Get All Your Teachers on the Same Page - Get Great Results
Are you looking for something that is going to boost reading achievement in your school and provide your staff with a consistent school-wide approach to reading instruction?
SharpReading School-Wide is the result of overseeing the school-wide implementation of our approach to reading instruction in many schools over the last 10 years. We have well developed systems that lead to quality management of your whole school reading program. We offer a personalised service which we can always customise to meet your unique circumstances.
SharpReading School-Wide Gives You...
A Common Language Across the School
This is a huge bonus....consistency, consistency, consistency.
Principals, teachers, students, parents and caregivers all benefit from a simple, transparent approach to reading instruction. There are no surprises. What happens in reading is replicated across the school.
Quality Training from Highly Qualified Constultants
The result of hundreds of hours of listening, trialling, researching, and development has lead to training options and support for your teachers that are second to none.
- Face-to-face start-up workshops provide the best possible opportunity for buy-in from teachers who might have a conflicting range of teaching philosophies and experience. We can also deliver these workshops online as Zoom Webinars.
- ONLiNE video tutorials and resources provide all the ongoing support your teachers need for quick reviews, content checking, and moving on to mastery.
- One-on-one, personalised in-class coaching makes sure that every teacher gets support so that they can own these new teaching routines and feel confident and successful and with their unique class of students. We also offer Virtual Observations and Feedback which can make the delivery more flexible.
- Identification and training of coaches within your school ensures the credibility of the program is maintained and gives you longevity for your PD investment.
FLEXIBILITY - we can customise our delivery to your school based on your needs and your budget. This includes remote or virtual PD delivery options.
A 'Best Practice' Way of Teaching
SharpReading takes care of 'What do I teach' and 'How do I teach it.'
Our structured teaching routines mean that your beginning teachers through to your most experienced can quickly function at a high level of competence. Teacher aides can also undertaking teaching roles that would normally be beyond their capability
A Clear Progression for Learning
School-wide everyone knows where they are heading.
Next steps learning can be easily identified through simple data collection and students can be placed where their needs can be best met from phonics through to critical thinking using our Developmental Progression and Scope and Sequence.
INCREASE ENGAGEMENT
SharpReading routines generate noticeable changes in student focus, as much as 40% more engagement!
BOOST ACHIEVEMENT
80% of SharpReading Schools report significant improvement in reading ability and achievement.
MAKE HAPPY TEACHERS
50% reduction in planning and assessment workloads means lots of confident, smiling teachers.
"From the moment it was first introduced, we have never regretted engaging in the SHARP Reading programme. Our teaching staff have found it meaningful and easy to implement."
Steve Frost, Hillview Principal
Spreydon School, Christchurch, New Zealand
Janine Greer and Andrea Barr, accredited SharpReading Trainers, talk about the impact that SharpReading has had on their school. Click here for a recent case study published in "School News".
"The children are so routined...they are thinking about what they are reading...they want to learn to read. Each year we are seeing an increase in the number of students who are achieving at or above the National Standards in reading."
Nambour Christian College, QLD, Australia
Kylie Baker, Primary Teaching and Learning Coordinator, talks about introducing SharpReading at NCC.
"Love the simplicity of the routines ... Teachers are very clear about what they need to do ... our data shows good growth and just listening to the students shows me they are thinking more deeply [about what they are reading]."
"The biggest plus was having the experts coming in to do the coaching in the school."
What does SharpReading School-Wide look like?
STEP 1: TOD Start-Up Workshops or Webinars
Are you ready to make a start?
Book a Start-Up Teacher Only Day. We will come to your school or we can deliver this live online. The goal is to inspire, enthuse and teach our guided reading routines so that everyone can make a start the very next day - NE to Year 8 (NZ) or Prep-Year 6 (AU). This includes guidelines for the follow-up support that teachers will get from the ONLiNE Courses.
STEP 2: Complete ONLiNE Courses
We are always there for you.
The workshop or webinar provides an introduction to the new learning, enough for the teacher to make a start in their classroom the next day.
