Giving children reasons to read

If reading is low on children’s list of priorities, trying hooking them in to a book with an authentic purpose, such as helping a film company produce an animated pirate story, say Gill Matthews and Stephanie Austwick...

For too many children, reading is not an activity they choose to do. Perhaps it isn’t seen as cool or maybe there are other activities, such as computer games, that are more immediate? Possibly, for some children, it is simply not a pleasurable experience. So, how can we motivate children as readers, interest them in reading, while still teaching them the higher order reading skills that are necessary for making meaning from texts? Taking the Reading for Real approach could well be the answer.

Using Reading for Real in the classroom provides:

• An engaging and motivating ‘hook’ into the text
• A context for a range of reading activities
• Clear reasons to read
• An unfolding narrative
• An authentic audience for the writing generated by the reading activities

A unit of work that incorporates Reading for Real involves the children reading for an authentic purpose and feeding back on that reading to an authentic audience. The unit starts with a ‘hook’ that captures the children’s attention and interest. The purpose of the hook is to establish a context that links a number of reading activities. The hook also provides an initial reason for reading and an audience to communicate with. Hooks can arrive over time in the form of emails, videos, visitors (real or virtual), artefacts, posters, even a message in a bottle. Through the hook, children are asked to carry out a reading activity for a particular purpose and to feed back to the originator of the hook. This is the start of a series of reading and research activities supported by an unfolding narrative that runs through the whole unit.

Recently, as part of a focus on raising standards in reading through the teaching of higher order reading skills, all teaching staff in the Welsh local authority Rhonda Cynon Taf have been trained on the Reading for Real approach. The training materials include exemplar Reading for Real units, which teachers can use as models for developing their own units. The model fiction unit for Foundation Phase (KS1), outlined below, is based on the book The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate by Margaret Mahy.

The hook is the arrival of a pirate’s chest containing a scroll and a class set of the books. The context is provided by a film company, keen to make an animated version of the book and needing children’s input. Over the course of the unit, children are asked to give the film company a clear outline of the plot, a description of the settings, an insight into the characters and an investigation of the author’s language techniques – all clear reasons to read. The unfolding narrative is supported by the arrival of a series of letters. The ‘authentic’ audience is the animation company.

Opening hook

A pirate chest arrives in class. It contains books and a letter from an animation company that is planning to produce an animated version of the story. The children are asked to help.

What the children do

• Read the story and get to know it well.
• Use ‘book talk’ and drama to explore the story.
• Identify the main events and produce a class story map.
• Retell the story orally, using the story map.
• Discuss their feelings about the book.

Outcomes: a story map; an audio / visual recording of the storytelling; an emotions graph; a better knowledge and understanding of the storytelling.

Letter 2

The company needs to know more about the settings in the book so it is able to draw the backgrounds for the animation.

What the children do

• Identify various settings.
• Work in groups to describe the settings.

Outcomes: a storyboard; captions.

Letter 3

Now the company knows about the settings, it wants to find out about the props it will need. The children are asked to identify which props are most important.

What the children do

• Identify props e.g. kite, wheelbarrow
• Decide which props are most important
• Record their conclusions in a table

Outcomes: a table listing props in each scene.

Letter 4

With the setting and props sorted, the company is asking for information that will help it to draw the characters. Who are the main characters and what are they like? What do we know about them? Why did the mother want to see the sea again?

What the children do

• Identify characters.
• Re-read using ‘role on the wall’ to record thoughts. (Draw an outline of the character, place it on the wall and write any information you have about that character inside the outline or around the edge.)
• Explore the characters through drama – how they walk, speak, etc.
• Read the book aloud and find out more about the characters through their dialogue.

Outcomes: a labelled diagram and character description.

Letter 5

The company is puzzled by some of the words and phrases in the book. Can the children help to
explain what they mean? Can they write some similar phrases?

What the children do

• A cloze procedure
• Explore the meaning of key words and phrases.
• Look at personification, similes etc. and make up their own

Outcomes: a completed cloze; an explanation of the use of language; further personification, similes etc.

Letter 6

The animation is almost complete. The children’s help has been invaluable and they are thanked and congratulated by the company. Finally, they are invited to try their hand at animation.

What the children do

• Pat themselves on the back!
• Dramatise and animate their own version of the story
• Create a study pack for another class with questions

Outcomes: an animation with voice over; a performance to another class or audience – e.g. parents.
Each time the children are asked to carry out a reading activity, the teacher steps in to identify the higher order reading skills they will need to use and, where necessary, to teach those skills. There are five types of higher order reading skill, which are as follows:

Location – the ability to find and retrieve information

Re-organisation – the ability to transform information and re- present it in a different format

Inference – the ability to make links with existing knowledge and experience

Evaluation – the ability to make a judgement based on evidence

Appreciation – the ability to respond as a reader emotionally and thoughtfully

These skills, based on Barrett’s Taxonomy of Reading Comprehension, are used not only to make sense of a written text but also to make sense of the world. If you have ever found yourself observing fellow holiday makers and creating a picture of their lives and backgrounds, then you have used your higher order reading skills. If a novel has moved you to tears or laughter, then you have used your higher order reading skills. These skills need to be taught from the moment a child walks through the door of their primary school. They need to be taught explicitly in an interesting and relevant context. They need to be used and applied in other situations across the curriculum.

The Reading for Real approach is completely transferable in that it can be used with any good quality fiction text, and in non- fiction contexts, across Key Stages and into other curriculum areas. So, why not hook your class in and get them reading – for real.