Creating a Culture of Reading in Schools - Sarah M Howell
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Keynote address at the British Ambassador’s Residence – Rome for Oxford University Press ReadOn Project - 20 February 2018
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Creating a Culture of Reading in Schools - Sarah M Howell
- 1. Creating a Culture of Reading in Schools Sarah M Howell The British Ambassador’s Residence Villa Wolkonsky – Rome 20 February 2018
- 2. 1 JK Rowling 2 Zadie Smith 3 Philip Pullman 4 Benjamin Zephaniah 5 Roald Dahl 6 Stephenie Meyer
- 3. “When I look at a book, the first thing I see is the size of it, and I know that’s what it’s like for a lot of young people who find reading tough.” “I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book." JK Rowling “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” Philip Pullman Roald Dahl Zadie Smith Stephenie Meyer Benjamin Zephaniah "Books shouldn't be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.” “The library was the place I went to find out what there was to know. It was absolutely essential.” "When I was 8, I was reading "Gone with the Wind" and "Pride and Prejudice" and all that, not knowing it wasn't my reading level."
- 4. What kind of reader are you?
- 5. "Human beings were never born to read" Two thousand days to prepare! On reading… Proust and the Squid, Maryanne Wolf
- 6. "Children who never have a story read to them, who never hear words that rhyme, who never imagine fighting with dragons or marrying a prince, have the odds overwhelmingly against them.” Maryanne Wolf
- 7. Students who scored 90% better than their peers on reading tests, read for more than : 20 minutes a day – exposing them to 1.8 million words a year. Students who scored at 50 percentile, read on average only: 4.6 minutes a day – exposing them to 282,000 words per year. Students in the 10 percentile for reading, read less than: 1 minute per day – exposing them to 8,000 words per year. It would take 1 year to read as many words as a good reader would read in 2 days. Anderson,R.C.“Growth in Readingand How Children Spend TheirTime Outside of School.”Reading ResearchQuarterly 28 (3) p.292, 1998. Research on reading habits
- 8. 8 Schools…do not have an overall conception of what makes a good reader… there is not enough curriculum time to focus on wider reading or reading for pleasure. Moving English forward, Ofsted, 2012 “Developing a love of reading can be more important for a child’s educational success than their family’s socio- economic background.” OECD
- 9. Why do we need a Culture of Reading for Schools? Reading is the most important 21st Century Skill – a fundamental life skill that gives us access to everything else. • Bridge the reading gap • Support screenager families Give your students a gift for life!
- 10. 10 How do we create a Culture of Reading? • nurture a culture of reading and writing for pleasure by encouraging students to find their own voice • offer accessible free reading materials • reach out to marginalized communities • bring reading into peoples’ homes • enhance libraries (paper and digital)
- 11. 11 How do we get staff involved?
- 12. 12 How do we get staff involved? • to understand the impact of reading on student achievement • a shared vision of the school's reading culture • to know why a reading culture is important • to fully support the library (class/school/local)
- 13. Screenagers… 6.5 hours of screen time per day
- 15. Leggo sempre quando ho un po’ di tempo libero. Leggo i libri Fantasy come Harry Potter ma mi piacciono anche i Romanzi . I generi dei libri che mi piacciono meno sono i libri storici. Penso che la lettura sia un ottimo modo per migliorare il linguaggio ma la trovo utile anche per viaggiare con la fantasia e rilassarsi dai libri di scuola. Mi piace leggere però leggo poco perchè normalmente mi vengono proposti libri noiosi. A me piacciono libri scritti da YouTubers o libri comici Odio leggere,,, Non leggo per piacere ma perchè richiesto a scuola…Trovo noioso rispetto ad altre attività. In generale mi piacciono solo gialli per ragazzi I don’t really like to read. I read only when I am bored and without technology I don’t like to read, sorry. I’m more of a film person. I’m not very intrigued by books
- 17. 17 • Top-down AND bottom-up, whole course/school planning • A weekly reading for pleasure period for every class Schedule time for reading Independent Reading Time Outstanding Schools factor in time for Reading for Pleasure
- 18. 18 Good beginnings Start every school day with a compulsory 15 minute reading session – for students AND teachers. No matter how busy the curriculum is!
- 19. 19 Teachers as Readers • Talk to your pupils about your reading life • Let them see you reading a wide variety of texts • Talk to them about the challenges you experience as a reader and how you get around them YOU are a ROLE MODEL! I had a teacher once…
- 20. 20 Be consistent • Whole school culture • Transitions between schools • Transitions between years Consistency really helps to support students through that crucial time of development!
- 21. 21 Reading spaces • A year/class library • Multilingual opportunities • Books, magazines, ebooks • A good mix of genres/levels • Volunteer librarians
- 22. 22 But… we have no books! Campaign for donations! • Local businesses, associations • Families • Former students • Teachers /former teachers
- 23. 23 Technology • Technology is here to stay…and that’s OK! • Technology can be the means for getting our teens serious about reading for pleasure • eReaders, tablets • Apps • Goodreads, Amazon, Watpadd • http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards/best/apps/2017
- 24. 24 A note for our “gamers” • Book adaptations of video games • Books to read after video games Great Books to Read Once You've Played the Video Game Matt Whyman http://bit.ly/VidGameBasedBooks • What game would you love to see turned into a book? • What book (film adaptation) would you like to see turned into a game?
