ONLiNE Courses for the Teacher of ReadingQuality training in all aspects of reading instruction - phonics to advanced comprehension. Combine ONLiNE training with webinars, face-to-face workshops and in-class coaching.
What is a Quality Reading Program?
Instruction MUST be evidence-based BUT in a very busy educational environment, it must provide teachers with an simple, explicit approach that provides clear direction and focus, motivates and gets students excited AND delivers great results. That's SHARP reading.
"This training model and the supporting resources work for me. The courses are very comprehensive and easy to follow. Having the video modelling to refer back to is a game changer. The kids love the stories and the assessment quickly establishes the best instructional level. I have seen teachers quickly turn around their reading programs and get great student motivation and success." Karen Blackall - RTLB, Auckland
A SharpReading Overview
As teachers we know a lot...
Over the last 20 years, our understanding of how we learn to read has blossomed with the volume of cognitive research that has been undertaken ('The Science of Reading'). We now have many increasingly complex models of the learning that occurs.
Has that been helpful?
Maybe...maybe not. As with everything in this new information age, we are often overwhelmed by burgeoning possibilities. Too much information; so many possibilities; so many voices.
Those detailed models of reading provide insights into the process, but we the curriculum and PD developers, the literacy coaches, and the teachers at the chalkface, have to distil this down into workable classroom practice.
How can we make it work in the classroom...
The problem...I am continually adding to my list (it stands at 47) of teaching actions that the researchers have found to improve comprehension. Yes, I can agree with them all, BUT the reality is, if you are looking for a teaching approach that works for you in a busy classroom with a crowded curriculum, you can't do it all. You have to be smart. You have to be SHARP!
What it means to be SHARP!
As our name suggests, our goal has always been to SHARPEN classroom practice so that the best possible outcomes are available for students BUT in a way that is manageable for the teacher. Here are some of our guiding principles.
Keep it SIMPLE! - Reduce the clutter!
'I wake up in the morning and I know exactly what I am going to be doing for reading today. I wish the rest of the day was like that!'
It is that sort of simple that we are looking for!
Manageable Learning Steps (our Stages)
A SHARP reading program should provide clear steps for readers to progress through and provide clear direction for the teacher.
Our SharpReading Developmental Progression provides a learning pathway. Students are kept in the appropriate learning zone by managing the cognitive load they can cope with. When they are ready we can confidently move them on to the next stage.
Our Scope and Sequence provides the details for instruction and a suggestion for year levels.
Allow for Development of Automatic Skills
Becoming a skilled reader requires practice practice practice to transfer the required skills into implicit (automatic) long-term memory.
Tightly structured lesson routines allow this to happen. Students know exactly what they are working on and how the lesson will unfold. They feel free to take risks and the level of challenge is just right so that they can successfully problem-solve those challenges.
'I didn't realise how much of the thinking I was doing for them' - Teacher new to SharpReading.
They feel in control of their learning - we build autonomy! Reading skills become AUTOMATIC responses.
Reduce your preparation time
Get your weekends back!
The routines drive your lessons not those lesson plans you sweated over. This frees you up to monitor how students are processing text and provide them with their next step towards mastery.
Our leveled text makes it easy to select the right amount of challenge for every lesson.
Our assessment procedures help you establish benchmarks and identify strengths and weaknesses as they progress through the stages.
What School Principals Say about SharpReading
Michelle Hayward, Principal
Park Estate School,
South Auckland, NZ
"I was looking for simplicity and continuity across the school"
"It provides structure for how to teach comprehension to students who are fluent decoders"
SharpReading Directors and Trainers
"While there are many ways to teach, in this age of information overload, we must be practical and efficient ... SHARP!"
Hilton Ayrey
Hilton and Brian have between them spent decades as classroom teachers, always looking for ways to hone their craft as teachers. They met as tutors at NZGSE and collaborated on developing an approach to reading instruction for the beginning teachers they were training.
Since 2010 they have worked as independent consultants in schools in NZ , Australia, Hong Kong and China, and overseen the training of hundreds of teachers world-wide via their ONLiNE teacher Training Courses.
Brian Parker
Join our SharpReading Network
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