Teach Secondary Issue 13.4

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Carol Atherton is a head of English at a secondary school in Lincolnshire and tweets asj @CarolAtherton8; her book, Reading Lessons , is available now (Penguin, £18.99) PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE If we were to replace a school-based ‘reading for pleasure’ initiative with one centred on ‘reading for purpose’, what might that look like? A ‘reading for purpose’ programme would be best delivered via structured reading in form times, underpinned by the notion that every teacher should be a teacher of reading. Embedded in all subjects would be an encouragement for students to think about the type of reading they’re engaged in – whether they’re seeking information, nuance, or subtext – while being alert to examples of bias. Schools should foster a form of thinking around reading that considers how characters and individuals are represented in texts – be they literary texts, historical sources, or even the kinds of factual writing students might encounter in subjects like geography. There would be broad thinking around different types of reading. Reading for pleasure and the joy of playing with words can be part of that – but so too can reading for the purpose of engaging with the world, via the multitudes of texts they’ll encounter in school and the media they’ll consume in their personal lives. ticking off of objectives. There needs to be further discussion around the shape that these initiatives and others should take, but it’s a conversation that’s starting to be had. In tandemwith the latter-day narrowing of teacher flexibility and the texts pupils are given, we’ve also seen an urgent pursuit of ‘reading for pleasure’. I’d agree that schools need to make reading as ‘available’ as possible, and that investment in school libraries continues to be crucial. I also recognise the efforts of some schools –mine included – to embed reading within tutor periods and have students share their reading out loud. It’s an approach that’s been especially valuable for children who haven’t necessarily been read to by their parents, providing an experience that’s both educational and emotional. Many schools are working hard to instil a love of reading in their students, but without any clear parallels in other subjects. We want students to do well in other disciplines, but there somehow isn’t the same imperative to give students a ‘ love ’ of, say, maths or science. It’s a responsibility that seems quite unique to English teachers. Private and personal That’s partly down to the complexity of reading itself, which can extend into areas of students’ lives and experiences well outside of school. At the same time, we have to recognise that they’re their own people. There will be texts, works and creations that our students love passionately, which we know nothing about – and which we can’t necessarily assume we have the right to access. I’ve always struggled with the idea that students should keep a record of their reading to share with their teachers. I hated being asked to do so as a teenager myself, as there were books I wanted to read, and didn’t necessarily want my English teachers to know what they were. Those books were for me. We should always allow our students those areas of their private and personal lives outside of their school experience, unless they specifically want to share themwith us. Because whatever those texts might be, there’s a good chance that they’ll inform our students’ ability to read and follow narratives – and that those narratives won’t necessarily be consumed through reading books. We need to start thinking more broadly about ‘reading’ itself, and what it is we English teachers are trying to do. Reading for purpose There are parallels here with PE, in that we want students to exercise outside of school – but we don’t expect them to log all the physical activity they undertake outside of PE lessons and share it with their teachers. I personally like the idea of replacing ‘reading for pleasure’ with ‘reading for purpose’ – getting students to think critically about the places they’re getting their narrative fixes from, be it graphic novels, film, television, gaming or any other media they happen to be consuming. Given the many different ways in which they can now consume narratives, students are often capable of producing a highly sophisticated analysis of a film, television show or video game. Many will already possess a set of analytical skills they can then apply to different forms of narrative – if they’re given opportunities to do so. 51 teachwire.net/secondary R E A D I N G