Creating A Buzz Around Reading Stephanie Austwick

Session 1 – Developing comprehension skills To discuss what makes a good reader To consider the higher order reading skills To explore the teaching of comprehension skills Session 2 – Bringing the text to life Creating a reason to read Getting to know the text Bringing the text to life Taking Reading into Writing Aims

“Why I don’t enjoy literacy!” – Y5 & 6 pupils I’m not very good at it. It’s too quiet and we have to sit at our tables all the time. I like things where you have to get up and move around and do things and stuff. I don’t enjoy reading and we have to do loads of it - especially boring stories. Then we have to write! I can never think of anything to write. There’s too many things to remember. I used to like it when I was young! None of my mates like it.

Location - the ability to find and retrieve information Re-organisation - the ability to transform information Inference - the ability to make links with existing knowledge and experience Evaluation – the ability to make a judgement Appreciation - the ability to respond as a reader, emotionally & thoughtfully Reminder: What are Higher Order Reading Skills?

Reading the lines (Location) Reading between the lines (Inference) Reading beyond the lines (Evaluation, Appreciation) Written response to the lines (Re-organisation) To develop these skills in children, does the ‘text’ always have to be a written one? Or...

Developing comprehension skills through still images

Developing comprehension skills through music

Developing comprehension skills through film

Book talk – First thoughts  Likes ?  Dislikes ?  Puzzles ?  Patterns ? From: Tell Me: Children, Reading and Talk by Aidan Chambers, published by Thimble Press 2011

Getting to know the text well Storytelling Story-mapping Characters -Gingerbread/ Role on the wall Settings – The senses; Soundscapes Cloze procedure Exploring the text through drama

Cloze procedure “Hey! Come her!” he ___________ a little while later. She ____________ over to him. “Look!” he ____________. “A tunnel! Come on, let’s see what’s at the other end.” “N-no, you mustn’t,” she ___________. “There might be __________... or________... or ____________ down there.” “Don’t be so ____________,”said her brother. “That’s kid’s stuff.”

Getting to know the text well Storytelling Story-mapping Characters -Gingerbread/ Role on the wall Settings – The senses; Soundscapes Cloze procedure Exploring the text through drama

“Why I don’t do drama!” – Y5 & 6 teachers I’m not very good at it. It’s too noisy and my class can’t cope with moving around. I don’t enjoy it myself so why should I put them through it? The hall is timetabled – you can never get in there. My class get too silly. I used to do it but there’s too much to fit in these days.

What is drama? 1. Drama for performance 2. Drama for learning Gives life to the learning Includes basic speaking and listening activities Can be done with minimal disruption Can be delivered in context It WILL make a difference. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AN EXPERT!

Research into ‘underperforming boys’ suggests that they : often have skills in speaking and listening and drama; respond well to active approaches; (VAK) write better when care is taken to stimulate and motivate their interest; can try to disguise their low attainment by negative attitudes to their work, to others and to themselves; often can, but choose not to read. Narrowing the Gaps, National Strategies 2010

Why use drama? It allows children to: engage with, and experience, a context ; achieve greater understanding; explore characters, actions and issues develop oral language skills; expand knowledge of vocabulary, text and sentence structure link reading and writing build self-esteem

Practical activities to improve: grammar and vocabulary; reading comprehension - knowledge and understanding of a text - understanding of characters situations - empathy writing - story structure - dialogue - non-fiction genres self-esteem and self-confidence.

Drama – when do I fit it in? Before writing – to introduce the learning to hook the children in to provide a context During writing – to explore ideas to develop vocabulary, content, characters, etc After writing - to present, consolidate or celebrate

This approach is not just limited to the reading of fiction...

A reason to read poetry

The reading environment

Higher order reading skills and strategies have to be taught explicitly, but can be taught creatively. Children need to develop and practise these skills before they can fully appreciate and interpret a written text. As teachers, we should provide a variety of activities, opportunities and contexts to allow children time to develop these skills and learn to enjoy reading. Three thoughts to take away:

Stephanie Austwick For further information, or to book training in all aspects of literacy, please contact me at: