critically read a story, for example, you would need to use quotes from that story to show what you’re talking about. It’s no use saying that the story discusses the themes of bravery and courage if you have no way to prove it!

Using evidence in critical reading also means that you can analyze it on a deeper level. For example, you can discuss the exact words and techniques, strengthening your argument.

However, it’s important to remember that evidence isn’t good enough. Interpretations and opinions are what give meaning, proof, and value.

Evidence can appear in many forms, such as:

• quotes from interviews;
• extracts from a text;
• diagrams or charts;
• measurements;
• timing and equipment.

The type of evidence needed depends on what it is that’s being critically read.

How are Critical Reading and Critical Thinking linked?

Critical thinking is a key foundation for essential reading – the two are closely linked.

Before you can read something with a critical eye, you must be critical of how you think. Essential reading involves making judgments and interpretations based on your thoughts about what you’ve read, so it’s important that the way you think is free from bias and allows you to take a critical, objective view.

Critical thinking also helps you to organize your thoughts and use your previous knowledge to inform your opinion.

The pathetic fallacy is the projection of human emotions onto non-human objects found in nature. It differs from personification, which can give any human characteristic to a thing and is used to create a tone or show a character’s state of mind. An example would be, “the rain fell like teardrops.”

Throughout this handy Twinkl teaching wiki, we’ll explore what pathetic fallacy is, why it’s used and where you might find it. Moreover, we’ll also go over where it falls into the National Curriculum and how you can use our fantastic resources to teach your class about this literary technique. So without further ado, let’s jump right in!

What is a Pathetic Fallacy? – A Definition

Let’s start things off with a handy definition of what pathetic fallacy is.

The pathetic fallacy is a literary device in which human feelings, qualities, or attributes are given to a non-human object in nature.

Many people think of pathetic fallacy as the projection of human emotions onto the weather. However, it can apply to many other natural, non-human things, including rocks, trees, and even animals.

What is the difference between pathetic fallacy and personification?

While pathetic fallacy is a form of personification, it is also distinct because it applies specifically to natural objects. Personification, on the other hand, is a broader term for the device that can give human attributes to just about any non-human object.

Your learners can remember this difference by placing a few simple rules. These state:

• The pathetic fallacy is specifically about giving emotions to something non-human.
• Personification, on the other hand, gives any human attribute to an object. For example, ‘the wind whispered through the trees or ‘the flowers danced in the breeze.’

For example, a chair that speaks and eats would be a personification, while a chair that seems sad would be a pathetic fallacy.

Why is it called a Pathetic Fallacy?

John Ruskin, a literary critic from the Victorian era, coined the same pathetic fallacy. He found the relationship between the poets’ emotions and inanimate objects to be disingenuous and fundamentally incorrect – a fallacy.

The word pathetic isn’t used in the way it would be today as ‘weak’ or ‘miserable.’ Instead, ‘pathetic’ is used here to relate to the Greek word ‘pathos,’ which means ‘suffering’ or ‘to impart emotions onto something else.

So if we take the two words and put them together, we could describe pathetic fallacy as an ‘emotional falseness.’

What is the function of pathetic fallacy?

By now, you’ll no doubt know all about what this literary device is and how it differs from personification. But what is it used for?

, writers will typically use pathetic fallacy to emphasize the emotional state of the atmosphere in the literature or to set the mood for a scene. For instance, if a character is angry, the writer might choose to express this using ‘raging thunderstorms,’ or if they’d like to create a happier tone, they might use pathetic fallacy such as ‘the sun beamed warmly.’

The pathetic fallacy also functions to help readers create simple and clear connections between what they are reading and an emotion they may have personally experienced. So it is because it is simpler for readers to connect to abstract emotions when observing them in their natural surroundings. And by employing this technique, your young writers can have a go at bringing inanimate objects to life so that the nature of the emotions they convey is understood better.

What are some examples of pathetic fallacy?

The best way to fully understand this literary device is to see it in action, so let’s look at various examples. You can often see pathetic fallacy applied to weather in literature, for example:

Angry storms began to roll in.

The tree seemed indifferent.

A table that looks exhausted.

Pathetic fallacy is also a great technique if you or your learners want to add a bit of extra emotional weight to your sentences. Check out these sentences and see how they use it to bring human emotions to weather patterns:

• ‘The raindrops wept around him.
• ”A warm sun shone brightly on the party guests as they arrived in the garden.
• ”The weather is miserable outside.’

And what’s more, this literary device has even been used by some of the literary greats in their most famous pieces of writing. Here are some examples of poems, novels, and plays that make clever use of this technique:

• Macbeth by William Shakespeare
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Ode to Melancholy by John Keats
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

How to teach English as a second language in the classroom

1. Use lots of visuals

Images are great for supporting learning. For example, a child may not understand that the word ‘pencil’ means pencil, but they recognize what a picture of a pencil is. By combining text with images, children can develop their understanding better. And pictures also add some color to your classroom, making it more interesting and a better learning environment.

2. Keep it simple

It is especially important when dealing with beginners. Try to keep sentences simple so learners can develop their knowledge, and then you can build on it. You could, for example, ensure their understanding of simple instructions you’ll be using in class. These could be ‘stop and listen’ or ‘put your pens down. These short but informative requests are much simpler to understand than ‘can everybody please stop what they’re doing and listen’ or ‘stop your writing and put your pens down on the table.

3. Keep it fun

We learn more when we’re having fun. The more engaged we are in a task, the more we’re bound to pick up. And finding fun in the classroom can be easy, and it doesn’t mean slacking off from learning.

