How to choose a book

For little readers (3+). Advice on how to choose the best book for your child and enjoy reading together.

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Developing Reading Skills

For Junior readers (7+). Find our recommendations for developing reading skills here!

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Inspire your child to read more

For older readers (10+). Read our top tips to inspire readers, even as they move from Primary to Secondary.

Here are some ideas for encouraging your child to read for pleasure:

  • Set aside a special time – just a few minutes a day is enough to create a reading habit.
  • Get caught reading yourself – show that reading for pleasure is not just for children.
  • Read to each other – if your child really doesn’t want to read on their own, then read together. You read a page, then they read a page. Or one of you could read any dialogue. Be brave and put on different voices.
  • Value the books they choose to read – all reading is valuable for a child’s development. Some of us prefer non-fiction; some of us prefer comics. One child might like superhero books; another might a book of football statistics.
  • Set a challenge – can they read ten books before they’re ten? Can they read a book from six different genres: a comic, an information book, a funny book, a sci-fi book, a classic and an instruction manual?
  • Reading buddies – reading to a younger sibling can boost your child’s self-confidence and communication skills.
  • Audiobooks – audiobooks allow children to experience a book above their own reading level. It also allows you to share a book together or make the most of those car journeys. Listening to a story over and over again can improve vocabulary and encourage deeper comprehension.
  • Read-a-thon – join a sponsored reading event to raise money for charity.
  • Stage and screen – use your child’s favourite films or games as a springboard into reading. Knowing the characters and storyline can be a helpful bridge into reading a longer story.
  • Book club – find out about local book clubs.

Reading at home with children 5+

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Exploring your local Library

Guest blogger, Clare Turner, is a Primary School Librarian with a passion for books and reading for pleasure. Read her top tips on making the most of your library. 

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Not interested in reading?

Take a look at our advice on how to help struggling and reluctant readers, including ideas and book suggestions to help your child fall in love with books.

Reading at home with children under 5

Have a listen to our podcast episode below, from The Little Pod . In this episode, we talk all about books, and reading with your little one! Whether you read at bedtime, after nursery or school is finished, or struggle to find time at all… you’ve probably heard lots of people saying it’s a good thing to do but we get into why, as well as how.

How do you find time? How much time is the right amount of time? Which books should you pick? And most of all… how do you make sure it’s fun?

With special guests, picture book author Naomi Jones and Oxford University Press Children’s Publisher, Katie Haworth

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How to encourage students to read for pleasure: teachers share their top tips

T he big challenge for teachers is not simply getting students to read – it's getting them to enjoy it too. It's one thing for students to trudge through set texts in a lesson, but will they open another book when they get home at the end of the day?

The National Literacy Trust has noted that becoming a lifetime reader is based on developing a deep love of reading.

"Research has repeatedly shown that motivation to read decreases with age, especially if pupils' attitudes towards reading become less positive," it said. "If children do not enjoy reading when they are young, then they are unlikely to do so when they get older."

For younger readers in particular, their home environment is critically important.

"Home is a massive influence," says Eleanor Webster, a primary school teacher in Nottinghamshire. "Supportive and understanding parents are key to developing their child's reading."

But if a pupil doesn't see people reading at home, it may be harder to instil the idea of reading for pleasure. So what can teachers do to encourage it? Here are some of the best ideas, initiatives and projects that teachers have developed to motivate children and help them develop a love for reading:

Reading challenges

Reading competitions come in many shapes and sizes, with the aim of spicing up literature and giving children an incentive to open a book. Mountbatten School in Hampshire is one school that has run several projects to encourage reading for pleasure.

"We wanted them to try reading a broad range of books," says Jennifer Ludgate, an English teacher at the school.

"We challenged students to read one book, fiction or non-fiction, from a wide range of genres. They get them ticked off by their teacher and there are medals at the end of the year."

Another competition saw students race against time to tick off the classics.

"A colleague created the '16 Before You're 16 Challenge' for the older years," says Ludgate.

"We chose 16 classics, like To Kill A Mockingbird and Brave New World, and challenged students to read as many as they can before they turn 16. It's a good way to make sure they're being challenged."

In another contest, Eleanor Webster gets younger children to read for pleasure with "extreme reading" competitions over the summer holidays.

"They're always very popular," she says. "Children take pictures of themselves reading in strange places and we display the photos in the main corridor. Some were on roller coasters, in tractors, on top of bookcases or at holiday destinations."

The 100 Word Challenge , created by Julia Skinner, asks children to write regular posts online and read other students' work.

"When you tell kids, 'We're going to do some reading,' it can immediately turn them off," says Skinner.

"But with this you say: 'We're going to support someone who has done some writing. What do you think of it?' It gives them a purpose to read."

Jennifer Ludgate, who uses the 100 Word Challenge, explains: "Their homework is to read two students' writing – they really like it because it's short, easy to read, and it only takes them a couple of minutes."

While reading challenges can give a sense of purpose, escaping the challenges of school is a crucial part of encouraging reading for pleasure.

"Children won't find reading pleasurable if there is too much pressure on them," says Webster, "so a relaxed atmosphere and a positive ethos around reading is really important."

"One teacher in my school started referring to library sessions as 'the escape'," says Suzy Dodd, an English teacher at the Co-operative Academy of Leeds.

Promoting reading as a form of escapism from the general pressures of school and their social lives encouraged her class to see reading as a form of self-indulgent relaxation, instead of another intelligence test. Her class are among the most prolific readers in the school.

In September she gives her kids a good talk about reading as escapism, and then introduces library sessions by saying, "we get to escape for an hour today".

Teacher involvement

"Showing students that teachers of all subjects read books, not just the English teachers, is really important," says Ludgate.

"We asked teachers to bring in two or three of their favourite books. Then, at the start of every lesson, whether that be geography, maths or whatever, the teacher would read to the class for ten minutes from their favourite book.

"The students would come in talking about what their PE or history teacher was reading, and that would spark really interesting discussions. It's especially good if they don't see people reading at home. "

Reading walls

"Having a print-rich environment is important," says John Murphy, who is an English and history teacher in Ireland and blogs at Web of Notes .

"The surroundings should encourage reading in all its forms and support their choices of reading material. I don't simply mean putting up a poster which tries to promote reading because it's 'cool' – I think they're totally ineffective. Instead, students and teachers could share the name of the book that they're reading at the moment, and offer a sentence about it. It's a great way to share recommendations."

Drop Everything And Read

Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) is used in classrooms across the country, and allows children to forget their normal tasks and drift away with a good book.

Webster explains: "The whole school has a set time in the school day where children read to themselves or an adult and they can choose from a wide variety of books."

Ludgate says it is important that DEAR does not become a task: "Having 10 minutes of reading at the beginning of every lesson doesn't always work because it can become too ingrained. But the idea with DEAR is that it goes across different subjects – not just English."

Reading to the class

Encouraging children to read for pleasure is about more than getting them to pick up a book; it's equally important for children to appreciate a good story.

"I think it's important to make sure you read to them as much as they read for themselves or other people, making it a more supportive environment," says Ludgate.

"Spending once a half term saying, 'Right, I'm going to read to you this lesson', I think really encourages them to appreciate it. The older years in particular haven't been read to at home for so long that they absolutely love it."

Anything goes

"It's crucial to bear in mind what the student wants to read," says Murphy. "Having this control shouldn't be undervalued, and I think they should be allowed to venture from one type of book to another.

"Introduce students to a wide variety of texts, mediums and genres – they may surprise themselves once they have faced preconceived ideas about what they consider enjoyable and embrace a diversity in what they read. Comics, ebooks, short stories, online articles and magazines shouldn't be ignored."

Books across the curriculum

"Our curriculum is very creative and topics are often set around a book," says Webster.

"Children respond well to it because they love exploring details of books and making books come to life. For example, we had a whole term based on the Gruffalo in September. Now in the summer term children often recite it word for word and talk about other Julia Donaldson books they've read since."

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The Benefits of Reading for Pleasure

Reading for fun has numerous lifelong benefits, and we have ideas for how you can promote this habit among your students.

A teacher and young student sit together and talk.

Why don’t students read? Most teachers have the goal of promoting students’ lifelong love of reading. But why? And what can teachers and parents and librarians do to promote pleasure reading?

In our book Reading Unbound , Michael Smith and I argue that promoting pleasure reading is a civil rights issue. Data from major longitudinal studies show that pleasure reading in youth is the most explanatory factor of both cognitive progress and social mobility over time (e.g., Sullivan & Brown, 2013 [PDF]; Guthrie, et al, 2001 ; and Kirsch, et al, 2002 [PDF]). Pleasure reading is a more powerful predictor than even parental socioeconomic status and educational attainment.

So if we want our students to actualize their full potential as human beings and their capacity to participate in a democracy, and if we want to overcome social inequalities, we must actively promote pleasure reading in our schools, classrooms, and homes.

The Pleasures of Reading

Pleasure reading can be defined as reading that is freely chosen or that readers freely and enthusiastically continue after it is assigned. Our students (like all other human beings!) do what they find pleasurable. You get good at what you practice, and then outgrow yourself by deliberately developing new related interests and capacities.

In our study, we found that reading pleasure has many forms, and that each form provides distinct benefits:

  • Play pleasure/immersive pleasure is when a reader is lost in a book. This is prerequisite to experiencing all the other pleasures; it develops the capacity to engage and immerse oneself, visualize meanings, relate to characters, and participate in making meaning.
  • Intellectual pleasure is when a reader engages in figuring out what things mean and how texts have been constructed to convey meanings and effects. Benefits include developing deep understanding, proactivity, resilience, and grit.
  • Social pleasure is when the reader relates to authors, characters, other readers, and oneself by exploring and staking one’s identity. This pleasure develops the capacity to experience the world from other perspectives; to learn from and appreciate others distant from us in time, space, and experience; and to relate to, reciprocate with, attend to, and help others different from ourselves.
  • Work pleasure is when the reader develops a tool for getting something functional done—this cultivates the transfer of these strategies and insights to life.
  • Inner work pleasure is when the reader imaginatively rehearses for her life and considers what kind of person she wants to be and how she can connect to something greater or strive to become something more. When our study participants engaged in this pleasure, they expressed and developed a growth mindset and a sense of personal and social possibility.

Taken together, these pleasures explain why pleasure reading promotes cognitive progress and social possibility, and even a kind of wisdom and wholeness, and, in a larger sense, the democratic project.

Promoting the Pleasures of Reading

We need to help less engaged readers experience these same pleasures. That is our study’s major takeaway: We must make all five pleasures central to our teaching. We need to name them, actively model them, and then assist students to experience them.

To promote play pleasure, use drama techniques like revolving role play, in-role writing, and hot seating of characters in order to reward all students for entering and living through story worlds and becoming or relating to characters in the way that highly engaged readers do.

To promote intellectual pleasure, frame units as inquiry, with essential questions. Read a book for the first time along with your students—figure it out along with them, modeling your fits and starts and problems through think-alouds and discussion. Or pair an assigned reading with self-selected reading from a list, or a free reading choice that pertains to the topic. Use student-generated questions for discussion and sharing. Use discussion structures like Socratic seminar that make it clear there is no teacherly agenda to fulfill as far as topics or insights to achieve.

A whiteboard list of the author’s recent reading

To promote social pleasure, be a fellow reader with students. Put a sign on your door: “Dr. Wilhelm is reading _____.” Read one of their favorite books. Foster peer discussion of reading and response in pairs, triads, small groups, literature circles, book clubs, etc. Do group projects with reading that are then shared and even archived. Have a free reading program and promote books through book talks, online reviews, etc.

To foster work pleasure, use inquiry contexts and work toward culminating projects, including service and social action projects.

To foster inner work pleasure, engage students in imaginative rehearsals for living, inquiry geared toward current and future action, or inquiry for service. Have students think as authors making choices and plan scenarios for characters in dilemmas or those trying to help the characters. Write to the future or to a future self.

Make no mistake, the next-generation standards worldwide require profound cognitive achievements. Meeting such standards and the demands of navigating modern life will require student effort and the honing of strategies over time. Promoting the power of pleasure reading is a proven path there.

reading for pleasure homework

An English Major’s Guide to Relearning How to Read for Pleasure

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Jeffrey Davies

Jeffrey Davies is a professional introvert and writer with imposter syndrome whose work spans the worlds of pop culture, books, music, feminism, and mental health. In addition to Book Riot, his writing has appeared on HuffPost, Collider, PopMatters, Spectrum Culture, and other places. Find him on his website and follow him on Twitter @teeveejeff and Instagram @jeffreyreads . He is also the co-host of a Gilmore Girls podcast, Coffee With a Shot of Cynicism .

View All posts by Jeffrey Davies

I often think about how differently I consumed books before I started studying English literature. Books have always been my passion, of course, which is why I wanted to study literature in the first place. But the period of years I spent being graded on my ability to read and analyze quickly — far too quickly — also happened to be accompanied by the period in youth that is largely defined by existential angst. In other words, at 18, I quickly internalized the notion that my ability to read books fast should be the only point of my existence. And it predictably impacted the way I read everything, especially for pleasure.

As of this writing, I’m pleased to report that I have completed all the English credits required for my university degree, after which I told everyone close to me that I will never take an English class again if I can help it. Which is not to say that I hate English classes now or think they weren’t the right path for me — they 100% were. I just can’t possibly bring myself to write one more analytical essay about a piece of literature for academic purposes because I’m too busy trying to relearn how read for pleasure. Like, really read for pleasure.

Rest assured, if you happen to be in the same boat of relearning to read for pleasure after studying literature or similar fields, you know it’s not an easy process. I even keep this specific tweet in my bookmarks to remind myself that relearning to read for pleasure is a thing:

yes, i am a literature student. yes, i have almost totally lost my ability to read for pleasure because my mind subconsciously associates reading with work and stress so now all i do for fun is passively watch my inane comfort show. yes, we (regretfully) exist — ellie (taylor's version) 🦋✨ (@ellieredpath) June 5, 2021

Thus, I have made this handy guide composed of four steps and reminders that have helped me on my quest to enjoy literature just for the sake of it once again. It’s been a long time, but over the last year I’ve felt myself enjoying books the way I did as a kid, before reading became a way to distract myself from every ugly facet of adult life. And I want to preserve that process for myself and others. Let us begin!

