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discussion transfer to this task, but the teaching goes deeper. Acting out Similarly, in The Light in Everything , Katya Balen’s dual-narrator novel, children are asked to hold two perspectives in their heads at once – narrators with conflicting emotions and different experiences of the same situation. Rather than drilling reading comprehension ‘skills’ in isolation, we need to support Year 6 pupils in making comparisons, spotting contradictions and talking about the reasons characters act the way they do. This sort of discussion deepens understanding and lays the foundation for written comparison, authorial intent questions and empathy. As Harper Lee writes in To Kill a Mockingbird : ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’ The Light in Everything also allows children to deepen their understanding of character through drama – an underused but highly effective way to support empathy. A conversation between the two narrators, a note written in role or imagining a chat between minor characters observing the story’s main events are just some examples of how short engaging drama techniques can support comprehension. It’s about supporting children to enter the emotional world of the story. Now consider how a non-fiction text like Jeffrey Boakye’s Musical Truth , which interweaves music, identity and history, presents the opportunity to balance SATs preparation with knowledge-rich reading. Children can retrieve information, make connections and summarise the content of the text while also exploring concepts such as protest and popular culture. They can also use evidence from within the text to discuss questions like: “How can music be a form of resistance?” or “What might the author want us to feel about this artist’s experience?” Again, these are meaningful reading experiences that are not limited by the test but that align with test preparation. Talk (dialogic lessons) Reading comprehension is a conversation – even when reading alone, we are talking to ourselves in our heads. We make meaning from text by asking questions, listening to alternative views, clarifying our own understanding and challenging what we think we know. The DfE Reading Framework, the EEF’s guidance on reading comprehension and Ofsted’s curriculum research highlight that this is best done through structured discussion. Whole-class discussions are useful during shared reading, but short bursts of paired or group activities can also give children a chance to explore their thinking through talk: Paired reading prediction and clarification: children read in pairs to a suspenseful moment in Freeze and stop to ask: “What’s just happened? What do we think might happen next?” Role-on-the-wall: pairs or groups map what they know about a character’s thoughts and feelings in The Light in Everything . They can compare the two characters more easily using role-on-the-wall and revise their ideas as the narrative unfolds. ‘One-sentence summary’ tasks: children read a chapter or section of non-fiction such as Musical Truth and then, with a partner, reduce it to a single sentence before reading on and reviewing that summary. If we want children to develop as readers, we need to do more than ask questions after reading. We need to model the process of how meaning is made. TP Ruth Baker-Leask is a former primary head, and director of Minerva Learning and chair of the National Association of Advisers in English (NAAE). www.teachwire.net | 43 SA T S S P E C I A L Download a unique whole-school reading comprehension programme at plazoom.com/real- comprehension