4. Use role-play

Role-play is a fantastic way to develop your learners’ speaking skills and confidence. By giving them various role-play scenarios, learners can create and practice their different vocabulary in fun ways. And role-play can also be useful for those just watching. If certain learners don’t feel confident enough to get up in front of their class and pretend to be a customer in a cafe, they can still pick up speaking tips from watching their classmates do it.

5. Mix it up

Learning in just one way quickly leads to children becoming disinterested, disengaged, and disgusted (just kidding, but I couldn’t think of another ‘dis’ to add). By using different formats for learning, whether that be worksheets, games, or PowerPoints, learners will stay stimulated.

6. Use technology

Technology has quickly become man’s best friend over recent years, and it should also become a teacher’s best friend! Technology is a great way to get children engaged in a lesson. With so many apps, interactive games, and platforms, there are lots for a teacher to choose from to use in their lessons.

7. Debate, debate, debate

Using debates can be a fantastic way for your children to develop their speaking skills, persuasive language skills, and so much more. They can also be really fun activities to get involved in. Choose a topic you know children will be able to give their opinion on- food is always a good one for this. Pasta or pizza? Sweet or savory? Split your class in two, and let them fight to the death! Just kidding- but they can argue as persuasively as they can for their point of view.

8. Use stories

Books are a great way for learners to develop their language skills. Stories allow children to use their imagination, picturing impossible places and people, creating a sense of adventure and fun. So using this to help teach language can be brilliantly beneficial for learning.

9. Use verbal and written instructions

If you’re setting a task, don’t just explain it verbally to learners or write it down on the board. Use both so learners can get used to seeing something written down and hearing it verbally. It is great for helping them learn pronunciation and spelling.

10. Use English holidays

Using English holidays can be a fantastic way to create a fun classroom environment. Whether you look at Christmas, Halloween, or Valentine’s Day, you can find resources to support your teaching on that topic. It can give children a chance also to get creative and explore other cultures.

How to teach a child English at home

Teaching English at home as a parent presents its unique challenges. But encouraging children in their own homes is a great way to develop their language skills further- children tend to mirror their parents’ behavior, so learning English together can be a great way for children to learn language skills.

Many of the above tips are also great to use at home, but if you’re looking for more advice on teaching a child English at home, check out these top tips below.

1. Use everyday things

The great thing about learning at home is that you’re not restricted to a classroom and set lessons. That means learning English can happen anywhere in your home, and integrating this into everyday things can be beneficial. As you put your child’s dinner plate in front of them, for example, saying things like ‘here is your dinner’ can help them grasp these everyday phrases.

2. Initiating conversation

Just like using everyday things, it can be a good idea to ask simple questions. It could be things like ‘could you set the table?’ or ‘what are you watching?’ It is a good way to engage your child in conversation, helping their language development in a natural setting.

3. Include English-speaking time

Setting a certain amount of time aside dedicated to speaking English can be useful. It gives children a chance to focus on their speaking skills and language. You could do this for ten minutes daily, as this motivates children to try and communicate in English.

4. Use games

There are so many great educational games that it can be easy to make learning not even seem like learning. There are lots of easy games that help develop language skills that children will also thoroughly enjoy. Just try to keep these games simple- if they’re too complex to understand, children aren’t going to enjoy them, and they aren’t going to learn from them.

5. Make use of resources

Teaching English can be a challenging task, and you don’t have to do it entirely on your own. There are many fantastic resources out there to help support educators teaching English, including home educators. These are a great way to support your child’s learning and give you a helping hand.

6. Set a routine

It can be harder to have structured learning at home than in a classroom, especially because children expect learning at school but see the home as a place to relax. It doesn’t mean you should set out hours upon hours of sessions at home, drilling down vocabulary and grammar. It could mean setting aside ten minutes before tea to play an English game. Or choosing an English story to read before bed.

7. Keep them talking

If children are only at a beginner level, they will find it difficult to initiate conversations in English. That means that it’s on you to keep them talking and developing their speaking skills. Ask them questions while they work or complete tasks to keep them engaged in the language.

8. Use songs

Are you pitch-perfect? No? Never mind then! (Just kidding.) Songs can be a great way to engage children in learning, and they’re also excellent for helping memory recall. Remember that song that played on the radio last week that you can’t get out of your head? Well, this should hopefully work in the same way for your children. Songs can be a great way to help children remember vocabulary.

9. Make use of your setting

You have a unique setting when teaching your child English at home- so use it! It can be particularly useful when covering topics such as food, clothes, or the house, where you have items readily available to support learning.

If you want to develop your food vocabulary, take the lesson to the fridge! See if your child can name its contents. If you’re going to focus on clothes vocabulary, take a trip to your wardrobe! This kind of interactive learning would be great for children as it’s easier to engage with than out-of-context teaching.

10. Use their interests

One way to get children interested in their language development is by using topics they’re interested in. For example, if they like reading, choose an English book together. If they love art, research some English artists and develop their artistic English vocabulary. Then, find something that they love and incorporate it.

Creative writing is a fictional and artistic form that goes outside professional or technical literature norms.

In creative writing, there is a focus on being creative and playing with ideas; creativity and imagination take priority over conveying facts and information. Creative writing also emphasizes the tone of voice, whereas technical writing is about the specificity of word choices.

Children have huge imaginations, making creative writing an excellent outlet for students in the classroom.

What are some different forms of creative writing?

