The Communication Trust is calling on primary and secondary schools across the UK to put down their pens and pick up language on October 10th 2012.
The Trust will be providing a portfolio of free materials including an activity pack, assembly plans and lesson plans for primary and secondary that reflect the increased focus on embedding speech, language and communication into all subjects.
Schools will be encouraged to run No Pens Day Wednesday activities including podcasting,
interactive story-telling, maths games, debating, vocabulary games and talk homework that will highlight the importance of language for learning for pupils and provide a day of 'no marking' for school staff.
Anne Fox, Director of The Communication Trust, said: "No Pens Day Wednesday is a fantastic initiative that highlights the importance of speaking and listening approaches in the classroom. Ofsted has emphasised that pupils need more opportunities to become articulate and research has shown that too often our classrooms are dominated by teacher talk.
"We are calling on schools to run their No Pens Day on October 10th or at another time that suits them. Feedback from schools last year was overwhelmingly positive. No Pens Day Wednesday increased pupils engagement in activities, improved confidence and respect between pupils and helped those who struggle with the written word. Teachers reported back the benefits of lots of talk in the classroom, particularly on pupils vocabulary."
My son George aged 9 yrs thought it was 'the best day ever!' last year when St Peters, Hixon joined in.
No Pens Day Wednesday was originally run as a flagship event of the Hello campaign (national year of communication) last year. The unique event proved popular with 800 schools taking part and leading academics including Professor Andrew Pollard and Jean Gross, formerly Communication Champion, backed the whole-day focus on speaking and listening. Schools can register to receive the No Pens Day Wednesday materials here
http://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/schools/no-pens-day-wednesday.aspx
For more information, visit www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk
I love this as it will inspire creativity like no other and children will have so much fun with it. Great for children who find writing a chore.
ReplyDelete