How To Promote Reading In Lessons: Musings From The English Department

 By Lucy Neil, Izzy Hilliard & Carla Boniolo

In the English Department, we are of the view that the ‘little and often’ approach to promoting reading in lessons works best. Below, we have gathered a list of easy-to-try, low-fuss strategies that have been successful in our classrooms. For ease, the strategies have been divided into three distinct target groups: students with low prior attainment who may need remedial support; those with high prior attainment who may need to be challenged; and those in the sixth form with a goal of continuing on to tertiary study. Whilst we acknowledge that none of these strategies aim to reinvent the wheel when it comes to promoting reading in lessons, we believe that sometimes it is useful to be reminded of the simplest strategies with the highest yield. 

Carla Boniolo’s thoughts on promoting reading with LPA students in mind 

#1: Creating a specific reading focus: 

When reading any text as a class, I find that it is always helpful to have the text projected onto the whiteboard (in a large enough font!). Adjacent to the text, I like to include a simple text box entitled ‘Reading Focus’ with one clear sentence that summarises - in clear ‘student speak’ - the main gist or the ‘top line’ takeaway from that particular section of text. For example, if the section of our extended text details a passage from Macbeth where Macbeth expresses doubt, my ‘Reading Focus’ box would truncate this and say something like: ‘Here, Macbeth struggles to accept the reality that he must kill King Duncan in order to become the king himself’. I explicitly direct students to this box as we read, ensuring that they know where to find the most important takeaway details about the text we are reading. 

#2: Using images to clarify meaning

I continue to be inspired by the Universal Design for Learning approach to creating an inclusive classroom. Something that the model advocates for is rethinking how we present information to students. In my classroom, I like to place images adjacent to text that clarify concepts in either a concrete or abstract way. For example, a contextual article about King James I as a keen patron of the arts might be accompanied by a portrait of the monarch (concrete) or by an image of a theatre stage (a little more abstract). As a general rule, I try to provide one image per paragraph or slide. I believe that this aids cognition and provides visual context clues for students who may find large chunks of text daunting. 

#3: Pre-teaching essential vocabulary 

Another strategy that the Universal Design for Learning promotes is the pre-teaching of essential vocabulary in a way that links to prior knowledge. I find it useful to concentrate on one or two important words or phrases per lesson by introducing them at the beginning of the lesson and explicitly defining them. For example, a lesson on the character of Mr Birling in the play ‘An Inspector Calls’ might have ‘avarice’ as a keyword for the lesson. Alongside the definition for the keyword (and an image of something like a pile of coins - see #2 above!), I will have a sentence that uses the word in the context of a previous topic (‘Scrooge displayed the negative trait of avarice in ‘A Christmas Carol’). This encourages students to solidify new vocabulary by linking to a context with which they are already familiar. 

You can read a little more about the Universal Design for Learning approach here

Lucy Neil’s thoughts on promoting reading with HPA students in mind 

#1  Stretching HPA’s through academic reading:

Teachers are aware that it is essential to differentiate big chunks of text for LPA pupils. However, what about differentiating for HPA’s? We must constantly engage our HPA pupils, and stretch them to their limits. Where you might break up a big chunk of text for an LPA pupil, or give them an “easier” extract, why not give HPA’s a more engaging and challenging extract? 

Here are some suggestions of readings you can give to HPA pupils so  that they can deepen their knowledge and write more in-depth and detailed class notes:

• Academic writing on an unusual and interesting topic, such as reading about psychoanalysis in Macbeth, or reading about a scientific debate.

• Books with more complex text and/or diagrams

• A tool or piece of equipment that requires more dexterity or technical expertise

• An artefact that is more obtuse in its function or design

• A medium that is more difficult to work with (eg, in art, textiles or food technology).