Step 1: You Aren’t Being Graded on Reading for Pleasure

Say it with me now, “I’m not being graded on this; there is no deadline; I am free to take my time.” Earlier this year I wrote about how I read slower now, most of which I attributed to the lockdown inability to collect books out in the wild during the worse parts of the pandemic. I’ve since realized that a lot of my tendency to read slower now comes from a newfound sense of freedom of not having to pencil in reading for pleasure in between writing essays on books assigned to me by somebody else.

Better yet, I can even trace the inclination to feel like I’m being graded for reading back to public school, when English teachers would give us a mark for bringing a book for silent reading. Ever since childhood I’ve always felt like I need to be reading something , whether for myself or for school. And I’ve realized that I’ve rarely stopped long enough, at least until the pandemic, to take a moment and ask myself, “What do I really feel like reading right now? Not because I feel like I have to for a class, or to feel intellectually superior, or just to have an excuse to not sit alone with the silence of myself, or lack thereof.” If you still feel a yearning to read after removing all those factors, that not only confirms that your passion for literature is genuine, but that reading should not feel like a chore. And once that sense of reading as homework dissipates, joy takes its place.

Step 2: Don’t Feel Like Reading? Don’t Read

This one is still hard for me because the isolation and solitude of the pandemic really proved how much time I would spend reading to avoid having to just sit alone with myself and my feelings. In the years leading up, having internalized the (false) notion that reading and analyzing books is the only skill I have to offer, I would read compulsively to feel productive. I would check out an unrealistic amount of books from the library, often a combination of novels and coffee table books, and force myself to read them in an unrealistic amount of time — just to feel something. (Productive? Worthy? Smarter than everyone else who doesn’t read? Check, check, check.)

With the inability to run off to the library and bury my problems into books for the better part of 18 months, combined with later finishing the core credits required for my English degree, I slowly just stopped feeling the need to always be giving my hands and mind something to do, which used to be reading. I scarcely recall a time in the last five or six years where I didn’t have a book in my hands while watching a movie at night, just for the sake of feeling productive. (And I had the audacity to call this “reading for pleasure”? OK there.) I’ve since learned that these cherished activities of mine, such as reading or watching a movie, deserve my focused, rested attention. There’s no need to always be reading while also watching TV in order to truly fill every silence. I still struggle with this, because this was a way I convinced myself was “resting” and “relaxing” for the longest time. But sometimes we just don’t feel like reading! So don’t force it. It’s never worth it, and it defeats the purpose.

Step 3: Read That Book That Requires a Bit of Commitment

This might sound like a bit of a toxic suggestion depending on how you read, but bear with me. When you get used to having to juggle reading for school and reading for pleasure because you just can’t possibly spend one moment of your free time not reading, longer or denser books might seem daunting. For me, anything above 400 pages still illicits a bit of a groan from me, because I know it might not be something I can necessarily blow through quickly in a couple of nights. Similarly, I’ve never been a huge fan of series longer than a trilogy, because I just get bored and need to read something else. In other words, despite how much I tend to read, I have commitment issues with books, ones that were certainly triggered during my years studying English.

Therefore, after you no longer have to stress about how much school reading you have to do, maybe it’s the right time to pick up that book you’ve always wanted to read but didn’t feel like you could handle the commitment. This is not to say make yourself go pick up an extraordinarily long book if you generally don’t gel with books above a certain page count; respect your boundaries. But if there happens to be a book that’s been on your TBR forever that you are still interested in and have just never made the time, make the time! In my case, over the course of pandemic lockdowns, seeking out books that have been on my list for years that I just never got to really helped in reminding me what it means to read for pleasure. Sometimes the pleasure in the equation requires some commitment.

Step 4: Nobody Cares How Many Books You Read

I know it hurts to admit, but it’s true: nobody cares how many books you’ve read. I know you’ve dedicated years of your life to studying and basking in classic literature, and there’s always that inclination to make it your entire personality, but at the end of the day, someone who doesn’t read or isn’t interested in the same books as you aren’t going to be impressed with how much or how fast you read. It’s hard to hear, trust me, I KNOW! Insert my virtual shoulder to cry on here. Let it out.

This isn’t to say don’t post about books on your social media or review the books you’ve read on your Goodreads or your blog. That is all still worth it if you’re really passionate about reading. But make sure you are doing it for you , and not for virtual validation. Consequently, if you only do the Goodreads Reading Challenge so that you can boast on social media about how you read 100 books this year, it’s really not worth it. If that’s the only reason you’re using Goodreads, I would say don’t even bother tracking the books you read on an app. As social media does best, it will just make you feel insecure and inferior, which is absolutely not what you need. Reading for pleasure requires reading for nobody else but yourself, so leave other people out of it.

If you have any tips on relearning how to read for pleasure, I’d love to know!

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Trauma-informed practices in schools, teacher well-being, cultivating diversity, equity, & inclusion, integrating technology in the classroom, social-emotional development, covid-19 resources, invest in resilience: summer toolkit, civics & resilience, all toolkits, degree programs, trauma-informed professional development, teacher licensure & certification, how to become - career information, classroom management, instructional design, lifestyle & self-care, online higher ed teaching, current events, how reading for pleasure helps students develop academically.

How Reading for Pleasure Helps Students Develop Academically

As an educator and a parent, one crucial practice I desire in my students and children is that reading becomes as pervasive and uncontrollable a habit as nail biting or tapping their pen during a lecture. I want students and children to read for the same reason George Leigh Mallory climbed Everest: Because it is there.

The many benefits of reading for pleasure

The American Library Association has also found a strong connection between daily independent reading habits and overall student performance. The ALA cites findings from a number of studies:

  • Students who read independently become better readers, score higher on achievement tests in all subject areas, and have greater content knowledge than those who do not
  • The more elementary-aged students read outside of school, the higher they scored on reading achievement tests
  • Multiple studies support that even a small amount of independent reading increases primary and elementary students’ reading comprehension, vocabulary growth, spelling facility, understanding of grammar, and knowledge of the world

One key factor in the positive influence of this reading seems to be that it is voluntary — students seek out books and participate of their own volition.

Early exposure to reading appears to pay off in that it creates an expectation in children that reading is an essential part of their daily lives, thus the families of pre-readers in preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary must be encouraged to expose them to reading through story time at the library or reading as daily habit in the home.

As students grow up, it appears that some level of independence should be encouraged as it supports their commitment to reading and that later elementary and middle-school students should be spurred to choose their own books within a challenging framework.

The bad news: Americans are reading less

A 2007 study from the National Endowment for the Arts showed that American students are reading less. Over the course of 10 years — 1992 to 2002 — adults showed an overall decline in reading for fun of about seven percent and students showed a similar decline, approximately five percent.

Theories on the reason for the decline abound, but the biggest lies in the idea of displacement. It is thought that American reading times are being sacrificed for television or other hobbies. This drop in reading for pleasure has serious side effects, namely a trickle-down influence on students. Teachers have attempted to rectify the problem by assigning reading homework, only to meet frustration when students are noncompliant.

How educators can support independent reading

As an educator, I am aware of student resistance to homework and hope that rather than an assignment , my students will pick up the habit of daily doses of reading. Research supports the strong positive correlative effect of 20-60 minutes of daily reading.

Subsequent research has found that the best amount may vary; low-level readers benefit from 15-20 minutes whereas high level readers get the greatest benefit from reading 45 minutes or more. Regardless of the best individual amount, research consistently shows that time dedicated to independent reading pays off.

Because teachers have a significant influence on their students’ habits and performance, one solution is to set high expectations of them as readers. I begin each Monday morning by asking my students what they have read over the weekend, which is often rewarded with insightful discussions of newspaper articles and books; I am never afraid to suggest new reading to them. Modeling consistent independent reading for my students, and expecting the same from them, is a key means of influencing their behavior.

My son’s teacher has the same expectations of her class, though she goes a step further and asks them to keep a record of their reading as a method of reflecting upon and rewarding the effort they have put into their daily habits. My daughter’s teacher has his students blog about the reading they’ve done and gives them tangible rewards, marking their progress on the ceiling with paper books.

The rewards encourage competition between classmates and the blog entries pique the interest of other students, who then read the same book and generate discussions with their fellow readers.  Regardless of how it is accomplished, the general theme is the same:  We collectively expect our students to read and, as students often do, they rise to the expectation.

Monica Fuglei is a graduate of the University of Nebraska in Omaha and a current adjunct faculty member of Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, where she teaches composition and creative writing.

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How do you get students to read for pleasure?

“There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.”

Marcel Proust

Reading seems to make us smarter. Here’s Keith Stanovich explaining why:

For most people, this is uncontroversial. We talk a lot about the power of books and the need to get more children to read for pleasure. But how do you get students to read for pleasure ? I have no idea. Neither does anyone else, not really. This is an endemic conundrum which troubles all teachers and parents. But it’s a bit of an odd question when you think of it: how do you make someone enjoy something they don’t enjoy? There are lots of expensive ‘solutions’ out there, all trying to give students some sort of reward for the time invested in reading books. These solutions are great at producing graphs showing how much reading is being done but they’re hopeless at showing whether someone is enjoying reading. Maybe we’re asking the wrong question?

We know enjoying reading matters (or at least we’ve found some correlations between reading for pleasure and attainment. Take a look at this from the National Literacy Trust  2013 annual survey:

Screen Shot 2015-07-11 at 08.53.11

Christina Clark , Children’s and Young People’s Reading in 2013, Findings from the 2013 National Literacy Trust’s annual survey

But how frequently students read also correlates stongly with attainment:

Christina Clark , Children’s and Young People’s Reading in 2013, Findings from the 2013 National Literacy Trust’s annual survey

If we have no control over what students enjoy, we do at least have some control over how frenquently they engage in different activities in schools. Maybe the question we should be asking is, how do we get students reading every day? In a packed timetable, his is still difficult for schools to deal with, but it’s a lot better than asking how we can make them enjoy reading. So, how long should we get them reading for? Does the length of time they spend every day with a book matter?

Apparently it does. It’s widely believed that 2o minutes a day appears to represent some sort of magic number. This paper by Nagy & Herman , is widely cited as a source:

read_with_a_child_infographic

I’m not really sure quite how The Children’s Reading Foundation extrapolated these figures, from Nagy & Harman’s 1987 paper. What the paper actually says is this:

If students were to spend 25 minutes every day reading at a rate of 200 words per minute for 200 days out of a year, they would read a million words of text annually. According to our estimates, with this amount of reading, children will encounter between 15,000 and 30,000 unfamiliar words. If 1 in 20 of these words is learned, the yearly gain in vocabulary will be between 750- 1,500 words, or between quarter and a half of an average child’s annual vocabulary growth. (p.26)

The argument is that although ‘just reading’ can appear inefficient, many more words are learned through ‘natural’ reading than through explicit vocabulary instruction. My view is that vocabulary instruction is important , but so is reading books. It shouldn’t really be an either/or proposition, but if you’re only able to do one, maybe 25 minutes a day of reading will result in more vocabulary learnt as well as the potential for enriching students’ cultural capital through finding out more about the world.

So now our question becomes, Ho do you get students to read for 20-25 minutes a day? This hard but now we’re on to something measurable. We can use this as a yardstick to see how we’re doing: are we managing to get children to read every day? Are we managing to set aside 25 minutes a day? The answer might be ‘no’, but at least you know what you have to do to improve.

A number of schools have opted for a Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) approach. Like many school programmes deigned to make children enjoy reading, this can backfire. Sitting in silence and reading at the drop of hat might be fine for people who already enjoy reading but it’s not so great for those who’ve learned that reading is boring and difficult. There’s always a group of children who spend most of the time looking for a book and then hold it upside down while teachers scurry round being the reading police. This is unlikely to foster a love a reading.

But, many years experience of teaching unruly children has taught me that when all else fails, reading aloud is the one thing that’ll pacify them; we all seem to love being read to. Now obviously this doesn’t have all the advantages of the type of decoding practice Stanovich was discussing in the opening video – he’s absolutely right about the need for fluent, automatic decoding skills – but it does get children to enjoy a good story. So, here’s my idea: instead of trying to make children enjoy reading by making them read independently, why not read to them instead?

In several schools I’ve worked with over the past couple of years we’ve experimented with various versions of this. Bascially the formula is as follows:

  • Decide on a rolling programme of reading slots to occur at different times over the timetable. So, for instance, on week one you could stipulate that that DEAR has to take place Monday P1, Tuesday P2, Wednesday P3, Thurs P4 and Friday P5. Then on week two the pattern might be Monday P2, Tuesday P3, Wednesday P4 etc. In this way curriculum time is not being taken from the same lessons week in, week out and resentments are minimised.
  • Choose a book and buy a copy for all members of staff. In one school I worked with the book chosen was Treasure Island. The thinking was that this was a text with high cultural capital but would be likely considered too difficult or irrelevant for children to choose to read independently. You choice doesn’t have to follow the same logic but in a secondary school spanning students aged between 11-16 this was deemed appropriate for all.
  • Break the book into 25-minute sections and let teachers know each day how much they are expected to read (e.g. pages 19-27) and every day everyone in the school will be reading the next installment of the story.

There’s a lot more you could choose to do if you felt it appropriate – you could point out key vocabulary to share with students or suggest a few comprehension questions – but I think just reading is a good starting point.

Here are a few teething problems schools have experienced:

  • Students aren’t interested in the book. This was a big problem with Treasure Island as the story has a pretty slow start. It took a few weeks to generate sufficient interest for students to want to know what happened next. Top tip: consider the choice of text very carefully, but don’t be scared by ‘hard’ reads.
  • Some members of staff can’t be bothered to read.  For the first few weeks, some teachers couldn’t see the point and found excuses for not dropping everything to read the next section of the story. Initially, students weren’t that bothered either, but as the story gained momentum and it became clear that most staff were reading, students began to complain and demand that they got their reading fix. This pretty much policed itself very rapidly.
  • Some students bought copies of the book, read and ahead and spoilt the story for others. I really couldn’t see this as a problem – in my mind this was job done – but it’s amazing how seriously we treat these things. It’s important to remember that we’re trying to get children to enjoy reading, not punish them for their enthusiasm.

Over the course of about six months or so, every student in the school experienced having a classic book read to them and, almost universally, they really enjoyed it. It’s not a panacea, and it’s certainly not a replacement for teaching students how to read fluently and accurately, but does help give them the knowledge that reading can be enjoyable when it’s give such prestige within the school community.

So, what do you think? Worth a try? I’d be really interested in hearing from anyone who’s tried something similar or is interested in giving this a go.

