THRASS FOLLOW-UP COURSE,
OXFORDSHIRE, JULY 4, 2006

The children who attend the school have experienced severe emotional trauma due to the accumulation of adverse experiences in infancy and early childhood.

(1) Key information from Rose Review final report on Synthetic Phonics, especially • to apply the highly important skill of blending (synthesising) phonemes in order, all through a word to read it AND • given that children will meet many instances outside, as well as within, their settings and schools where letter names are used, it makes sense to teach them within the programme of early phonic work AND • the importance of Assessment. (2) New DualDisc - with four hours of video - and THRASS Phoneme Machine software (3) THRASS Spelling Procedure - Say NAME Cover Write Check and Spelling Logs [see TEACHING THRASS p82 and 91]. (4) Questions. (5) THRASS Profilecard and new THRASS ‘4 Support’ Resources - Picture Book, Picture Cards, Spelling Tiles and 500 Workbook. 6. Implementation, Keypages for teaching THRASS [see Keypages], THRASS Tips Email Course [see THRASS TIPS] and Questions.

I think this was just what was needed at this stage of things. I’ve come away with a list of things to do/implement – and with renewed commitment. I think the overall feeling about THRASS is positive, and 4 out of 5 classes have put a lot of work in already and want to take this forward. I really like the Phoneme Machine – I’m not convinced  by the Profilecard for our particular children. I was impressed by how well you suited the training for our needs and felt the pace and content were spot on. Thanks! I think you kept everyone’s interest all day.

A very useful refresher for us all. Raised some important questions that need addressing about where we go from here.

As last time, inspiring stuff.

I found this course very useful. I feel eager to learn more in the classroom with it. I think it will be easier said than done with the emotionally disturbed children that we deal with. I think that the underpinning knowledge of THRASS is intriguing and interesting. The presentation was excellent and was easy to interact. 

Good delivery (again)! Because you are so enthusiastic, I really keep focused. The content was excellent (again!). I hope we as a school will be able to move forward from where we are. I am convinced it can only benefit the children, and that’s my reason for being here.

It was good to revisit THRASS and have new things to work on. The more familiar something becomes, the easier it is.

I feel re-inspired again. Will try new ideas – the theory makes complete sense to me. I shall adapt the Profilecard to make it child-friendly.

I found this very interesting, don’t have much experience with THRASS, as I haven’t worked here long. I feel much more confident and enthusiastic to use it with the children. Today has been enjoyable and a great learning curve.

There was a lot of information to take on board; also due to the mixture of abilities we have in our class, we tend to work in small groups, so at present I don’t feel confident enough teaching it yet until I fully understand it myself. Secondly, I am going to do teacher training next year and I’m unsure if they use the THRASS method, so I’d like to keep an open mind until I go to Uni.

A lot of information to take on board. I do feel more confident to teach different parts of THRASS in the classroom. I am very interested in watching the videos and seeing how THRASS is taught in different situations.

Parts of the day I found very interesting and useful. I think there should have been more time for questions as, since we have taken the THRASS on, we have all wondered about things since the last training. It’s a shame you get the impression we are not interested about THRASS, as Foundation, Middle Stage and Top Stage are all at different levels and THRASS is used in varied ways in all. As you know, it is easy to teach or sell something when you know how.

A very interesting day. As a new employee, I feel this could really work. It is slightly more complicated as our children (as you know) are very disruptive and have a very short concentration span. However, I will certainly use the log book and chart for referral. It’s a start!

Presentation Skills: Very dynamic, excellent subject knowledge, humorous, but a little defensive towards the end. Content: Very good. Feel a lot more knowledgeable. Agree that what is good for special needs children is good teaching, regardless of age/stage in any school. Have used spelling logs already. A lot to think about and adapt, where necessary. 

I think the Phoneme Machine is an excellent tool for learning. It was good to have the Word Level Workchart demonstrated again, and to be reminded of different resources and how they can be used. The Spelling Log is another excellent suggestion and would be very useful here. You know what I felt about the Profilecards – “I lost the will to live”.

On the whole, I found the course interesting, however, as I have no previous knowledge of THRASS, I found a lot of it confusing, i.e. Profilecard and a lot of the names used for different things were confusing. I would imagine a child finding it difficult to get their head round. I also felt I would need a lot longer training session – at least a week. A few things clicked, but overall I’ve come away confused.

I felt inspired to extend our use of THRASS further, to try new activities and old ones that I hadn’t used. However, I feel most insulted by Alan’s final comments, suggesting that because certain people were being honest about how overwhelming this can feel, that this was because we couldn’t be bothered making an effort. Some of us have made an effort and you need to realise the pressure that we have been under to learn and use new things, including the SMART Board this year.

Thank you for coming and showing us more ideas and resources. I feel enthused again! It’s also good as a team to consider where to go next and having the course brought this to the forefront of our thinking. I think the programme is excellent and I don’t feel you need to prove yourself as a teacher and I’m sorry if you felt that way.

Good discussion. Useful to revisit basics, but most worth gained from moving on. Good demos.

Very good to have further training. Enthusiastic, extremely thorough presentation – excellent subject/product knowledge. Inspiring content. Shame at the end, when you felt challenged, as this took away from broader discussion about theory/principles and how they could be adapted in our particular circumstances. We became focused on small elements of an otherwise impressive picture. Lots to take away and think about and overall very useful and inspiring session.

Return to TOP

Back           Next