Following the news that the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has commissioned an efficacy trial of HFL Education’s KS2 Reading Fluency Project, (funded through the Department for Education’s Accelerator Fund), the Primary English team at HFL Education reflect on the journey of the project since its launch in 2017. 

Then, as now, schools recognised the need to invest in training that would yield long term benefits. Even then, money was tight (albeit comparatively abundant in light of today’s financial situation) and time available for CPD had to be used wisely. Schools needed to know their investment would pay off, not just in the short term for the current cohort, but for pupils in months and years to come. But is it realistic to think that 6 years on from the launch of the KS2 Reading Fluency Project, those early adopter schools will still be seeing the benefit of their investment? In this blog, we reflect on the journey of HFL Education’s Reading Fluency Project from 2017 to the present day, and share insights from those schools who joined us at the very start of our reading fluency adventure.

Reading fluency in 2017

It’s hard to imagine that back when the KS2 Reading Fluency Project was launched, some words which now form part of our daily discourse were not part of our vocabulary. In 2017, Corona was simply a brand of beer; no one referred to a UK break as a ‘stay-cation’ and the words ‘deep’ and ‘dive’ were yet to be conjoined and used within the context of education (first introduced in 2019 if you’re interested). Likewise, the term ‘reading fluency’ was, in UK schools at least, rarely encountered (in the US, thanks to pioneering educators like Professor Tim Rasinski, ‘reading fluency’ was however becoming a hot topic: read Why Reading Fluency Should be Hot, published in The Reading Teacher in May 2012).

Despite the limited discourse surrounding reading fluency, several Hertfordshire schools were willing to invest precious time and energy in piloting an intervention designed by HFL Education’s Primary English team, based on strategies advocated by leading educationalist, Professor Tim Rasinski.

KS2 Reading Fluency Project: pilot schools

With thanks to schools who piloted the KS2 Reading Fluency Project in summer 2017:

Summerswood Primary School, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire
Reedings Junior School, Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire
De Havilland Primary School, Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Beechfield School, Watford, Hertfordshire
Woodhall Primary School, Watford, Hertfordshire

Take a trip down memory lane and enjoy re-reading one of our earliest blogs on this topic reflecting on the success and learning from our early pilots: Early Findings from the KS2 Reading Fluency Project (published October 2017).

Ready to launch: round 1 of the KS2 Reading Fluency Project (autumn 2017)

The pilot was incredibly successful and was followed swiftly by the launch of the project in autumn 2017. Nineteen schools joined us for that first round. As anticipated, pupils made impressive progress across the 8-week intervention: on average, 2 years 6 months progress in reading comprehension in just 8 weeks (measured using the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension YARC; pre and post analysis). 

Since 2017, the HFL team have worked with hundreds of schools to support thousands of pupils to mirror this progress: the current average progress (across 2200 pupil data sets) is 2 years 3 months improvement in comprehension age (KS2 Reading Fluency Project: impact and outcomes). 

Reading Fluency Project: making partnerships and spreading the word!

Recognising the significance of this work, we sought to develop partnerships to share the knowledge we had gained; we have since developed successful collaborations with a host of delivery partners across the UK including English Hubs, Research Schools, Local Authorities, educational thought leaders and other school improvement organisations to ensure this work reaches as many pupils as possible. 

We would like to offer thanks to those organisations and individuals who saw value in this work and have supported us to spread this learning far and wide.

Expanding our suite of Reading Fluency Projects

We quickly realised that the strategies used as part of the KS2 Reading Fluency Project had potential to impact progress for struggling readers in other year groups. HFL Education’s phase specialists got to work and over time we have added to our suite of interventions, creating bespoke versions of the project for pupils in KS1, KS3 and KS4, each securing equally impressive outcomes.
 

Outcomes of HFL Education’s Reading Fluency Projects

Outcomes of the KS1 Reading Fluency Project:
17 months progress in reading comprehension age*, including:
•    76% of pupils with more than six months of progress;

Outcomes of the KS3 Reading Fluency Project: 
18 months progress in reading comprehension age*

Outcomes of the KS4 Reading Fluency Project: 
•    2 years and 8 months progress in reading comprehension age*.

