Enjoying Reading
This is the big one. What’s the point in schools spending all this time teaching children to read, when the minute they get home the PlayStation goes on and all thought of reading for pleasure disappears? A survey by the National Literacy Trust found that half of children surveyed preferred watching TV to reading. We’re just surprised it wasn’t more…
Amazing computer games, 24hr channels of children’s TV, the internet and mobile phones, sports clubs, swimming lessons, piano lessons: there is so much competition for children’s time these days, perhaps it’s not surprising if reading gets squeezed out a bit sometimes. We believe teachers and schools have a huge role to play in helping children to learn to fall in love with reading and we are confident that our Shakespeare and More units can help:
1. We choose great stories. Shakespeare, ‘the classics’- these aren’t boring and stuffy, they’re full of engaging, exciting stories. Monsters, murder, betrayal, ghosts and the supernatural, pirates- it’s a ten year old boy’s dream curriculum and because it’s by Shakespeare or Robert Louis Stevenson, we’re allowed to spend time reading and talking about it in school.
2. We make links to contemporary books. Studying The Tempest as a class is one thing, slogging through The Collected Works of Shakespeare on your own is another entirely. That’s not going to help anyone to love reading. For every unit we make suggestions for books that children might want to read independently or you might want to read aloud to your class. These are brilliant, motivating books that everyone can access and everyone can enjoy.
3. We use difficult books. Is that really a reason? Well, the way we see it learning about a Shakespeare play or a classic novel is a challenge. There’s inevitably a moment of ‘What? I literally have no idea what that means!’ then there’s some teaching and some discussion and then an ‘Ah, I get it!’ moment. And 'Ah, I get it!' can be a very motivating thing.
Amazing computer games, 24hr channels of children’s TV, the internet and mobile phones, sports clubs, swimming lessons, piano lessons: there is so much competition for children’s time these days, perhaps it’s not surprising if reading gets squeezed out a bit sometimes. We believe teachers and schools have a huge role to play in helping children to learn to fall in love with reading and we are confident that our Shakespeare and More units can help:
1. We choose great stories. Shakespeare, ‘the classics’- these aren’t boring and stuffy, they’re full of engaging, exciting stories. Monsters, murder, betrayal, ghosts and the supernatural, pirates- it’s a ten year old boy’s dream curriculum and because it’s by Shakespeare or Robert Louis Stevenson, we’re allowed to spend time reading and talking about it in school.
2. We make links to contemporary books. Studying The Tempest as a class is one thing, slogging through The Collected Works of Shakespeare on your own is another entirely. That’s not going to help anyone to love reading. For every unit we make suggestions for books that children might want to read independently or you might want to read aloud to your class. These are brilliant, motivating books that everyone can access and everyone can enjoy.
3. We use difficult books. Is that really a reason? Well, the way we see it learning about a Shakespeare play or a classic novel is a challenge. There’s inevitably a moment of ‘What? I literally have no idea what that means!’ then there’s some teaching and some discussion and then an ‘Ah, I get it!’ moment. And 'Ah, I get it!' can be a very motivating thing.
Two Types of Reading for Pleasure
We think there are two sides to enjoying reading: the one we always think about is where children pick up a book they instantly love and then go on to read every other book in that series. This is great and obviously we want this to happen as much as possible.
We think there's another type on enjoyment that comes from reading, when a challenge is overcome, and a text that initially seemed incomprehensible slowly swims into focus.
There’s nothing like the sense of achievement children get from finishing reading and understanding something ‘difficult’. It’s about helping children to identify themselves as readers, as the sort of people who read and understand this type of book.
We think there's another type on enjoyment that comes from reading, when a challenge is overcome, and a text that initially seemed incomprehensible slowly swims into focus.
There’s nothing like the sense of achievement children get from finishing reading and understanding something ‘difficult’. It’s about helping children to identify themselves as readers, as the sort of people who read and understand this type of book.
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To read more about developing a culture of reading for pleasure in schools, read Building an Outstanding Reading School, a report our director James Clements wrote for Oxford University Press. You can find out more about the Reading School project by visiting James' OUP expert page.
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