Creative writing doesn’t just mean a story or a poem. Any written work where the author uses their ideas or perspective in an imaginative, inventive way can be considered creative writing. Here are some examples:

• Poetry.
• Novels.
• Memoirs.
• Scripts.
• Speeches.
• Journals.
• Letters.
• Songs.

Though all of these forms of writing are different, what unites them is that the creator has used creative writing techniques to communicate in a less formal, more imaginative way.

Why are creative writing techniques used?

Now that we know a bit about creative writing and its various forms, let’s learn what innovative writing techniques are used for.

Creative writing techniques can help make your story more fun and interesting. Learning how to use these different techniques is important if you want to create an effect on your reader. You might also be likely to use them if you want to:

• Hook the reader
• Put the reader in your story setting
• Built suspense
• Prompt an emotional reaction
• create a distinctive tone of voice
• Introduce a character

Internal Rhyme: Definition

When you think of rhymes, you likely first think about ‘end rhymes,’ or rhymes that happen at the end of a line or sentence. But did you know there are other types of rhyme too? Two of the most notable are half rhymes and internal rhymes. We will be looking at internal rhyme today.

An internal rhyme definition would be a rhyme created within a singular line of poetry. It can also be found in songs and plays too. Here are some examples of sentences with examples of internal rhymes examples:

• It would be easy to spend hours wandering across this field of flowers!
• I can’t think of a word to describe this bird!
• What on Earth is going on in Perth?
• I will share my roast potatoes, and maybe I will share the gravy.

Internal rhyme is a useful literary device that children will need to learn about when exploring literary analysis in their Language and Literacy lessons. In addition, recognizing and commenting on the effect of devices like internal rhyme will be useful as young learners progress through their educational journey.

Did you know? Internal rhyme is sometimes called ‘middle rhyme’!

Internal Rhymes: Examples of Internal Rhyme

One of the most famous examples of internal rhymes examples can be found in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth:

“Double, double toil and trouble,

Fire burn and cauldron bubble,

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron, boil and bake;

Eye of a newt and the toe of a frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,

Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burns and cauldron bubbles.

Cool it with a baboon’s blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.”

The internal rhyme and end rhyme combined make these lines feel rhythmic, like the witches are chanting or in a trance. It adds to the creepy atmosphere. The repetition of this internal rhyme adds to this too. Combined with the alliteration of ‘fillet of a fenny snake’ and the pairs of disgusting-sounding ingredients, this makes a powerful image in the reader’s mind. Just imagine them all speaking these lines together in a play performance!

For another spooky example, we can look at The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly, there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

This some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door….”

The internal rhyme here creates an unsettling feeling. It allows Poe to highlight certain words to draw attention to them and emphasize their importance to the mood he creates within the poem. Poe uses a lot of internal rhyme in this poem to create tension. You grow to expect internal rhyme in almost every line. He then chooses to break it at certain points, creating unease. This poem is a perfect example to use when teaching older children about the purpose of internal rhyming in a poem.

Here is another less spooky example from a poem by Edward Lear:

“There was an old man in a tree,

Who was bored by a bee,

When they said, “Does it buzz?”

He replied, “Yes, it does!

It’s a regular brute of a bee!”

This poem uses internal rhyme in conjunction with repeated words. Limericks are very short poems, so re-using the same words ‘does’ and ‘buzz’ more than once creates a sense of irritation within the poem, like an old man muttering to himself.

Edward Lear is especially well known for his limericks. Limericks often use internal rhyme to create an enhanced rhythm and musicality on top of the end rhyme structure of AABBA. It means that the first, second, and fifth lines all rhyme, and the third and fourth lines rhyme, forming a rhyming couplet.

What is the purpose of internal rhyming in a poem?

Internal rhyme can have many purposes within a poem, play, or song lyric. A common reason is to make the writing more rhythmic. It could be a musical rhythm or a plodding rhythm, like footsteps. On the other hand, it could create an erratic rhythm to evoke a sense of frenzy or skittishness. There are lots of ways that internal rhyme can be used!

Poets, playwrights, and lyricists can use different words and amounts of internal rhyme to create other effects that match the narrative. If something can be made, it can be broken. For example, poets can break a rhythm they have made with an internal rhyme to unsettle the reader or change the poem’s mood.

What other poetic devices should children learn about?

Internal rhyming in a poem aims to create a specific effect. This effect can be enhanced by using other literary devices or structures. Here are some poetic devices that can be used alongside internal rhyme. It will be helpful for children to recognize these devices when they begin to look at literary analysis.

