Chapter 1 What is Big Reading? Big Reading: The Teachers’ Guide 7 What is Big Reading What is ‘Big Reading’? In the fast-paced, digital age we live in, it is worth considering for a moment why reading is so important and why books are such an important tool. What to teach in Big Reading Numerous international research studies have found that the most important factor in academic success was the amount of time pupils spend reading – not whether books, magazines, newspapers, websites and so on, but that they were actually reading. This research also showed the amount of time spent reading books specifically was the most profitable in the increase of academic success. How to teach Big Reading This is backed up by research that looked at the amount of time children read each day, comparing this to the number of words per year that children are exposed to, dependent upon the amount they read. The difference is staggering: How to assess children’s reading Achievement percentile Minutes of reading per day Words read per year 90th 40.4 2,357,000 50th 12.0 610,00 10th 1.6 51,000 Source: P.I.R.L.S 2007 In the ‘BIG’ approach to teaching, we firmly believe that ‘Words Are Power’. The more words a person knows, potentially the better their life chances could be. Appendices Although many children enjoy reading, there are lots of children who have not yet found the joys that reading can bring. For 8 Big Reading: The Teachers’ Guide them, reading is ‘boring’. There are many reasons why this may be the case, including: • The child has not yet been taught the ‘basic skills’ needed to read. • The child has not yet found the ‘right book’ to ‘hook’ them into reading. • The child is reading books that are too difficult, therefore reading is hard work with little reward. • The child has not yet been able to apply the reading skills they have learnt into ‘real-time’ reading. • The child sees reading as ‘uncool’. • The child has little experience of role models in reading, be it at home or elsewhere. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that all teachers ensure ‘reading for pleasure’ is at the heart of a school’s curriculum, at the heart of a school day and at the heart of a reading lesson. Until we unlock the key to the pleasure of reading, many children will never find the treasure that lies beneath as they get no further than ‘barking at print’. The ‘Pleasure Principle’ of reading. Hook Books (Big Reading terminology) ‘Hook Books’ are books that ‘hook’ children into reading. These are the books that children will find irresistible, funny, compelling and moving. Thus children find they can relate to them. If a child has not yet found the ‘right book’ for them, ‘Hook Books’, are a way in, to show children the wide range of attractive books that are on offer to read. Books are not ‘stuffy’ and boring, but a source of huge entertainment, escapism, information, awe and wonder. Once a child is ‘hooked on reading’, other more diverse texts can be introduced to widen their reading repertoires, however, using ‘hook books’ is extremely important • “Why might the author have said that?” • “Who was that character I have met before?” • “Why does something sounds familiar?” The important thing to note here is that this voice does not happen automatically with many readers. Therefore it is crucial that this voice is TAUGHT. When asked to express their thoughts and ideas, if the sub-conscious voice has not been developed, children will find this skill very difficult. Also, by voicing their thoughts and listening to other children’s thoughts and ideas, each child can add to their current stream of thinking and change / alter their opinions. This happens because Big Reading: The Teachers’ Guide 9 Appendices Talk Talk should be an integral and crucial part of learning in every classroom. Talk is rooted in thought. What children think is what comes out of their mouths when they talk, so they need to be taught how to both think and talk at a high level. Doctor Todd Risley, (Risley, 1995, Meaningful Differences in Every day Experiences of Young American Children) said,“...people are talking about it in terms of early vocabulary and growth and learning to read and breaking the code. If you already had the oral vocabulary, you knew the 2.The Sub-conscious Voice: Using this voice, the reader talks to them self: the reader questions what they have read, asking if it makes sense. This voice questions characters, motives, settings, use of language and so on. It asks questions such as: How to assess children’s reading Big Reading has been created using all the underlying principles of Big Writing. Therefore talk, collaboration and fun are essential in any Big Reading lesson! 