A Week in the Life of a Literacy Tree Consultant

Have you ever wondered what a week in the life of a Literacy Tree consultant is like?  If so, or even if the question has only just occurred to you, then this blog should shed some light on our weekly comings and goings. 
 
Literacy Tree consultants support schools with a whole host of literacy-related needs, such as planning, curriculum design, team teaching and coaching, staff meetings, insets, book looks, assessment and moderation. As you might imagine then, a week in the life for us is rich, varied and can change depending on the time of year – here is what a typical ween might look like. 
 
This week, Monday sees me travelling to a school in Lambeth. This is a school I have been visiting periodically for five years and I have gotten to know staff here really well. Not a week goes by when we don’t make a regular visit to a school we know well, continuing to give them tailored support based on all the previous visits we’ve made. We want schools to get the most out of a day of consultancy so a good chunk of preparation time is spent planning these visits to make sure we use every minute of the day effectively and get to work with as many teachers as we can. We are passionate about building enduring relationships with schools and trusts to support – and hopefully inspire – teams on their continuing Literacy Tree journey. 
 
Excitingly, our consultancy takes us to primary schools all over England, and also now to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. We have a growing number of international schools using Literacy Tree resources so occasionally we get to travel further afield. This means, more often than not, I am taking planes, trains and automobiles hither and thither – a love for visiting different communities and learning about these contexts is an absolute must!  
 
Tuesday sees me traveling to a school in Lewisham. They have asked to receive detailed feedback on children’s writing to support teacher assessments. As we are all current KS1 and/or KS2 moderators, we are often asked to read over children’s work and give detailed advice. Part of this visit also entails supporting teachers on how best to prepare for an external moderation visit. It is not just Year 2 and Year 6 writing assessment, however; we also support schools with assessing writing across all year groups.  In fact, reading children’s hard work and appreciating the progress they’ve made is one of the absolute highlights of our job! 
 
Wednesday takes me to a school in the North West. I have been asked to support teachers with planning lessons to meet the unique needs of their classes, to close gaps and heighten a sense of purpose and audience. Whenever children write, we want them to know why they are writing and who they are writing to. I thoroughly enjoy getting into the nuts ‘n’ bolts of a lesson with a group of teachers and really unpicking the learning. How do we broker the text for all children in the class? How do we build vocabulary? Which strategies should we use when writing in front of the class? How do we extend and support all children? What are the skills we should prioritise in this sequence of lessons? How do we ensure that skills are taught in a way that allows children to build independence and access the extended writes successfully? These are just some of the core questions buzzing around my mind when chairing planning sessions. 
 
We spend a considerable amount of thought and time writing our resources, thinking about quality teaching texts as well as listening to the valuable feedback teachers give us on these. From Reception to Year 6, we hold planning sessions and, using our Writing Roots, Spelling Seeds and Literary Leaves as pathways, work alongside teachers of varying experience to personalise these lessons. 
 
On Thursday, a school in Peckham has asked me to coach and team teach with three of their early career teachers. We spend some time planning and resourcing a specific lesson together for the book The Minpins by Roald Dahl, focusing particularly on developing interactive pedagogical styles of teaching. After we’ve agreed on a plan, we team teach and I offer constructive, developmental feedback after the lesson. 
 
On Friday, I am traveling to Essex and supporting an English Subject Leader to design their English curriculum for next academic year. We use Literacy Tree’s curriculum and coverage maps to make sure children will have access to a rich diet of literature and, where possible, linking up to the school’s wider curriculum. We adore discussing children’s literature and enjoy finding ways to place reading at the heart of a school’s curriculum, ensuring broad and deep coverage of National Curriculum expectations. 
 
A typical week can also see us creating and delivering tailored staff meetings and insets for schools on a number of different areas. We’ve led insets on the Teach Through a Text Approach as well as reading comprehension and have covered staff meetings on everything from assessment to spelling, editing to publishing. We’re already thinking about insets for the start of next academic year and can’t wait to meet and work with schools new to the Literacy Tree, as well as revisit those who have been working with us for many years. 
 
We consider it such a privilege to be able to work alongside schools and help develop their literacy provision for children.  If you’re interested in exploring consultancy as a way to develop literacy in your school and build capacity, then please get in touch!