Read about the early success of the KS4 Reading Fluency Project, trialled in autumn 2022 and launched in autumn 2023: KS4 Reading Fluency Project flexes its muscles…for the reading win

*Progress measured as difference in months between pre and post assessment, using GL Assessment’s York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension (YARC)

Reading Fluency Project: powerful partnerships

We are incredibly proud that this year, we gained the support of educator and author, Hon. Stuart Lawrence, who shares our passion to ensure that all children, regardless of background, have access to high quality education and equal opportunities.

We have been so grateful to welcome Stuart’s support to reach out to even more schools and pupils; and we are delighted that participants in the autumn 2023 round of the KS2 Reading Fluency Project have had the opportunity to meet Stuart and to share his book, 'Silence is Not An Option: You Can Impact the World for Change' with their pupils.

Reading Fluency Project: long-term legacy

Now, as we stand on the brink of a national trial of the KS2 project, we have returned to those early adopter schools, and sought feedback on whether an intervention launched 6 years ago can still yield positive outcomes. It has been fascinating and insightful to hear their reflections: 

"One thing that we as a school have really taken from the Fluency project is the investment in teaching children how to improve their prosody. Fluent reading has become an integral part of the way we teach. It is securely embedded in our GR curriculum, where we teach echo reading, text marking, phrasing etc, but you also see it across the school. Whenever a child is reading out loud there is a focus on their fluency and how it sounds: are they using the punctuation? Can they hear the rhythm of the words?"
Claire Sargeant, Reading Lead, Mandeville Primary School, St Albans, Hertfordshire

"We still use the Reading Fluency Project at Bromet Primary, mainly in upper KS2. All KS2 TAs have run the project and we use the YARC to measure impact. We also have an Intervention Specialist who takes a lead on the project and is a ‘go to’ to discuss best-practice in relation to delivery of the intervention. Since starting the project it has had a significant impact on outcomes.
We have successfully taken on some of the principles into whole class Guided Reading."
Maria Pace, Headteacher, Bromet Primary School

“Being part of the first wave of schools to pilot the HfL Reading Fluency Project seems like such a long time ago. Echo reading, prosody and text marking seemed like such alien concepts at the time - compared to now, where the strategies are so naturally woven into the daily teaching of reading in all areas of the curriculum. Reading fluency and the strategies applied within it are utilised by teachers through a hybrid approach to guided reading lessons. Teachers use the strategies of echo reading to model new and trickier texts with the whole class to help unpick new vocabulary and establish deeper meaning. Teachers may then choose to use further strategies such as text marking with targeted pupils to help further aid their comprehension. Echo reading isn’t only for guided reading lessons and can now be seen (and heard!) in the reading of a biography about Mary Anning in science or in a history lesson reading Greek myths. 
Reading fluency is transformative for those reluctant readers to succeed in a safe and supportive space.”
Nicky Murphy, Deputy Headteacher and English Subject Leader 

Reading comprehension is complex and for some children, it can feel elusive and mysterious. Much of what goes on when we read happens in our heads and – for expert readers – it is often done with such automaticity so we may not even realise we are doing it. This can make it tricky to help children struggling with reading comprehension for two reasons. Firstly, we may not be aware of the processes happening that we need to teach. Secondly, the children cannot see or hear the processes undertaken by expert readers, unless we choose to explicitly model them. 

The DfE’s update to the Reading Framework sets out guidance for teaching reading comprehension. As explored in our latest blog, Reflecting on the DfE Reading Framework, section 10 makes clear that we should ignite children’s reading comprehension through modelling of the various processes used to construct a mental model of a text. As competent readers, we adopt a range of skills simultaneously in order to make meaning of what we read; we should model this for pupils, rather than teaching skills (i.e. vocabulary, inference, prediction) in isolation, to allow them to approach texts in a similar way. This feels like a good way to inspire the will to read, as much as the skill of reading, as we can allow children to respond to what they read in authentic ways.