The ONLiNE Course provides eight carefully structured units to help teachers consolidate the new skills and achieve teacher competence and accreditation as a SharpReading teacher. Each teacher has access to their own personalised online course for 12 months and 24/7 email support.
STEP 3: In-School Support
Get us into your school!
The most significant impact we can have is personal one-on-one support for your teachers with the 'experts'.
Schedule two visits to your school (for example, the first after 4-6 weeks, the second 10-15 weeks later). In the classroom we will model, team teach, observe and give feedback in a VERY non threatening way so that teachers can identify their own next learning steps. ("Best PD ever").
We also offer Virtual Observations and Feedback which makes this option available to anyone, anywhere.
STEP 4: Train the Coach
Develop in-school expertise to become independent.
Once the school is well embedded in the SharpReading approach it is easy to identify SharpReading 'Champions' within the school who can be trained to become in-school coaches. They will develop skills for working alongside their peers and setting up a school wide plan.
This enables the school to maintain the momentum and the integrity of the program over time.
More about 'Becoming a SharpReading Coach'.
WHAT WE VALUE MOST
As teacher trainers, the thing we value most is the relationships that we establish with our SharpReading Schools and the role we play in empowering teachers to be SHARP with their reading instruction.
Having cut our teeth on a decade of nurturing beginning teachers through a very rigorous and personally demanding teacher training program at NZGSE, we are well aware of the personal challenges that teachers face when confronted with change.
- Which is why our initial workshops are full of practical opportunities so that teachers walk away with "I can do this".
- Which is why we believe the most important part of the training we offer is the time we spend one-on-one with teachers in their classrooms sharing the challenges that they face with their students and problem solving solutions.
- Which is why we will commit ourselves to a two year development program at your school and make sure that by the end of that time, the in-school coaches we train have all the skills they need to take on the difficult task of coaching their peers.
- Which is why we offer 24/7 email support to help you navigate any queries or difficulties that may arise.
"The SharpReading Training model is an extremely effective way of implementing a whole school pedagogical approach to reading"
Fiona Johnstone (Principal - Shen Wai International School, China)
A Well Researched Reading Program
Our action research meant 100s of classroom trials and consultations with teachers and experts. Our courses are the foundation training of beginning teachers at the highly successful New Zealand Graduate School of Education (NZGSE).
LEARN MORE about the research background to SharpReading.
NZGSE
The New Zealand Graduate School of Education, Christchurch (NZGSE) is where SharpReading originated. A quality teacher training provider, NZGSE's reading program was initially developed by Hilton Ayrey (now SharpReading Director) back in 2000. Its goal was to meet the needs of the beginning teachers who required an easy to learn, well defined reading approach.
Ten years later, after Brian Parker (SharpReading Director) had joined the NZGSE team, the SharpReading program had been rigorously trialed and tested with 1000s of students in classrooms.
Michael Pressley
Michael Pressley's research over a lifetime has been the backbone of our theoretical understanding of how children learn to read.
Pressely's insight into 'A Balanced Approach to Teaching Reading' drawn from methodical research of many methods, reinforced our instincts; to be clear, ensure student success and avoid student overload.
“In general, the conscious processing that is excellent reading begins before reading, continues during reading, and persists after reading.” - Pressley
Collaboration
Working with many teachers, beginners and experienced, in different countries, as well as literacy specialists and reading experts like Yolanda Soryl, has reinforced what we already knew, that there are many ways to teach reading, and no one way that will suit all students let alone individual teaching styles.
However, 20 years of listening, teaching, reflecting and evaluating means we are very confident that what we offer bridges many of those differences and provides something that is simple, efficient, manageable and most importantly, highly motivating for learners.
Make a Booking for 2022-2023
LEARN MORE about the specific details and the costs.
If you are ready to make a booking for your school based on the information above, fill in the details and any other information that you think is relevant. Make a request for a Start-Up date and we will put together a quote that suits your specific needs and budget.
Want to discuss this further? Give us a call +64 (0)27 357 2573.