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87 comments.

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Have you heard of the following? http://schools.fictionexpress.co.uk/blog/ It involves reading chapters week by week and pupils can vote on the plot.

I think your idea is a good one but as always there needs to be some flexibility as inevitably some pupils/cohorts will respond better to different methods.

Another was is through Bug Club but the problem is access to the internet – at least it includes children’s authors that are well known and a range of different text types.

I think the nut to crack might be not physical books but online ones and how everyone can get hold of these. That way it is possible to track and intervene those who read least and find ways to encourage them.

However, I do think that to some extent we need to accept that there will always be people who do not enjoy reading books, just as there are people who do not enjoy eating strawberries,etc. In which case I would take them reading because it has to be done.

You should hopefully see the benefits of phonics teaching in secondary – the more widespread it has become the less likely you are to have children who struggle to decode words so more challenging texts will not be a problem at that level.

It would also be worth considering – do the children have an understanding of the cultures and history being referred to? If not, then going through that first might be of benefit so they can access the texts more easily. I had a reading group recently who misunderstood a comment made by a character who was Native American as they didn’t know about the way they name in their culture. They thought the character was being cruel when in fact he was doing nothing of the sort!!

Cultural capital as always.

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I think you could project classics taken from the internet for free and pupils could listen or read along. It’s possible sort of in my school although I only have 15 minutes each day at my disposal. Perhaps classic short stories are more feasible. I’m very interested in doing a bit of research on this.

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Research would be interesting, but what would you use to measure impact? How would you introduce sufficient controls? Worth trying though?

Well we do a standardised reading test every September anyway, so I would repeat that test in March I think. I’m thinking Y9 as I feel that will eliminate confidence/nerves issues. We use the Suffolk reading scale which is as much a vocabulary test as anything. I will have to think about controls. In my experience any school wide reading scheme can be very, very dependent on the way it is implemented. I think it is worth trying though. I don’t actually think there is enough solid research on reading.

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Very pleased to see that you mention the problems of DEAR for struggling (and disinterested) readers. Well-meaning teachers are often not aware of how torturous it can be for these students. I really like your idea and also the fact that it’s easy to implement.

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It is interesting that children will listen for pleasure when they are less willing to read themselves. I think it is easy to underestimate how unattractive it must be to do an activity you find extremely effortful. I have tried picturing being told I really should read Das Kapital and similar every day and simultaneously be told that if only I can adopt the right attitude I should find this fun. Perhaps if I was in a prison cell with no other distractions I might get there but children have countless other more instant forms of pleasure. This is why I am obsessed with phonics. It does not directly solve the vocabulary deficit but it does ensure lifting words off the page is much less effortful which means children are more likely to experience the Matthew Effect. Anyway I’m not an Englush teacher but I really like your idea!

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Sounds broadly similar (though more thought through) to what I will try next year.

Have always had a very structured tutor time for my group with a different activity every day. I had discussion with them about the structure for next year and many said they’d prefer that I read to them instead of our weekly silent reading. I’m going to run with this, and hopefully get a few other groups on board.

With 5 year groups, 8 tutor groups per year, and 42 unused copies of ‘A Christmas Carol’ in the cupboard it seems like a no brainier to me!

Thanks for the blog.

You are spot on about phonics – ignore the detractors – the vast majority of children learn to read and write (albeit phonetically). There are small number who don’t but these are SEN. I have never come across a child with no learning issues who is able to learn and then use phonics. All other approaches are simply not as effective or give children the same confidence to read.

The importance of phonics is that it provides students with the ability to decode fluently without which their reading speed will likely be insufficient for them to comprehend text, no matter their understanding of individual words.

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Attempting to force kids to enjoy something is silly. Lecturing that something is good for kids doesn’t help. Pretty much everyone knows this, and yet we persevere.

Yes. hence my alternative.

Sorry seems I managed to cut of the rest of my original reply! It was along the lines that yes there is sense in doing something measurable, but that there should also remain an emphasis on inspiring a love of literacy, but it should be in the broadest sense ie. writing, sharing stories aloud etc. etc. not only on reading – and emphasis on inspiring, not forced pleasure.

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1. The consequences of reading for pleasure can’t be reduced to ‘vocabulary’. In fact, ‘vocabulary’ is not how language works nor how we process it. We understand and use language in sequences of words, that are held together by grammar. In order to be able to read – in the full sense of the word – we have to ‘get’ these sequences and sequencing systems and patterns. Reading for pleasure – genuinely choosing what we want to read and reading it – is a great way to get those sequences into our heads.

2. A crucial part of reading for pleasure is ‘browsing’ – that is, scanning and selecting. It appears to be extrinsic to ‘real’ reading and yet it is a vital capability to have in order to process the learning experience offered by schools. Children, students and adults who can browse find that they can do a lot of different kinds of work in relation to school-type work. Quite often, the browsing is part of categorising, ‘setting’ and classifying.

3. A real programme for reading for pleasure won’t work if it is confined to what goes in school time. We have to think of how to enable schools and parents and students work together on this. Otherwise what happens is the the process never reaches the unreached. In other words, it merely confirms those who are often reading for pleasure anyway. I suggest that in order for those partnerships to work, this requires thinking about organisationally – in terms of parents and students being involved in coming up with plans, suggestions, etc. This may therefore require the dreaded ‘committee’ process – somehow.

4. There are already a variety of charities which spend a good deal of their energy figuring out how to sponsor and encourage reading for pleasure and have packs and vast amounts of research to back it up. There are also many schools which have pioneered successful programmes. The charities include, Booktrust, Literacy Trust, UKLA, the Reading Agency, and in London, the Evening Standard’s campaign and so on.

5. A key piece of research across 27 countries over 20 years involving tens of thousands of school students, and research that factored out the parents’ education and profession was Mariah Carey’s work at the UNiversity of Nevada.

6. In the 1950s, many of us learned to read using the Beacon Readers. The teachers’ booklet that backed this up, made very clear and in great detail how teachers should neither do purely phonics, nor do purely non-phonics but should teach initial reading using both methods at the same time. Some people in the present context have approached the use of phonics with the slogan ‘first, fast and only’. The present Schools Minister confined on a panel I sat with him on, that to do otherwise is ‘confusing’. Some school managements have interpreted ‘first , fast and only’ as an instruction to remove non-phonically regular texts from reception and Year 1 classrooms.

6. When children are deemed to be ‘not reading’ i.e. being unable to pass the Phonics Screening Check, some teachers are being asked to do more of the same, rather than do anything different, nor to investigate whether there are multiple reasons for a) not passing the phonics screening check or b) finding out whether some children can read pretty well but fail the PSC anyway. Indeed, there is now some evidence to suggest (UKLA) that ironically some ‘middle class’ children how have learned to read at home with their parents using a variety of methods find the PSC confusing. Some have been observed ‘correcting’ the nonsense words, e.g. ‘strom’ to ‘storm’. So they do not pass.

7. There is a government report on the phonics screening check on the gov. site.

1. Of course reading for pleasure cannot be reduced to vocabulary. Only a fool would think so. 2. This ‘browsing’ thing sounds improbable as a ‘crucial’aspect of reading for pleasure but I’m more than happy to read the supporting evidence…? 3. What I suggest in my post is notable for ability ability to reach the unreachable, or have you spotted a flaw? I recommend several ways for schools to work with parents all of which fell outside the scope of this post. 4. Ha! I’ve seen a good bit of this ‘evidence’ and have to say it’s mostly shockingly bad. At very best it’s correlational. If you think I’ve missed something worthwhile please let me have the links. 5. Parents’ education and profession is generally a confound for heritable factors. But I’ll give Mariah Cary (no relation?) a go… 6. Not sure quite what your point about the PSC is or how it relates to my post. In its favour, the PSC was developed by the TEDS team (headed by Robert Plomin) investigating the behaviour genetics that underpin reading and it’s been found to be a remarkably accurate predictor for GCSE pass rates at 16 and income ant 42. 7. Why are you telling me this?

Taking your last comment first: I thought I was contributing to a general discussion about ‘reading for pleasure’ rather than telling you something. As there were some comments above about phonics I appended those to the discussion. It’s ‘Carey’ not ‘Cary’ which may make that piece of research easier to find. If you think the research done by all those bodies I mentioned is crap, you should tell them – or indeed, more urgently, tell the government bodies that throw money at them. They are living with the illusion (delusion?) that they have evidence to back up their work. The matter of browsing is taken mostly from my own observations over many years. I am always aware how dangerous that is but then it is partly the process by which we share ideas and thoughts. I am glad that you think constructive feedback is always appreciated.

Thanks for correcting the spelling – I was rather surprised at the thought that the American songstress might also be conducting research into reading 🙂 I’ve found, through long and bitter experience, that no one thanks me for pointing out their research is crap. And crap isn’t really fair – it’s just not worth all that much. I like the NLT surveys: they provide some nice correlational statistics, but because we’re such natural pattern seekers it’s hard to avoid ‘seeing’ the meaning we’re being pointed towards. And there’s always an alternative interpretation! The illusion that we have evidence to support our beliefs is widespread and pernicious. It’s rarely the case that anyone believes what they believe because of evidence. Instead we post hoc select evidence which fits our beliefs. This is done without our being aware of all the biases we routinely bring to bear. If you’re interested, I go into detail about this in my new book.

My own experience of ‘browsing’ behaviour is what suggests it might be implausible as a basis for developing children’s pleasure in reading. I find nothing undermines the likelihood that I will commit to reading any one thing than the presence of interesting distractions. On the contrary, my own childhood was characterised by boredom. I’ve never been sporty and we didn’t have a telly. What else was there for me to do than spend time at the local library reading books? Today, I find my tendency to browse the internet means I struggle to focus enough to enjoy something as demanding as sitting down to read a book. But we’re all victims of our own experiences; it’s always hard to step outside of these experiences to see what’s ‘really there’.

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Following from Michael & David’s conversation I’d say from personal experience and observation that the Freedom to Browse, once a student can basically read, is hugely important. David, based on your ‘Rebel Act’ post it looks likes you fearlessly took this freedom into your own hands. Love it! As a recent student in our ever time-poor school system, without much access to books except those I got from school, I’d picked up the message that appropriate books are to be selected for me and I’m to study them deliberately and carefully. Secretly I felt there was something wrong with me for not liking the selected class books that I could critique so successfully; who am I to pick my own reading if I don’t have taste enough to enjoy these important novels? With this in mind truly ‘browsing’ seemed, to my student-self, like a complete waste of my precious time. Clearly all this is nonsense, I just honestly didn’t know better! Space, time, freedom from judgement to select and even bigger examples of teachers in school (any subject) shamelessly sharing what they’re reading and loving and hating and abandoning is what I’d like to encourage in this little post.

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Dear Michael,

Numbering you comments is very helpful. Thank you.

Regarding your point 6.

I work right now with lots of primary children aged 6-11 who’ve learnt to read using mixed methods at home and at school because mixed methods are still being taught alongside phonics, at least in some primaries. When I say mixed methods, the children read (by sight) what they recognise easily and guess what they don’t based on letter clues.

You’re right. They do ‘correct’ strom to storm and other words like this, often.

In exactly the way you describe, and for the same reasons, the same children ‘correct’ carry to cry, journey to joy and would to wild. I have a bank of hundreds of very interesting and informative examples.

But, of course, for these words, this is not ‘correcting’ at all. The guessed word in each case is a real English word – but it is wrongly read. This is ‘mis-reading’ – just as much a ‘mis-reading’ as storm is of strom.

The children do this ‘lookaliking’ reading (for that’s how it seems to me) when reading words in context and when reading them in lists.

It’s fascinating and frustrating in equal measure.

These children are practised guessers. They guess instinctively from shape and, usually, according to my bank of examples so far, from first, last and a random middle letter. This is exactly what they do in the case of strom. In context, the sentence itself rarely informs the guess, I’ve found. The children often guess a lookalike that makes no sense at all but carry on regardless.

Many children I work with do this for a word every sentence or so, sometimes more often, sometimes much more.

Parents and teachers can (and do, I’m sure) easily investigate this for themselves, making a simple record of mis-read words and the ‘lookalikes’ from just 5-10 mins of reading aloud. Patterns emerge very quickly which are useful for informing teaching.

As many teachers and parents realise, this ‘lookalike’ reading strategy shoots holes in a child’s comprehension. However, the child can often get the overall gist to do well enough to at least talk about main threads – and answer some questions if a test.

They can pull this off so well that they can even appear to be a ‘good’ or above average reader, sometimes, therefore, causing no concern at school. It’s the parents in these cases who’ve noticed the problem and who bring their child to me. I think these are the very children you are talking about in relation to the Y1 test.

But, the words they mis-read, with a quick guess and a lookalike, are often words they know very well and fully comprehend.

That’s not right no matter how well they manage, whichever way you look at it.

This is not effortless, accurate reading. We can’t let them move on to secondary reading like that, but we do.

For these children, our teaching of reading has not equipped them adequately for secondary, where texts will be ever more difficult to read, with fewer pictures on which to rely.

Do we want any of our children to read like this, making incorrect guesses for any words they would otherwise know, after seven years at school? I don’t.

This should be uncontroversial.

The students might get by at secondary, understanding enough to cope, and they might eventually self-fix their lookalike reading habit. I think many must, somehow. Perhaps if you do it for 5-6000 hours or so it starts to correct itself in time for GCSEs… or not.

But whether they get by or they don’t, whether they are picked up and helped by brilliant teachers, parents or intervention strategies on the way or not (many are, of course), it still can’t be right to teach them to rely on luck and a bit of guesswork to read in the first place. No matter how lovingly and enthusiastically we do it.

It’s a very odd strategy to deliberately encourage in our youngest, most impresionable pupils, given the flawed outcomes.

The only teaching solution for those already addicted to lookalike reading is to unpick the guessing habit and to teach children to read seemingly unfamiliar words by their letters, from left to right, accurately. (That’s what I spend my time doing now, teaching children to unlearn the habits that hinder their reading.) This may slow them down at first but speeds them up soon after if taught and practised thoroughly. But it’s not easy!

It would be much easier and more positive for all if, for those still early in the system and those just starting out, we unite, professionals and parents alike, in teaching children to read, with precision, what they actually see on the page, not what they think they see.

Then they’ll be better equipped to read strom as the word it really is – alien, muggle, hobbit, wookiee, lilliputian, oompa-loompa or not.

