Reading for pleasure conference notes – 17March 2016
Margaret Holborn welcomed delegates and speakers and introduced the work of the Education Centre. Claire Armitstead, Guardian Books editorexplained that their mission statement was fierce quality journalism and a belief in finding new readers. The ability to read books is very empowering but can be excluding if you don’t have the tools. Reading starts with teachers planting a seed and children wanting to proceed and take control of their learning.
Michelle Pauli, co-editor of the GuardianChildren’s books website introduced the site which is by children and for children and has been running for fiveyears. Children write reviews and opinion pieces and can get involved individually or as book group members. Members get to share reviews with children across the world, interview favourite authors and also receive free books to review. The website supports World Book Day and had 800,000 views for the event this year. Michelle announced that the website has also just launched a writing competition in collaboration with Jacqueline Wilson.
Lisa Spiller, content coordinator for the Guardian Teacher networkexplained that the site produces content for and by teachers and includes lots of resources and blogs about reading. The website is free to access. Some examples of Reading for pleasure resources on the site are listed below.
How to teach ... reading for pleasure
How to encourage students to read for pleasure: teachers share their top tips
How can we encourage boys to read for pleasure? Teachers give their views
Why teachers should read more children's books
How to help children discover the they love reading
The magic of whole school reading
The Walking Dead helped me bring Jordan's reading skills back to life
How schools can combat the summer holiday literacy dip
How to teach ... the summer slide in literacy
A guide for parents and tutors: how to get children reading this summer
Rob Biddulph – author,illustrator and designer
Rob’s first picture book Blown Awaywon the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in 2015. His second book GRRRRR! was nominated for the CILIP Kate Greenaway medal. His third book will be published in August.
Rob explained that he had always been keen on drawing: producing posters for school productions long before he went to art college. He worked on a variety of magazines including Just Seventeen, SKY, Uncutand theNMEbefore becoming Art director of the Observer Magazine.
When Rob had children he noticed the illustrations in their books and remembered what a creative medium children’s books was. He thought that if you create a good book it lasts forever. Two books in particular inspired him: How the Grinch Stole Christmasand The Incredible Book Eating Boy.
In consultation with his daughters he wrote two stories; My Doll is called Nothing and Cleverin. He got an agent and met with lots of publishers but the books weren’t published. He also wrote another story called Adam’s Apple. On the advice of a new agent Rob spent time drawing children’s book staples to show his range, such as pirates and animals.
When two publishers loved his penguin drawings he decided to use them in another story he had written called Blown Away,and there followed lots of interest from publishers. He got a three-book deal from Harper Collins. Winning the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize was a thrill and it was the first picture book to win for many years.
He uses sketch books for ideas and it can take a year trying out different drawings and developing a story arc. Having control over the words and pictures is very satisfying but it does take a long time. With only about 26 pages available Rob finds he has to be very strict about language. He aims for the perfect rhyme and is inspired by the Dr Seuss books.
Rob’s new book Odd Dog Outis about dachshunds will be out in August.
Part of having a book deal is to promote yourself and your books and so he speaks at many events. He will read books, do drawings and he gets children to draw. Rob’s core audience is key stage 1.
Reading for pleasure practice in primary schools and its impact on learning – MathewTobin, Senior Lecturer in English and children’s literature, Oxford Brookes University
Mat started his session showing a video of him reading a Dinoblock by Christopher Franceschelli with his son Fred, who is two. They discuss favourite dinosaurs. It highlights that within a pleasurable environment, a joy of reading, quality talk and high language acquisition can be fostered from the earliest of ages. You are never too young to enjoy reading.
What does Reading for pleasure mean? Mat noted that it got slipped into the new national curriculum and its there is a reason for it.
He discussed the Daniel Pennac and Quentin Blake poster The Rights of the Reader. How do we let children to read what they want and also how we intervene?
Mat was a teacher for 16 years and literacy co-ordinator for much of that time. He is passionate about getting children into literature.
Research in 2007 showed that children are turned off reading:
Research into reading attitudes shows that children in England read less independently and find less pleasure in reading than many of their peers in other countries (Twist et al. 2007)
Teachers are the single most important influence in getting children to read.