This guidance has caused consternation for some, who have become used to teaching reading domains separately. Therefore, we thought now would be a good time to re-share this blog written by Penny Slater a few years ago, which reflects on the challenge of teaching reading comprehension and shares some oldie-but-goodie resources that remain useful to this day. Penny’s conceptual model for reading comprehension is also shared, and this is a hugely helpful tool for teachers to understand the ultimate goal of reading – inference – and how we construct meaning in our minds, bringing together the ‘skills’ of reading to reach the desired outcome.

The art of teaching reading comprehension is a troublesome business. For years, I tussled with my lack of clarity in this area, questioning why I found it so difficult to teach something that I found so easy to do. And of course the answer is clear: I struggled to teach the processes involved in comprehension because I was unable to fully articulate the processes that I myself employed when comprehending. Doubtless, I was very good at comprehending – in fact, I would go as far as describing myself as ‘a very good comprehender’ – but as teachers our confidence is often our downfall because sometimes the better we are at something, the harder we find it to teach. 

When I actually asked myself what I was doing when comprehending a text, I struggled to identify the steps that I was working through, let alone to name those steps. Clearly, this is not an ideal position for a teacher to find themselves in. After all, if I was going to model these steps to my children so that they could mimic them, I needed to know what to show them, and what to call them. Troublesome indeed!

Thankfully a set of documents were handed to me back in 2005 which helped to set me on a clearer path. 

*available under the Open Government License

The Comprehension Fliers (as they have come to be known) are a set of three double-page documents outlining in teacher-friendly detail the skills involved in becoming a good comprehender. To say that I found these incredibly useful would be an understatement! Most importantly for me, they gave me a language with which I could begin talking about the silent and invisible processes involved in comprehension. There were also very practical. I valued having a list of activities that I could use with my class, knowing that each one would be helping to develop reading comprehension.  They are an easily accessible and wonderfully usable addition to your teaching resource bank.

My relationship with teaching reading comprehension was beginning to become less troublesome. I was now convinced that the act of comprehension was the result of many cognitive processes working together. I wondered whether teaching each skill in isolation would allow children to hone the skills, one at a time, or whether a combined approach would be more beneficial. 

I still felt that there was work to be done, specifically in relation to the KS2 reading test. This introduced a whole new raft of language that needed to be assimilated into my developing understanding of reading comprehension. I knew that I didn’t want to teach solely to the test, but I was acutely aware of the fact that the domains outlined in the test development materials would be the aspects of reading that my children would ultimately be judged on. So my teaching had to prepare them for a successful jump through that hoop otherwise I would have a raft of children who had a heightened awareness of the skills involved in comprehension, but who couldn’t actually deliver the goods when needed!

The ‘English reading test framework 2016’ set out how elements of the curriculum will be defined for test development purposes:

2a    give / explain the meaning of words in context
2b    retrieve and record information / identify key details from fiction and non-fiction
2c    summarise main ideas from more than one paragraph
2d    make inferences from the text / explain and justify inferences with evidence from the text
2e    predict what might happen from details stated and implied
2f    identify / explain how information / narrative content is related and contributes to meaning as a whole
2g    identify / explain how meaning is enhanced through choice of words and phrases
2h    make comparisons within the text

HFL Education re-organised these into a more accessible format, and re-named them in order to make the terms more usable in the classroom.

Still, despite the language being refined for us, and the skills being neatly positioned along a horizontal axis, I was still not confident that all the information available had been pulled together in a workable fashion to support teachers in the classroom. Teaching each skill in isolation, with equal weighting, felt a little problematic - surely there should be a hierarchy of skills involved? Should some receive more air-time than others? Did some logically precede others? Was it possible in fact to teach each skill discretely? 

