The Reading to Learn teacher resource package includes:

  • Ten modules, in the form of course books:
  1. Preparing for reading and writing
  2. Reading and writing stories and factual texts
  3. Detailed lesson plans
  4. Assessing students reading and writing
  5. Selecting and analysing texts across the curriculum
  6. Planning lessons across the curriculum
  7. Language patterns in sentences
  8. Language patterns in texts
  9. Reading and writing in the early years
  10. Scaffolding maths

The Reading to Learn teacher resource package includes:

  • Training DVD, including five demonstration lessons, with voice over and subtitles:
    • Early Years Reading and Writing
    • Reading and Writing Stories
    • Reading and Writing Factual texts
    • English as a Second Language (ESL)
    • Academic Literacy
  • Full colour wall poster of the Reading to Learn teaching strategies

This teacher resource package can be ordered at $AUD120

To order the resource package please fill out the following form.

Students on the Reading to Learn program

Reading to Learn is a literacy teaching program designed to enable all learners to read and write successfully, at levels appropriate to their age, grade and area of study. The teaching strategies have been consistently independently evaluated to accelerate the learning of all students at twice to more than four times expected rates, across all schools and classes, and among students from all backgrounds and ability ranges.

The program has been developed over ten years with teachers of primary, secondary and tertiary students across Australia and internationally, to integrate reading and writing with teaching the curriculum at all year levels. The strategies apply cuttting edge research in classroom learning, and language across the curriculum, in a form that is accessible, practical and meets the needs of teachers and students.

David Rose and Jim Martin

Reading to Learn is coordinated by Dr David Rose. Dr Rose is an Associate of the Faculty of Education and Social Work, and of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Sydney. Dr Rose´s work has been particularly concerned with Indigenous Australian communities, languages and education programs, with whom he has worked for 25 years. He is a speaker of Pitjantjatjara, a language of Australia's Western Desert, and a member of the Western Desert Indigenous Law. In addition to literacy pedagogy and teacher education, his primary research interests include language and cultural contexts and language evolution. He is the author of numerous scholarly papers and books, including The Western Desert Code: an Australian cryptogrammar, Working with Discourse: meaning beyond the clause (with J.R. Martin), and Genre Relations: mapping culture (also with J.R. Martin).

Friends of Reading to Learn

Some of the participants in the recent Reading to Learn forum in Sydney, left to right: Paul Baker, Curriculum Coordination, Dept of Education Victoria, Grampians Region. Dr Ahmar Mahboob, Dept of Linguistics, University of Sydney. Suanne Tikoft, Literacy Coordinator, Yirara College, Alice Springs. Cheryll Koop, Reading to Learn in Murdi Paaki Consultant, NSW Dept of Education, Bourke. Claire Acevedo, Senior Education Officer, Catholic Education Office Melbourne. Dr David Rose, Reading to Learn Director. Sarah Culican, Reading to Learn Consultant, Catholic Education Office Melbourne, Dept of Education Victoria, Association of Independent Schools Victoria. Sally Milburn, Literacy Consultant, Dept of Education Victoria. Brendan Franzone, Literacy Consultant, Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia. Nellie Kostiw, Manager, Teaching and Learning, Dept of Education Victoria, Western Metropolitan Region. Mike Hart, Faculty of Education, University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Frances Tolhurst, Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan, Charles Darwin University. Kevin Lowe, Inspector of Aboriginal Education, NSW Office of the Board of Studies.

Friends of Reading to Learn

Cheryll Koop. Claire Acevedo. Lyndall Harrison, Literacy Consultant, NSW Dept of Education, Western Region. Kathy Rushton, Faculty of Education, University of Sydney. Frances Tolhurst. Suanne Tikoft. Jenny Wills, Quality Teaching Literacy, Aboriginal Education and Training Directorate, NSW Dept of Education.

Students on the Reading to Learn program

Professional Learning Program

The Reading to Learn professional learning program for teachers is ideally delivered over four terms, with a two-day workshop each term, and teachers implementing the training between workshops, using detailed support materials and training DVDs.

The first workshop introduces the strategies, using videoed demonstration lessons, and supports teachers to practise with detailed lesson plans for teaching specific texts. The second workshop reviews and expands teachers " command of the strategies, and introduces techniques for planning scaffolding lessons independently. The third reviews and expands teachers " experiences with lesson planning and delivery, and introduces techniques for selecting and analysing texts for planningplanning lessons across the curriculum. The final workshop consolidates the skills in scaffolding literacy and planning lessons, and assesses students writing improvements.

This in-depth program provides teachers with the expertise to train others in the strategies. Teachers may be accredited as practitioners and as mentors for other teachers learning the strategies. Accreditation may also be converted to units of degree study.

Background

Building on two decades of research in literacy and language learning in Australia (Martin & Rose 2005), the Reading to Learn program emerged from action research with Indigenous education programs (Rose, Gray & Cowey 1999, McRae et al 2000), and has since been deve loped with practising teachers at primary, secondary (Culican 2006, Rose & Acevedo 2006, Carbines, Wyatt & Robb 2005) and university levels (Martin & Rose 2007b, Rose, Lui-Chivizhe, McKnight & Smith 2004, Rose, Rose, Farrington & Page 2007), across Australia and internationally. It is coordinated by Dr David Rose of the University of Sydney (see biography below).

