Disciplinary Literacy

• Do now: key words linked to the project/lesson are evident in booklets, objectives and success criteria.
• Students are introduced to strategies that allow them to analyse and evaluate a range of products, skills and ideas.
• Students are taught how to research through study skills including the effective use of revision guides and reference books: skimming, use of the index and glossary. 
• How to summarise key information as clear, organised notes which can be used to support memory recall.
• Keeping a working diary demonstrating logic and the ability to summarise key stages in practical processes.

Targeted Vocabulary Instruction

• Key words identified every lesson through success criteria which are referred to throughout the lesson and reflected upon during the plenary.
• Written responses demonstrating understanding of concepts and use effective sentence structure.
• Knowledge organisers include lists of key vocabulary with definitions

Reading Comprehension

• Guided reading and teacher modelling of design briefs and specifications.
• All texts are presented appropriately – line numbers, chunking, etc in students’ work
• Teachers use a variety of strategies, including expert reading, pre-teaching vocabulary, etc to ensure comprehension
• Texts are checked to ensure that they are age appropriate

Academic Talk

• Students are encouraged to ‘Say it in a sentence’.
• Students are able to recognise and build on other contributions to qualify answers.
• Students are encouraged to be precise and sophisticated in their use of vocabulary
• Teachers draw attention to examples of academic language or vocabulary in texts

Scaffolded Writing Activities

• Expert modelling from the teacher. Sentence starters and making lists using mini white boards to relieve cognitive load. Warm up the words (pre teaching key vocabulary).
• Teacher led writing frames and examples (I do, you do, we do). Memory recall practice and self-assessment (flipped learning homework and lesson activities) 
• Planned questioning from the teacher during the lesson. 
• Teacher modelling how to build on a response and targeting questioning to develop response from all students. 
• Extended writing tasks include sentence starters, writing frames, etc where appropriate. These are gradually withdrawn as students become more confident.
• Exemplars of student work are used to model best practice, with attention drawn to key aspects of writing such as signpost words, sophisticated vocabulary, etc.