Based in the west of Scotland, I first began teaching Literacies to adults as a volunteer in my local community and volunteered at a local primary school, supporting children who needed extra support. For the past twenty two years, I have taught literacies to a variety of client groups to include those with drug & alcohol addiction, prisoners, ESOL learners, young offenders, looked after young people and patients with psychological mental health issues.

 

My biggest frustration then, and even now, is the lack of learning resources that are suitable for returning learners. Most resources that address this basic skill are image heavy and aimed at children. This in itself can be a barrier to learning. I developed the concept of  the Rules n Tools reference guide as a way for the client groups that I worked with to have a reminder of what they had been taught.  I always anticipated that this book had the potential to evolve into something more and so I created the Toolkits and Technophonics poster to complement the original book.​ 

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Previous to working in Literacies, I spent many years in manufacturing and quality management. My mindset is therefore to produce materials that are simple, effective, progressive, recordable and traceable. Learners work with many different tutors and many different resources. This in itself can add to the confusion and anxiety of learning our language. The Rules n Tools resources have been developed to provide an all in one simplified, structured, progressive and consistent method of teaching literacies.​​​ Each toolkit contains an initial assessment, ensuring the learner starts at the point suitable to their abilities. The individual Learning Plan tracks the learners progress, allowing them to refer to this if they change learning provider or are absent from learning for a period of time.​

 

Rules n Tools resources were initially designed for adults but they have proven to be a helpful resources for school pupils and family learning. Anyone, be it a teacher, a tutor, a peer, a friend, or a family member can help another with reading and literacies, by working through these user friendly resources.

 

                                                                          The SLAM method of understanding phonics

 

These resources introduce what I call the SLAM method.  Repetitively identifying and reinforcing longer length  CVC words provides the learner with the ability to read full sentences, short paragraphs and even short stories, before progressing to the more complicated areas of our language (dipthongs, digraphs, trigraphs, graphemes etc). This allows the learner to gain confidence in their ability to learn, and to enjoy reading.​

 

My vision is to witness that Rules n Tools works! That both learners and tutors find the resources helpful and that it provides a stepping stone for learners to gain confidence and to continue in their leaning journey.