Where do teachers start when it comes to supporting students who struggle with reading and writing? There is so much written and argued about reading and writing, that busy teachers can feel a little lost about here to start or what to do.
Many teachers can feel like King Cnut confronting a crashing tide, futilely trying to hold back wave after wave of new technologies and modern distractions that threaten to drown reading and writing habits and practice.
The problem is that reading and writing may feel simple, even a seemingly 'natural' thing for skilled and literate students, but it is actually brilliantly complex and interwoven with strands of knowledge and skill. It requires ample teacher judgement to navigate selecting the right practice for the students who don't find these vital skills easy to develop.
How then can we break down the ingredients of high-quality teaching and timely reading and writing support for those who struggle or have pre-existing barriers to learning (whether these are diagnosed as SEN or not)?
Time to SHARE?
The SHARE model attempts to capture key ingredients of instruction that best supports struggling readers and writers:
S – Scaffolding challenging tasks
Supporting access without lowering expectations.
H – High expectations for every student
Maintaining ambition and avoiding unintended gaps.
A – Assessment-driven adaptations
Using assessment to inform adaptive teaching.
R – Responsive interventions
Knowing when and how to intervene effectively.
E – Explicit teaching of literacy
Teaching reading, writing, talk and vocabulary with explicit clarity, sequence and structure.
How do we enact something that is potentially fuzzy like 'scaffolding' or 'high expectations'? Strategies need to be distilled, concrete and practical, and we need to name them.
Let's take James - a year 5 pupil - who struggles with reading fluency. The SHARE model can help us consider practical strategies to support James:
S - Scaffolding
Pre-teach 'Keystone vocabulary' before reading.
Chunk the text into short sections.
Use 'Echo reading' (teacher reads, James repeats).
H - High expectations
James still gets access to ambitious reading, but with support to access it
Teacher reads with James and ensure he understands key ideas and participates in high quality book talk.
A – Assessment
Teacher listens to James read aloud briefly.
Checks James comprehension through targeted questions.
Identifies that fluency (not decoding) is the main barrier.
R – Responsive Interventions
Short, daily fluency practice (e.g., repeated reading of a passage).
Guided reading sessions focusing on phrasing and expression.
Immediate prompts during lessons (e.g. 'pause at punctuation').
E – Explicit Teaching
Teacher models fluent reading (intonation, pacing).
Explicitly teaches how punctuation affects expression.
Vocabulary is taught directly (definitions, usage, context).
The same SHARE model can have us consider similar strategies for students with writing struggles in a focused fashion.
There is no quick fix to support students who struggle with the complexities of literacy skills like reading and writing. This may be especially true as reading and writing habits decline outside the school gates. But every teacher can make a difference with targeted support in the classroom.
In my upcoming Teachology masterclass, on ‘Literacy Essentials for Students with SEND’, I explore the SHARE model in much more detail. It is aimed at English leads, literacy leaders, SENCOs and more. FIND OUT MORE HERE.
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