The Power of Reading

At Nova Hreod Academy, we teach a high challenge, knowledge-based English curriculum to all students in all classes. As a new member of the faculty this year, I am going to share my insights and the benefits I believe a high challenge, knowledge-based curriculum has on students’ ability to read well.

The ability to read is not innate; it requires explicit teaching. Not reading is a vicious cycle and it can quickly become something that the word-rich take for granted. As Willingham said: "Knowledge is vital for improving reading, and reading is vital for improving knowledge." To think analytically and critically about a text requires textual and contextual knowledge. In the English department, we concentrate on explicitly teaching the vocabulary that students will need to access our subject and we have coined the phrase ‘assume nothing’ when we approach planning our units of work. We strongly believe that it is important to invest time in developing our students’ vocabulary and curiosity in reading.

Some of the ways we teach vocabulary are: dedicated time at the start of lessons to unpick new vocabulary in student’s personal reading books; introducing ambitious vocabulary of the lesson which students track in their exercise books and are encouraged to use in their own writing; we insist on students using precise vocabulary in discussions to improve oracy; and we encourage students to use academic vocabulary (such as analytical verbs) in their written responses.

We teach English through a range of good-quality texts to enrich students’ cultural capital (their ability to make links between their cultural heritage and their own world). As the teacher for our ‘low prior attaining’ Year 7 group, I have used the same challenging texts for my students as every other Year 7 English class. This has been incredibly powerful and has helped students to develop their reading skills and build knowledge. One of my favourite texts from this year was ‘The Speckled Band’ and the students were truly captivated by Conan-Doyle’s writing style and use of characterisation.

In a talk I attended earlier this year, Mary Myatt said we should aim for the top in our teaching and unpack through talk so that all students can access the demands of a challenging curriculum. It is well-known that poor readers become increasingly frustrated with the act of reading and often try to avoid reading altogether (known as ‘The Matthew Effect’). Our primary aim is for students to read with accuracy and confidence. I feel it is about establishing clear and consistent routines for students to feel confident with reading. For example, it is an expectation in my class that all students read aloud during whole class reading. Before joining secondary school, some of my Year 7 students had never read a book for pleasure and now these same students have applied to be school librarians to share their new found love of reading with others.

Students need to be taught powerful knowledge so that they can consider a topic in more depth. The texts we teach in English demand a wealth of background knowledge and we always spend time looking at a text in context so that students are able to fully explore the writer’s intentions e.g. the Jacobean era when studying Macbeth with Year 9.

Also, we currently spend two tutor periods a week reading abridged classics as a whole class. This has been brilliant and is always a real highlight of my week. It has meant that my mixed-ability Year 7 tutor group have read books such as Alice in Wonderland, Jekyll and Hyde, and The Swiss Family Robinson.

Students gain knowledge by reading widely and deeply. Some of the key ways I encourage students to read for pleasure are: by being a role model for reading and having conversations with students about reading and books we have enjoyed; I share recommendations with students and engage with them as readers to find out their individual interests; I also regularly use our school library with my classes and I feel this plays a fundamental role in developing students’ reading skills.

To finish, I am going to share my favourite quotation from Andy Tharby’s new book Making Every English Lesson Count: "The opportunity to read challenging literature is an entitlement. If we deny students the opportunity then it encourages a kind of elitism that deems only a certain calibre of child worthy of reading a certain quality of text."

Thanks for reading @SUnsworthEng

With thanks to

@atharby

@DavidDidau

@MaryMyatt

@Doug_Lemov