1.The Conscious Voice: This voice moves along with the text as it is being read. This voice may be enjoying the story and is taking in the information at a surface level. This could be as simple as ‘barking at the print’ without the deeper understanding of what is being read, or understanding the surface layer of the text at its most literal level. How to teach Big Reading Teaching the key skills of reading through talk, collaboration and FUN! There are two ‘voices’ in Big Reading, as there are in Big Writing. What to teach in Big Reading In Big Reading sessions, short sections of text from longer, quality texts are usually used. This does not bring back the use of the ‘extract’ which became popular after the introduction of the original National Literacy Strategy, because the whole novel is being enjoyed simultaneously as a class novel. It gives children the joy of a whole quality text within which, during a Big Reading session, a smaller, more manageable part of the text can be read, reread and delved into in more detail. With a short, yet powerful piece of text taken from an engaging and powerful novel the children have been listening to and / or studying, teachers can teach pupils a key reading skill they will be able to use themselves when they are reading longer texts independently. words you were reading, you experienced them as part of your oral vocabulary, then reading was easy.” Thus, the more words a child knows, the easier it is for him / her to learn to read. Investing in talk is an investment in reading. The adage of ‘If a child can’t say it, a child can’t write it’ holds true with Big Reading as well as Big Writing. What is Big Reading on the journey to becoming a reader. A sample list of suggested texts is available in Appendix 2 Please be aware these are only samples and new books are published on a daily basis. These books not only ‘hook the reader in’, they are also books of high quality, written with many layers of meaning, perfect for children to read, study, reflect upon and learn from. What is Big Reading the mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions. What to teach in Big Reading How to teach Big Reading Collaboration Collaborative Learning requires working together towards a common goal. This type of learning has been called by various names, many of which you will recognise: cooperative learning, collaborative learning, collective learning, learning communities, peer teaching, peer learning, or team learning. What they all have in common is that they all incorporate group work. However, collaboration is more than cooperation. Collaboration encompasses the whole process of learning. This may include pupils teaching one another, pupils teaching the teacher, and of course the teacher teaching the pupils too. More importantly, it means that students are responsible for one another’s learning as well as their own and that reaching the goal implies that pupils have helped each other to understand and learn. How to assess children’s reading William Glasser stated that we learn: • 10% of what we read • 20% of what we hear • 30% of what we see • 50% of what we hear and see • 70% of what we discuss with others • 80% of what we experience personally • 90% of what we teach to others (Self-explanations: How students study and use examples in learning to solve problems, Cognitive Science, 13, 145 – 182, 1989) This type of learning permeates every aspect of Big Reading. Appendices Fun All learning should be fun, whatever the subject! Children who struggle with reading and those who have not yet discovered the ‘treasures’ reading brings, need to be given lots of external, explicit motivation through the teaching of reading. 10 Big Reading: The Teachers’ Guide This involves lessons full of: • • • • • • • • • • Excitement Inspiration Stimulation Encouragement Pace Challenge Movement Talk and dialogue Games Laughter Many children think of reading as a silent activity. Of course, when children are reading independently and for pleasure they become engrossed in the book they are reading. The atmosphere in the classroom is quiet, calm and relaxed. However, for a Big Reading session the opposite is essential! If children are enjoying themselves, they do not feel like they are ‘learning’. The more they enjoy something the more they will want to do it. Big Reading, taught in a lively, exciting, inspirational way, full of fun, games and laughter, will leave children begging for more! They will want to read! Research into brain-based learning and the optimum conditions for learning show that when children feel relaxed, feel safe, and are laughing, their brains are at their most susceptible to new learning. When children feel uncomfortable and threatened, their brains go into ‘fight or flight’ mode (the ‘reptilian’ brain). Therefore, it is essential that the learning in Big Reading is FUN! Giving your school a consistency and familiarity in the teaching of reading. All teachers would agree that reading has been ‘done’ in classrooms and schools across the country, although not always with consistency. Big Reading gives you and your school a language for talking about reading and a style of teaching reading that Giving ownership of the teaching of reading back to the teachers and pupils. The ‘Reading Criterion Scale’ (see Appendix 4 on page 94 and available at www. AndrellEducation.com) gives the teacher (and the children) a clear, concise picture of what a child can do and where they need to go next – their reading journey is mapped out so that it can easily be determined what