• Alliteration – Alliteration means using words that start with the same letter. This repetition gives the line or stanza a kind of pulse-like beat. It can be gentle and lulling or draw attention to certain words.
• Personification – Personification involves giving human characteristics to non-human things in your writing. It could be an animal or even an object! For example, ‘the sun was smiling on us that day, ‘the cat sneered at the dog in victory,’ or ‘the trees danced together in the storm.’
• Onomatopoeia – Onomatopoeia can be described as using words that imitate, suggest, or even look like the word it represents. For example, many animal noises such as ‘oink’ or ‘meow’ are considered onomatopoeias, as well as words like ‘bang’ or ‘bosh.’ These are short words, often like a quick, surprising hit or explosion, which is what these words are often used to describe.
• Simile – Similes are comparisons to help describe something. They can be figurative, e.g., ‘eating the pasta felt like falling in love, or concrete, e.g., ‘the statue looked like a huge kidney bean.’
• Metaphor – A metaphor is somewhat similar to a simile in that it involves inviting the reader to picture something to conjure a feeling or a particular mental image. However, a metaphor doesn’t include words like ‘like.’ Instead, with a metaphor, you state that something is something else, e.g., the famous idiom ‘life is a rollercoaster. While life is not a rollercoaster, it is understood that this phrase means that life has many surprises, twists, and turns, which can also be said about the experience of riding a rollercoaster.
• Sibilance – Note the beginning of the last point about metaphor and the word choice used there – ‘somewhat similar to simile.’ It is an example of sibilance. A sibilance is a specific form of alliteration in which you use words starting with the letter ‘s’ to create a kind of hissing effect on your writing. It can be used in other ways, like drawing attention to the ‘s’ words. For example, if you use many emotive ‘s’ words like ‘sorrow’ and ‘sadness,’ why not try to add in other ‘s’ words and create some sibilance?
• Iambic pentameter – Iambic pentameter is most famously used in Shakespeare’s sonnets. Pentameter means five meters, as ‘penta’ means ‘five.’ So a line of poetry written in iambic pentameter has five feet five sets of stress, then unstressed syllables. For example, the line “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ from Sonnet 18 follows this pattern. Every second syllable is the one you emphasize or ‘stress.’ Sonnets also typically end with a rhyming couplet.

Pedagogy is a term used in business and education with various interpretations and meanings. For example, it could refer to the act, art, and science behind teaching, or it could mean educational processes, methods, and how teachers cover the curriculum areas and subjects in a classroom. Pedagogy also covers teaching strategies, psychology, the theory of education, and

When we talk about pedagogy, we mean teaching itself that has different approaches influenced by social, historical, and economic backgrounds. The term is about teaching, from studying the profession to planning and running lessons and tracking and assessing progress. It includes teaching styles, feedback, and personal and professional development. It’s also not limited to its professional capacity; teachers shape young minds and hearts by looking out for their pupils’ mental and physical health and encouraging them to be exemplary citizens.

What does the word ‘pedagogy’ mean?

The word itself comes from the Greekπαιδαγωγία (paidagōgia), which roughly means a teacher leading a child.

Pedagogy in education can be more teacher-centered or pupil-centered. While the former focuses on the knowledge and experience of the teachers, resulting in a dryer and more rigid way of teaching, the latter builds more on the learners’ existing knowledge and ways of thinking.

Although both practices are present today, the consensus is that it’s best to find the balance between the two by providing a platform for teachers to demonstrate their knowledge and encouraging children to be independent learners. Many factors can influence the style, method, or efficiency of teaching, from the class’s size, age, or enthusiasm to the space and appliance/tools available for teachers and students. For example, teachers can do their best to implement digital learning into their lessons if the school does not have enough computers for children.

History of pedagogy

The idea of pedagogy came from Ancient Greece and was further developed throughout history. The act of teaching has changed quite a bit over the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Age of Enlightenment and has been shaped differently by historical and political effects.

However, the bases of a role of a teacher and the aim of education were laid down in the 5th century BC with Socrates. Carers accompanied children to school, and the position of educator grew from that later on. Children were taught art, literature, maths, music, and politics.

School in the UK appeared around 590 AD, and pupils learned about grammar, logic and rhetoric, arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, and music. Though there was already some emphasis on having dialogues with children and developing critical thinking, pedagogy took off in the late 1700s. It was when larger classes started learning together, covering various topics. Later on, graduate colleges opened, and the education of teachers started. Upon finishing their studies, the new practitioners were given certificates, too.

Nowadays, thousands of studies, books, findings, and methods revolve around pedagogy. Depending on the country, teachers go to colleges or universities, some becoming teachers for everything, others getting qualifications for specific subjects.

In modern pedagogy, teachers study various styles, methods, and approaches to implement the most suitable one for their classes. Knowing these, alongside the national curriculum and different pedagogical principles, help teachers shape their practices, judgment, and strategies.

What is the Socratic method?

The Socratic questioning or method is a type of dialogue-based questioning and answering that encourages the learner to adopt critical thinking. By having children question everything and look for new ideas, they can find the right answers quicker and easier. It also helps them understand a problem or topic more deeply because they challenge it with their questions.

It, of course, is named after the famous Greek philosopher Socrates.

Pedagogical approaches

While several pedagogical approaches are influenced by cultural, political, economic, or practical contexts, we can separate a couple of important and influential approaches. First, however, remember that even these can be built together and tailored to individual or class needs.

As we mentioned, one of my major differences in teaching methods and approaches is the emphasis on the teacher and learner’s knowledge and experience. When the education is teacher-centered, the lessons are more one-sided, focusing on the teacher talking about the topic. The interactions, in this case, are limited, although there typically is dedicated time for questions. This method works well in higher education, with hundreds of students listening to an academic lecture.

But when teaching younger children, it’s always a better option – if circumstances allow it – to make the process more learner-centered. Actively involving children in the lesson improves independent and critical thinking and encourages them to find connections and hidden meanings and reevaluate what they hear and read.

Now let’s see some pedagogical approaches that are popular in education.

Behaviourism

Behaviourism is a good example of teacher-centered pedagogy, where teachers lead the lessons with direct presentations, instructions, and lecturing. The approach is built on teachers being authority figures who pass on their knowledge to the more passive audience. Everything taught during a lesson using behaviorism is visible and direct. The only time pupils get to be the center of attention is when they demonstrate their new-learned knowledge.

