3 A Reading Teacher in action

One teacher, Claire Williams, in reflecting upon her tendency to enjoy a hot chocolate whilst reading at home and in the garden, wondered if by occasionally offering children drinks and biscuits, by reading outside and by enabling them to choose where to sit and with whom, this might support their own engagement with reading. Although Claire thought the novelty might wear off quickly, instead she found that as she gave her class increased autonomy as readers, the amount of book sharing, talk and engagement increased.

Watch this 2-minute video of Claire and her class of eager readers.

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CLAIRE WILLIAMS:

One of my greatest passions as a teacher is instilling a love of reading in the children I teach. And one of the children in my class said that he reads because he has to. That was a real eye opener for me, because he would look to anyone walking in like he was engaged, and he was loving it. And actually, what he was saying to me was, there were so many other things that he’d rather be doing.

One of the projects I’ve been involved with is The Open University Teachers as Readers Development Work, which explores how we can support Reading for Pleasure in our classrooms and in our schools, which made me take a step back and reflect on what reading looks like in my classroom environment. I worked with the children to give them ownership of their reading spaces in the classroom. And as soon as that child had experiences of reading where they associated it with something they enjoy doing, that experience of enjoying reading then led on to much broader and more adventurous reading choices.

The last week of term, they’d just done their class treat, and what got voted for above watching DVDs and water fights and anything else was independent reading time. So we had hot chocolate, and they brought in their blankets and cushions to make it comfortable. And we just had an hour where they would just sat reading. They were just completely engrossed in what they were doing.

I couldn’t love my job any more. And 99% of days, I finish ready and raring to go the next day. But then there’s the occasional day where something has gone wrong, confidence has been knocked, and you feel like you’ve not done quite as good a job as you want to. Teaching can be like a roller coaster, and you’ve got to have the resilience to climb back up to the top of that next peak again if you’ve had a dip.

I’m Claire Williams. And that was my teacher-effect story.

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As well as recognising the importance of creating relaxed reading spaces in the classroom, Claire also developed her knowledge of the children as readers through reading conferences. This enabled her to make tailored book recommendations to individual children. Over time, a community of readers emerged, of which Claire was a full member.

Through ongoing reflection, Claire continues to develop as a Reading Teacher with an enhanced personal and professional awareness of what it means to be a reader and shapes her practice in responsive ways. She reflects on what she does as a reader.