With all best wishes

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Primary teachers do this already, every day. It’s called ‘story time’. It’s really good.

I’m sure it is. It disappears in secondary schools though.

I have been in secondary schools where the age-equivalent thing takes place: whether that’s from English teachers, librarians, book clubs or indeed writers’ visits. I’m not sure ‘disappears’ is a fair picture of everywhere. It is for ‘some’ and perhaps ‘many’ but not ‘all’.

You’re right – ‘disappears’ is a generalisation. Of course there are islands of good practice but I rarely seen any in the hundreds of secondary schools I visit. Where I do see book clubs and writers’ visits, these tend to be rather shallow experiences that only tend to have an impact on children who already enjoy and value reading. Book clubs are elective and writers’ are short term. A good library and librarian can make a huge difference but all too often librarians are redesignated ‘learning resource managers’ or some such and end up as a mix between glorified reprographics technicians and IT assistants responsible mainly for printing out Accelerated Reader reports.

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Sadly not all do

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Comments should have a like button! I was going to write the same.

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Three cheers for reading to children. (Though this does rather remind me of when I first read Dylan Wiliam coming up with the revelation that if you put a ‘mark’ for a piece of work it didn’t help children and that a helpful comment was of more use.) If you want to raise the standards in reading in a secondary school, then read quality class novels that grip them, teach comprehension and writing through these, and hear them read every day. In one key stage 3, we have not only improved reading in this way but also have radically improved the progress in children’s writing from the dire situation 2 years ago. To do all of this, the school had to be disturbed into realising what an appalling job they were doing – this was quite easy. We showed the year 7 teachers some year 6 books. Phonics – the government’s own recent evaluation says that the phonic emphasis in primary has not improved literacy. In the same way, the new emphasis on grammar will not help either 0- because both have been in isolation – phones for a test and grammar for a test rather than grammar for writing/ phonics for spelling – that might have helped. My guess is those involved will blame the teachers for not doing it properly… anyway, three cheers for reading to children.

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Could you give me a reference for the evaluation you are referring to, because I have not seen it? Unless you are referring to the recently published evaluation of the phonics CHECK, which concluded that no evidence had been gathered that could conclusively show that the phonics CHECK had improved reading (which is, however, quite different from saying that it had not done so).

On the other hand, reading comprehension scores, as measured at the end of Key Stage 1, have risen from their plateau prior to the introduction of phonics:

Number of children achieving the expected level of reading comprehension at the end of Year 2:

2007-2009 – 84% 2010-2011 – 85% 2012 – 87% 2013 – 89% 2014 – 90%:

Note that this gradual rise began with the cohort who were in reception for the academic year 2007-08, that is, the first year that phonics teaching was introduced.

Number of children with SEN achieving the expected level of reading comprehension at the end of Year 2 (figures are not available for before 2011):

2011 – 52% 2012 – 55% 2013 – 58% 2014 – 60%:

…which should be put alongside Charles Hulme’s research with Year 4s showing that group A working with just phonics scored significantly less well than group B working with the York approach to comprehension.

No one argues that children should work with “just phonics”, except as a method of word attack to lift the word off the page. Comprehension is just as important as decoding. This is acknowledged by all phonics advocates and is the current consensus of reading scientists.

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Hi Pie, could you give some specific examples of the things that you did with the year 7 teachers to help them realise that they had areas they needed to improve and the strategies you used to help them improve students’ progress?

This is a reply to Chris Nicholson’s comment that ‘no one’ advocates using only phonics. (I couldn’t find a ‘reply’ button after this comment, sorry.)

Well, when I first came into this debate I was told by several people and found on one of the training programmes, and was told by several teachers who had been on training programmes that the slogan to remember was ‘first, fast and only’ phonics. This was interpreted by some teachers and the present schools minister as meaning that for a period of time (unspecified) children should only look at phonically regular texts. This meant excluding or removing ordinary picture books from classrooms. Nick Gibb agreed with this on a panel I was on with him in Brighton and he explained that this was because children at that point find picture book texts (or any other book for young children) ‘confusing’.

So, I’m not sure about the ‘no one’ here. Perhaps Debbie can fill us in on whether it’s ‘no one’ or ‘very few’, ‘some’ or what exactly???

Actually, the ‘only’ bit is simple.

Early in the process, when asking children to practice their understanding and recognition of the English alphabetic code, ‘only’ use texts which are matched to their capabilities in order to maximise success.

Uncontroversial, I think.

Asking them to practise their recognition of the code with texts containing code at a level they haven’t yet been taught would maximise the possibility of difficulties, not success.

Simultaneously, ensure that children ‘only’ decode (not guess) when practising their understanding of the English alphabetic code. Obviously, allowing or encouraging children to guess whole words would undermine the act of learning the alphabetic code so that would be confusing, non-strategic and pointless. If they recognise a word instantly and read it without decoding it out loud, that’s part of the process. It doesn’t need to be forced, though, because it happens naturally as code recognition becomes automatic.

Discourage guessing which will quickly reveal itself through errors. If a child reads ‘cry’ instead of ‘carry’ or ‘went’ instead of ‘wet’ they are guessing from word shape and using only fragments of code. If you have spent time teaching phonics, why would you then deliberately teach children not to apply the knowledge you’ve taught? That’s self-defeating and a waste of precious teaching time.

Surely that is uncontroversial too.

That’s it in a nutshell. That’s ‘only’ explained for you.

The next bit leads us on to reading for pleasure.

None of the above excludes reading anything at all for pleasure with and to children whenever a willing adult is available to help and no one would suggest that a child should be discouraged from looking at any book that’s caught their eye.

It’s naughty to suggest that any adult involved in education or, indeed, any politician is against reading for pleasure. That’s just silly. You know I know you know I know you know that! You need a holiday from creating fictional baddies, perhaps.

Phonics enthusiasts, as you like to call them, are just as passionate about reading for pleasure as you are. To the phonics enthusiast, phonics is the bridge that leads directly to the wonderful land of Reading for Pleasure.

As children become confident at a simple level, teach the next level of code and introduce books that contain complex code. Balance this carefully – set just the right level of challenge – to stretch children while, again, ensuring success at each step. It’s very exciting, done with conviction and passion.

Do this first and fast so that reading print is always positive and quickly becomes effortless.

Do this so well that a child can’t even glance at writing without reading it instantaneously, whether they wanted to or not:

…they look up at a sign – oops! – they’ve read it; …they look at a note Mum left to Granny – oops! – they’ve read it; …they look at the lunch table – oops! – ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ – they’ve read it!

They didn’t even want to or mean to; they just couldn’t help it because decoding has become so effortless, so slick… soooooo easy.

This is true of my own four children, now aged 7-12, who learnt to read through systematic synthetic phonics at home, with me and my self-taught knowledge, a little every day. It was my son at nursery, who, at the lunch table, read with pleasure ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’, much to the amusement of the nursery staff.

My four can’t stop reading. They see print, they read it.

This is a vital building block in enabling children to read for pleasure. It cannot and will not be pleasurable if it is difficult, if it is slow and if it doesn’t make sense.

Let’s talk about sense.

The (mean) average child has experienced around 16,000* waking hours on arrival in Reception. This is already 1000 more hours than they will spend in school for the next twelve years.

We mustn’t underestimate the comprehension development that has already taken place, whatever their background, not least because our time with them for all of the curriculum from Reception -Y11 will only ever total less than 25%* of their waking hours to age 16. The percentage available for schools to devote to reading is a fraction of that.

Many children will arrive at school already loving or not loving – and everything in between – books. We have to work with that.

With only 1235* hours to play with in their first year of school, much of which is spent at lunch, in assembly, on trips, off ill, being snowed out, in the loo, rehearsing for shows, in the playground, in PE, learning about music, having golden time, doing art, doing maths and all manner of other crucial and exciting things on the curriculum, we must be very strategic.

With relatively few hours and with 30 + in a class, we must be realistic. We can’t do everything we would like and love to do for developing reading in the very precious time that we have.

What can we do to maximise comprehension and reading for pleasure at the same time?

It seems plain to me that the greatest priority must be to unlock print so that a child can read everything they already understand, whether or not their first 4-5 years have been language rich, whether or not they love books, yet…

If we unlock print quickly, clearly and thoroughly so that children decode confidently and accurately without wasting a second on any guessing at all, they will soon not need the help or confirmation of an adult. Once they are unable to look at the cover or first page of a book without reading the print instantaneously, effortlessly and with ease, we’ll know that we have been successful in the first and most important task in encouraging them to read for pleasure.

Then we can let the wonderful words, phrases and sentences on the page sing out. Let the words do the talking. Let the books sell themselves.

How marvellous would it be if our children began to choose books because they were attracted to the blurb, the front page, the words in the middle as well as the engaging covers and pictures?

Confident and fluent readers can take books home to read independently in the 3510* hours they’ll spend outside school in that first year of Reception and every year thereafter. We all love doing the reading with them and to them but we must ensure that we equip them early to read effortlessly to themselves if we are to nurture readers who choose to read for pleasure when we cannot be there to engage them.

It feels wonderful to feed them – they love it too – but we must equip them to feed themselves.

The wonderful and dynamic ideas for encouraging reading are varied and endless. But, while a child finds the act of reading print at all laborious, even the most marvellous strategy may fall flat because reading, which they must ultimately do alone if we want children to develop into fully fledged independent readers, is not yet pleasurable.

[*Please note, all calculations of waking hours are my own. Please do check them and refine if you think fit. I have used published information on average hours sleep for babies at each stage of development up to 4.5 years. I’ve based a school day on 6.5 hours and a school year on 190 days. I’ve assumed 13/24 waking hours for a Reception child. The figures are not exact but they are relevant, interesting and surprising!]

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Every time somebody attempts to change the art of teaching into the science of convenience a fairy dies. Seen any recently?

Yes, often.

There’s a lot of teeth in my house. Every time a tooth falls out, one of four fairies visits us.

Each has a different name, personality and handwriting style. Each leaves a sparkly note. Each message is crafted with love and great humour but at just the right length and level for each child to decode on their own, effortlessly. No need for impish guesswork.

These notes get longer with every tooth, and that’s barely noticed; they cause great excitement and are read over and over again. So many questions arise: How does a fairy carry a message? How can she hold a pen big enough to write letters that we can read? Is the ink made from berries? Often, the children write secret notes back with these questions and more, hiding them under their pillows.

They are very surprised when a fairy hasn’t collected hers (or his) after two or three days. They must be very busy, we agree.

…It’s as if the fairies secretly want the children to practise their decoding skills and, as if by magic, it’s nothing but pleasure.

There’s definitely an art to it.

And a fair bit of science. Honestly.

We have the same faries in our house 🙂

And then there’s Father Christmas… he usually does a tailor-made paragraph each! 🙂

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In my school we bought every pupil and teacher a copy of the same book and did something similar. In English lessons they did some analysis and worked on reading skills, the book we chose has historical links with science and history so they also did lessons relevant to the book in those subjects. In registration and other randomly selected lessons they read the book. It was brilliant, they keep asking when we’re doing it again. We called it a whole school read and genuinely every child and nearly every teacher read the same book.

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Which book did you read?

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David – I like your suggestions for reading literature aloud regardless of age.

The trouble with DEAR is that many people (most?) may be unaware of the prevalence of pupils skipping words when reading silently either because they cannot decode them, or cannot be bothered to decode them or cannot decode them readily or automatically. Fully literate readers skip new words (the longer more challenging new words) but could decode them if they had to (that is, come up with a pronunciation) and they may have ‘skipped’ the new words simply because of laziness. They still get the gist of the text so the skipping does not alter comprehension. What skipping words prevents, however, is the uptake of new words into spoken vocabulary because there is no associated pronunciation. As you know, we have endemic guessing of words by default or as a consequence of specific (flawed) teaching strategies. My point is that DEAR may leave many children in a sea of embedding guessing and skipping words rather than taking new vocabulary on board complete with pronunciations to transfer to spoken language. So – much better to spend precious time reading aloud and engaging young people in the world of literature as you suggest – so that a good book becomes the ‘in thing’ to share.

Thanks Debbie – you’re right about the role of pronunciation in vocabulary acquisition – the same is true of the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct words (i.e. spelling). This all goes to show just how important fluent decoding is even to highly skilled readers.

But being able to decode English fluently doesn’t necessarily help you with spelling. It does in many cases but not in all. Yet again, where there are strong dialect deviations from r.p., (e.g. ‘f’ for ‘th’ in London) it may well end up in two-way confusions e.g. ‘dithicult’ from my son.

Oh – and of course teach all pupils the alphabetic code well in the first place!

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Beautiful, well stocked libraries with the best up to date books would entice most children I reckon. But the reality is less alluring…tatty old books, or reading materials dictated by parents.

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Fab! I have ERIC time. Everyone reading in class. I used to have Indiv reading, paired reading group reading and a group listening to stories with headphones on CD. There’s also kindles now so that helps. I’d like to do it everyday but timetable restraints don’t allow this . I will try harder next term!!

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I’m a secondaty school English teacher in Ireland and always read the text to my classes (12-18yrs of age). This is mainly because of the various learning difficulties present but also because we all enjoy the experience. I attempted a one book one day event where various classes would spend all day reading the same book and the biggest obstacle was the staff. Their negative attitude affected the students. Maybe if I tried it iver a number of weeks this might improve.

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I teach in ks2 and have had some years where reading for pleasure has taken off, and others when it hasn’t. We ‘do’ guided reading, quiet reading, and we encourage the children vigorously to read at home. But the ‘take-off’ happens spontaneously. The most crucial thing I’ve done is to read to them. All children one year were reading (or having read to them) the Alex rider books; they played Alex games, formed clubs and designed gadgets. The last two years were David Walliams years. This year’s read has been the Wimpy Kid series, which I haven’t introduced, but I did provide plenty of books to borrow once I saw it taking off. They have been a pretty reluctant bunch, and I’m delighted – and they are proud that they’re reading longer books. Some are now branching out and reading other things too. I suppose it’s been a case of making reading normal and enjoyable – not forcing it, but going with the flow once it happens.

