A year of resplendent reading ROAD A year of resplendent reading The ultimate aim of any school should be to make reading part of our students lives, to engage them in reading as a pleasurable activity, something they will continue beyond school. In this presentation I’d like to address the reasons why there is value in this endeavour and suggest some approaches that might help create the supportive reading community that can make this happen . A reading culture – I think that is what you are trying to to create by instituting a Drop Everything and Read program here at Stawell. Experience tells us that the fine line to be walked is in creating a program that supports pleasure reading and makes the program something the students want to participate in fully whilst maintaining the structure of the school day and keeping all of the participating adults involved and supportive. I want to explore the inherent value in what you are trying to do. The areas I would like to cover today are:

Why read?

Reading and School Achievement …free voluntary reading is the best predictor of comprehension, vocabulary growth, spelling and grammatical ability and writing style. Such finding have been replicated world wide. The National Assessment for Educational progress’s long term reading research report in American found that: Lonsdale, M. (2003) Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement: a Review of the Research p. 1.

Reading and School Achievement …reading for fun had a positive relationship to average scores. At all three ages (9, 13, 17 years), students who said they read for fun scored higher than peers who said they never read for fun. and Another American report, this one by Cullinan on independent reading and school achievement found that: Campbell, J. R., Hombo, C. M., & Mazzeo, J. (2000) 1999 Trends in Academic Progress: Three Decades of Student Performance

Reading and School Achievement Students who read independently become better readers, score higher on achievement tests in all subject areas, and have greater content knowledge than those who do not. This report went on to say that Cullinan, B. E. (2000) Independent Reading and School Achievement,

Reading and School Achievement Students who read well tend to be active readers. They gain in terms of both motivation and experience from reading regularly outside the context of school work. The same sentiments as the previous studies that I have shared with you. The OECD study went a step further though and attempted to analyse what factors would support and facilitate students in becoming active and motivated readers. In discussing what schools could do they said OECD (2000) Reading for Change: Performance and Engagement Across Countries. Results form PISA 2000 p. 12.

Life Skills - Reading Reading literacy is needed to function well in adult life, whether in fulfilling personal goals, progressing in the labour market or participating more widely in society. This is one reason while we read. Reading plays a basic role in helping function in an information often text based world. The commentator Manguel engages with another reason that we read. He has said: OECD (2000) Reading for Change: Performance and Engagement Across Countries. Results form PISA 2000 (Executive summary): OECD - PISA (Program for International Student Assessment). p. 3.

The Personal Value of Reading We all read ourselves and the world around us in order to glimpse what and where we are. We read to understand, or to begin to understand. Reading can help to create empathetic, thinking human beings. There are obviously lots of different reasons why we read. Most educators, I hope, would want to engage with them all. Teach children how to read to enable them to function effectively in the world around them and also bring students to a love of reading. To help them see the pleasure in the activity and hopefully encourage them to become readers throughout their life. Ultimate life long learners. Often in school though we devalue the importance of this second possibility. In our efforts to teach an often overcrowded curriculum we can push aside a focus on reading for pleasure. And it is this pleasure reading that most commentators agree will create life long readers outside and beyond schooling. I would like to make a case then for the link between pleasure or free voluntary reading and student achievement in an attempt to show the importance of the activity to education. Lonsdale in an Australian review of research on school libraries found: Manguel, A. (1996) A History of Reading. London: Harper Collins. p. 7.

The Social Value of Reading Psychologists David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano, at the New School for Social Research in New York, have proved that reading literary fiction enhances the ability to detect and understand other people's emotions, a crucial skill in navigating complex social relationships. Bury, Liz ‘Reading Literary Fiction Improves Empathy, Study Finds’ in The Guardian, October 2013

Because John Green says so Reading forces you to be quiet in a world that no longer makes a place for that.

What makes a good reader?

Commitment Practice reading as you would practice an instrument or sport – every day.

Choice Learn to select books that are right for you – read widely and discover what you enjoy.

Community Contribute meaningfully to discussion about books and reading with family and friends.

Journal Keep a record of Title and author One sentence summary What you liked/didn’t like What was challenging or fun? Who else would enjoy this book?

Plans Plan for future reading. Challenge yourself!

I AM A READER