Inference for example, caused me more than a moment of pause for thought. The longer I spent trying to model this skill, the more I came to the realisation that inference was actually the culmination of many skills working together and that teaching it in isolation was both misleading and unsuccessful.
And so, with these questions in my mind, I set about pulling all the strands of reading comprehension together into a visual form that performed several functions. Fundamentally I wanted a model that:

• Showed how the interrelating aspects of effective reading comprehension can be positioned to show a hierarchy – or journey – of skills
• Mirrored the language of the test domains, but cushioned these terms within more useful language that would support wider learning in the classroom
• Included reference to other recognised reading skills that went beyond those outlined in the test development materials

This is the model that I now use to support teachers to develop their understanding of how the skills of reading comprehension inter-relate. Teachers who I have worked with have found it particularly useful to see how the skill of inferring is in fact an end-point, and that in order to support our children in being able to infer, we must pay attention to the other skills that inference relies on. Teachers have also appreciated how the model signifies the importance of vocabulary knowledge. If we consider each circle to be a moat which the children must cross before they are able to access the skills within the innermost circles, then we see clearly that they will not get very far if they do not understand the meanings on the words on the page. This chimes with what teachers are finding in their classrooms: lack of knowledge of vocabulary is a complete blocker. You can’t make any inroads into comprehension without addressing this issue first.

Please feel free to download an A4 printable of the model (Conceptual model for reading comprehension) if you would like to share this back in school. 

This Conceptual Model for Reading Comprehension helps us to understand the skills we draw upon as expert readers to make sense of what we read. Modelling these aspects aloud when reading with your class will help children to become aware of the skills readers use, and how they too can apply them to make meaning when reading.
As you read and talk your thoughts aloud, some useful sentence starters might be:

• This reminds me of when… (connect: to life, to books, to wider world)
• What I’m picturing in my mind here is… (visualise)
• I wonder… (question)
• That’s like what happened in… (compare)
• I think that this will/will not… (predict)

Encourage children to do the same, as nurturing these responses will support them well on the road to inference.

If you’re keen to delve deeper into the world of reading comprehension, do dip into our recent blogs:

• Reflecting on the DfE Reading Framework – guidance and reflections on the July 2023 update to the Reading Framework
• Reading SATs knowledge; Reading SATs power – useful for Year 6 teachers to reflect and learn from the Summer 2023 paper
• The Power of Poetry in the Primary Classroom – great for building confidence in the teaching of poetry
• Whole Class Guided Reading in KS2: Finding the Right Balance for All Children – supportive guidance and provocations to ensure all children access quality reading teaching

Original blog by Penny Slater, with additions by Juliet McCullion.

When the Teacher Assessment Framework (TAF) for writing was released in 2015 (then updated in 2018), there was almost a collective gasp from teachers across the country regarding the apparently heavy grammar weighting. ‘Why has composition and effect disappeared? What about authorial intent? What does it mean to exercise an assured and conscious control over levels of formality.’ Grammar needn’t be controversial, as it is implicit in spoken and written communication and quite simply makes meaning of words. 

I wonder whether we may simply need to re-frame our thinking around the teaching of grammar. Our chosen approach can provide a ‘tool’ for the writing job at hand. What if we avoid the ‘tick-box’ approach which oftens sees grammar taught discretely and aims to provide evidence of grammar objectives? By teaching children how to use grammar for effect within their writing – carefully considering its impact on the intended audience – we may just see those desired skills of composition and effect come through. What if we focus our teaching time on developing children as authors? It is almost akin to the chicken and egg analogy. What comes first in creating a successful piece of writing and consequently a successful writer – grammar or composition? It is true that one relies heavily on the other. 

What does the key stage 2 teacher assessment framework (TAF) tell us?

