Entry – and most exit – strokes hinder children’s handwriting   I invented mnemonic phrases to help children form letters correctly. For example, “Round the

Take two eight year-olds, Jack and Daisy: same age, but years apart in reading ability.  Jack loves reading. He’s always got a book with him

Me: How’s Daisy doing? Mark: Not very well, actually. She’s in the bottom group. We’ve just had her end of Year 2 report – it says she’s

You’re creating a new reading programme. The first question you ask yourself is, ‘How can I get all children to read as quickly as possible?’ You know

By Jennifer Chew In his 1994 book The Language Instinct, Steven Pinker, an eminent American professor of linguistics, points out that in casual speech, phonemes are uttered

What is cursive handwriting? ‘Cursive’ or ‘joined-up’ handwriting is any style of writing where letters are joined to make writing faster. Formal cursive joins all letters with strokes

You’re nearly five. You’ve been in the Reception class for four weeks. It’s Phonics time. You’re sitting on the itchy carpet next to Billy whose

Let’s say you’re convinced that hands up for answering questions is a bad thing (see last blog) and getting children to answer questions with a

Children’s intellectual progress depends very substantially on their ability to read.  Exam results at the age of 16 and even earnings at the age of

Every time we ask a “hands up” question, we exclude the four-fifths of the class who don’t put up their hands. And if six raise their

It’s bad enough to pay pupils to turn up to school or to get good marks, but what I find really shocking is the idea