Prep

Watch the powerpoint below and read the documents

Rationale for prep

Students read prep in advance of the lesson; they do this for a number of reasons such as:

Pedagogical reasons -  students will learn better if they have an established schema by which to address new information; a frame of reference by which to consider it. Prep reading provides much of the core or hinterland knowledge in advance so that students can better understand it when it is referred to in class. Provided teachers plan suitable AfL, scaffolding and consolidation into lessons, the level of lesson challenge afforded by successful prep should be higher and therefore progress more rapid.

Access reasons -  to level the playing field for disadvantaged students or first generation students who have not enjoyed the advantages of parental or adult discussion about the sort of powerful knowledge which should be included in the curriculum; for example some students will have visited Norman castles with their parents or have been told the story of Harold being shot in the eye at The Battle of Hastings; this provides a frame of reference which puts these students at an advantage before the lesson even starts. However, disadvantaged students may never have seen a castle; first generation British students are likely to have parents educated in other countries and who therefore do not know the story of The Battle of Hastings. This holds true of content, context and vocabulary. Prep levels the playing field in these respects.

Accountability reasons -  the degree to which students have worked successfully on their prep is measured by prep quizzes and reported to parents; prep scores are also used daily to identify students who either cannot access, cannot do or have not attempted their prep.

Scholarship reasons -  to practise the skill of reading, increase reading age, overcome resistance to reading, learn to disseminate information from articles and to practise independent study, organisation, self awareness and self regulation

Scaffold reasons -  if prep provides – in advance- 6 weeks’ worth of access knowledge, vocabulary, schemata and the opportunity to prepare then it is easy to see how it can be used for scaffolding for SEND students