Let’s take a closer look at those meatier key stage 2 TAF statements which do not appear to explicitly reference grammar:

Working at the expected standard

The pupil can…

• write effectively for a range of purposes and audiences, selecting language that shows good awareness of the reader (e.g. the use of the first person in a diary; direct address in instructions and persuasive writing)
•  in narratives, describe settings, characters and atmosphere
• integrate dialogue in narratives to convey character and advance the action

All three of these statements necessitate an understanding of how to use grammar in writing. For example, if pupils are being taught how to write a diary, they need to understand how to manipulate language for informality. As such, they would benefit from learning how to make use of the (always joyous to teach) apostrophe for contraction. In contrast, if children are learning to write a newspaper article, they will need an understanding of more formal aspects of language such as the passive voice, as well as direct and reported speech, impersonal tone and so on. Children will only be able to describe settings, characters and atmosphere if they understand how to successfully use noun and prepositional phrases to give detail, and how the manipulation of clause structure can help develop mood. 

Focus on ‘the why’

Let’s take the fronted adverbial which takes pride of place in year 4. I would hedge my bets that many children would be able to explain the function of this piece of grammar quite confidently:

‘It tells us where, when or how…’

I wonder, however, if we posed this question to the children: ‘So why do authors choose to use them?’ whether they could answer so confidently? We must consider that if children are not taught how to apply grammar through their writing - the effect the device creates and, consequently, how the grammar choice affects the experience of the reader - they cannot truly understand its purpose.

Connect reading and writing

“Every hour spent reading is an hour spent learning to write; this continues to be true throughout a writer’s life.” – Robert Macfarlane.

How can grammar be taught through writing, for children to better understand its purpose and effect? Quite simply - by reading. If we provide children with high quality models for writing, from high quality texts, they will be able to see how authors manipulate and utilise grammar for effect. What better way for children to develop as writers, than to explore how other writers use grammar to convey a message to the reader?

Let’s delve into the opening page of The Children of the King by Sonya Harnett. 

“She heard it: footsteps in the dark.”

Consider the rich conversations that could be had with children concerning the use of grammar in this opening line alone. The use of the short, one clause sentence immediately hooks in the reader with a feeling of impending threat. We could explore the use of the colon to join the two ideas together and to introduce the ‘it’ that she was hearing with a dramatic pause, maintaining the brevity of the sentence. We could delve into the use of the prepositional phrase ‘in the dark’ which instantly helps to create an image in the reader’s mind. 

“Cecily Lockwood, aged recently twelve, quailed in the darkness beneath her bed and listened to the steps getting closer.”

In this second sentence, we see the use of an embedded clause giving us additional information about our female protagonist – key to introducing the character. The use of a multi-clause sentence creates a contrast from the previous single clause sentence, ensuring cohesion for the reader but continuing to develop that feeling of suspense in the setting. These are both examples of how the effective use of grammar can build mood and atmosphere at the start of a story leading to… don’t worry, no spoilers here!

This is not just the case in key stage 2. The national curriculum programmes of study for years 1 and 2 focus on the building blocks for writing: securing sentence structure, embellishing this with the introduction of coordinating, and some subordinating, conjunctions for pupils to communicate their intended message to the reader. If we are to nurture aspiring authors at the earliest point in their schooling, pupils need to understand how to purposefully communicate that message, by noting how successful writers use sentences for effect.

The opening two sentences from The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson demonstrate both single and multi-clause examples for pupils to consider.

“A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood. A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.”

Imagine the rich discussion that could be had with the children about why the author may have chosen to start with this simple sentence: perhaps to create the setting for the reader to visualise. Why might the author have used the coordinating conjunction ‘and’ in the second sentence to link two ideas? Perhaps so that the reader understands the relationship between and fox and the mouse. Do you notice how the author has repeated ‘the mouse’ for emphasis across the two clauses? Have you spotted how the noun ‘wood’ has been expanded to help the reader visualise? Normalising the discussion of grammar as part of the writing process across all primary classrooms is essential so children are consistently taught how their writerly choices impact their writerly goals.  Yes, read it first and enjoy the writing as a reader, then dive back in to consider it as a writer.