Students on the Reading to Learn program

Independent evaluations

"Average literacy gains across all schools and classes, and among students from all backgrounds and ability ranges, was consistently more than...double the expected rate of literacy development. Furthermore, 20% of students made gains of...four times the expected rate of literacy development." (Learning to Read: Reading to Learn, A Middle Years Literacy Intervention Research Project, Final Report. Catholic Education Office Melbourne 2006)

"The average improvement in reading and writing was 2.5 [National Literacy Profile] levels... At the same time, teachers have noted a range of student learning outcomes that are more difficult to measure, like an increased level of student engagement in their learning." (What has worked, and will again: the IESIP Strategic Results Projects. Australian Curriculum Studies Association 2000)

"The model was seen as superior by practising teachers in relation to other previous professional development experiences...teachers witnessed a general improvement level in all students irrespective of reading ability and literary experience...A work ethic became evident among those students that had never previously been able to engage for anything more than very short periods...attendance had elevated from 50% to 86% attending on a regular basis." (Evaluation of the Years 7-10 English Aboriginal Support Pilot Project, Final Report to the Office of the NSW Board of Studies. Erebus International 2005)

Some typical teacher feedback:

I was thrilled to see them get so much enjoyment from the lesson. This enjoyment came largely from the confidence they gained from really understanding what it was all about.

Students who are usually invisible in the mainstream class are confident and engaged in the process.

The structure and information the students used in their post-scaffolded writing, compared with their pre-scaffolded writing, was excellent.

It is great to have positive results and examples to show parents of students who have always struggled with literacy.

It was pleasing to sit back and listen to the discussion between students, generally considered to be weak in literacy, on the features of language and what makes sense and why.

(from teachers in NSW Western Region)

Click here for Teacher Resource Materials

Reports on Reading to Learn

Carbines, R., Wyatt, T. & Robb, L. 2005.

Evaluation of the Years 7-10 English Aboriginal Support Pilot Project, Final Report. Sydney: Office of the NSW Board of Studies http://ab-ed.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/go/english-literacy-7-10/evaluation-of-the-project

Culican, S.J. 2006.

Learning to Read:Reading to Learn: A Middle Years Literacy Intervention Research Project, Final Report 2003-4. Catholic Education Office Melbourne http://www.cecv.melb.catholic.edu.au/ Research and Seminar Papers

McRae, D., Ainsworth, G., Cumming, J., Hughes, P., Mackay, T. Price, K., Rowland, M., Warhurst, J., Woods, D. & Zbar, V. (2000).

What has worked, and will again: the IESIP Strategic Results Projects. Canberra: Australian Curriculum Studies Association, 24-26http://www.acsa.edu.au/

Rose, D. 2005.

Learning To Read: Reading To Learn: Submission to the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy 2005. Canberra: Department of Education, Science and Training http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/school_education/policy_initiatives_reviews/key_issues/ literacy_numeracy/national_inquiry/documents/pdf2/sub_315_pdf.htm

Rose, D. 2003.

Submission to the Aboriginal Education Review 2003, New South Wales Department of Education and Training

Rose, D. 2006.

Scaffolding the English curriculum for Indigenous secondary students: Final Report for NSW 7-10 English Syllabus, Aboriginal Support Pilot Project. Sydney: Office of the Board of Studies http://ab-ed.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/go/english-literacy-7-10

Articles and book chapters On language and literacy pedagogy

Martin, J.R. & Rose, D. 2005.

Designing literacy pedagogy: scaffolding asymmetries. R Hasan, C M I M Matthiessen & J Webster (eds.) Continuing Discourse on Language. London: Equinox. 251-280. http://www.equinoxpub.com

Martin, J.R. & Rose, D. 2007.

Interacting with Text: the role of dialogue in learning to read and write. Foreign Studies Journal, Beijing

Rose, D. 2004.

Sequencing and pacing of the hidden curriculum: how Indigenous children are left out of the chain. In J. Muller, A. Morais & B. Davies (eds.) 2004. Reading Bernstein, Researching Bernstein. London: RoutledgeFalmer, 91-107

Rose, D. 1999.

Culture, competence and schooling: Approaches to literacy teaching in Indigenous school education. In F. Christie (ed.) Pedagogy and the Shaping of Consciousness: linguistic and social processes. London: Cassell (Open Linguistics Series), 217- 245

Rose, D. 2005.

Democratising the Classroom: a literacy pedagogy for the new generation. In Journal of Education, Vol 37 (Durban: University of KwaZulu Natal), 127-164 http://www.ukzn.ac.za/joe/joe_issues.htm

Rose, D. 2006.

Literacy and equality in the classroom. In Proceedings of the National Conference on Future Directions in Literacy. A. Simpson (ed.). Sydney: University of Sydney, 188-203 http://www.edsw.usyd.edu.au/schools_teachers/prof_dev/resources/Lit_proceedings.pdf

Rose, D. 2006.