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Our problem is also teachers who don’t have time to read for themselves and have forgotten it is a pleasure and younger staff who haven’t read a range of ‘quality’ texts when they were at school as they went through being fed on the literacy hour so deep down they still have the urge to split all lessons into 3 parts! I have bought decent texts for each year group and then we have had to have training on how to use them effectively in class. We do class readers but again I have to stop them using it as a guided session and forcing individuals to read out loud – I was forced to read Emma and Tess of the D’Urbevilles like that at sixth form and can’t tell you how much I loathe both books as a result. Headteachers need to take the lead and show reading, allow reading, budget for reading and very actively encourage it every day – have just got all the staff a book voucher as an end of year pressure instead of another bottle of wine and we will display their book choices on the Autumn – fingers crossed I have no shades of grey fans!!!

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My kid’s English teacher set him a challenge to read Treasure Island at home this year, because she could see that he really enjoys reading outside of school and she wanted him to try something with vocabulary he might find tricky. This is not a comment on your blog, I just thought it was interesting that you mentioned this text as a challenging one. He’s in Year 7.

When I see that ‘read for 20 mins’ stat, I always think ‘is that all?’ My kids regularly read for an hour or more of an evening. Again not a comment on your blog, just a thought about where we set our expectations.

p.s. I put all the strategies I used with them to get them loving reading into this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seven-Reading-Pleasure-Alphabet-Sevens/dp/149448238X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436702305&sr=8-1&keywords=sue+cowley+reading+for+pleasure

Sue – you’re absolutely right! I’d ideally like children to read for much more than 25 mins a day but when the starting point is zero, I’ll take it 🙂

How’s your son getting on with Treasure Island? If he gets over the hump of the first few chapters he should be OK

He keeps defaulting to the other books he’s got in his ‘to read’ pile at the moment. I might sit down and read it with him over the summer though as I’d love to revisit it. I have a very happy memory of being taken to see the play of the book as a child.

[…] people are never happy. After writing my last post on how it might be possible to get students to read more, one commentator criticised that there was […]

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So many things here resonate, not least your comment about boredom and few other alternative attractions resulting in a childhood where many hours were spent reading! I am, and always have been, an avid reader who consumes books, papers, blogs etc. at every possible opportunity, including when I should be doing something else! My own children can all read well and are successful young adults but none of them choose to read other than occasionally on holiday. They are all far more active than me, and as a result probably healthier, but that’s another issue…… However, they all have wide and rich vocabularies, are able to express themselves well and have been successful in their educational achievements. My theory is that we read to them daily as young children and as a family we have always spent time talking things through, asking for and listening to their opinions and thoughts and supported them in developing the vocabulary to do this, which has perhaps compensated. However, many children do not have these advantages.

Having worked as a teacher and a SENCO in both primary and secondary schools, I have observed a significant number of children who find school difficult many of whom have struggled to regulate their behaviour within the classroom. Without fail the one thing all these young people were able to access and enjoy was a good story being read to them. They invariably engaged in discussions about the story and frequently asked great questions demonstrating a good understanding. Often they were the first to be ready for the story. Many were also increasingly motivated to work hard to develop their own reading skills, something they found extremely difficult. Anecdotal rather than scientific I know, but I instinctively think there’s something here that’s worth exploring further. I think sometimes we assume in secondary that all our students have the necessary vocabulary and relevant experiences to draw on to support their learning. Sadly this is often not the case. Everyone hearing the same good read over a period of time can only provide opportunities for language development; both through hearing the story and as a result of the discussions that I suspect would begin to take place. This is something I’ll certainly be looking to promote in my current school. A thought provoking post – as ever.

Thank you Anne – I think the reason your children have “wide and rich vocabularies, are able to express themselves well and have been successful in their educational achievements” is more complicated than that you read to them. Whilst there’s no such thing as a gene for reading, reading ability is strongly heritable. Worth having a look at this perhaps? https://www.learningspy.co.uk/literacy/reading-ability-nature-nurture/

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Thanks for this. I pitched the idea of DEAL – time today and the curriculum deputy has given the green light to 20 mins a day (rotating so not to hit same subjects) for a fortnight 3 times a year, initially with Years 7 and 8. The kids ‘literacy steering group’ have suggested teachers read either Horowitz’s version of Greek myths or Sherlock Holmes. Any thoughts on a) text choices and b) measuring impact? Cheers Paul Rees Lincoln

Either of those text choices sound fine. Measuring impact is impossible though. How can you really know the effect? What you could try is to give a vocab test before and after the test but I wouldn’t be confident that this will have much impact over such short time scales. Alternatively you could simply try surveying students about how much they enjoyed the experience.

Anyway, best of luck

Thanks. With regard to impact, I think I will content myself with finding out how many enjoy it and think we should do it again. I will ‘report back’ on the experience at a later date.

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Children should be allowed to read anything for pleasure not just fiction books. Magazines, non-fiction books, instructions on computer games such Age of Empires etc. I think it is a shame that anything other than fiction is so often ‘looked down upon’ by those who should be encouraging reading.

Of course children should allowed and encouraged to read everything and anything. But we should only spend curriculum time on high quality texts.

I disagree entirely. Arguably a ‘quality text’ is any text people love to read – most certainly any text that inspires reluctant readers to read. The ‘we know best’ attitude is half the problem.

You’re welcome to disagree, but here are my thoughts on this in more detail: https://www.learningspy.co.uk/reading/what-to-know-the-importance-of-cultural-capital/

There is of course value to understanding shared culture, heritage etc.

But that is additional, albeit possibly complementary to the challenge of inspiring a love of reading.

I think it’s a great shame that libraries, book shops and classrooms are filled with the same ‘quality texts’ determined by the biggest publishers with the biggest marketing budgets.

Better in my opinion for teachers to use the texts and subjects they love themselves, and then encourage the same by those they inspire. Nothing inspires more than somebody genuinely passionate about their subject.

At what stage does a story become a quality text?

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‘The book Whisperer’ by Donalyn Miller is certainly worth a read as it addresses many of these issues.

I think therein lies the conflict. Most people who read for pleasure even as adults do not read high quality texts/ whatever is good for them. They read what they like. Sure curriculum time should be spent on high quality texts but some time such as form time or English starters could be used to allow students to read what they like (unless it is inappropriate of course!). One whole school habit would be to check that children have reading material in their bag every morning and to have a class box of reading material including some items as First News etc

I thought most of the English language exam was based on non-fiction texts so why not allow children to read sports’ reports or popular science books by people they have seen on TV for example.

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As a school librarian, I have loved reading aloud to class groups that found it difficult or near impossible to settle into silent reading. I recall reading the Telltale Heart to one group of year 7s who paid good attention and really seemed to enjoy it.

On the other hand, I have also tried and failed to capture the attention of class groups with recordings of children’s literature or podcasts.

Could the success of reading aloud – the missing ingredient that it provides – be due to the fact that it is a personal and interactive experience that mimics parent-child intimacy? I think it’s hugely valuable, but I don’t feel it can replace the skills of concentration, application and focus that are required for independent reading.

Reading for pleasure compared to reading for study by researchers:

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/september/austen-reading-fmri-090712.html?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral

[…] https://www.learningspy.co.uk/reading/reading-for-pleasure/ […]

[…] Kids Share Book Recommendations. Use Online Reading Logs, Find Books At Their Reading Level. Mrs Mavrakis' Year 10 English Book Club. Wide reading program middle years. LITERAL The Hobbit Trailer. The Fantasy Shed. CAFE™ Kids Share Book Recommendations. Use Online Reading Logs, Find Books At Their Reading Level. Mrs Mavrakis' Year 10 English Book Club. The CAFE&0153; Menu. How do you get students to read for pleasure? […]

[…] students who find reading more difficult, it can result in a torturous experience. In this post, How do you get students to read for pleasure? David Didau posits the idea that reading to students is a viable alternative. In the context of a […]

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As the summer term came to an end and lessons were continually disrupted by summer events I gave up and began reading ‘Deepwood’ to Yr7, 8 and 9. I asked them to doodle as I read as long as it had something to do with what they heard. They all loved it. One class actually applauded at the end of one session! Their drawings were full of creativity and showed connection to the reading. I think the majority of us really enjoyed the experience. We are about to launch Accelerated Reader and have SLT support for D.E.A.R time, (20 mins a day). My biggest concern are the reluctant and lower ability students and how to support them in this process. I think giving teachers the option of reading aloud during D.E.A.R time may be a good option. Some great thoughts here.

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I have ages6/7 in my class. I read aloud at least 4 times a week. Pupils are more likely, in my opinion, to then choose that same book from the library and read it themselves.

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I agree. How many children don’t like reading as a result of never having been read to, I suspect it’s a significant percentage. Although, it seems some people don’t like fiction and make believe as they find it hard to suspend belief. I would like to do this with my form group. Also, it sets an example. One benefit of an older text like treasure island is students could buy their own copy quite cheaply if they want to read along. My form group is 11-16 so it would have to span the ages but keep them interested. When I was in year 6 my headteacher in year 6 read us A Tale of Two Cities which we were far too young for (I was a very strong reader at this age and had a wide political awareness for an 11 year old but it was too dry) and put me off Dickens to date. Nevertheless it still felt special that he took the time to read to us and he was good at it, but not as good as my Mum! She used to do a Winnie the Pooh assembly in secondary assemblies with voices and it was loved by all ages about giving and receiving graciously I would be quite tempted to start with an autobiography if not that well written. I think a lot of my students would enjoyFabrice Mwambe’s autobiography. Although it is while since I have read it so I would have to check its age appropriate. I like Ishmael Beah’s autobiography but it may be just too harrowing for younger students.

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DEAR (out loud) seems like a great opportunity to drop in some of what Debbie calls ‘incidental phonics’, picking out a couple of those longer words and/or more unusual spellings. I’m a phonics tutor for struggling readers and use this often to help children (incl my own) pay attention to the construction and spelling of more difficult words. You do have to have a really sound grasp of phonics though, or you’ll tie yourself up in knots with spellings and impossible spelling ‘rules’!

My son’s secondary school do DEAR and the sessions he seems to remember are the ones where a teacher is enthused about a book they are reading and shares it with the class. As he is a reluctant and formally ‘dyslexic’ reader, it’s lovely to hear him enjoy someone else’s passion. I still read to him at night, age 12, and have just finished ‘Grinny’ by Nicholas Fisk, old but “really excellent” he said.

Good post, thank you.

[…] Making time to read to children makes a difference… (this is of course assuming that the children are fluent readers and are able to read the texts independently and comprehend them). Thank you Learning Spy for this interesting post: https://www.learningspy.co.uk/reading/reading-for-pleasure/ […]

[…] to get the most out of school are those who also read widely at home. This is not an usual wish: see David Didau’s blog post on this. This needs to be part of a conversation that takes place between home and school. Parents often […]

[…] “There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.” Marcel Proust Reading seems to make us smarter. Here’s Keith Stanovich explaining why: For most people, this is uncontroversial. We talk a lot about the power of books and the need to get more children  […]

[…] might encourage children to read for pleasure to which children’s author Michael Rosen left a long & detailed comment critiquing my ideas. The comment included this […]

[…] very little on phonics. But that’s not the whole ‘only phonics’ argument. In this comment, children’s author, Michael Rosen […]

[…] then I read the Learning Spy’s blog on just this problem. His solution was to choose a shared text to read aloud to students. This ensures that all members […]

[…] schools. We get our knickers in a twist about trying to prove progress and other such nonsense. This post contains some ideas about how to get students to read for […]

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I have used a reading scheme that was differentiated for reluctant and weak readers with a fun activity at the end to measure understanding. This helps gauge which books to give which readers with a certificate given for completing each level. I got a year 9 not from an F to a D in a matter of months. It’s about having a range of genres and matching the child to a genre they enjoy. Let me know if you want more information.

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Hi Liz, I would love to learn more about your differentiated reading scheme. We have a three year KS4 and I am looking at finding ways to target the weaker and more reluctant readers to boost their skills at the start.

[…] How to get students to read more books (whole school strategy) […]

[…] be that they simply read what they find immediately gratifying? I’ve written before that asking how to get students to read for pleasure is the wrong question. If anyone works out how to get children to enjoy doing things they don’t want to do, […]

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Hi David, Really enjoyed reading this article – those are some powerful statistics and worth, I think, sharing with pupils so that they can see some of the additional benefits of ‘reading for pleasure’. I am currently enjoying some success with getting year 8 to read for pleasure. We have a library lesson each week. Every week I read the first chapter (or few pages, depending on length) of a new book to them. The selected books always come from class sets. They then can borrow the book to finish it that week, if they are interested. The class seem to love this approach and are always eager to borrow the book and return it by the following week. Since September, I’d say the average student in that class has read about 8 books, which I am really pleased with. I really think being read to makes all the difference. Thanks, as ever, for sharing your thoughts. Erin

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David I’ve read some things recently about schools scrapping homework and setting an expectation for pupils to read for 25 minutes each night instead. Have you come across any approaches like this in the secondary sector?

Yes. I think it’s a little misguided

[…] helping to change the reading culture amongst students. (I’ve written about this here.) […]

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Reading for Pleasure 'Bingo' homework activity and worksheet (KS2 KS3)

Reading for Pleasure 'Bingo' homework activity and worksheet (KS2 KS3)

Subject: English

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Novel Teaching UK

Last updated

3 December 2018

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reading for pleasure homework

Students stick the Bingo sheet in the front of their exercise books.

They can then choose any of the reading challenges that they would like to complete in their spare time (or set one for homework!)

Students fill out a worksheet for each of the tasks, stick it in their exercise book and cross off the Bingo square.

If they complete 5 tasks in a row they get a certificate and win a prize!

I have included the ppt so that tasks and worksheets can be amended. I have also included PDF versions of the worksheets so that they can be printed easily.

Please leave a review if you found this helpful or browse my online store for more resources: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/NovelTeachingUK

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A very quick & easy homework task. It saved me making my own & has some good ideas on it.

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stack of books

Some sample reading goals: 

To find a paper topic or write a paper;

To have a comment for discussion;

To supplement ideas from lecture;

To understand a particular concept;

To memorize material for an exam;

To research for an assignment;

To enjoy the process (i.e., reading for pleasure!).

Seeing Textbook Reading in a New Light Students often come into college with negative associations surrounding textbook reading. It can be dry, dense, and draining; and in high school, sometimes we're left to our textbooks as a last resort for learning material.

A supportive resource : In college, textbooks can be a fantastic supportive resource. Some of your faculty may have authored their own for the specific course you're in!

Textbooks can provide:

A fresh voice through which to absorb material. Especially when it comes to challenging concepts, this can be a great asset in your quest for that "a-ha" moment.

The chance to “preview” lecture material, priming your mind for the big ideas you'll be exposed to in class.

