The problem with most English leads is that they don’t love science enough. They love novels, poetry, speeches. Some even love non-fiction. But they don’t love scientific knowledge.
Once your students have well-developed phonics skills, it’s knowledge of the world that makes the most difference to comprehension.
In science, vocabulary isn’t individual words to learn the meaning of: it is part of a rich and connected network of words. You don’t understand the word adaptation unless you understand habitats, food chains and climate. You don’t understand the word orbit unless you understand ellipses, gravity, and Newton’s first law of motion. Vocabulary is a part of knowledge – words are the labels for knowledge. You need the bigger picture for comprehension.
I’m being cheeky. Your literacy lead doesn’t really need to be a scientist. But you do want your literacy lead to both appreciate the core importance of knowledge of the world and more importantly, have clear, subject specific strategies to build reading and writing into the curriculum. This is currently the biggest gap in literacy teaching in England.
Happy to discuss.
Ben
Reading for Learning 