Literacy and Social Responsibility: training teachers to teach reading across the curriculum. Public lecture for Literacy and Social Responsibility lecture series, University of Sydney, 2006.

Rose, D. 2007.

A reading based model of schooling. Pesquisas em Discurso Pedagógico, 4:2, http://www.maxwell.lambda.ele.puc-rio.br

Rose, D. 2007.

Reading Genre: a new wave of analysis. Pesquisas em Discurso Pedagógico, 4: 2, http://www.equinoxpub.com

Rose, D. 2007.

Teaching reading and writing with Aboriginal children. Chapter 5 in N. Harrison.

Rose, D. 2007.

D. & Acevedo, C. 2006. Closing the gap and accelerating learning in the Middle Years of Schooling. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 14.2 http://www.alea.edu.au/site-content/publications/documents/llmy/llmy0606.htm

Rose, D. & Acevedo, C. 2007.

Reading (and writing) to learn in the middle years of schooling. Pen 157. Sydney: Primary English Teaching Association, 1-8 http://www.peta.edu.au/Catalogue/Publications/pen/page__1700.aspx

Rose, D. & Acevedo, C. 2006.

Designing literacy inservicing: Learning to Read:Reading to Learn. Proceedings of the Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Conference 2006, University of New England

Rose, D., Gray, B. & Cowey, W. 1999.

Scaffolding Reading and Writing for Indigenous Children in School. In P. Wignell (ed.) Double Power: English literacy and Indigenous education. Melbourne: National Language & Literacy Institute of Australia (Languages Australia), 23-60

Rose, D., Gray, B. & Cowey, W. 2000.

Providing access to academic-literate discourses for indigenous learners. Fine Print (published by Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council), 7-10

Rose, D., Lui-Chivizhe, L., McKnight, A. & Smith, A. 2004.

Scaffolding Academic Reading and Writing at the Koori Centre. In I, 30th Anniversary Edition, 41-9 http://www.atsis.uq.edu.au/ajie/docs/2003324149.pdf

Rose, D., Rose, M., Farrington, S. & Page, S. 2007.

Scaffolding Academic Literacy with Indigenous Health Sciences students: an evaluative study 2007. Journal of English for Academic Purposes.

On language and culture

Martin, J.R. & Rose, D. 2007.

Encounters with genre: apprehending cultural frontiers.

Rose, D. 1992.

Protection, Self-determination & Language Learning in Aboriginal early childhood education: review of Aboriginal language education policy statements. In Education Australia, Spring 1992.

Rose, D. 1993.

On becoming: the grammar of causality in Pitjantjatjara and English. In M.A.K. Halliday (ed.) Cultural Dynamics VI, 1-2 1993. Leiden, Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 42-83

Rose, D. 1996.

Pitjantjatjara Processes: an Australian grammar of experience. In R. Hasan, D. Butt & C. Cloran (eds.) Functional Descriptions: Language Form & Linguistic Theory. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 287-322

Rose, D 1997.

Science, technology and technical literacies. in Christie & Martin. 40-72.

Rose, D 1998.

Science discourse & industrial hierarchy. In J.R. Martin & R. Veel (eds.) Reading Science: Critical and Functional Perspectives on Discourses of Science. London: Routledge, 236-265

Rose, D. 2001.

Some Variations in Theme Across Languages. In Functions of Language , 8:1, 109-145

Rose, D. 2004.

The Structuring of Experience in the Grammar of Pitjantjatjara and English. In K. Davidse & L. Heyvaert (eds.), Functional Linguistics and Contrastive Description: Special issue of Languages in Contrast 4:1, 45-74

Rose, D. 2005.

Pitjantjatjara: a metafunctional profile. In A. Caffarel, J.R. Martin & C.M.I.M Matthiessen (eds.) Language Typology: a functional perspective. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 479-537

Rose, D. 2005.

Narrative and the origins of discourse: Construing experience in stories around the world. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics Series S19, 151-173

Rose, D. 2006.

A systemic functional model of language evolution. In Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 16:1 24pp

Rose, D. in press.

Negotiating kinship: interpersonal prosodies in Pitjantjatjara, in Word 20, 22ps

Rose, D. to appear.

History, Science and Dreams: Genres in Australian and European cultures

Rose, D. to appear.

Switching Tracks: Identification in Western Desert discourse

Books

Martin, J.R. & Rose, D. 2003, 2nd edition 2007.

Working with Discourse: meaning beyond the clause. London: Continuum. http://www.continuumbooks.com

Martin, J.R. & Rose, D. 2007.

Genre Relations: mapping culture. London: Equinox http://www.equinoxpub.com

Rose, D. 2001.

The Western Desert Code: an Australian cryptogrammar. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics http://pacling.anu.edu.au

Rose, D., D. McInnes & H. Korner. 1992.

Scientific Literacy (Literacy in Industry Research Project - Stage 1). Sydney: Metropolitan East Disadvantaged Schools Program. Republished 2007, Sydney: Adult Migrant Education Service (AMES)