#2 Questioning when reading to create authentic responses:

Graves and Fitzgerald are two academics who created a range of activities for a Scaffolded Reading Experience. When it comes to promoting reading and challenging HPA pupils, they emphasise the importance of questioning, as ‘questioning activities allow you to encourage and promote higher-order thinking,’ as well as eliciting ‘creative and personal responses.’ (Graves and Fitzgerald, 2004, p.97).

An example of how I use this in the classroom is to get my HPA pupils to think critically and outside of the box. After reading a text I will ask my pupils a series of comprehension questions to check their understanding. However, I will challenge my HPA pupils to think more critically by asking more ambitious questions. For instance, at the moment in Y10, I am teaching Macbeth. Not only will I check their understanding of the plot and characters but I will ask them to start making links between the text and other moments in the play, or to consider alternative opinions. An example question would be “How do you think a Jacobean audience would perceive Lady Macbeth, given what you have read about Witches and Demonology in the Jacobean era?

Fitzgerald, J. and Graves, M. F. (2004). Reading Supports for All. Educational Leadership 62 (4).

#3 Developing a Dialogue for Reading

When teachers want to push the boundaries for HPA pupils, a great way to do this is through talk. Using a dialogue will encourage pupils to think about the ideas and views of others. We have all been guilty of skimming through an article, but how much have you remembered? The use of talk will enable pupils to cement new and academic ideas to use in the future. This is where you, as the teacher, need to step in. You need to be a conductor to develop exchanges between the texts and the pupils to develop their thinking. For instance, this can be done by asking one pupil to respond to another’s answer, by commenting or asking a critical question about a pupil’s response. As teachers, we can add information into the discussion to develop knowledge and understanding, as well as asking our questions in response to children’s comments. As a result, critical thinking and deeper comprehension of a text are more likely to be developed in this way than through written answers to a list of questions with little discussion. If you wish to read more on this, check out Corbett and Strong’s theory on “Talk for Writing”, which is powerful because it is based on the principles of how children learn. It enables children to imitate the language they need for a particular topic orally, before reading and analysing it and then writing their version. 

Izzy Hilliard’s thoughts on promoting reading with KS5 students in mind 

#1 Encouraging reading for pleasure

Westminster Academy is currently promoting reading for pleasure throughout the school. Research demonstrates that reading enjoyment is more important for educational success than socio-economic factors (OECD 2002). By the time students are in KS5, as teachers, we should be encouraging a dialogue about what students are reading and what they are enjoying about the novels they are studying. Even students who are not art-focused should be able to recognise the benefits of accessing all types of literature before heading to university or further study. These conversations do not have to be time-consuming, but could happen on your Google Classroom stream or briefly before all students have arrived in the classroom. The cultural exchange between teacher and students can be mutually beneficial. My year thirteen Literature class recommended Akala’s “Natives,” and I continue to go back to their recommended reads to briefly discuss with them. 

The DfE published a comprehensive report on the topic of “Reading for Pleasure” in 2012.  

#2 “The Potency of Relevance”

Gith and Guthrie (2008) wrote about teenagers all reading with “me” in the background. Students need to make real-world connections with what they read and I think we can make recommendations of novels that are to do with or relate to the topical issues that our KS5 students are talking about in any given movement. Our students have a wide range of interests, and we are the ones who know these the best. If we can frequently recommend novels that we know would interest our KS5 students the students will not only know that we see their reading as important, but that we see their voice and interests as valuable, 

#3 Developing the skill of critical reading 

Many students will be faced with critical literature for the first time at university. This could be integrated into KS5 lessons in small chunks. Learning to be resilient in the face of something that appears confusing, dense and written in an ivory tower is a skill that our students need to learn for future academic study. An interesting, understandable piece of critical literature will probably be available for many KS5 lessons.  Whilst only needing a soundbite of this literature in the lesson, using Google Classroom students could be given the opportunity to read the entirety of the report, whether that be Judith Butler’s “Gender Trouble” to Emma Mawdsley’s “A post-aid world?” if it is something they want to read about in further detail.