Creating a social space in the classroom that celebrates reading is crucial. The reading environment is not just the book corner. It is the importance of book talk, the creative curriculum and putting books at the centre.
Teachers can plan creatively and use a cross-curricular approach to explore a book. Mat gave two examples from teachers - Chris Waterworth who built a Saxon hut in his classroom and Niomi Roberts who built a Viking longboat to enthuse the children about Beowulf.
Getting children to talk about books and their opinions is crucial. Great teacher knowledge of books is vital, as is having a connection with the library. Refreshing and restocking books in the classroom needs to be done on regular basis to make the children excited about new books. Swap books with other teachers in the school, if resources are limited, so you don't have the same shelf all year long. Adrian Chambers and Margaret Meek have great advice on reading environments.
Teachers need to encourage children to play with language and through reading to them give them access to books beyond their age.
To encourage reading for pleasure the teacher needs to have a broad knowledge of children's books and literature so they can recommend books. They also need to be aware of diversity in texts. You me and Diversity by Anne Doolan suggests a great range for books and diversity.
To encourage reading for pleasure you need to be a reading teacher who models being a reader.You need to read when they do. You need to ask the children what they are reading, have texts available for children and can suggest ones that they might like.
Mat did an immersive reading example with the delegates with an image from The Tunnel by Anthony Brown and asked them to analyse what they saw in the picture and guess why they thought various things were included in it and their possible significance.
Clark and Rumbold's 2006 report argued that reading for pleasure increases writing standards and social and emotional behaviour. The importance of getting the right books is crucial.
To help with planning creatively to encourage reading for pleasure there are lots of resources,egGuardian Children’s book prize, Nikki Gamble’s just imagine site, CILIP,UKLA, BookTrust and Kate Greenaway prize. Matt also recommended Julia Eccleshare's book on 1001 children's book to read before you grow up. Mat suggested that the teachers join goodreads and follow each other. You will get lots of ideas this way.
Mat’s picture book padlet
Mat’s blog
Promoting reading for pleasure in the context of the new literacy curriculum – Jack Sloan, deputy headteacher, Hanover Primary School
Jack gave a brief overview of the school: 1.5 form entry, a very diverse, challenging and vibrant community.
He referred to the new national curriculum, and how it mentions “reading for pleasure” seven times, and “enjoyment” in relation to reading or spoken language four times. This is exciting. Further, a DfE document released in March 2015 entitled Reading: the next steps; Supporting higher standards in schools, states: “In addition to its substantial practical benefits, reading is one of life’s profound joys. Every child should have the opportunity to experience the pleasure and enrichment which comes from reading a great novel, biography or play.”
By contrast, in the key stage 2 Interim teacher assessment frameworks, the key stage 1 Assessment and reporting arrangements and the Ofsted School inspection handbook, “pleasure” and “enjoyment” are not mentioned at all in relation to reading or books, and there is no measure for reading for pleasure. This is disappointing as it means reading for pleasure could easily get lost in the chaos of primary assessment and the pressure to achieve in the eyes of Ofsted, who may not be looking for reading for pleasure.
However, no assessment system will measure against the whole curriculum. This does not mean that we should not teach the whole curriculum; in fact we have to teach reading for pleasure because it is part of the curriculum. Importantly, children who read for pleasure do better across the whole curriculum.
Hanover began a whole school strategy for reading for pleasure. Jack asked his teachers to think of the first book they loved and to remember the impact it had on them – Jack's was Whatever Next by Jill Murphy. He remembers the feelings this book gave him as a child – we need to introduce children to those feelings at school, as some do not get it at home.
Jack introduced some longitudinal research done by the Institute of Education (IoE). The study started 47 years ago, adding a new cohort of children each year. The study has found that reading books often, going to the library regularly and reading newspapers at age 16 are four times more important for children's cognitive development than having a parent with a degree.
Hanover did some research of their own with their children, by asking them to complete an attitudes to reading survey. They did this at school – they did not want parents to affect the results. It is really easy to do and also makes it easy to frame conferences with a child around reading. The results were shared on an individual basis with some parents, who took action with their children as a result.
