The Literacy Shed (Effective Website #3)

The Literacy Shed (https://www.literacyshed.com/home.html ) is a free website that is home for numerous short films, animations, and related teaching ideas that can be used in the classroom to supplement a lesson as an anticipatory set or for further discussion on a specific topic. For over ten years, the curator of the Literacy Shed, Rob Smith who was a primary school teacher, had collected visual resources and had organized it in a way that is easy to find and use.        Most of the resources can be used for Key Stage readers 1, 2, and 3. However, there are some also suitable for the upper age group and above. It should be noted that these films be used with caution as they are not rated and classified. It is recommended that teachers screen the films prior to showing them.

The Literacy Shed is intended to be used by educators in the classroom when films are relevant and suitable for the lesson. The Literacy Shed provides high quality resources that can be used in stand-alone literacy lessons, form the basis for a literacy unit, or support literacy units already in place. Digital resources from the Literacy Shed can be used alongside books in any literacy units.

Upon clicking and entering the Literacy Shed, you will find that films are categorized into different sheds based on genre and themes. For example, there is a poetry shed, mystery shed, fairy tale shed, sci-fi shed, anti-bullying shed, the Christmas shed, and so much more. After clicking on the desired “shed” needed for a lesson, listed are the various titles in it. Simply click on a title and you are given the film along with a brief description of the film and then a list of teaching ideas/activities which consist of types of questions or follow up tasks that can be used for students to write or talk about. Depending on which film is used, some offer tips and ideas on how to use the film as a literacy lesson, discussion points, comprehension questions, or writing ideas.

Along with the collection of various digital films, the Literacy Shed also has a blog (https://www.literacyshedblog.com ) and a “Book of the Week” review (https://www.literacyshed.com/book-of-the-week ). Like every other blog, their blog addresses various topics in literacy. In addition, every week, a book is chosen with a brief description of what the book is about and how it can be tied to lessons in the classroom.

Overall, The Literacy Shed is designed in a way that is simple to navigate and use if you know what you want to show for a lesson especially when you are given an array of films and animations to choose from. The Literacy Shed is an excellent resource that can be used to build and encourage students to utilize their comprehension skills, inferential skills, writing skills, and critical thinking skills. It is essential that a working reliable internet is available in order to stream the films and avoid any glitches. I feel that “The literacy shed” can be very useful mainly because students love watching films. It is definitely one way that captures students interests and motivates learning especially when it comes to literacy.