Encouraging children to see themselves as readers

I have worked at my school, in Hertfordshire, for 10 years, and I am currently, ‘gasp’, the mathematics coordinator.

The school, as most schools, has been through a turbulent time: a new building (which was then flooded), a year in a make-shift school, and then the death of our Head teacher.

The school has children from a very diverse number of backgrounds, and 21% are eligible for pupil premium.

I love reading, and I have grown up in a family which love reading (a family anecdote – a distant uncle was thrown out of Cambridge University for ‘taking’ books from local bookshops as he couldn’t bear to part with them). I have passed this love onto my own sons, and I wish to pass this love onto my own class and school.

My school’s development plan focus has shifted towards Literacy. The Reading coordinator has improved the teaching of reading lessons and assessment; therefore, I decided to focus on developing the enjoyment of reading.

I wanted to ‘nurture children’s reading for pleasure’ (https://researchrichpedagogies.org/research/theme/reading-communities), and therefore change the relationship that they have with books and reading.

I also wanted to increase children’s networks with other readers, so that they didn’t see, ‘reading as a solitary practice and commonly associate reading for pleasure with keen and able readers.’ (Cremin, et al, 2014).

I believe, and I will shout this from the rooftops, that reading should be the number one skill that children develop, as everything else can then follow.

·         To make connections for the children of my class, the school and myself, with the reading community in and outside of the school.

·         To understand better what motivates my class to read.

·         To improve my class’s relationship with books and their image of what a reader is.

1.      Considerable knowledge of children’s literature and other texts

A key recommendation from the TaR report (Cremin et al., 2008) is that, ‘(teachers) have limited and limiting repertoires of children’s authors’, and Number 10 in Michael Rosen’s 20 Point Plan is to ‘Read Widely’. Therefore, I joined different book reviewing websites, an OU/UKLA Reading for Pleasure work group, and I am trying to help the Cheltenham festival expand their RT/RP scheme, by setting up my own group.

I have created a book area in my classroom (for the first time ever) with my own books and charity shop books (Number 13: ‘Get odd, old books’), all labelled with the different genres. This was inspired by @BookTrust:

My own version:

This book area also has a recommended reads signing out sheet, and any new books placed onto this book shelf will be introduced to the class and this encourages ‘readers to inspire each other about books’ (Michael Rosen, Number 9: Share books).

The TaR report suggests adopting an author, and I thought this would help the children see ‘beyond’ the book. I emailed publishing companies, local independent book sellers, cinemas and local companies, and asked for their support. Here is an example reply from Sweet Cherry Publishing:

These are the resources that the publishing houses (see the Appendix) have currently sent us to help redo our library), and more keep arriving everyday!

I love this personalised message from ‘Little Tiger’ publishers – “Teachers are true heroes!”

‘Imagine That’ publishers even sent us a set of books for some children (I sent these up to Year 6) to read, review and then contribute questions to a blog on their website.

Here is my email contact with a local retirement home, Elton House. After an initial meeting, we have now set a date, when I will take a small group of children to read with some of the residents!   Hopefully, the story telling will be two-ways, as Bruner (2007) says, we have an ‘inherent predisposition to make stories of our experiences in the world’.

Here is a reply from a local independent book seller, which led to a face-to-face meeting, and an appointment, which I booked through Twitter, of hopefully having Lisa Thompson visit the store!

I applied to various sources (listed in the Appendix) for funding to help promote reading for pleasure. We are now awaiting volunteers from Lloyds Bank to read with children.

2.   Knowledge of children’s reading practices

I asked my year group to answer the OU’s reading survey. The key things that stood out were that: the children preferred to read at home; most of them chose story books as the favourite genre; and that they described themselves as only a ‘good’ or ‘okay’ reader. I also filled in my own ‘review of practice’.

My class have carried out many other activities to tell me more about their reading habits, such as: 24 hour Reading River,

Desert Island books, an interactive display (@MrMclugash & @AMarkham04), and a lunchtime book club.

3. A reading for pleasure pedagogy

I organised the ‘The Big Family Read’: parents joined their children in the classroom and read quietly together, enjoying a hot chocolate. It enabled me to promote a number of tips to parents for improving reading at home.

I set up a book buddy scheme within my class.

Secret Santa book swap: it included a book suggestion newsletter (@Misterbodd), a personalised Christmas card (inspired by Jon Biddle), and a chocolate!

Children connected with real authors through Twitter and YouTube (@MrBoothY6).

Children signed up to either read their own reading book or the class book to the class (inspired by Emily Crumbleholme).

My afternoon plan highlights reading the class book as a fixture, free reading and buddy reading. Reading is never pushed out of the school day!

Even though I am an experienced teacher, almost all these initiatives are new to me! The ideas, as well as being based on the TaR report are also present in suggestions by Gambrell, L (1996) and her ideas of what motivates children to read. All of the initiatives gave my class one thing in common, ‘the desire to read’ (Cremin, 2014).

Only a few of strategies that I have put into practise in the Autumn term have been shared as a whole school (The Big Family Read, Reading Buddies and connecting an author with the school), therefore my future aim will be to share more of this practise with other teachers. I also wish to pursue the connection I have with Jackie Marchant to create a Patron of Reading for the school. I would also like to explore in more detail the funding routes that I have started with some large companies to help improve our library (including a full time librarian), and have people in to read with children.

As well as this, I think explore the excitement developed by multimedia storybooks would be interesting as, ‘they can serve as an electronic scaffold which provides children access to stories that are beyond their reading level’ (de Jong and Bus, 2003 in Thompson Long et al, 2018).

I think strengthening the connection with the Pinner bookshop would be worthwhile – this is still in its infancy. Also, the school as a whole will also need to explore holding parent workshops on a larger scale.

I have found it an incredibly enjoyable experience and my class and I have more connections within the school and outside the school as a reading community; I know what motivates my class to read; and I have a class full of readers who know that they are readers. This should ensure, as Sanacore (2002) says, ‘becoming a lifetime reader is predicated on developing a love of reading’: and my class have!