Power of Reading What is it Why we do it Some of the techniques we use How you can help your child enhancing children’s and teachers’ pleasure and involvement in books and reading.

Some historical background Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and NFER follow up report in 2003 in survey conducted amongst years 3, 4 and 5. “Whilst pupils in England read very well compared to those in other countries, their enjoyment of reading is poor by comparison.” By 2006, this had fallen further Children in England tended to report reading for pleasure less frequently than their peers in many other countries.

This matters because… Sainsbury and Schagen’s follow up report in 2004 highlighted a clear relationship between positive attitudes and motivation; more frequent reading and attainment. PISA study Being enthusiastic about reading, and a frequent reader, was more of an advantage on its own than having well educated parents in good jobs.

Why this happened…. The objectives become a tick list to be checked off because (teachers) followed the frameworks for teaching too slavishly. Nationally, Ofsted told teachers to do this, then didn’t like it when this happened…

How Ofsted changed its thinking… “A poem is mined for its use of adjectives, metaphors and contrasting long and short sentences without attempting to engage pupils’ personal response to the ideas and feelings it expresses. The text becomes a kind of manual rather than an opportunity for personal response to experience.”

What we can learn from 12 outstanding schools. OFSTED 2011 The curriculum in these schools gave a high profile to reading for pleasure. Schools that take the business of reading f or pleasure seriously, where teachers read and recommend books, and where provision for reading is planned carefully, are more likely to succeed with their pupils’ reading. This was shown both in good test results and an enthusiasm for reading beyond the classroom.

Some major changes More creative approaches to literacy teaching A renewed emphasis on teachers reading aloud Move away from extracts from text to units of work based on whole text.

The Power of Reading Objectives and genres are not the starting point. It’s about enabling children to make a personal response to an entire high quality engaging text.

So what is The Power of Reading? An approach to teaching where children are able to respond to the whole book at a personal level. Through discussion, drama and art, the children become engrossed in the book This deep knowledge of and personal response to the book results in quality extended writing.

More about what it is A treasure trove of “transformational texts” for each age group A collection of different excellent teaching techniques Suggested teaching sequences for each book. An online library for teachers to visit other schools to share best practice. A web based resource bank so we don’t have to spend Sunday afternoon looking for images of wolves.

Some of the techniques we use Capture ideas about book in individual logs or class logs. Should she have killed him? What will happen next? Hot seating – drama Create storyboards Writing in role Readers’ theatre Debate and argument Visual approaches Book making Storytelling

(at this point, I demonstrated an excellent piece of extended writing by a child in upper Key Stage 2.) Time for you to have a go… Using some of the techniques mentioned earlier, I read the read first chapter of “Cosmic “ by Frank Cottrell Boyce and the audience explored their responses to it.

Huge impact on the school New English scheme, based on Power of Reading plus phonics, grammar, spelling and punctuation Enthusiasm for reading. Transformational texts transform children and staff.

How you can help Don’t let the cat out of the bag! Instead, investigate another book by the same author.