- 25. 25 Make Your Reading Culture felt • Book of the week (Teachers’, Principle’s) • Reading assemblies • Book clubs • Reading Newsletter • Blogging (eg. Wattpad, etc) • Author visits / Read alouds • Book Logs • Book Festivals
- 26. 26 Making your Reading Culture Visible Displays around the school – in the entrance, along the corridors, on classroom doors - signs with slogans / quotations - events - library info Social Media specific “Reading” pages for the school - Facebook, instagram, twitter - SS2°involve the 5a
- 27. Think about everything your school is currently doing that encourages independent reading. • What is really working? • What current activities and ideas could you further develop and add on? • Does anything indicate that reading is important at your school?
- 28. 28 "I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." Jorge Luis Borges
Editor's Notes
- "Human beings were never born to read," writes Tufts University cognitive neuroscientist and child development expert Maryanne Wolf. Reading is a human invention that reflects how the brain rearranges itself to learn something new. In this ambitious, provocative book, Wolf chronicles the remarkable journey of the reading brain not only over the past five thousand years, since writing began, but also over the course of a single child's life, showing in the process why children with dyslexia have reading difficulties and singular gifts. Lively, erudite, and rich with examples, Proust and the Squid asserts that the brain that examined the tiny clay tablets of the Sumerians was a very different brain from the one that is immersed in today's technology-driven literacy. The potential transformations in this changed reading brain, Wolf argues, have profound implications for every child and for the intellectual development of our species.
- "Human beings were never born to read," writes Tufts University cognitive neuroscientist and child development expert Maryanne Wolf. Reading is a human invention that reflects how the brain rearranges itself to learn something new. In this ambitious, provocative book, Wolf chronicles the remarkable journey of the reading brain not only over the past five thousand years, since writing began, but also over the course of a single child's life, showing in the process why children with dyslexia have reading difficulties and singular gifts. Lively, erudite, and rich with examples, Proust and the Squid asserts that the brain that examined the tiny clay tablets of the Sumerians was a very different brain from the one that is immersed in today's technology-driven literacy. The potential transformations in this changed reading brain, Wolf argues, have profound implications for every child and for the intellectual development of our species.
- Students who scored 90% better than their peers on reading tests, read for more than 20 minutes a day – exposing them to 1.8 million words a year. Students who scored at fifty percentile, read on average only 4.6 minutes a day – exposing them to 282,000 words per year. Students in the ten percentile for reading, read less than 1 minute per day – exposing them to 8,000 words per year. (It would take them one year to read as many words as what a good reader would read in two days.) Anderson, R.C. “Growth in Reading and How Children Spend Their Time Outside of School.” Reading Research Quarterly 28 (3) p.292, 1998.
- Creating a sustainable demand for literacy The tasks that people need to perform in their daily lives, in different domains and for different purposes, are increasingly complex. They require continuous learning and the further development of core competences such as literacy, numeracy, language skills and digital competence. At the same time, this set of core competences – and other transferable skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking – form an indispensable foundation for other kinds of learning. Responses to the ongoing challenges and demands of dynamic and fast-changing contexts must pay particular attention to motivating and helping young people and adults with low literacy and education levels – as well as their children – to become independent, confident and effective lifelong learners. It is not enough to design high-quality learning programmes, complete with well-designed and attractive learning materials, trained teachers and good monitoring and evaluation systems. It is equally important to motivate learners to enrol and remain in a programme long enough to develop sustainable literacy skill levels. Furthermore, they should be offered further learning opportunities and encouraged to make use of them. It is imperative, therefore, that the creation of literate environments be a component of all literacy strategies and policies. Creating a literate environment is not limited to providing access to reading materials and ICTs. It must also take on the complex task of creating the conditions needed to learn, to continue learning, and to build a culture that values reading and writing in schools, families, communities and society at large. The collective social value of and need for reading, writing and learning has long been emphasized (Torres, 1994), and underscores the importance of developing strategies that bring the culture of written texts closer to the people, especially people from disadvantaged communities, by harnessing their own languages, cultures and values. The examples analysed in this introduction and documented in more detail in the case studies that follow show how the creation of literate environments can have a positive impact on people’s motivation to (re-)engage in literacy and learning, and how they can be encouraged to use and practise their newly acquired skills in their everyday lives. Successful approaches to creating a sustainable demand for literacy and learning include: ■ making reading materials of direct interest to the learner freely accessible; ■ offering learners the opportunity to continue their studies and obtain recognized qualifications; ■ introducing ICTs into the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy, with the additional aim of developing digital competences; ■ bringing literacy and learning into peoples’ homes by involving the whole family in learning activities; ■ enhancing libraries’ ability to offer a range of services to learners; ■ reaching out to marginalized communities through reading materials and learning activities; ■ nurturing a culture of reading and writing for pleasure by encouraging (young) people to improve their literacy skills and find their own voice. The programmes featured in this publication reflect different cultural backgrounds and are transferable to a variety of contexts. More examples of inspiring adult literacy and learning programmes can be found in UNESCO’s Effective Literacy and Numeracy Practises Database (LitBase), a continuously developing database of high-potential adult literacy programmes: www.unesco.org/uil/litbase. Ulrike Hanemann Lisa Krolak
- We are wired to connect… 6.5 hours of screen time per day 40.000 word vocabulary 800 words used a day Own views of their reading identity
- Schedule time for reading The curriculum is vast and everyone is so busy, it is important to remember to make time for reading during the school day. We have dedicated literacy lessons built into our weekly timetable, so that everyone still manages to focus on reading time. The lessons are actually based around specialist software that helps us monitor individual reading levels. This has been incredibly helpful not just to support and challenge students in the most appropriate way for them, but it also helps us to recommend the right kind of books to individuals.
