Teach-Reading-and-Writing-Issue-22

Or a five-minute book blether where they talk favourites with a partner. Every class in my school has a Pupil Recommendations Shelf organised by our team of reading champions. We also hold regular assemblies where children and staff have the opportunity to share their favourites, and a thirty-second slot in our Friday celebration assembly where a child introduces a book they love. Because parents are invited to this, it’s a great way to help raise their awareness of popular books, too. One morning, I walked into my classroom and saw a copy of Maybe by Morris Gleitzman on my desk, along with a sticky note that read ‘ Maybe!!! You have to read Maybe!!!’ . I couldn’t really refuse... The next week, I chatted about my thoughts on the book with the pupil who’d suggested it. It was a conversation between equals, two members of our classroom reading community, readers who’d shared the same journey. Fuel for the fire The final pillar is obvious but often overlooked: children can’t become readers if they don’t have access to reading material that will spark their interest. School and classroom libraries filled with outdated, tatty books won’t inspire anyone. We need shelves stocked with diverse, engaging, high-quality texts; books where every child can find themselves reflected, and also discover lives very different from their own. If you haven’t done so already, please read Rudine Sims Bishop’s short essay Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors . It’s ground-breaking. I realise that purchasing new reading material can be enormously challenging. However, even a small investment a couple of times a year can help. Buying new books has to be viewed as an investment and not an expense. Most importantly, let children take books home without endless restrictions. If we want reading to feel like a normal, enjoyable part of life, books need to travel beyond the classroom. We let our pupils take home books from the library over the summer holiday as we’re very aware that a significant number don’t have access to books at home. Yes, inevitably a small number get lost, but that has to be better than children facing six weeks with nothing to read. Pulling it all together Independent reading, reading aloud, book talk, and access to great books help create the conditions where reading for pleasure can flourish. None of this is flashy or gimmicky. None of it is a quick win. But, over time, these methods build habits, identities and communities that last. When you see a class of children sprawled around the room, lost in books that they’ve chosen; when you hear them arguing passionately about what the next class read will be or whose turn it is for Poem of the Day; when you’re overwhelmed by applications for reading champions at the start of the year – that’s when you know a school is on its way to building a culture of reading. And once it’s there, it spreads. WHY CHOICE MATTERS I’ll never forget a girl in my class who, at the start of Year 5, proudly told me she didn’t like reading so I shouldn’t even waste my time. For weeks, she’d spend independent reading time half-heartedly flicking through whichever book was in reach. One day, she saw a friend enjoying a graphic novel ( Smile by Raina Telgemeier) and decided to give it a go. By the summer term, she’d read most of the graphic novels in the classroom. In Year 6, she began dipping into longer chapter books and decided she wanted to be a reading buddy and a pupil librarian. Without that protected time, she might never have made that leap. “Let children take books home without endless restrictions” Jon Biddle is an experienced primary school teacher and English lead. Winner of the 2018 Reading for Pleasure Experienced Teacher of the Year award, he coordinates the national Patron of Reading initiative. www.teachwire.net | 29 TH I NK I NG L I T ERAC Y