ThatReadingThing

I’ve spent the last couple of evenings on the edge of my seat listening to boys read. Actually, I’ve been watching Channel 4’s Lost for Words series about Monteagle Primary School in Dagenham, London. The programmes record the struggles and progress during a year focussed on improving reading across the whole school. The goal from the outset is that every single child should become a reader by July. Have a look at this site for lots more of that fascinating story.

What did I get out of it? Watching a one-to-one lesson I found myself speaking out loud as I tried to help the lad struggling with a three sound word. I was so frustrated that I couldn’t be there to help him and I realised in a flash that sitting across a table from a struggling reader is the place I belong most in the world. I don’t do much of it these days because training and other commitments take up my time but I know where “home” is.

I loved seeing the passion and commitment that it took to get every child reading. I especially loved the involvement of poet, Benjamin Zephaniah. His sense of fun and love of words demonstrated in such a beautiful way that reading is not all about school and exams but about life.

What would I have done differently? I can only speak for the one-to-one lessons, but if I had a chance to do ThatReadingThing with those Year 6 lads I would have them:

· building and writing and spelling all in the same lesson – using as many senses as possible. Spelling is especially confidence-building.

· moving very quickly through the simple word and sound structures tap – past – step – strap - strict

· working with multi-syllable words from the first lesson. If they can read and write tap, they can read and write until.

· working only in the context of real words and sentences

· receiving consistent error correction which helps them figure out the correct answer for themselves

· reading bits of real text from age-appropriate books to give them confidence.

· discovering that there are lots of ways to spell some sounds bite child try fight pie

· seeing that there are some letters & combinations of letters that have more than one sound. bread break breathe

If you need advice on supporting a struggling reader in Year 6 or beyond, please get in touch.