Let’s talk reading.
We all know that reading unlocks so much learning for children and it is so important to get it right, however, there is so much information out there that can make it an absolute minefield to navigate through.
I am no expert. I think reading is my favourite thing to teach but I am still adapting what I do all the time.
We were extremely lucky in my training year to have the most incredible of English tutors and he set us up tremendously to have the know-how to start our teaching of English journey. His number one rule was basically ‘teach reading like you would any other lesson’. A clear objective, then modelled tasks into independent work. It’s very easy to over complicate reading but essentially, if you break it down into smaller steps then it is just like anything else we teach.
There are incredible reading resources online offered freely by inspirational professionals, including Mrs P. Teach (www.mrspteach.com), Ashley Booth (theteachingbooth.wordpress.com), Miss Wilson (misswilsonsays.wordpress.com) and Solomon Kingsnorth. These are an invaluable hive of advice and practical resources of where to begin.
I have also been incredibly lucky this year to have attended a reading course run by Rachel Pritchard (@raepritchard1) and Emma Bradshaw and the work that these teachers are doing to improve the teaching of reading in Essex is absolutely phenomenal.
The question I get asked the most on Twitter is how I teach reading in KS1. Like I said, I am absolutely no expert at all but I thought I would take some time sharing what I do in Year 2 in case some of it is helpful to anyone else.
What I do is a fusion of my training, my reading and my own reflective practice. Lots of credit to the above mentioned resources!
Hope it’s useful!
The Anatomy of Teaching 