The chance to review material, making sense of the finer points after class.

A resource that is accessible any time, whether it's while you are studying for an exam, writing a paper, or completing a homework assignment. 

Textbook reading is similar to and different from other kinds of reading . Some things to keep in mind as you experiment with its use:

Is it best to read the textbook before class or after?

Active reading is everything, apply the sq3r method., don’t forget to recite and review..

If you find yourself struggling through the readings for a course, you can ask the course instructor for guidance. Some ways to ask for help are: "How would you recommend I go about approaching the reading for this course?" or "Is there a way for me to check whether I am getting what I should be out of the readings?" 

Marking Text

Marking text – making marginal notes – helps with reading comprehension by keeping you focused and facilitating connections across readings. It also helps you find important information when reviewing for an exam or preparing to write an essay. The next time you’re reading, write notes in the margins as you go or, if you prefer, make notes on a separate sheet of paper. 

Your marginal notes will vary depending on the type of reading. Some possible areas of focus:

What themes do you see in the reading that relate to class discussions?

What themes do you see in the reading that you have seen in other readings?

What questions does the reading raise in your mind?

What does the reading make you want to research more?

Where do you see contradictions within the reading or in relation to other readings for the course?

Can you connect themes or events to your own experiences?

Your notes don’t have to be long. You can just write two or three words to jog your memory. For example, if you notice that a book has a theme relating to friendship, you can just write, “pp. 52-53 Theme: Friendship.” If you need to remind yourself of the details later in the semester, you can re-read that part of the text more closely. 

Accordion style

If you are looking for help with developing best practices and using strategies for some of the tips discussed above, come to an ARC workshop on reading!

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Why is reading for pleasure important?

Reading for pleasure is an incredibly important part of a child’s cognitive and social development. It can be done together with adults to give learners a sense of security, confidence and happiness. Reading can also help learners to relax, which is extremely important in today’s busy world.

There are few things as powerful as devoting time to reading with your learners.

Children who enjoy reading for fun are more likely to read for enjoyment throughout their lives. They are also more likely to develop a lifelong love of reading which will help them in all areas of life.

Looking for lesson ideas and resources to help in the classroom? Check out this series of activities for Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee.

Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee classroom activities and resources

Is it important to enjoy reading?

In one report, reading enjoyment is reported as more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status (OECD, 2002).

But shockingly, 55% of 0-2-year-olds are not read to every day by their parents (National Literacy Trust, 2020).

Children who are read to are more likely to become readers themselves. They are also more likely to read for pleasure in the future.

Surely, this is what we want for future generations.

reading for pleasure homework

What impact does reading have on children?

Reading is an essential part of life. It connects us to other people, helps us to think and feel differently and allows us to travel without moving. Reading is also one of the main ways that we learn. It is not just about reading books and stories, it’s also about developing a lifelong love of learning.

We know the habit of reading can create life-long benefits , including: 

  • Developing a life-long love of learning
  • Advancing vocabulary and literacy skills (being able to read with confidence)
  • Opening their imaginations up to possibility and creativity by exposing them to new ideas, people, and places through stories
  • Improving life chances at school and beyond (better grades, better jobs etc.) 
  • Better mental health & wellbeing. Being able to switch off from technology by going on a reading adventure is incredibly helpful for young minds! When your learners are able to relax after a busy day or week at school, they will be happier.

What are the benefits of reading for pleasure?

1) reading for pleasure improves language and comprehension skills.

Reading helps children develop their vocabulary by exposing them to new words and concepts. As they read more, they become more familiar with these words and concepts. This makes it easier for children to understand more complex texts later on in school.

Improvement in children’s writing, vocabulary and comprehension skills are all linked to reading for pleasure. Children who enjoy reading are also better at understanding what they read. This means they can pick up new words much more quickly than those who don’t read as often.

2) Reading helps to build empathy skills

Reading for pleasure is also beneficial for emotional well-being. Spending time with characters in stories helps children develop empathy for others. Understanding different perspectives on life situations is something we all need to be able to do.

One of the most important skills that children need to master is empathy. The development of empathy can be helped by spending time with a wide range of characters in stories. Reading also allows a child to think about how others might feel and what they might do in certain situations.

Reading about other people’s lives can make us more aware of their experiences and help us understand how others feel. This makes it easier for people to see things from someone else’s perspective rather than just our own viewpoint.

 3) Reading promotes positive emotions such as joy and enthusiasm

 Children who enjoy reading tend to be happier overall because they have found something they love doing! ​​Children who enjoy reading tend to be more open-minded when it comes time for homework or school projects because they have already experienced the positive aspects of learning something new through reading!

4) Reading promotes curiosity about the world around us

Children who read regularly will want to know more about the world around them. They may wonder what other people do in other countries or how dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. They will want to ask questions and learn more about the world they live in. This will help them develop their communication skills as well as build their knowledge base!

Reading can also help young people understand difficult concepts such as death or divorce through books where they may find comfort in knowing that others have felt the same way too!

5) Reading for pleasure helps learners to achieve in school

Reading has been linked with better grades in school as well as higher levels of concentration when studying. Also linked to reading is an improved ability to pay attention and work independently without distraction. These are both skills which are essential when learning new material or working on homework!

Reading for pleasure is an factor in predicting later academic achievement. Children who read for pleasure are more likely to enjoy learning, succeed at school and achieve good levels of education. They also have higher levels of self-esteem, confidence and problem solving skills than those who do not read frequently.

Image which reads "Books can facilitate in development of children's emotions, morals and understanding of the world around them.

The benefits of reading for pleasure are clear: reading improves vocabulary and language skills, it builds emotional intelligence, and it teaches kids how to think critically. As a parent or educator, you want your child to be successful in school and life. Reading for pleasure is one of the best ways to support this success.

Why is reading for pleasure so important for children?

Reading helps children learn about the world around them and develop an appreciation for others’ experiences. Reading and learning to read connects learners with the world around them. When a child reads a book, they are not only learning how to read the words, but they are also exploring concepts and ideas. 

Reading for pleasure is important for children because it sparks their imagination, improves their empathy and helps them learn to love learning. Reading for pleasure is also important for children because it helps them develop essential literacy skills. 

Overall, reading is crucial for learning and development. 

Reading is crucial for learning and development and yet many children are missing out on the joy of reading and the benefits it brings.

What are the barriers to reading at home with children?

​​Reading for pleasure is so important for children, but it’s often not given the attention it deserves. Why?

It’s estimated that children spend an average of seven hours per day with digital media. That’s more time than they spend sleeping or eating! And this doesn’t even include the time they spend on homework or chores. When you add all these activities together, it may feel like there isn’t much time left for reading, from the perspective of parents and children alike. 

Image of parents reading together with a child. Everyone is engaged with reading.

Further to this, in the United Kingdom, 1 in 11 children don’t own a book of their own, and there is a real difference between the reading habits of children from different socio-economic backgrounds. You can get your learners more access to enchanting eBooks with Reading Hub.

“Life is too busy”

In a recent survey by the National Literacy Trust, 43% of parents said they did not read enough with their children because life is too busy. Other reasons included: “I don’t know what sort of stories my child likes reading” and “finding time in our family routine to fit in regular story times together.” 

Other barriers include financial issues, language, or literacy problems themselves (as reported by parents who have struggled with education), social isolation, lack of access to books at home and lack of support from partners/other carers.

What holds parents back from reading at home with learners?

  • Time  

There are many reasons why parents don’t read to their children at home. One reason is that some parents do not have time to read with their children as often as they would like. Many people are busy with work and other responsibilities, which make it difficult to find time to read with their children on a daily basis. 

  • Lack of understanding

Another reason is that some parents believe that reading aloud is only important when they have older children who can understand what they are reading. In reality, it is important for parents to read aloud with younger children so that they can begin building those foundational skills early in life. 

Imagine that your child has just finished a book and wants to talk about it. What do you do? Parents might think that a learner is too young to understand what the book is about, or that he or she won’t be interested in reading. But it’s important to remember that young children are excellent listeners and can learn from their parents’ conversations about books.

  • Difficulty finding relevant reading materials 

Finally, some people say that if their child does not enjoy reading or if they don’t understand what they are reading then it may not be worth continuing this practice. If this happens, then it might be best for parents to try something else instead of continuing to force something that just isn’t working out for them. Every child can find a love of reading, they just need to find the right book! 

How can you encourage parental engagement with reading?

One top tip to share with parents of your learners is to read with them regularly – ideally every day! Parents and carers should be encouraged to create a routine by setting aside 15 minutes each day to sit down together and read. The more time spent reading together, the more likely learners will want to continue doing it as they grow older. And if they read regularly from an early age, they’ll learn that reading is something that happens every day – which makes it easier for them to pick up a book on their own later on too!

What are some top tips for promoting reading at home?

Reading for pleasure doesn’t just happen. It needs to be encouraged and supported by adults in the home. Here are some tips to share with parents of your learners:

  • Create a book nook or reading area in your home where children can go when they want to read or relax. Make sure it’s somewhere quiet and comfortable where children will feel safe and happy.
  • Make sure there are plenty of books around the house – not just on their bookshelves but also on display tables or coffee tables, so that they catch their eye when they walk past them. You could even make sure there’s always a different book ready for bedtime stories each night!
  • Don’t be afraid to give children books as presents – they will love them! We love giving books as gifts because they last forever and can bring hours of enjoyment.

Best books to read at home

reading for pleasure homework

The best books to read at home with children are those that capture their imagination, introduce new ideas and worlds, and make them laugh!

Ultimately, the books must be completely tailored to the child’s interests, ability, age, and hobbies.

As children develop, the books they read will change and grow with them. 

Children’s interests are diverse and can include things like sport, animals, and music. Tailoring book choices is key, but time in schools is scarce! Our Reading Hub software offers personalised recommendations for each individual learner, giving them the opportunity to build a library they love.

Why is it important to create good reading habits across home and school?

Good reading habits at home can be life-changing (which is why we developed our reading for pleasure software, Reading Hub) . Children who read for pleasure are more likely to do well at school , are less likely to get into trouble with the police and have better mental health and wellbeing than those who don’t (National Literacy Trust, 2020). Linking reading at school with reading at home is one step closer to building good habits.

We must remember that life doesn’t always plan out how we want it to! Parents getting comfortable with reading together every single evening may prove challenging if family life is hectic or unpredictable. By educating and empowering parents through introducing simple routines and access to books we increase the chances of these habits being formed.

It is so important for all adults to model good reading habits in front of children. By showing your learners that you enjoy reading yourself, they will see it as a normal part of life and feel inspired by your example. Additionally, a lot of learners want to understand why something has happened, and that’s where reading for meaning can come in handy to help them understand the text.

Reading for pleasure is an exceptionally powerful habit for your learner to develop. Like all habits, it needs consistency and repetition to properly embed itself in children’s lives.

How can reading for pleasure be encouraged in a classroom setting?

Reading for pleasure is an essential part of a child’s development and is crucial in nurturing their love of learning. As a teacher, you can help create an environment where your learners are encouraged to read as often as possible.

If your learners are reading books that are too difficult for them, they may lose confidence in their abilities as readers. If they aren’t enjoying what they’re reading, this will also lead to poor engagement levels with books which can lead to a loss of motivation when it comes to reading independently. The best way to ensure that your learners are gaining the most from their reading experiences is by choosing age-appropriate texts that meet their needs as readers – but make sure there’s something for everyone in the class!

​​It’s important that children read books that reflect their interests. If your learners love animals but all you have in your classroom or library are picture books about trains or toys, then he or she will become bored with reading and lose interest in learning how to read.

To conclude, reading for pleasure is one of the most important skills that a child can learn. Reading for pleasure helps to develop their language, imagination, and creativity. It also helps children to understand more about the world around them and develop vital social-emotional skills.

Would you like to encourage your learners to read for pleasure? Reading Hub can help you!

Related articles:.

The reading solution that provides learners with greater access to books
Promoting parental engagement: how to get your learners reading more

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How This Teacher Sparks a Love of Reading for Pleasure

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Editor’s Note: Click on the words highlighted in this story to pull up a definition and short research summary.

Owings Mills, Md. - Jackie Chaney conducts her 2nd grade class with the finesse of a seasoned conductor: gaining her students’ attention at will, facilitating smooth transitions, and creating an atmosphere that promotes wiggling around in one’s space for a moment before plunging into deep and focused concentration.

Much of Chaney’s expertise comes from sheer experience: She’s been presiding over elementary school classrooms for well over a decade. But Chaney, who teaches at New Town Elementary, a majority-minority school here, acknowledges the increasing difficulty of getting students to engage in activities that require sustained focus, such as independent reading.

The allure of electronic devices, with their dynamic and fast-moving screens that allow children to enjoy passive entertainment with very little effort, pose stiff competition to activities like reading books. The pandemic tipped the balance further; many children were isolated and bored during remote schooling and the shuttering of extracurriculars, and screen time skyrocketed.

New data strongly hints at the consequences: More than 80 percent of the nearly 300 educators surveyed reported a decrease in reading stamina among students in grade 3 to 8 since 2019, according to an EdWeek Research Center survey conducted in November and December of 2023.

The impact of the pandemic notwithstanding, statistics show that interest in reading wanes throughout childhood, beginning at about age 9, a phenomenon that the educational publishing company Scholastic Corporation has dubbed “Decline by Nine.”

There are plenty of reasons to push reading for pleasure before that. Engaging in the pursuit from a very young age has been linked to an array of benefits. A 2023 study that analyzed the impact of the activity on more than 10,000 young adolescents found improved cognitive performance, language development, academic achievement, and even reduced symptoms of stress and behavioral problems compared to peers who weren’t routine pleasure readers. And it can spark students’ curiosity and improve their motivation, which a body of research connects to academic success.

These factors lend a sense of urgency to the work of teachers like Chaney as they attempt to hook their students on reading for pleasure while they can.

Education Week sought to get a firsthand account of how an experienced teacher like Chaney makes pleasure reading a viable, accessible, and attractive option for students. She shared her favorite strategies, from common-sense tips to special in-class activities during which reading is central to the experience.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Have you seen a dwindling interest in pleasure reading among students over the years?

When I first started teaching, we were able to have reading logs and assign reading homework that was signed and supported by parents/guardians at home. I have definitely seen a change over the years in regard to reading engagement.

How important is student choice in reading? What book series are popular right now?

