New book to improve reading and writing teaching

Education Minister Trevor Mallard today visited Wellington’s Clyde Quay School to launch a new teachers’ handbook aimed at improving reading and writing teaching in primary school classrooms.

“This book is a key element of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy. We expect that it will have a significant impact on developing successful reading and writing skills in our children.

“Several recent international surveys show that while many New Zealand students continue to perform well in reading and writing tests, we need to be aware of our increasingly diverse student population and more responsive to those students who are not performing so well,” Trevor Mallard said.

Effective Literacy Practice in Years 1 to 4 is based around knowledge of literacy learning.

It looks at the knowledge of the young student, teaching strategies and the importance of monitoring students’ progress against these strategies.

The handbook also deals with how to engage learners with texts, the range of literacy skills and behaviours that can be expected from students at different points in time and how teachers can effectively influence students’ progress in reading and writing.

It also explores the importance of fostering teacher/student learning partnerships and also partnerships with the home and wider school community.

“We know that teachers do make a significant difference to outcomes for students. This book will help teachers improve their knowledge of literacy learning and will help them determine which strategies will be most effective for different groups of children,” Trevor Mallard said.

“One of our Government’s top education priorities is to make sure that all children, regardless of their background and life experiences, have the chance to reach their full potential and this handbook is another important tool in this work.”

Copies of the handbook are being distributed to every teacher of years 1 to 4 children from today.

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