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T-Shaped Literacy

Quotes from Dr Aaron Wilson & Dr Rebecca Jesson

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Creating opportunities for learning

There is no one “correct” way we think T-Shaped Literacy should or could be implemented. Rather, we think it is a general model that can create particular opportunities for student learning – but what those opportunities will look like, and which will be most effective, will always vary from class to class and topic to topic.

Dr Aaron Wilson and Dr Rebecca Jesson

Feedback to Kaikohekohe Cluster

Woolf Fisher Research Centre

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Be ambitious

Start with ambitious valued learning outcomes and make those explicit e.g. as a big question - then all your other planning is backwards mapped from that so it should be really clear how each text in the set and each activity or resources supports the achievement of that big idea.

Dr Aaron Wilson and Dr Rebecca Jesson

Feedback to Kaikohekohe Cluster

Woolf Fisher Research Centre

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Specific opportunities - related to the T-Shaped Literacy model

  • Increasing the amount of reading students do
  • Developing higher level reading skills, especially comparison and synthesis
  • Developing deeper knowledge of topics and content
  • Supporting the development of argumentation especially when they come across different or competing ideas and perspectives and have to resolve differences or decide what perspective they agree with.

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Dr Aaron Wilson and Dr Rebecca Jesson

Feedback to Kaikohekohe Cluster

Woolf Fisher Research Centre

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One thing we think is important is for there to be a “big question” that students will read the texts in order to answer.

Dr Aaron Wilson and Dr Rebecca Jesson

Feedback to Kaikohekohe Cluster

Woolf Fisher Research Centre

Great example from Chrissy Smith and Becks Newtown of Paihia School

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Creating opportunities for learning

There should always be a focus on “learning to read” but our emphasis with T-shaped literacy is also having a focus on “reading to learn” – in part because this makes reading purposeful for learners.

Dr Aaron Wilson and Dr Rebecca Jesson

Feedback to Kaikohekohe Cluster

Woolf Fisher Research Centre

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