Student interest has a huge impact on the desire to read; including books in a class or schoolwide library that are popular and relevant will greatly increase reading interest and stamina. Dog Man , Amulet , Dork Diaries, and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series are all super popular. When students are able to select books that they want to read, that is half the battle in actually getting them to read. And, like with everything, the more students read and have good reading structures, the better they become.

How do you find the time in a packed school day to make pleasure reading a priority?

I do a lot to encourage easy access to choice reading. For example, each student has a book box. Students are able to select three to five books of their choice each week from the school library or my classroom library, and switch them out as needed. I also purchase each child a book box from Lakeshore [an educational materials company].

I house them on shelves in our classroom reading area. They have opportunities to read after morning work or during reading rotations. Students can get a comfy pillow or read with a buddy on a floor spot. I find that when I allow students to read together, I definitely get more excitement and willingness to read.

What are some other ways that you make pleasure reading feel special?

We do something called “Flashlight Friday” during the cold or rainy months. Students get their book boxes, I grab my book, and we turn out all the lights in the classroom. I pull the blinds and we read by flashlight. The kids love this! Sometimes we put on a fireplace on YouTube and read by the fire. They love when I grab my book and read with them.

Students often read in partners but occasionally a small trio will read together. I often buy multiple copies of books for this reason. It warms my heart when a group creates their own reading book club.

How do you make time during instructional periods to fit in reading?

During language-arts class, I divide students into small groups that include novel studies. I run these like book clubs. We may meet for lunch or what I call “breakfast bunch” to read and discuss the book I’ve chosen for the group to read, share opinions, and work on our speaking and listening skills.

Currently, we are reading Stuart Little . Of course, the majority of my kiddos responded that they had seen the movie. I explained that the book and movie may be different, so read carefully. I incorporate questioning and modeling of good reading behaviors to increase their reading stamina and willingness to read.

Lunch bunches are a particular favorite of students. I bring a small reading group once or twice a week to eat with me in the classroom. We usually read a chapter, talk about story events, share reading responses and projects, and really just develop fellowship around reading. You would think that students would perhaps be hesitant to work during lunch, but they love it!

Breakfast bunches have begun to be even more popular. I grab Dunkin’ Donuts and some juice boxes, and the first 30 minutes of the day we meet for breakfast while the other students begin morning routines. Each group has a turn so there are no issues with it being fair. I always feel like I need more time to fit in reading, so this is something that I can do to get more reading time and start students’ day off positively.

Words Used in Story

Reading "stamina":

The notion that students must gradually be able to read texts for sustained periods of time as they progress through school and are expected to gain knowledge from their reading. Although research has connected various features of text, including its length, diction, and syntax, to estimates of how difficult a text is to read, there is not much research on how to build stamina among students.

See the full list of words used in this special report in our glossary here.

Conceptual image of word puzzle with key words: Schema, Comprehension, Morphology, Reading Stamina, Vocabulary

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For the love of books

Balancing Reading For Academics & Pleasure From A Fellow College Student

Finding balance is not easy. As a struggling college student who adores reading, it’s definitely a trial and error process when it comes to the balance. Let’s talk.

reading for pleasure homework

I’m going to address the elephant in the room that no one is talking about. Reading is hard. College is hard. Reading in college is even harder. I’m constantly seeing Bookstagram accounts that are doing both (reading and classes), but we aren’t talking about the difficulty of both. I definitely haven’t had the easiest time through college, but I’m here to give you my tips and tricks on how I’ve balanced reading for pleasure and my reading for classes.

Let me give you a little insight into what my college career has been like so you get an idea of what I have had to plan around. I am graduating this December with a BA in English while minoring in Business. For the past few semesters, all of my classes have been writing enhanced , as my university says. By them being writing enhanced, it also means that they’re reading enhanced .

I’m taking five classes right now and every. single. one. is reading and writing enhanced. At any one time, you can find me reading at least four different academic books, along with several academic articles, and writing two or three papers in a week. On top of that, I’m working here at Bookstr and (attempting) to publish articles a few times a week while working behind the scenes with the rest of our time here.

It suffices to say, I’m well-versed in the balancing act that comes with my college and professional career. Here’s how I’ve done it for the past few years.

Scheduling Reading Time

Don’t even come at me with the, “oh, scheduling time to read takes the fun out of reading.” Lies. A bigger lie has never been told. You don’t have to have a rigid schedule to follow, just a skeleton outline of something like, “Okay, I’m doing three hours of homework and then going to take an hour to unwind and let my brain reset before I get back to work.” However, you do have to have enough self-discipline to put the book down when your hour is up.

Notion Can Be Your Best Friend

If you are someone who enjoys a more structured timeframe type deal, then by all means! Being able to find balance is all about what works for you personally. For me, I tend to oscillate between needing a super-defined schedule and having no idea what I’m doing within the next three hours.

Sometimes, you’ll get to the point where you think, “No. I just can’t read for pleasure during the week.” And if that’s the case, then please set that boundary for yourself.

A common thread through this article will be me telling you that the balance is entirely up to you.

reading for pleasure homework

Proper TBR Management Is Key

Sometimes my TBR list feels too daunting for me to tackle, so I often have to take a step back from it and reflect on what I’m doing with my life anymore to have almost two hundred books that I want to read… yeah that sentence is kind of what goes on in my head on the daily. If you’re needing a bit of help with your TBR organization and management, we’ve got you covered here .

reading for pleasure homework

Reading During The Pauses Of Life

This is a big one, in my opinion. So much of the time, I’ll find myself mindlessly scrolling on my phone. I’m hardly ever doing anything important (I’m not that popular). So if you’re looking over my shoulder, you’ll see me switching between the same three apps.

reading for pleasure homework

Always Have A Book On Hand

My biggest advice here is that, if you were going to be on your phone anyway, just swap it for a book! In between classes? Read a book! Waiting for your professor to show up? Read a book! Commuting to school? Listen to an audiobook! Or, if you’re taking public transportation, read a book!

There’s absolutely no shame in breaking out a book in public! Even if some of these crazy-covered romance ones like these .

Procrastination Is The Devil, Mama Said That

This is a good way to force yourself to read. By always having a book on-hand, you’ll have no other option but to read.

Always Remember That There are No Guidelines You HAVE To Follow

Like Ferris Bueller says, “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.” If you’re taking the time and making an active effort to read, then you’re still a reader. That’s one of the big things that I struggle with. Sometimes I feel like if I’m not constantly reading a new book every other week, or posting a new review on Goodreads, then I’m lesser in some way. And that’s just simply not true. There’s no simpler way that I can say this to make it true.

reading for pleasure homework

Sage Words Of Advice From A College Student

Reading is meant to be fun. Reading (for me) acts as a form of escapism from the stressful life that I lead as a college student. Unfortunately, I’ll get to a point where I think looking at another piece of literature (no matter what kind) will make me want to throw the offending item across the room. So it’s also important to know your limits when it comes to balancing your reading and academics.

Don’t Gauge Yourself By The Amount You Read

The amount of books you read during the semester will struggle. This is pure fact. You shouldn’t beat yourself up about this. Instead, change the narrative.

Gauge yourself by how much you enjoyed the books. By how much you understood the book. By if you would recommend that particular book to your friends.

Set Achievable Goals For Yourself

I think that setting goals are something that everyone should do, for anything they’re doing. Reading especially.

When it comes to homework, reading for pleasure, and balancing a paying job, setting goals and rewarding yourself when you reach those goals will help you get into the habit of being productive. Pavlov, loves!

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There’s no sure-fire method for balancing your college coursework and reading books for pleasure. The balancing act is something that you have to decipher yourself. Will it take you a while? Maybe, it did for me. Sometimes it takes doing a 24-hour writing marathon with friends or joining a book club to get you balanced. Keep in mind that you are not lesser for reading less or your reading time slowing.

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In a recent article published in the Bookseller, Sian Bayley quoted the chief executive of the School Library Association, Alison Tarrant, as saying that “the full functioning school library […] does reading for pleasure but also does reading for learning and information literacy”. 

Guess what? There is recent evidence showing that “reading for pleasure” makes a strong contribution to both “learning and information literacy” and language and literacy development. 

First, language and literacy development. Those who do more self-selected reading, as many of us know, spell better, have larger vocabularies, better grammar, write better, and of course read better, and several studies confirm that pleasure reading has a stronger effect on literacy development than formal "study" does. This has been widely documented, including in my book,  The Power of Reading , 2004. One example from a paper I wrote alongside Shu-Yuan Lin and Fay Shin considers the case of "Sophia" , a secondary school student once classified as limited English proficient but eventually considered fluent in English. Her school administered an English reading test at the beginning of each academic year as well as the end, expecting an improvement over the course of the school year. Sophia, however, got worse, scoring lower in the spring than she had in the fall. But when she took the test again in the following fall, her score was clearly higher than it was in the fall the year before.

What did she do over the summer? Self-selected reading for pleasure in English, from books she found in the local public library, averaging about 50 books each summer. Early favourites were the Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley High series, after which Sophia moved on to the Christy Miller series and other books by Francine Pascal. No book reports, and no "study".  According to Sophia’s mother, Sophia was so busy with school work during the school year that she had very little free time for pleasure reading. Her mother joked that it might be a good idea to keep her daughter home during the school year so she could continue to improve on standardised tests of reading.

Self-selected pleasure reading shows promise of being a very efficient and pleasant way to stimulate...literacy and language development. If so, full-functioning school libraries are far more valuable than we ever thought.

In addition to the positive effect of pleasure reading on language development, we now know that self-selected pleasure reading is an important source of knowledge. Those who read more, know more. The breakthrough study in this area was done in 1993, by Stanovich and Cunningham (Journal of Educational Psychology 85, 2: 211-229). The subjects were first and second-year university students in the US who were administered a series of tests designed to cover a number of topics, including science, social studies, current events, personal finance, health, “daily living technology,” cultural knowledge and “multicultural literacy”.

An example of a finance question was, “What is the term for the amount of money charged for a loan and calculated as a percentage of that loan?”; a science question was, “In what part of the body does the infection called pneumonia occur?”; for social science, “Where is the Panama Canal?”. Subjects were asked if they recognised names such as Linus Pauling, Isaac Newton and Bertrand Russell. In short, the tests as a group included the general knowledge we would like secondary school graduates to have. Subjects were also asked about their familiarity with current authors and magazines, using author identification (e.g. Stephen King, Maja Angelou) and title recognition tests ( Forbes ,  Ladies Home Journal ). These two measures combined made up a measure of “print exposure”.  

Print exposure was by the far the best predictor of the combined tests of knowledge described above. Of great interest, high school grades was a much weaker predictor and did not reach statistical significance. Performance on tests of reading comprehension, mathematics and analytic thinking (Raven Matrices) reached statistical significance but were far weaker predictors than print exposure. Exposure to TV had no value as a predictor of general knowledge.

A plausible interpretation of these results: reading current popular authors and magazines results in more general knowledge than “study” (as reflected by grade point average). 

What about homework? Increasing the amount of homework assigned to students is a common way of attempting to stimulate more learning, but it is not supported by research. Kohn (2007) concludes that "there is absolutely no evidence of any academic benefit from assigning homework in elementary or middle school. At the high school level, the correlation is weak and tends to disappear when more sophisticated statistical measures are applied." He also found that “no study has ever substantiated the belief that homework builds character or teaches good study habits.”

In his book The Homework Myth , Kohn also points out that the only homework some teachers give “is to ask children to read books of their own choosing"; a “satisfying policy...because sustained reading...helps children to become more proficient readers...[and] the research supporting that conclusion is as powerful as the research supporting homework is weak” (citing my aforementioned book). 

Self-selected pleasure reading shows promise of being a very efficient and pleasant way to stimulate more subject matter learning and more literacy and language development. If so, full-functioning school libraries are far more valuable than we ever thought.

Stephen Krashen

Stephen Krashen

Stephen Krashen is currently Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Southern California. Krashen has contributed to the fields of bilingual education, neurolinguistics, second language acquisition and literacy. He invites you to follow him on Twitter @skrashen.

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Should Schools Assign Summer Homework? Educators Weigh In

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School’s almost out for summer. Should students clear out their lockers and leave empty-handed—or laden down with stacks of math problems and required reading lists? Will teachers warn of repercussions for failing to turn in summer work assignments upon returning to school in the fall, or simply advise students to have fun and stay safe?

It depends on whom you ask.

It turns out that not all educators share the same perspective on whether to assign summer homework, who needs it most, what it should consist of, and how to make sure it gets done. Education Week put the question to state teachers of the year and representatives of statewide principals associations. Here’s what they had to say.

Play and pleasure reading prioritized by many educators

Play and pleasure reading topped the list of responses to the question: What summer homework should students be assigned? Teachers (of both young and older students) were more likely than the principals who responded to suggest that kids need a break in the summer.

“For young children, specifically pre-K to grade 3, I feel that over the summer children need to have their summer break and be provided with the opportunity to explore, get plenty of physical activity, and play. Children learn from play. Play teaches children about problem-solving and social interactions,” said Tara Hughes, a pre-K inclusion teacher at the Nye Early Childhood Center in Santa Fe who was voted 2023 New Mexico State Teacher of the Year.

“Students should have no formal ‘homework'—worksheets or practice books,” said Lori Danz, who is Wisconsin’s 2023 State Teacher of the Year. She teaches high school biology and serves as a school forest coordinator, overseeing outdoor learning. in the Superior school district in the northern part of the state. “I think it’s good for students and families to get away from that, and learn in authentic ways: hiking, cooking, fixing things. So much learning happens that way. We forget that it’s learning.”

Danz acknowledged that not every family has the same amount of free time or resources available to them during the summer. But she added that many districts, including her own, offer free enrichment activities at local schools during the summer that provide activities such as sports, crafts, and physical fitness.

While “play” was a popular response to the question of what type of work kids should be assigned in the summer, some educators suggested that students of all ages read during break to stay sharp.

“Reading for pleasure authentically enhances many academic skills such as cultivating a love for reading, improves reading and writing skills, develops concentration, encourages creativity and imagination, and allows children to be more open to differences and perspectives,” said Krystal Colbert, a 2nd grade teacher at Mitchellville Elementary in Iowa’s Southeast Polk school district, and another Teacher of the Year.

One teacher took the reading directive a step further. Brian Skinner, a high school special education teacher with the Newton Unified school district 373 in Kansas and the state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year, said he thinks students should spend time regularly writing and reading for pleasure. “Not only that, but I believe it is important to read from actual books versus phones or other technology,” Skinner said. It’s a belief shared by some literacy experts , too.

