Engaging with texts 1 Draft 201112
Engaging with texts1
Reading Teacher & Reading Child
Core 1
2011-12
The next 3 weeks
1 Reading teacher and reading child
2 Talking about books in groups –guided
reading
3 Talking about books with the whole class –
shared reading
Objectives for mini module
• To be introduced to the nature of reading and the
reading classroom
• To explore how reading helps children to make
sense of the world
• To understand how the teacher promotes the
effective learning of reading through the contexts
of shared and guided reading
• To know how children’s comprehension and
appreciation of literature can be developed
through talk
What about you as a reader?
• My favourite book (children’s or adult)
• Where I like to read
Exploratory talk opportunity
Why is reading important?
Discuss with the people around you
Why is reading important?
• Children who say that they enjoy reading and
who read for pleasure in their own time do better
at school. Reading for enjoyment is positively
associated with reading attainment and with
writing ability (OECD 2002). Pupils who read for
pleasure also demonstrate a wider general
knowledge (Wells 1986), a better understanding
of other cultures (Meek 1991), and more complex
insights regarding human nature, motivations and
decision-making (Cunningham and
Stanovich1998, Bruner 1996)
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From Scottish Executive Education Department, Literature Circles, Gender and Reading for Enjoyment
(Allan et al., 2005.5) in Lockwood, M. (2008) Promoting Reading for Pleasure in the Primary School
Reading helps children to make sense of
their world
• Michael Rosen 2009
• “They’re missing out on the incredible, brilliant wisdom of the
world we have encapsulated in whole stories. The wonderful
thing about stories is that you marry ideas and feeling in a
sequence of events. Feelings or fear, of anger, of jealousy are
wrapped up in characters, in creatures and beings, that we
can understand. And what happens to them is that we follow
them. In a sense they kind of hold our hands, and take us
through disasters and triumphs. And we figure out who they
are, and who we are. Nothing else does this.”
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8236578.stm
Success in reading?
The latest figures from the Department for Education
are for Key Stage 2. May's exams saw a higher
percentage of students reaching the expected level of 4
all round.
The percentages of children reaching level 4 - the
expected level of attainment - are:
• English 81% (86% for girls, 77% for boys)
• Reading 84% (87% for girls, 80% for boys)
• Writing 75% (81% for girls, 68% for boys)
• Maths 80% (80% for girls, 80% for boys).
But when you look at subjects combined - which is
how children take them, after all - they show that only
67% reach level four in combined Reading, writing and
maths. But, bad as that figure is, it has improved
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/aug/02/sats-ks2-results-listed-mapped
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What Nick Gibb has to say – Read
more!
Government measures Gibb hopes
will improve attainment levels of
primary school children include a
greater focus on phonics, the
creation of academies in the primary
sector and a reading check for all sixyear-olds to target those who are
struggling.
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http://www.cypnow.co.uk/Education/article/1083088/third-11-year-olds-fail-meetstandards-core-subjects/
He added: "It is also critical that
children read for pleasure. All
primary school children should have
a reading book on the go at home.
Evidence from around the world
indicates that the more a child reads,
the better their attainment in all
subjects, not just reading, will be.“
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The latest figures also show that one
in 10 boys leaves primary school
with a reading age of a seven-yearold. One in 14 boys leaves with a
writing age at this level.
The Key Stage 2 tests were taken by
just over 500,000 11-year-olds. The
percentage of pupils reaching Level 5
fell in reading by eight per cent and
in writing by one per cent.
Exploratory talk opportunity
• What is a good
reader?
• What do you do
while you read?
• Tell the person
next to you
A good reader …
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Sees images
Hears voices
Asks questions
Makes predictions
Rereads if they get lost
Thinks about the themes/premise/controlling
idea
• Empathises with main character
• Makes connections
• Talks to others about what they have read
• Scans
• Skims
• Uses a range of reading strategies including
phonics,
• Knows how texts go – how they work and uses
this knowledge
• Knows about grammar and uses it
• Uses the meaning of the text
Exploratory talk opportunity
• What do you do while
you read?
• Tell the persons next to
you?
What do children do when they read?
• Read the story on your own
• The paper must be held down on the desk
The boy who cried wolf –
comprehension questions
• Describe the wolf
• Why did Harry cry wolf?
• What would have happened if his grandma
had believed when he cried wolf?
Some strategies you used
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Guessed and predicted what might come next
Used previous knowledge
Read right to left
Used your finger so you could find where you
were
Used knowledge of phonics – how letters sound
Used word shape and length
Read forwards for meaning and then cross
checked with the letters
Used well known phrases
Cues you may have used
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Semantic (meaning)
Phonic
(letters and sounds)
Syntactic (grammar)
pictures
N.C. English AT 2: Reading
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‘Pupils should be taught to read with fluency, accuracy, understanding and enjoyment’
2007
Attainment targets refer to:
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Using a range of reading strategies: phonic knowledge, graphic knowledge, syntactic and
contextual cues
read fluently, accurately and independently
establish meaning
locate, summarise and use ideas and information
read aloud
express opinions and response to poems, stories and non-fiction (preferences, major events,
main points, significant ideas, themes, characters, key features, refer to aspects of language,
sentence structure and text structure, settings)
use inference and deduction
refer to text when explaining their views
read a range of texts (fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction)
Simple View of Reading
Exploratory Talk Opportunity
Reading for pleasure
• We need to provide an
environment where
children want to read
• With the people on
your table discuss ways
to make reading a
pleasurable experience
you have seen in
schools
What is the most important classroom
resource to promote reading?
Clues below…
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Slide on Teachers as Readers
Reading Log
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During the course of the module you are expected to read 50 children’s books. The books should
reflect the range outlined in the National Curriculum English attainment target 2 but you may read
beyond this. Try to include some children’s comics and magazines. Book logs can be kept
electronically (you will find some examples at the back of this handbook) and printed out when
needed or can be handwritten in a suitable notebook. Information for each book will include:
Title
Author
Publisher, date etc
Source (e.g public/university library, own collection
Type of text (e.g. picture book, short stories, novel)
Age group
Theme
*Evaluative review (brief summary of story, but also reflect on qualities of books)
Suitability for reading aloud
You might want to rate the book
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See handbook for examples of reading log
• You will bring the beginning of your Log to Week 8
Seminar to compare with peers. You may have 1-5
books in the log by then
One Book
• Oranges in No Man’s Land by Elizabeth Laird
Directed task
• In pairs write a guided reading plan
Guidance for speaking and listening in
reading circles
Reading Journal
You will participate in a reading circle during
the 4 weeks when you will be doing the
mini modules Engaging with texts and
Cracking the code. All the students in your
reading circle will read the same children’s
book during the week and then discuss
them in the seminar. It is helpful to
complete a reading journal each week
before you begin your reading circle.
Thoughts about the characters, setting,
themes, narrative
Thoughts about the author’s use of language
and/or visual imagery
Photocopy this page 5 times and use the frame to
structure your thoughts for the reading journal.
Things that puzzled me
Name of book
Author
My initial response to the book (e.g. things I liked/
things I disliked)
Things that challenged me
Other
Next Week…
• Bring your copy
of Oranges in No
Man’s Land to
the next seminar
• We will be using
it