- Good beginnings Start each day as you mean to go on – we start each school day with a compulsory 15-minute reading session. This sends a clear signal to the pupils about the importance of reading and helps to ensure they get reading time in, no matter how busy their day gets. We also find it is a nice way to start the day and engage pupils before their classes begin. We run additional group reading sessions too – these are a more interactive way of getting the children to read. Staff take part, which sets a positive example to students.
- Be a reading role model It can be very powerful for pupils to see teachers’ reading lives, particularly if you’re sharing the rewards but also the challenges you experience while reading. We sometimes re-read old favourites, and read books which present varying levels of challenge, from classic literature to thrillers and more. We all experience challenges in our reading: sometimes we have to read and re-read before we understand something, sometimes we don’t finish books, and sometimes we don’t know what to read next. Talk to your pupils about your reading life – take some time at the start of periods to speak about what you are currently reading and invite them to do the same. Let them see you reading a wide variety of texts – whatever you’re keen on; graphic novels, non-fiction, autobiography, magazines, etc. Talk to them about the challenges you experience as a reader and how you get around them – talk about which books you haven’t finished, and why. For more information about this, check out the Teachers as Readers e-book in the Useful Links section of this resource on page 18. You can also read this article about how one teacher made the process of talking about books part of her class’s weekly activities: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/strategies-reading-success-rah-rah-reading
- Be consistent The transition from year 6 to 7 is crucial for reading and it is important to make sure that literacy levels are not affected. At Wolsingham we have deliberately incorporated a VCOP (vocab, connectives, opening sentences and punctuation) learning strategy. We believe that this kind of consistency really helps to support students through that crucial time of development. We also encourage our feeder primaries to incorporate the same software that we use so that pupils are familiar with it when they arrive. Our software allows children to take a regular, termly reading test. It only takes 10 minutes, but it gives us a baseline assessment of their reading, allows us to transfer information for consistency and, crucially, makes sure they are reading books at the optimum level for them.
- Spruce up your library We treat our 6th-formers as adults so decided to invest in creating the right library environment for them so that they can enjoy a child-free space to read and study, and hopefully really look forward to visiting. We have given the library a fresh lick of paint, soft seating and a new magazine area which has made a big difference to its overall feel. We keep the magazine rack up-to-date with a broad range of magazines, so that it offers something for everyone, which we think helps encourage even the least interested student to have a read. We strongly believe that reading should not just involve books! We have achieved a great increase in the number of students choosing to visit so far, which is wonderful to see.
- Technology We are not afraid to use technology to encourage pupils to read and believe that good reading practice does not just involve hard copy books. We are currently testing a Kindle Pilot Scheme, so pupils can read a Kindle rather than a book and we have been very pleased with the results. So far we have found that struggling readers tend to prefer reading using Kindles because it is less obvious to their peers that they are reading different, lower ability books. Similarly, if it isn’t a Kindle or book, we are still happy for our students to read magazines – as long as they are reading, that’s the main thing! Elsewhere, our literacy software includes an App, which students can use to take a quiz on the books they have read. The App allows them to take the quiz at school, but on a mobile or iPad, which the students enjoy and is great if there is limited access to computers.
- A note about video games There are many book adaptations of popular video games like Assassin’s Creed. While these vary in quality and age appropriateness, they are popular with children. However, you can also recommend books to read after pupils have played video games – check out author Matt Whyman’s recommendations here: http://bit.ly/VidGameBasedBooks
- When you walk around your school and visit your school website, what impression do you get of your school’s character? Is it proud of its sporting triumphs with a display case of trophies, or is the emphasis on art, the environment, religion, or does it celebrate taha Māori? What about reading? Does anything indicate that reading is important at your school? Below are ideas of ways to inspire a love of reading among staff (who are key reading role models) and students.