Constructivism

An opposite to this is constructivism, where the focus is shifted to the children. The lessons mostly revolve around group and project work, requiring pupils to think independently and reflect on their existing knowledge and experience. This approach is called the invisible or hidden pedagogy since it uses physical activities, creative tasks, and abstract methods and ideas to help children understand and memorize the curriculum subjects and topics.

Social constructivism

We got to the approach that combines the two above, aka is both teacher- and learner-centered. It blends the two most effective characteristics by allowing educators and children to shape the learning experience.

Dialogic learning

Since the beginning of the teaching, having dialogues with learners has been a successful way of passing on knowledge and improving critical thinking. Looking for valid arguments when discussing a topic with someone else supports having a deeper understanding and open mind.

Liberationism

This approach is heavily shaped by liberal ideas and aims to bring democracy into the classroom. Pupils’ opinions and ideas are implemented into the process of teaching. Smaller group works are frequent to guarantee that everyone’s voice gets heard.

Of course, all of these can be blended or used differently if certain standards are met that are typically set out by official parties. For example, in July 2011, the English Department of Education introduced a guide for school leaders, school staff, and governing bodies defining the minimum level of practice expected of trainees and teachers. The detailed document starts with a teacher getting their teaching status.

What is comprehension?

Comprehension, in this case, reading and literacy comprehension, is the student’s ability to understand the meaning behind their reading; this means that children can extract the meaning or message behind a writer’s story or text. It is a useful skill that children need to develop to progress through the National Curriculum. Comprehension skills discourage children from ‘passive reading’ in reading the individual words on the page without seeking to understand them.

What are comprehension strategies?

Comprehension strategies are good practices and methods that can be used as part of reading comprehension interventions to help your young students understand a passage, text, or story. Some reading comprehension intervention strategies can be used from early years, even before children can speak or read. They improve general thinking, logic, and creativity while encouraging children to pay attention to details, find hidden meanings and look for the big picture.

Understanding a text in whole and pieces is important for various exercises, activities, challenges, and tests the young ones face in pre- and primary schools. Whether they have to understand a listening task, read an entire novel, solve a Mathematics word problem or analyze a poem, comprehension skills will determine how successfully they tackle these.

What is a reading intervention?

Reading intervention is a 1:1 teaching program that uses strategies that help struggling students develop their reading skills at the expected rate. These intervention programs deliver reading sessions that combine reading and phonology skills to improve reading skills for individual students.

Trained teachers or teaching assistants can deliver these reading intervention strategies on a 1:1 basis.

Here are some quick Twinkl tips that you can use to create a positive reading intervention experience:

1. Create a stress-free, positive environment. Focus on motivating and rewarding the child when they do well.
2. Ask the child to follow each line with a ruler or a finger.
3. Use a variety of books and reading materials. Children will find it even more difficult to focus if they’re not interested in what they’re reading. So read everything from stories, poems, or even fact files. Find whatever it is that makes children excited to read.
4. Pre-teach vocabulary and focus on individual words. Learning a new language before diving into a text allows children to practice pronunciation.
5. Boost children’s knowledge of sight vocabulary. You can read these words on sight without thinking about what they mean. It helps with fluency and will build children’s confidence when reading.

List of 12 reading comprehension intervention strategies

Here is a handy list of 12 reading and literacy comprehension intervention strategies and methods that you can use in reading interventions to support a child’s understanding of a text. These are all widely used practices inside and outside school that has proved useful from the early years. However, it’s important to note that these can, and sometimes should, be tailored to the children’s skills and needs. Some strategies can work better for your kids or pupils than others. It’s a process to figure out the most suitable for the young. You can try out plenty of them to find the best fit!

1) Making predictions about a text

Guessing what a story is about before even reading or hearing it makes children more alert when they read or listen to it. It also helps them to imagine the surrounding, the main figures or conflicts, and even the meaning of the text. You can give them clues, a list of information, or some illustration to guide their thought process. Then when they come around to comprehend the text, they can point out parts they guessed right and others they did not.

You can also use this strategy with older students and longer texts. After each reading session, try asking the child what they think will happen next to each of the characters and their plot. Again, it will encourage students to use their understanding of the text to discover what will happen next.

To get started using prediction as a reading comprehension strategy, we have many resources and teaching materials you can use with your children.

2) Using prior knowledge to connect to the text

Leaning on their existing knowledge can help children better understand a story and its meaning. In addition, their experience will give a framework for the new information they gain from the texts. That way, they’ll take in everything unknown quicker and easier.

3) Try metalinguistics strategies

Metalinguistics refers to students’ ability to think about, talk about, and manipulate language actively. For example, to consider to different meanings of a word.

Children can focus on the words or phrases they don’t know when reading or listening to a story. By learning new speech units, they can get more invested in the texts and more curious about their overall meaning or message.

It’s a great strategy to broaden your pupils’ vocabulary while encouraging them to focus on the text.

4) Visualise outcomes and alternative endings

One of the most popular teaching lists of reading comprehension intervention strategies visualization, and for a good reason – it’s fun! It’s a highly effective and fun creative exercise for children to get them excited to practice their reading skills. Creating a mental image of a text helps to pay attention to the details, see the connections, and get more invested in the story. So again, we have lots of fun and creative resources to help you and your students have fun with their reading intervention sessions.

5) Experiment with story mapping

Story maps combine visualization and summarization. Children must draw a map of the story they’ve read, highlighting the major events. They go from left to right, mapping the story from the beginning to the end. They can get creative and draw if they like or use colors to differentiate the various events covered in the text.