Which students most need summer work?

Educators offered a range of opinions when asked which students most need summer work. Principals interviewed for this article were more likely than teachers to feel students should be doing summer work.

“How good is a golfer that takes a three-month break with no practice? Even if you do not play nine or 18 holes regularly, you can go the range, you can chip, you can practice putting,” said Jerald A. Barris, a high school principal at the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School in Midland, Pa., and a regional representative for the Pennsylvania Principals Association.

Ed Roth, the principal of Penncrest High School in Media, Pa., believes in math homework over the summer for high school students. “In mathematics, it is important for students to have some review and skills practice so that they do not need to spend the first marking period reviewing prior learning, therefore taking away their ability to cover all necessary content for their current course,” he said. Roth’s perspective, which suggests the loss of skills during summer break, has been well-documented in recent research .

But other educators favor a more tailored approach to summer work.

Danz, the Wisconsin high school biology teacher, said that she believes all students need a break from homework but added this caveat: “You can always find exceptions…students who may need remedial practice.”

Fabiana Parker, the 2023 Virginia Teacher of the Year, agreed. A teacher of English learners at Thornburg Middle School in Spotsylvania County, Va., Parker said “it is essential to take into account the unique needs of each student” when it comes to summer work. She elaborated with an account of her own children, recalling how she established a routine of daily math practice during the summer but only for her daughter who struggled with math and, in Parker’s assessment, needed the additional support.

Other educators said they are more likely to assign summer work to students on an accelerated track. Such is the case for Michael Ida, Hawaii’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. He teaches at Kalani High School in Honolulu. Ida said that, for most high school students, he recommends no summer work other than reading for pleasure. But he makes an exception for students who choose to enroll in more rigorous courses.

“I teach AP Calculus, and those students do have some required review work to complete over the summer,” Ida said. He gives them math problems that he has created—both routine review problems and more substantial problem solving exercises that emphasize logical thinking and communication.

A creative approach to summer work

Summer should be synonymous with creative learning, some educators emphasized. “Summer is a time to continue learning in the way that every child in every classroom should be taught, with a focus on each child’s passions and strengths and in the way that is most effective for them,” said Catherine Matthews, a pre-K special education teacher at Hyalite Elementary School in Bozeman, Mont., and the state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.

“If a child is struggling with fractions but loves to cook, allow them to practice their math skills while doing something that they love. If they need to practice their reading fluency, allow them to choose books of personal interest,” Matthews added.

Second grade teacher Colbert expressed a desire for kids to experience the type of old-fashioned summer that, for countless students, no longer exists. “My wish is that all kids are outside exploring the beautiful world around them, interacting with their friends and family, growing their inquisitive minds, fostering their creativity, and limiting the use of technology,” she said.

Who’s responsible for making sure summer work gets done?

Assigning summer work is one thing; monitoring its completion is another.

Pennsylvania high school principal Barris said parents are ultimately responsible for making sure their kids do the work. “I believe it should fall on the parents for the most part with opportunities, suggestions, and strategies provided by the school in concert with the community where the child resides,” he said, while acknowledging this challenge. “That said,” he added, “getting my 11-year-old to read and practice his skills in the summer is easier said than done.”

A version of this article appeared in the June 14, 2023 edition of Education Week as Should Schools Assign Summer Homework? Educators Weigh In

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One-third of Australian children can't read properly as teaching methods cause 'preventable tragedy', Grattan Institute says

A young boy looking at a sheet of paper with words on it

One-third of Australian students are failing to learn to read proficiently, at an estimated cost to the economy of $40 billion, according to a new report.

The Grattan Institute's Reading Guarantee report calls this a "preventable tragedy" caused by persisting with teaching styles popular at universities, but "contrary to science" and discredited by inquiries in all major English-speaking countries.

"In a typical Australian school classroom of 24 students, eight can't read well," said report lead author and Grattan education program director Jordana Hunter. 

"Australia is failing these children."

The estimated cost of this "failure" was profound both personally and economy-wide, with students unable to read proficiently more likely to become disruptive at school and unemployed or even jailed later in life, the report concluded. 

Dr Hunter said the "conservative" financial estimate amounted to a "really significant cost" that did not include productivity benefits from increased reading. 

Students left to 'guess' meaning of words

The Grattan Institute attributed the major cause of its findings to the rise of a teaching style called "whole language", which became dominant on university campuses in the 1970s. 

It is underpinned by a philosophy that learning to read is a natural, unconscious process that students can master by being exposed to good literature. 

Proponents say it empowers young people by giving them autonomy. 

However, Grattan said it left students to "guess" the meaning of words and was saddling parents with expensive tuition costs to help their children catch up.

After decades of the so-called reading wars , "whole language" has incorporated elements of other approaches such as phonics, but Grattan said it remained "light touch" and "contrary to scientific recommendations". 

"What we need to do is set our expectations higher. We need to stop accepting failure," Dr Hunter said.

"It's not good enough that one in three students are not where they need to be in reading."

The Grattan Institute said evidence showed a much greater number of students learned to read successfully using the alternative "structured literacy" approach, and at least 90 per cent of students would be proficient using this model. 

Small laminated bits of paper with phonics on them are seen in a classroom

"Structured literacy" includes phonics, but also teacher-led "explicit instruction" backed by the latest science on how children's brains learn new concepts. 

"The quality of teaching is the thing that will shift the dial for our young people," Dr Hunter said. 

"We need to make the most of every single minute we have with our young people." 

Why are some schools still not using phonics?

Despite major inquiries in Australia, the United Kingdom and United States settling the argument that structured literacy teaching is superior, that hasn't flowed to all classrooms, the Grattan Institute says. 

It said where school systems had embraced it, students had  reaped the rewards . 

Australia's 10,000 schools have a high degree of autonomy, and even in states where education departments advocate for the structured literacy approach, the report says there needs to be more support for teachers to re-train and be provided with ready-made lessons. 

"The real issue here is, are governments doing enough to set teachers up for success?'" Dr Hunter said. 

"The challenge is making sure best practice is common practice in every single classroom." 

Western Sydney University's Katina Zammit, president of the Australian Literary Educators Association, said the whole language method should not end up in history's trash can. 

She said that in school systems that moved to the teaching methods championed by the Grattan Institute, some teachers found it too prescriptive. 

"The teachers that I have had contact with, some of the children who are being taught this way, have either lost interest in reading because it's a whole class approach or they are not retaining the instruction," Dr Zammit said. 

Dr Zammit agreed whole learning did not work for all students but said it could still be useful in the classroom. 

"One size doesn't fit all students," she said. 

"Yes, the majority it might, but we do have to look at engagement and motivation as well." 

However in a statement to the ABC, Education Minister Jason Clare said the science on teaching reading had been settled.

He also foreshadowed mandating teaching styles in the upcoming school funding agreement.

"The reading wars are over. We know what works. The current National School Reform Agreement doesn't include the sort of targets or reforms to move the needle here," he said.

"The new Agreement we strike this year needs to properly fund schools and tie that funding to the sort of things that work. The sort of things that will help children keep up, catch up and finish school."

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  1. Reading for Pleasure

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  3. Techniques To Inspire KS2 Children to Read For Pleasure

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  4. Notes from the Classroom: Reading for pleasure

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COMMENTS

  1. Reading for pleasure

    Here are some ideas for encouraging your child to read for pleasure: Set aside a special time - just a few minutes a day is enough to create a reading habit. Get caught reading yourself - show that reading for pleasure is not just for children. Read to each other - if your child really doesn't want to read on their own, then read together.

  2. 147 Top "Reading For Pleasure" Teaching Resources curated for you.

    Explore more than 147 "Reading For Pleasure" resources for teachers, parents and pupils as well as related resources on "Reading For Pleasure Display". Instant access to inspirational lesson plans, schemes of work, assessment, interactive activities, resource packs, PowerPoints, teaching ideas at Twinkl!

  3. How to encourage students to read for pleasure: teachers share their

    Mountbatten School in Hampshire is one school that has run several projects to encourage reading for pleasure. "We wanted them to try reading a broad range of books," says Jennifer Ludgate,...

  4. The Benefits of Reading for Pleasure

    Pleasure reading can be defined as reading that is freely chosen or that readers freely and enthusiastically continue after it is assigned. Our students (like all other human beings!) do what they find pleasurable. You get good at what you practice, and then outgrow yourself by deliberately developing new related interests and capacities.

  5. An English Major's Guide to Relearning How to Read for Pleasure

    Step 1: You Aren't Being Graded on Reading for Pleasure. Say it with me now, "I'm not being graded on this; there is no deadline; I am free to take my time.". Earlier this year I wrote about how I read slower now, most of which I attributed to the lockdown inability to collect books out in the wild during the worse parts of the pandemic.

  6. How Reading for Pleasure Helps Students Develop Academically

    The many benefits of reading for pleasure The American Library Association has also found a strong connection between daily independent reading habits and overall student performance. The ALA cites findings from a number of studies:

  7. PDF Reading for Pleasure Matters Most (Original title: Full-Functioning

    What about homework? Increasing the amount of homework assigned to students is a common way of attempting to stimulate more learning, but it is not supported by research. Kohn (2007) concludes that "... there is absolutely no evidence of any academic benefit from assigning homework in elementary or middle school.

  8. PDF Reading For Pleasure: A Whole School Approach

    12 ideas to use in class: Ideas to use in class: Book clubs: Create book clubs in your classroom where students can select a read and discuss with their peers. This can done in small groups or as a whole class. activity. Reading challenges: Set reading challenges for your students to encourage them to read more books.

  9. PDF The Power of Reading Choice

    Nearly half of all 18- to 24-year-olds read no books for pleasure. Fewer than one-third of 13-year-olds read daily. Teens and young adults spend 60 percent less time on voluntary reading than the average. "For virtually all children, the amount of time spent reading in classrooms consistently accelerates their growth in reading skills ...

  10. How do you get students to read for pleasure?

    3. A real programme for reading for pleasure won't work if it is confined to what goes in school time. We have to think of how to enable schools and parents and students work together on this. Otherwise what happens is the the process never reaches the unreached. In other words, it merely confirms those who are often reading for pleasure anyway.

  11. Reading for pleasure: What does the research say?

    Developing reading for pleasure is often seen as the 'holy grail' of literacy teaching. Children who read for the joy of reading, the thinking goes, will read more and develop greater reading skills. Reading for fun allows children to 'experience other worlds and roles in our imagination,' as researchers Christina Clark and Kate Rumbold ...

  12. How can you encourage Reading for Pleasure in your classroom?

    Poster. Recommend Books. Having a large repertoire of books that you can recommend to children and other adults that work in your school is a very empowering tool to have. This also encourages lots of informal book chat which is a perfect ingredient to instilling reading for pleasure and creating lifelong readers.

  13. Reading for Pleasure 'Bingo' homework activity and worksheet (KS2 ...

    docx, 454.84 KB Overview: Students stick the Bingo sheet in the front of their exercise books. They can then choose any of the reading challenges that they would like to complete in their spare time (or set one for homework!) Students fill out a worksheet for each of the tasks, stick it in their exercise book and cross off the Bingo square.

  14. Reading

    Some sample reading goals: To find a paper topic or write a paper; To have a comment for discussion; To supplement ideas from lecture; To understand a particular concept; To memorize material for an exam; To research for an assignment; To enjoy the process (i.e., reading for pleasure!). Your goals for reading are often developed in relation to ...

  15. How This Teacher Sparks a Love of Reading for Pleasure

    How This Teacher Sparks a Love of Reading for Pleasure. Jacqueline Chaney works with her 2nd grade students during a small-group reading activity at New Town Elementary School in Owings Mills, Md ...

  16. Unit

    Key Stage 2, English Reading for Pleasure, Reading for Pleasure Year 3. Lesson . 1. To develop reading for pleasure through personal reflection. 27m video. Lesson . 2. To develop reading for pleasure through discussion of favourite characters. 22m video. Lesson . 3. To develop reading for pleasure through book recommendations.

  17. Why is reading for pleasure important?

    1) Reading for pleasure improves language and comprehension skills Reading helps children develop their vocabulary by exposing them to new words and concepts. As they read more, they become more familiar with these words and concepts. This makes it easier for children to understand more complex texts later on in school.

  18. How This Teacher Sparks a Love of Reading for Pleasure

    The impact of the pandemic notwithstanding, statistics show that interest in reading wanes throughout childhood, beginning at about age 9, a phenomenon that the educational publishing company Scholastic Corporation has dubbed "Decline by Nine." There are plenty of reasons to push reading for pleasure before that. Engaging in the pursuit from a very young age has been linked to an array of ...

  19. How to Read for Fun Again (And Why It's Important)

    January 11, 2022 / By Megan Johnson Reading for fun may be one of the most underrated and procrastinated items on your to-do list. You've been told it's important, but homework, your job, or just sheer exhaustion always seem to get in the way of picking up a book. Or maybe you've tried it and can't seem to get engaged in what you're reading.

  20. PDF Research-informed practice on reading for pleasure

    The National Literacy Trust's annual survey found that young people who enjoy reading are three times more likely to read above the level expected for their age than children who don't enjoy reading; young people who read daily in their free time are twice as likely to read above the level expected for their age than children who don't read daily.

  21. Reading Rivers

    Reading Rivers. Posted by Jon Biddle. Moorlands Primary Academy. Ages: 5-7, 7-9, 9-11. Download this example. Previous Sharing reading through planned Book Club Weeks.

  22. Balancing Reading For Academics & Pleasure From A Fellow ...

    When it comes to homework, reading for pleasure, and balancing a paying job, setting goals and rewarding yourself when you reach those goals will help you get into the habit of being productive. Pavlov, loves! There's no sure-fire method for balancing your college coursework and reading books for pleasure.

  23. The Bookseller

    Reading for pleasure matters most. Comment Sep 13, 2022 by Stephen Krashen. Research shows that self-directed reading for pleasure beats homework or study as a driver of academic progress ...

  24. Should Schools Assign Summer Homework? Educators Weigh In

    "Reading for pleasure authentically enhances many academic skills such as cultivating a love for reading, improves reading and writing skills, develops concentration, encourages creativity and ...

  25. One-third of Australian children can't read properly as teaching

    In short: A Grattan Institute report says one-third of Australia's 4 million school children are being failed by an education system that persists with discredited theories to teach reading.