My Top 10 Reading Lessons

Having had a few requests for some reading lesson suggestions I thought I’d note down a top 10 activities list in the hope that some might find it useful. These have all been taught in a whole class setting, sometimes differentiated sometimes just by outcome. All can be delivered in a 30 minute lesson. I hope they are useful.

1. What were they thinking? Look at an extract ideally with 2 or more characters. The children must explain what is the motivation for a certain reaction or response? Why would they act in such a way. This is a great way to assess whether the children have understood the text on a larger scale, previous issues etc.

2. Prove me a liar. The teacher creates a series of statements about events, feelings or characters and the children have to prove why they are wrong. This again helps at whole texts but can also be used with simply a paragraph. Very easy to differentiate too.

3. Paint me a picture. In most books there will be a section of pure character description. Now on a basic level it means you can simple challenge the children to draw an image of what the text tells us a character looks like. However if you wish to make this more of a challenge you can then ask them to find the phrases or descriptive language that give us an insight into the characters personality. For example in Skychasers, Magpie says she ‘never gives her name to a stranger’. This tells us she is untrusting and cautious as a person.

4. Show me how it happened. Similar to Paint me a Picture this relies on the children reading a specific event happened, a chase, a fight scene or simply a conversation. They then have to draw a picture, labelled ideally, that shows what happened. The chase at the start of Ned’s Circus of Marvels is ideal here as it requires close reading and comprehension skills to follow. This could be extended in many ways, how does each character feel in each stage etc.

5. Feelings Graph. Very simple activity. Pick a scene (I last used the first chapter of The Honest Truth) and ask the children to chart the characters change in emotions as the extract progresses. This will reflect how they respond to different characters and pressures etc.
6. Tension Graph. The same as above but the graph charts the simple changes in tension and atmosphere. You can extend this to pinpoint what language is used in the text to specifically show the most tense points etc.

7. Say it like it is. Speeches are a fantastic resource when it comes to looking at language and how it has changed. By taking a speech and examining it, children can then analyse what is being said and if you wish, modernise the language. This shows several layers of understanding. They first have to decode and interpret what is being said and then compare modern language to older. Finally selecting the modern language they think most appropriate.

8. Who is in charge here? Using an extended extract read along with the children. This is a great opportunity to select a text that you think may be slightly beyond your class’s ability as you can lead the reading. The actual activity involves more inference than anything else. Pick a section with multiple character and then challenge the children to rank them in terms of power in the scene. Who is in charge? How do you know? Who supports whom? How do you know? There are endless extensions here too. For example, do you think this is always the case? If the setting was changed would these characters behave the same etc?

9. A picture paints 1000 emotions. Reading My Name is Not Refugee by Kate Milner totally changed how I use pictures in reading lessons. If you haven’t read it, you must. It’s masterful. In it she uses dual images, one image shows the dream of the main character, one the reality. It’s beautiful and tragic at the same time and can be easily be adopted for reading lessons. Interpreting why a layout or style is used is an essential skill, acting critically is one of the most difficult skills to teach I find but thinking beyond simply why an author used an image to what message are they trying to convey is a wonderful skill to harness. This can work with many texts. The Colin Thompson picture book stalwarts also lend themselves to this in bucketfuls.

10. Question? This has gone out of favour and largely I think it’s because either people think it’s too easy and not actual teaching or they think it’s teaching to the test. However the best way for me to assess whether a child has successfully decoded and comprehended a text is to ask them a range of questions about it. The simple RIC or VIPERS if you are that way inclined. What has happened in X? What does Y mean? Why has the author chosen Z to describe the scene? In my experience children enjoy it and it certainly doesn’t destroy their love for reading. This is used once a week and feeds into my assessment and planning of other sessions.

I hope this list has been useful. Please do shout on my Twitter if you have any questions. I plan to write more extensively on this topic in the summer. Happy reading.

Vashti Hardy’s Brightstorm

Vashti Hardy’s debut novel Brightstorm deserves to be spoken of in the same breaths as Pullman’s Northern Lights. Indeed the similarities are clear to see, frozen landscapes, animals that are drawn to human souls, flying ships and most importantly a fantastic array of detailed and complex characters. 

This is without doubt one of the best books I have read of the last few years. Hardy has moulded a pseudo-real Earth into her own world with place names and phrases that are similar enough to our own to make it seem real but not so similar that it removes the mysticism. Cultures are created, emotions are shared and though an oft used cliche; it really is a total page turner that screams out for many more books in the series. Which I have no doubt there will be. 

Our young heroes, Arthur and Maudie, are left lost and alone upon the death of their father and are suddenly thrown into a world of despair. However, as you may have guessed, they are not destined for Dickensian destitution forever despite being condemned to live in ‘the slumps’. 

They long for more and for answers and the story wastes no time getting them there, the main events kicking off within the opening few chapters. This is a book that will be read for many years and although there were a couple of bits that confused me somewhat, the relevance of a lucky spoon anyone? I adored the smooth story telling, the ease of adventure and the wonderful worlds that Hardy has created. 

Believe the hype. Read this book.