needs to be taught next. A route through the ‘Reading Journey’. There are three ways in which Big Reading gives a ‘route through a reading journey’: • The second is by leading the teacher and the children on a journey through a lesson in such a way as to maximise the teaching of reading and the learning opportunities for every member of the class. In order to teach Big Reading effectively, the teacher will need: • A full understanding of the process • A firm belief in its power to work • A sense of humour • A positive approach • High expectations for children’s achievement • Masses of energy • To have read this guide thoroughly. The Teaching of Reading The teaching of reading needs a multipronged attack. It involves both cracking the alphabetic code to determine the words and thinking about those words to construct meaning. The ‘National Literacy Framework’ (2006) stated that to learn to read, children needed to master two skills: decoding and comprehension. It was named ‘The Simple View of Reading’. However, consider for a moment what a good reader does every time they read a text. Big Reading: The Teachers’ Guide 11 Appendices • The third is by leading the teacher on a journey through a book. Although Big Reading is a ‘lesson’, at the heart of the Big Reading philosophy is ‘high quality texts’ and, in particular, ‘Hook Books’ (as mentioned earlier). Rigour is in-built. By using the advice, strategies and support in this book, teachers will regain the rigour with which reading needs to be taught. How to assess children’s reading • The first is by leading the teacher (and the children) through each reading skill on a step-by-step logical and sequential journey. Therefore, what has been achieved is easily identified and celebrated and the next step in learning is always clearly indicated. The Big Reading Lesson (see page 32) gives teachers the consistent format. How to teach Big Reading Big Reading is NOT a scheme of work. Some teachers have felt somewhat deskilled in their planning for reading as numerous publications across the years have dis-empowered them. The only way of ensuring accelerated progress for each child in a class is by knowing exactly what pupils can do and what they need to do next. Big Reading gives you this, alongside a framework through which you can a) design a reading curriculum for your school, and b) teach highly effective reading lessons, focusing on the skills children need in order to progress on their journey to becoming a reader. Teachers need to know what a child can do and what a child needs to do next. Once this is clear they need a consistent format by which reading is taught. What to teach in Big Reading Teaching reading with rigour. What is Big Reading will be consistent throughout the school. Therefore, both children and teachers will become increasingly familiar with both the language and the style, so that it becomes a ‘part’ of your school’s overall identity. What is Big Reading What to teach in Big Reading Reading is not simply mastering the code. Reading is both the code and the meaning behind the code: teaching reading is both teaching the code and teaching pupils how to make the text meaningful for themselves. Some teachers may make the assumption that once the code is mastered then comprehension is ensured. However, if we want pupils to acquire the ability to comprehend texts, we need to balance our teaching of reading to include explicit teaching of both decoding and comprehension. Key elements of the full profile of successful reading are: • Decoding • Recognising sight words • Reading groups of words as phrases How to teach Big Reading • Responding to punctuation • Predicting the meaning of certain words they do not already know • Inferring the meaning of a word or phrase • Keeping a constant check on what has been read to check it made sense • Making connections to other books or prior knowledge in order to deduce and infer successfully How to assess children’s reading • Thinking about the character’s feelings / thoughts / actions • ‘Visualising’ what has been read in order to comprehend better Appendices 12 Big Reading: The Teachers’ Guide • ‘Questioning’ what has been read in order to comprehend better • Deducing information from clues the author has given in order to ‘complete’ what has been read • Inferring what the author meant in a particular situation by activating prior knowledge and combining this information with words from the author to make meaning • Critiquing and evaluating what has been read It could be argued that, in fact, this long and complex list of skills could be named ‘The Not-So-Simple View of Reading’. To this end it can be seen that, as well as spending dedicated, regular time teaching children to ‘decode’ texts, it is also of utmost importance that dedicated, regular time is spent teaching children the wider skills of reading. Teaching children how to make sense of the words is just as important as teaching them how to read them. The Big Reading lesson is a ‘multi-pronged’ attack in one lesson. The ‘five key skills of reading’ which Big Reading is based upon are this multi-pronged attack.