Engaging Reading - Introduction
Archimede Fusillo
Frustrated It would be safe to say that because we are here at all today, each of us has a view
about reading..about the need or otherwise to engage students with reading..and most
probably, each of us has a template for how we might achieve this goal.....We all know that
there exists a correlation between the degree to which an individual is engaged in reading-and
their literacy level....Obviously the more an individual feels connected to reading as an
essential part of their life..the more they are engaged with reading and are engaged by
reading...the greater the chance too that this same individual will demonstrate higher literacy
skills....It is not a fallacy that the more we feel engaged by an activity, the more we will
endeavour to take part in it...and the more likely it is that we will be proficient in it.
Our task then is to find the means by which we make students believe they can succeed at
reading, by finding reading material which allows them to succeed at reading, and provide
environments which present reading as a valuable, relevant, and empowering experience.
Engaging students in reading is not just about finding a book that the student will like..but
more about providing a total 'Reading Culture' which says "Reading is cool..Reading is about
enhancing the choices you have in life. Reading is less about marks in any one subject, and
more about the degree to which you can be engaged in the broader experiences of what it is
to be a human being participating in the world around you."
Experience has taught me however that in order to engage a student in reading------in a love
of reading as an end in itself. (and not just the love of literature by the way..)..but reading as
a Lifeskill and vital tool for the life that lies beyond the school gates, reading has to be
presented as a dynamic, provoking, accessible means for taking part more fully in the human
experience...and that means it has to be seen by the students as relevant to their lives!
In order to do this as a teacher I found it necessary to jettison the notion that only what is
prescribed by school bodies and academics, can be considered the basis for reading-for the
selection of reading material. I found it was not enough to just present a novel, a play, a
poem, a script-as reading text...but rather I had to anchor the text in the lives and life
experiences of my students. It was about finding a way into the experiences of my students so
that the reading spoke to some deeper level in them than simply that which seeks to pass an
arbitrary exam or essay.
Frequently this meant abandoning traditional texts for what was even then considered
questionable; the non-fiction book, the newspaper, the hordes and hordes of magazines on
which many of my students spent their own money willing to READ!...as well as Web sites and
of course
e-books.
It was not merely my students mindset which had to shift, but mine, and that of my
colleagues. In an attempt to make reading a positive, relevant, affirming experience, we had
to broaden first our concept of what constituted 'reading material', challenge ourselves to read
widely and less snobishly..and to gauge 'reading success' in our students less by how often
and well they responded to questions designed to test their comprehension and analysis of
written text..but by how often they sort us out for suggestions, advice, and guidance about
what they might read.
If we want to engage our students with reading we must demonstrate our own passion for
reading in very overt ways; read widely, talk about what we read, read broadly from a range
of text types, and provide environments in libraries---school and municipal, which welcome
the young person as someone who has views and tastes which are valid and relevant...but
who may prefer to sit on the floor to scan a novel rather than in a chair at a table for instance.
And perhaps too we need to reassess the positive consequences of 'reading to' our students in
an effort to make the written word vibrant and dynamic.
We need to demonstrate how it is that reading is much more a lifeskill than a mere tool to get
through school..or worse, a badge that confers elitism on those who can best handle the
narrowness of our frequently too-rigid education system. As an instance, our school libraries
have to become partners in the contemporary world in which our students function and run
their lives, a world of DVDs, CDs, Multimedia, and the Net. We have to find ways for reflecting
back to our students their world as it is lived and experienced by them. If the textual
landscape has changed we need to change with it. Where once a novel was sufficient, perhaps
now it is but one of many textual experiences of the written word.
As a writer I get my greatest pleasure not when I hear how well students did in an exam
question or essay based on the study of one of my novels, but by the thumbs up from the kid
whom I'm told never read a book cover to cover before he heard me talk about my life
experiences and how they transfer into my fiction..and who went looking for something more
than a high grade in reading my stories. It is in connecting with the substance of the written
word that the individual finds value in the structural context of the text, where that context
might be a paperback, but just as likely in 2003, an e-book.
Engaging reading is about engaging the reader by finding links between their world and that of
the text. We, all of us here, have a role to play in that...teachers, librarians, academics,
writers, illustrators, booksellers and even publishers. From making the cover of books more
attractive to using the Internet to promote reading...From designing welcoming reading
environments to reading just for the sake of reading.....we can all have an impact on engaging
reading, and in making reading engaging.
Each of our speakers today has their own insights into how we can go some way towards this
end....and we are fortunate to be able to draw upon..and to add their insights into whatever
programs and approaches we currently use.
Archimede Fusillo is the well-known Australian author of several well known novels,
including Sparring with Shadows and The Dons.