“I’ve been working on raising boys’ achievement since 1993… you’d have thought I’d have got it sorted by now” is regularly the opening line to one of my INSET days or keynote speeches. It usually provokes mild amusement. “But sadly I’m afraid there aren’t that many people working on it.” And nobody laughs. Because it’s […]
Read morereading for pleasure
Jumping into the unknown We are all probably familiar with the fear of the blank page when writing: we know that many children experience it; we may even feel it ourselves sometimes. It’s possible that something similar happens when insecure, struggling, or simply young readers look at a previously-unseen text: a daunting fear of the […]
Read moreLindsay spoke on the purpose and the value of Guided Reading at Oxford University Press’ English Conference, Passing on the Passion, in London on 16th June. Here he addresses the most common concerns and teases out answers to these questions in follow up to his seminar. You’ll find a selection of resources and videos from the day on our website . I love guided reading. But we have […]
Read moreLast month, I was lucky enough to speak at OUP’s For the Love of Reading: Passing on the Passion conference. It was a wonderful occasion that brought teachers, authors and researchers together to talk about reading. I left with my brain fizzing with ideas, inspired to try the raft of new things I’d learnt from […]
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Yesterday Oxford released the findings of a survey that sheds some concerning light on teachers’ perceptions of enjoying, and having conversations about stories in the classroom. The survey of nearly 350 primary school teachers revealed that more than half those polled don’t have enough time to share and talk about books in the classroom – despite the importance they […]
Read moreWell that’s that over for another year. But what now? Amongst the class trips, leavers’ plays and special assemblies, here are some ideas for making the last few weeks as enjoyable and valuable as possible for everyone involved. With the children: Get the class outside – extra PE sessions, studying the natural world, drawing plants […]
Read moreNext month sees the publication of our new TreeTops Greatest Stories series. Each of the 35 titles is beautifully retold and illustrated by some of our most popular authors and illustrators. We’re also fortunate to have best-selling author Michael Morpurgo as Series Editor and Kimberley Reynolds, Professor of Children’s Literature at Newcastle University, as Series Advisor. Over the […]
Read moreSetting Up a Book Club in School Reading groups and book clubs are a hugely popular way of engaging readers and are a way into opening the box of reading delights. If you belong to a book group yourself, you will know that the pleasure of reading is multiplied when we share our ideas, explore […]
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