Going for greater depth

If we consider our high attaining writers, or those walking that greater depth line, their choice of grammar (and its impact on the reader) is the driver to securing this standard. There is no coincidence that the opening statement of the key stage 2 greater depth standard states: 

“Pupils can write effectively for a range of purposes and audiences, selecting the appropriate form and drawing independently on what they have read as models for their own writing (e.g. literary language, characterisation, structure)”

‘Drawing independently on what they have read’ is at the forefront. If children receive a diet of connected reading and writing teaching, which explores a range of grammatical techniques, they can innovate on these examples, making choices, so their writing is geared towards their audience and purpose - their writing goal.

What does the research tell us?

Through their 14 key principles, The Writing For Pleasure Centre, highlights the significance of reading when nurturing aspiring writers. The principles outline the importance of connecting reading and writing and allowing children to think of themselves as writers. Reading aloud others’ work can increase engagement as well as having an impact on increasing the range of grammatical features used in their writing.  

Professor Debra Myhill, Director of the Centre for Research in Writing at University of Exeter, has undertaken extensive research on this topic. She states that “Using authentic texts... shows developing writers how different grammatical choices change how their writing communicates to a reader.  We see this as a way to empower young writers and help them understand the power of choice.”  Her LEAD principles offer a useful structure for the teaching of ‘Grammar as Choice’ and the University of Exeter website offers up plenty of resources to exemplify the approach.

A grammar toolkit

Children could consider grammar as a toolbox of cumulatively acquired skills allowing them to select the most appropriate skill to communicate their intended message. Using metacognitive talk with children when we are modelling writing is a great way to teach children about how they have the authorial choice when it comes to utilising grammar:  

‘I have used a single clause sentence here, but an embedded clause could add some crucial information for my reader…’

When grammar is woven into the writing process, we can support children in understanding how its effective use can communicate the author’s meaning and purpose to the reader. 

A final thought with thanks to Pablo Picasso.

If we teach children to learn the rules of grammar, with a view to their impact on the reader, only then can they learn to bend and break them. We may associate Picasso with the ‘simple’ line drawings on the right of this image. Indeed, all of these images were created by Picasso. He learned all the skills necessary for accuracy within his compositions and then chose those he wanted to use to best suit the purpose and intended effect. I would argue that writing is no different – that is how we can create a new generation of authors. 

References: 

Literacy for pleasure: reading and writing connecting – The Writing For Pleasure Centre (writing4pleasure.com)
Read, share, think and talk about writing – The Writing For Pleasure Centre (writing4pleasure.com)
Resources for Teachers | Writing resources for teachers | University of Exeter
Grammar for Writing? An investigation into the effect of Contextualised Grammar Teaching on Student Writing. Jones, S.M., Myhill, D.A. and Bailey, T.C. (2013), Reading and Writing 26 (8) 1241-1263

What makes good teaching?

I have been thinking hard about pedagogy and recently revisited Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction. He draws on multiple sources to try to identify what makes good teaching. He identifies ten instructional principles and summarises what most effective teachers do.

He says:

“The most effective teachers ensured that their students efficiently acquired, rehearsed, and connected background knowledge by providing a good deal of instructional support. They provided this support by teaching new material in manageable amounts; modelling, guiding student practice, helping students when they made errors and providing sufficient practice and review.” (₁)

Simple right? Wrong!

Teaching is a complex process

We all know that teaching is a complex process; not only do we need to consider the learning point we are trying to teach, but we also have 30 ‘variables’ in the classroom that all come with their own learning needs, knowledge, and experience. We need to think carefully about how we are going to deliver the learning and provide appropriate rehearsal. In this blog, I want to focus on one aspect: modelling. More precisely, initial models that support and scaffold thinking – where our thinking can be exposed.

Carefully planned modelling to make the implicit explicit – talking out loud

Tom Sherrington (₂) talks about the importance of teachers modelling their own thought processes and says that this supports students in developing their capacity for metacognition and self-regulation.

