Hi, I'm Kath and my daughter Isabella is in year 8.
The way in which Isabella has developed skills
like reading and spelling has happened step by step.
She's gone from reading a picture book, to then a short story
and before we know it she's on to poetry and Shakespeare.
And obviously, this all happens gradually and over a long period of time,
but the way in which she develops those comprehension and reading skills
usually happens in a certain order.
In the learning progressions, these skills are set out in the order that most
students acquire them.
The progressions for literacy and numeracy are available
for anyone to view on the Australian Curriculum website.
The learning progressions give me an idea of how literacy develops.
For example, one of the sections talks about identifying relevant details or
finding specific details in texts.
Just the other day Isabella was reading an article on the internet after school
and we'd seen an item on TV about some endangered animals that were
threatened by floodwaters.
And I asked Isabella if there had been any developments in terms of rescuing
them?
Before she answered, I could see her skim read the text, looking for the specific
information she needed to answer the question.
It really wasn't that long ago that she needed a lot of help sorting through
unnecessary information to actually find the specific information needed.
So I can see just in her everyday activities like watching TV or or reading an
article online,
that she is starting to identify relevant details or find specific details in text,
and that's something I can encourage in our everyday family life.
I also think it will help as she moves through high school
and has a lot more homework from a lot more subjects.
The learning progressions were developed for use in schools
and as teachers become more familiar with the progressions,
they may be useful in parent/teacher conversations.
So if a teacher now tells me that Isabella is pretty good at forming opinions
on the things she's learning at school, like voting or protecting rainforest,
but that she still needs help organising her thoughts
or backing up her opinions with evidence, then this gives me a lot
more information to work with to understand her literacy learning.
In a sense, it helps take some of the mystery out of literacy development.
For example, I can refer to the progressions and see where certain skills might
be located.
I can look back a few levels and see some of the sorts of skills
that Isabella's already mastered.
But I can also look forward in the levels and see the sorts of skills
she might be developing over the next few months.
So in a few months time, if I ask Isabella what she thinks of the Government's
efforts
to protect endangered species, then I can see from the answer that she gives
that she's developing well in her literacy learning.