Using the surveys, they made a plan starting with the children who did not have a good relationship with reading. At Hanover, evidence around reading is gathered in a number of ways, and the school is very clear about the impact of its work, including guided reading, phonics and 1-1 reading.
Jack was determined to put reading at the heart of the curriculum at Hanover. They used the CLPE's Power of reading – an approach that puts one good quality book at the heart of the literacy programme. Teachers used this as a stepping stone, taking it further and building a whole curriculum around one text.
Jack talked about the importance of the visibility of reading. Books were very visible in school but reading was not. They made a big effort to show children and adults as readers around the school. They created posters of children who had lacked confidence in reading but have developed and become ambassadors for reading. Jack has a library in his office (in addition to the school library). This allows children – and parents – to come and have a conversation with him about reading.
Working with parents is central to the work they do with reading. School cannot be an island where reading is done, and then at home it is not.
The school has a well-established library and librarian, who comes in for half a day each week. She reads with classes all the way up to year 6. The library is well stocked with new books – children request what they want next. It is open after school, staffed with volunteers. They have sessions with parents reading with children in their home language. At lunchtimes the library is open and children use it unsupervised – they use it heavily and treat it beautifully.
Book events are really effective. They held a recent event for children and parents together – the children had three visiting authors – William Grill, Pamela Butchart and Leigh Hodgkinson, and the parents had a lecture from the IoE. Events have a huge impact and show how much the school values books and reading.
Jack ended by saying that as the curriculum narrows, we must take every opportunity to broaden our children's minds.
Workshops 1
Inspiring writing in key stage 2 – Charlotte Hacking, Learning programme leader, Centre for Literacy in Primary Education(CLPE)
Charlotte introduced CLPE and the Power of Reading programme and the importance of being able to implement government policy with integrity. She spoke of the power of real writing for a real audience and the importance of understanding that writing gives children a voice.
CLPE’s core books resource online is a great range of books to inspire readers – they are all high quality books and the resource also includes 20 free teaching sequences.
Charlotte asked why writing can be difficult and why some children are turned off writing.
Writing is make up of various elements: composition, transcription, text and reading; communication; writing for learning. For the composition element, experience is key to the writer. We can help by feeding children ideas.
It is important to find the parts of the new National Curriculum that allow space for creativity.Michael Rosen said on Twitter that the simplest and best way to help children write is to investigate what good writing looks like.
The session started with this as a premise for using good quality writing to allow readers to investigate why the writing is impactful.Charlotte read to the group The Ocean’s Blanket by Carol Ann Duffy and asked participants to think about what the poet did to engage readers and to create mood and atmosphere.
Poetry is a way into writing for children – especially free verse when they are not constrained by particular forms.
Film is another way in: Children are highly skilled readers of film. However,we need to train them into how to look at it to use it as a learning tool eg the range of shots used, the sound and lighting.
Varmints – by Helen Ward
The book and film together can be used as a prompt for children to write. Charlotte presented a teaching sequence, which led to participants coming together to write a poem, which also reflected what they had learnt about effective writing from looking at Duffy’s Ocean’s Blanket.
- The teachers watched the first part of the film and then discussed the mood it generates. Charlotte stressed the importance of watching the film twice as so much more can be gleaned on second viewing.
- She read the first part of the text and participants reflected on it and discussed the questions it raised and the differences between both book and film. Questions to ask could include; what does the text give/tell you? What do the illustrations show? The interplay between the text and illustration is critical to enhancing the meaning of the picture book.
- Charlotte then showed the next part of film twice; read the text and then discussed with the group. Charlotte handed out two A3 spreads from the book to write thoughts on as they watched the film on the second viewing.
- In groups of five, participants came together to write a poem based on both book and film and remembering the Duffy poem, the mood evolved in book and film and language involved.
- After seven minutes of writing and thinking time one group performed their poem. Charlotte stressed the need to remind children that this is only a first draft. Children need to be encouraged to go back and change and redraft, guided by what reflections they made after trying it out as a performance. Charlotte showed examples of inspirational work by children created using this teaching sequence by schools involved in CLPE’s Power of Reading programme.
The book and film can also be used to generate persuasive writing for example what should the characters known as ‘the others’ in the book have thought about? How could we encourage them to start thinking about their actions again when they stopped thinking?