6) Zero in solely on the main idea of the story

Sometimes one of the biggest challenges with a story is to grasp its main idea of it. The text could be too long, too complicated, or use difficult words children might not know. So, figuring out what the text is about is key to comprehension. Your pupils can look for hints or dialogues that help them to determine the main idea. Because once they have that, it’ll be much easier to tackle the individual storylines or parts of the reading exercise.

Skim reading is one useful way for learners to look over a text to understand its meaning. Help your students develop this skill by encouraging them not to read all the details of a text when they first look at it. Instead, it should help them focus on the main ideas of the writing.

7) Look for details

Once your students comprehend what the story or writing is about, then they should read the text again much more thoroughly. To help them focus and read the text in depth, you can provide some questions about specific details. For example, you can ask multiple choice questions to get your students to correctly identify facts and figures, where something happened, or who was involved. Again, it’s helpful to give your students the questions in order of where they are written in a text so they can look for the answers as they read through.

8) Open a conversation with reading questions

It’s always a good idea to ask questions about a text and have children answer them. Or you can pair up your students and ask them to come up with their questions. This reading comprehension strategy can be helpful for students who struggle to concentrate or articulate their thoughts and opinions of a text. Thinking of questions and answers is a great way to reinforce comprehension and get the bigger picture.

9) Draw inferences from context clues

Making educated guesses about the hidden meaning of a text is a more complex strategy but one that greatly boosts comprehension. Finding clues and drawing conclusions improve the understanding of a layer children might not discover the first time they read something. Then, leaning on what they already knew and what they read, they can deduct certain additional information using inference.

10) Don’t forget to keep monitoring comprehension

A simple but highly effective way to help children understand a text is by checking what they do and don’t grasp. Ask them if they struggle with a word or phrase or find it hard to comprehend the overall meaning or message. Then, turn the activity into a group discussion where you go through the text together, allowing them to point out the parts they think are tricky.

11) Sum it up by summarising activities

When children are asked to summarise a text, they need to think over what it was about, who was in it, and what happened. It’s a great way to reinforce comprehension and improve memory while boosting vocabulary. Children will automatically try to use words they saw in the text when summarising it.

12) Hand over control by asking students to retell the story

Last but not least, you can always ask children to gather their thoughts and try to retell the story they’ve just read. It’ll encourage them to think about the smaller details as well as the meaning of the text. To help them out, teach them the 5 W’s that always come in handy once they answer the ‘who,’ ‘what,’ ‘when,’ ‘where,’ and ‘why’ they already have the basis for retelling the story.

Marjorie Lee Browne was a famous mathematician who pioneered the field of mathematics, specifically relating to algebra. She lived a very fulfilling life but was often subject to racism and prejudice, as she was a Black woman in education in the early and mid-1900s.

Early Life

Marjorie was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on 9th September 1914 – at the beginning of the First World War. Her mother was Mary Taylor Lee, and her father was Lawrence Johnson Lee; however, Mary Taylor sadly passed away shortly after Marjorie’s birth. Lawrence soon remarried a woman named Lottie, who strived to encourage Marjorie to focus on her studies. Marjorie’s parents realized she was smart and gifted and therefore invested in her education by putting her through private school.

While attending LeMoyne High School in Memphis, Browne loved being a teenager. She would spend time with her friends and loved playing sports. She won the Memphis City Women’s Tennis Singles Championship in 1929! Alongside being a typical teen, Marjorie focused her heart and soul on mathematics. She loved the freedom it gave her to complete her studies alone.

Browne’s dad, Lawrence, was well-known in the local community for excelling in maths. He certainly didn’t fall short in providing a fabulous start to Marjorie’s education and investing in her interest. LeMoyne High School was among the most prestigious African American high schools, specifically for prospective teachers.

Early University Education

In 1931, Marjorie Lee Browne graduated from LeMoyne High School and then attended Howard University. This university is historically known as a private federally charted Black research university and is located in Washington, D.C. Since the university was established in 1867, it welcomed students of all sexes and races; however, this doesn’t mean that university life for Marjorie would have been easy. In the 1930s, Howard University still had segregated housing for students. On top of that, The Great Depression resulted in the university experiencing financial hardship.

Meanwhile, Browne focused on her studies and soon graduated with a maths degree in 1935. After this, she moved to New Orleans to live with her extended family and teach maths at the high school level.

What did Browne focus on in her career?

Once Marjorie graduated with her undergraduate degree, she then applied to the University of Michigan to undertake their maths graduate program. During the mid-1900s, life was hard for African Americans who wanted access to quality education. The University of Michigan was one of the few U.S. institutions accepting African American students.

Luckily, Browne received a teaching fellowship at this university. It meant that she studied and attended her classes full-time while writing her dissertation and teaching other undergraduate students. At the end of the graduate program, Marjorie earned a doctorate in maths in 1949. This made her known as Marjorie Lee Browne, Ph.D. Marjorie was the third-ever Black woman to earn a maths Ph.D. The next African American woman to earn a maths Ph.D. didn’t occur until over a decade later.

In the 1940s, specifically, it was very uncommon for Black women to earn mathematical degrees. And what made Marjorie stand out, even more, was that she pursued her Ph.D. Despite all odds, nothing stopped her from attaining the highest quality of education during this specific period of history.

Marjorie believed that a mathematician “appreciates mathematics’s beauty, power, and eloquence as one of the greatest art forms.” She embodied this in its entirety!

How can I teach my pupils about women in mathematics?