He states that effective teachers are able to able to narrate the decisions and choices they make by making the implicit explicit. In the EEF guidance report on metacognition and self-regulated learning (₃), it says that teachers very rarely plan this explicit modelling as it comes ‘naturally’ but when not planned, it risks keeping many things implicit. For pupils (novices) to become experts, they need to know how the expert (the teacher) thinks and acts. The implicit needs to be made explicit.

Modelling – bridging the gap between the teacher model, guided practice and independent rehearsal

I want to share some simple ways to use practical resources with jottings and / or speaking frames to help plan for explicit modelling of thinking. I believe that these can bridge the gap between teacher modelling, guided practice, and independent rehearsal. Therefore, they help to secure learning. 

This example supports understanding of ‘ten and some more’; understanding how the unit of ten is created. It exposes the fact that the numbers 11-19 are a ten and some ones. This simple frame makes the link between the practical resource (in this case, a beadstring), the calculation, the language and the part, whole model.

All show eleven as ten and one more. Whilst articulating my thoughts, I would make explicit the links between different representations; specifically, the fact they are all representing the same value – eleven – in different ways.        
 

The use of language needs to be carefully considered and connections between symbols / models and the language made explicit. For example, the + symbol in the calculation, the ‘and’ in ‘10 and 1 more’ and the lines that link the parts to the whole in the part, whole cherry model all represent that 10 and 1 are combined to make 11. 

Modelling how to find fractions of amounts

In this video, finding fractions of amounts is modelled. A drawn model is used alongside the speaking frame. 

In this video, the same learning – calculating fractions of amounts - is modelled using double-sided counters and jottings to track the solving of the problem. 

Articulation of what is known and unknown (and therefore what needs to be found out) features in both examples.

Modelling how to find the difference between amounts

In this example, calculating the difference between amounts is the focus of the learning using money as the context. 

The part, whole bar model makes explicit the fact that the difference is the missing part when comparing the whole and the known part.

The speaking frame supports the calculation of the difference as finding ‘how many more’ - counting on from the known part (30p) to the whole (60p). 

It then links this to difference and then the subtraction calculation. 

After practice, so understanding of difference is secure, the link between finding the difference and finding change using money can be made.

Connecting finding the difference and calculating change

For example, if some toy cars costing £8 are paid for with a £20 note, what would the change be? 

This can be put into an initial sentence to make what is known and unknown explicit.

I know the cost - £8; I know the amount paid - £20.

The part, whole bar model helps us to identify what is unknown – the change or difference.

The link between the model and the calculation should be familiar from the previous practice so the change can be found and the problem solved. 

Do children understand the concept or are they simply completing a task?

The element we have looked at in the blog may last only a couple of minutes within your lesson, but the initial explicit model is essential to enable pupils to understand the learning and not just complete the task. Time during planning is needed to ensure that the initial model used enables you as the teacher to articulate your thinking as the expert.

Five things to remember when planning the modelling in maths:

To effectively plan the initial explicit model and articulation of your thinking:
1.    Be clear about what the focus of the learning is and ensure the learning is front and centre in the model – not the task. 
2.    Link practical resources, language, models and calculations and make the connections between them explicit within your articulated thinking. 
3.    Make the initial scaffold that is used within explicit teaching reusable so it can be used within guided and independent practice.
4.    Have the scaffold written on a large scale that can be seen by all children. It can go on your working wall and can be referred to regularly. 
5.    Take time to plan what you are going to say; write a script if it helps. This will ensure that you model using precise and accurate mathematical vocabulary. 

Feeling inspired?

Join the HFL Education Primary Maths Team for up coming training and events. 

To keep up to date: Join our Primary Subject Leaders’ mailing list

To subscribe to our blogs: Get our blogs straight to your inbox

References

1.    Rosenshine, B. (2012) Principles of instruction, Research based strategies that all teachers should know. American Educator
2.    Sherrington, T (2019) Rosenshine’s principles in action. John Catt Educational Ltd. @teacherhead 
3.    EEF guidance report: Metacognition and self-regulated learning Metacognition and Self-regulated Learning | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)