Programme 373, Clara Fiorentini on Literacy and Social Media (2-10-19)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme tune: David Vesey

My guest on the programme this week is my colleague in Marino Institute of Education and the person behind the social media identity, Little Miss Teacher. She is Clara Fiorentini and we talk about play, literacy, phonics, early years education and much more. Here are the topics we discuss and the times at which they appear.  

• Why she started posting on social media (1’33”)
• Her thoughts on the new language curriculum and her interest in literacy, especially early literacy (7’00” and 24’11”))
• A typical day in her classroom (with a focus on literacy activities)
• Different kinds of play 12’03”
• The kind of stories she used in her teaching (14’35”)
• Phonics and literacy instruction (16’22”)
• Literacy in more senior classes (21’42”)
• The phonics programme she participated in developing, Sounds Like Phonics (23’46”)
• Her approach to teaching (26’48”)
• Returning to study for a master’s degree in children’s literature (29’50”)
• What schools are for 33’41”
• A teacher who had a significant impact on her (34’48”)
• Who inspires her (39’13”)

Among the resources and materials mentioned by Clara were the following:

Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell

Goodnight Mr Tom by Michell Magorian

David Walliams

The book with no pictures by BJ Novak

Rita Pierson – Ted Talk – Every child deserves a champion

Jen Jones on picture books

 

My recommendation:

Podcast: Speak-Up Storytelling with Matthew and Elysha Dicks

Book: Storyworthy: Engage, teach, persuade and change your life through the power of storytelling by Matthew Dicks