Not only was Marjorie Lee Browne a mathematical prodigy, but she became an inspiration to teachers and African American women alike to pursue maths at a graduate level. She realized and understood that more had to be done to help Black women access education – particularly in the STEM fields.

Teaching your pupils or children about women in STEM and mathematics more generally can be difficult. However, like Marjorie, we should encourage children to pursue maths during their educational careers. Browne spent most of her later years teaching other teachers about linear algebra, which would have encouraged female teachers to take the lead in maths. She died in 1979.

What is the grammatical mood?

The grammatical mood is a verb’s form to show how we should understand it. To react to what we are hearing or reading, we must know why a particular verb has been used. Is it a command? Is it a wish? Or is it a statement or opinion?

Understanding how to use the common three moods of verbs is a key part of communication in English – and most of the time, we don’t even realize we’re doing it! This Wiki will break down the meanings of the most common three moods of verbs while pointing you to some helpful resources for teaching these moods to your students.

The Three Moods of Verbs

The three moods of verbs that we commonly use are the imperative, subjunctive, and indicative moods. There are other kinds, too, such as conditional verbs, which are ‘if’ statements that highlight if something may or may not happen – but these three form the basis of most sentences and are useful to focus on while teaching.

Indicative Mood

An indicative mood is used to communicate a fact or statement. Indicative verbs can stand alone to form a sentence when matched with a subject and object, like in the sentence ‘We are teachers.’ An indicative verb can deny a statement by stating that something is false. For example:

• Dolphins are great swimmers.
• Dolphins are not land animals.
• I am a teacher.
• I sing terribly.

The highlighted words are indicative verbs. Try this poster on relating verbs for more useful tips on using terms like am, are, be, and so on. It’s a handy way to teach learners about linking words before you teach them about the moods each verb uses.

It’s also important to note that the interrogative mood (when a verb is used to form a question) is sometimes separated from this indicative mood, but many of the verb forms are the same.

Subjunctive Mood

If imperative verbs deal with real things like statements, facts, and personal opinions, then subjunctive verbs deal with imaginary things like wishes, possibilities, and guesses.

It’s an unusual verb because it doesn’t describe any particular past or present tense. However, it is one reason it’s important to learn about the three moods of verbs, as it helps us describe other situations within language.

It’s also now less commonly used in modern English, appearing mostly in formal communication and writing. One common feature of the subjunctive mood is changing the word ‘was’ to ‘were,’ like in the following examples:

The subjunctive mood is useful if we want to show that the situation we describe isn’t likely to happen. It’s also an easy change to make because the subject (he/she/it/they) stays the same even if we change the mood!

Imperative Mood

We all know that verbs are thought of as ‘doing words,’ and the imperative mood is a kind of verb that tells us to do something. It is a command or instruction often found at the start of a sentence because the subject is the person being spoken to. Some common examples of imperative verbs include:

• Add the flour to the bowl.
• Go to the shops.
• Say Cheese!
• Please come again!

These kinds of verbs are meant to be snappy and clear, so they are sometimes called bossy verbs, which might help your class remember their use.

What is a Pharaoh?

In ancient Egypt, the Pharaohs were the people in charge with the most power, similar to a king or leader that we might see in the present day. The Pharaohs were also often seen as filling the gap between the gods and men and were believed to have supreme power.

The etymology of Pharaoh is “great house” and refers to the huge palaces in which the leaders would live. In the same way, a king would often have a queen; a Pharoah would also have a partner with large amounts of power over the land and the people.

Who was the first Pharaoh of Egypt?

Many scholars believe the first pharaoh was Narmer, possibly also called Menes, who ruled around 3100 BC. Unfortunately, we don’t know much about Narmer because he led so long ago. Still, many Egyptologists believe he was the first ruler to unite Upper and Lower Egypt and the founder of the First Dynasty – this is why pharaohs held the title of ‘Lord of two lands’ and wore the Pschent, or Double-Crowne commonly see Pharaohs wearing in Ancient Egyptian art.

The crown was made by combining the White Hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt and the Red Deshret Crown of Lower Egypt and symbolized the Pharaoh’s authority over all of Egypt. It bore two animal emblems: an Egyptian cobra, ready to strike, symbolizing the Lower Egyptian goddess Wadjet, and an Egyptian vulture representing the Upper Egyptian tutelary goddess Nekhbet. Only the Pharaoh was ever allowed to wear the cobra goddess, and it was said that she would protect them by spitting flames at their enemies!

Who was the most famous Egyptian Pharaoh?

As quite possibly the most famous Egyptian Pharaoh, many of you will have already heard of Tutankhamun, also known as the ‘Boy King’ or ‘King Tut.’

Tutankhamun began his reign in 1336 BCE at just 9 or 10 years old following the death of his father Akhenaten, a controversial and unpopular ruler who outlawed all but one God: Aten the Sun God. Having reversed many of his Father’s unpopular decisions by allowing people to worship the old gods again and repairing damaged temples, Tutankhamun died aged 18 in 1327 BCE. His role as Pharaoh was to rule over the land, collect taxes, enforce the law, and lead the army against invaders.

Did you know

Although the cause of Tutankhamun’s death remains a mystery, Egyptologists think a chariot crash might have caused it.

Why is Tutankhamun so important?

Tutankhamun is special because his tomb, found in the Valley Of The Kings at Thebes, remained untouched by tomb raiders. It is the only Ancient Egyptian tomb to be found completely intact, almost 3000 years after the Pharaoh’s death.

It meant that his tomb and the mummified body were discovered alongside around 5000 precious objects, which the Ancient Egyptians believed Tutankhamun would need in the afterlife.

Through careful examination, these objects have been able to offer a fantastic insight into Ancient Egyptian culture. They have enabled us to gain a deeper understanding of Tutankhamun’s role in Ancient Egypt as well as Tutankhamun’s famous golden mask, a selection of animal statues, large chests, jewelry, clothes, weapons, and even toys were found. Not forgetting the golden throne, of course.

Tutankhamun facts for KS2

• Tutankhamun’s original name was Tutankhaten, after his father.
• Tutankhamun reigned during the 18th Dynasty when the Egyptian Empire was at its height.
• After eight years of searching, British archaeologist Howard Carter found Tutankhamun’s tomb in November 1922.
• Four chambers were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb, filled with everything he would need in the afterlife.
• Among all the other treasures, Tutankhamun was found buried with his sandals. Pictures of his enemies were painted on the soles, meaning that he stamped all over his rivals every time he walked.
• It took archaeologists a decade to catalog all the treasures in the famous Pharaoh’s tomb.
• The cobra on Tutankhamun’s mask represented lower Egypt, while the vulture symbolized upper Egypt. Tutankhamun ruled over them both.
• Because Tutankhamun came to power at such a young age, his advisors, General Horemheb and Grand Vizier Ay helped him to rule Egypt.

When was Tutankhamun’s tomb found?

Tutankhamun’s tomb was found in 1922 by an English archaeologist, Howard Carter. Carter worked for an Earl called George Edward Stanhope, Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the tomb. The digging that was taking place to search for the tomb began in 1914 but was later interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War.

Towards the end of 1917, digging resumed. However, by 1922, the excavations had found very little, and Carnarvon wanted to withdraw his funding. Instead, he agreed to fund one final dig, during which Carter’s team found the entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun by accident.

In November 1922, the water boy assisting the digging team uncovered an unusual stone in the sand. After reporting it to Carter, the team revealed more of the stones buried deeper and discovered that it was the staircase leading to the tomb’s entrance.

After uncovering the buried entrance, Carter and the team discovered that the tomb was still intact, containing many items and artifacts from Egypt’s past. Unfortunately, Lord Carnarvon died not long after, but Carter could continue his work in the tomb with help from the Egyptian Department of Antiquities.

Who was the last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt?

That depends on who you ask! Ancient Egypt’s last native Pharaoh was Nectanebo II, who ruled Egypt from 360–342 BC before being defeated by the Achaemenid Empire and forced to flee, leaving Egypt in Persian hands. However, the Achaemenid rulers adopted the title of Pharaoh, so even after Nectanebo vanished, there was a long period of foreign Pharaohs in Egypt.

The conquests of Alexander the Great destroyed the Achaemenid Empire in 332 BC, at which point Egypt passed into Macedonian Greek hands. However, after Alexander died in 323 BC, his empire became fragmented and divided between his former generals. Ptolemy, one of Alexander’s former bodyguards, was appointed Satrap, or governor, of Egypt in 323 BC. Still, in 305, he declared himself a king, and he and his descendants also adopted the title of Pharaoh, becoming the last Dynasty of Ancient Egypt.

All the Ptolemaic Pharaohs used a very small pool of names – all the male rulers were called Ptolemy, while all the queens were called either Cleopatra, Arsinoe, or Berenice. Talk about a lack of imagination! Moreover, it makes discussing the Ptolemaic dynasty quite confusing since there are a lot of shared names.

The very last real Pharaoh of Egypt was a woman -Cleopatra VII, although she’s so famous that most people call her Cleopatra. She was born in 69 BC into a troubled royal dynasty. Although Egypt was still an independent kingdom, the growing power of Rome and its empire was becoming a threat to the comparatively small Egypt. As a result, there was a great deal of in-fighting between the ruling family.

Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy XII, was ousted from power in 58 BC by his wife, Cleopatra Tryphaena, who was then replaced by her and Ptolemy’s oldest daughter, Berenice in 57 BC (some people think Berenice killed her mother herself to grab power!). However, in 55 BC, the Romans helped put Ptolemy XII back on the throne, and he made our Cleopatra (VII) his co-ruler when she was just 17!

After he died in 51 BC, Cleopatra’s father said in his will that Cleopatra should share the throne with her 10-year-old brother Ptolemy XIII – who was also her husband. It was common for the Ptolemies, who had adopted the practice of marrying their siblings from earlier Egyptian rulers, but still – yuck. However, Ptolemy and his advisors didn’t want to share power with Cleopatra, and a civil war broke out between them, with Cleopatra being forced to flee. After years of war, Cleopatra eventually resorted to getting the Romans involved to help secure her throne, becoming Pharaoh in 47 BC.

Cleopatra leaned very heavily to the Egyptian side of her identity, even claiming to be the goddess Isis’ incarnation on Earth – but ultimately, Egypt was now politically tied to Rome because of her dealings with Julius Caesar. When Caesar died, a civil war in Rome broke out, and Cleopatra backed Mark Anthony – which turned out to be on the losing side. Fearing being taken to Rome and paraded around as a captive, she took her life in 30 BC. After this point, Egypt was just a province of Rome, with no independent ruler of its own.

Fun fact: Although pop culture often talks about Cleopatra as a beautiful seductress who won over Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony with her looks, several ancient records, as well as recent historical research, tell a different story. In these records, Cleopatra is described as not being particularly pretty. Instead, on coins minted during her reign, she was shown to have strong features and a large nose – she was most attractive because she was extremely clever, according to the ancient writer Plutarch!