Below are the responses of fellow oztlnetters on how they promote literature and reading in their schools.

I recently asked on oztlnet what other folk were doing to promote reading and literacy, especially for boys in their schools. The results of that inquiry are summarised below...

With grateful thanks to Fran, Susan, Pat, Jan, Bev, Murene, Peta, Judith, Lyn, Lynda. The links provided by some respondents have been listed under Useful Links

• Each of our 6/7 classes comes to the library once a fortnight and I do all sorts of things to get them interested, short of standing on my head. I always have the latest books, and tell them they are the first to borrow them, I ask them what they want to read and have it there for them the next time they visit. i have lollies, book marks , stickers, whatever. I do a book talk with them, but make it as snappy as I can.

• Please find below an outline of what we are working on at the moment. Already we are changing our ideas, but here it is anyway.
  Boys and books
  Objective:
  To encourage further reading by boys, including the sharing of books amongst themselves, and encouraging recommendations of books amongst their peers.

  • Strategies to identify the books boys enjoy reading, and purchasing more books to support this programme, and add to the library's collection:

    • Identify the books currently popular amongst our boys.

    • Locate similar books, authors and themes.

    • Collate lists of popular books found on the internet and in bibliographies.

    • Purchase the books not held by our library

    • Source the "popular" books from other libraries.

    • Target the Year 8 - 10 boys and work with English teacher in promoting reading.

  Outcomes:

  • Boys are encouraged to read more widely, especially by their peers

  • Boys contribute to the selection of further reading books for the library

  • It is seen by members of the community that boys reading books is an accepted and rewarding activity for boys.

  Resources:

  • Access magazines

  • Books up front

  • Fabulous fiction

  • Senior fiction

  • OZTL-NET listserv

• Reader's Cup competitions - both in school and in Adelaide, good for boys as they like the competitive nature and winning prizes. There's some information at http://www.education.gov.au/wizusers/wizard2/p/ppledger/ but its not finished.

• We run a reading programme we have devised ourselves, called RAGE (Read And Gain Enjoyment) with activities loosely based on the old RIBIT programme.
  We print the books and each student (all boys here!) in year 8 completes (well, is supposed to complete!) activities in the genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Family, Animals, Humour. Hope this helps

• Some ideas I have begun and which seem to be paying off already:

  • Gather lots and lots of 'quick read' books - funny, funny and disgusting, adventure, all sorts of genres, including non-fiction like Hysterical Histories and so on. Anything that is quick to read - not necessarily easy as not all reluctant readers are illiterate - some are alliterate - can read well but don't want to or bother to. Mix them up with joke books and Garfield books etc and display them on those revolving paperback display stands. Make a sign for the stand that says QUICK READS and stick 'Quick Read' stickers on the front so that staff know to put them back on the stands, not the shelves. Add a new subject heading to the catalogue called 'Quick read' so that you can keep track of suitable titles should anyone want a list.
    I think that reluctant readers can find shelves and shelves of book spines intimidating and daunting when they 'have to borrow a book for wide reading'. Display stands show front covers, and if the stands are crowded and the student has to search through for, say, a joke book, they have to sort through other books that might just strike their fancy as well.
    So far kids, who generally would say they can't find a book they want, go straight to the quick read stand when sent from class. Most find something reasonably quickly and have little discussions around the stand with their friends about what they've liked in the past and make suggestions to each other about what to try next. Borrowing seems to have gone up, but as every student borrows text books which mostly go out in February and we don't have the text book module, I won't compare 2002 and 2003 borrowing statistics until the end of March or April to know for sure. I can send you a list of popular books for such display stands if you want.

  • I've put genre spine labels on the shelved fiction collection to help students find their favourites quickly, when, as I said before, all they can see are rows and rows of book spines. At the beginning of the year I was asked to g ive 'fiction talks' to classes, and they seemed to appreciate the labelling we had done as a way of making them comfortable with their choices. Of course, I encourage them to try other genres, too.

  • Another thing I have begun is a rethink of our magazine purchases. I read a study of Australian teenagers which found that around 75% said that magazines were their favourite reading materials. I noticed that lots of boys loved reading Girlfriend and Australian Mad Magazine, even the tatty old ones. I have subscriptions for those which I will definitely renew, and each month now I will go to my local newsagent and buy a varied selection of other popular magazines. I've been asking kids for suggestions, to try and cover as many interests as possible at least once in the year, and will try and gauge each month which magazines attract readers (i.e. which ones become very tatty very quickly) and which ones remain in pristine, unread condition. I also get Time, New Scientist, National Geographic etc, which only staff seem to read, but for reluctant readers I am looking for the hook that will get them reading print. (Idea courtesy once more of the Campbell High TL).

  • I work on the idea of the slogan "If you build it, he will come" from the movie Field of Dreams - make the library friendly and comfortable, get them in and reading something, and then take it from there. I have other plans for later in the year, but I have only mentioned the ones that are in place and which seem to be working so far. I look forward to hearing the ideas others pass on to you.

• We do a program called 'mini sets' where rather than a whole class (or year level) novel. We have 5 copies of a large range of titles (about 80 titles for year 9, about 20 each for years 7 and 8). Year 7 and 8 started mini sets this year. Year nine started them in 2001. Students can choose which book they read, either by interest or friendship group. I do a spiel on a number of the books at the beginning of the term. (This keeps me busy as we have 12 groups a term!) We also have a group called 'Reading Matters'. This a group that meets once a term at night. Students and parents come along and hear authors/athletes speak about reading and generally enthuse them. We have a quiz, prizes and pizza. We
  had Felice Arena last night and next term we are having ex-footy coach David Parkin. We try to have people who are high profile role models and who you may not necessarily think of when you think of reading. (Last year we had ex-Giants and 36ers basketball player Paul Maley speak. He was brilliant.)

• We are about to apply for funding for a special boys and literacy project. We haven't worked out all the details yet but I envision at this stage that I will be working with a difficult group of Yr 10 students. This is an English class and they have been coming to the library for a fortnightly reading session as do all our lower school English classes. This session has
  not been successful and I plan to work with the teacher and the reading resource teacher who is working with this group to look at alternate strategies. Initially we will be looking at the provision of the reading material that the boys are most interested in hoping to ultimately change their attitude to the library and reading.(probably a huge task!!!).

• Sue, in regard to a cheap, effective reading program: I have trialled and am about to get a 1/2 class set of the following:
  CARS = Comprehensive Assessment of Reading Strategies (We have book 5) There are 3 components to the series, for each book (example, Book 5)

  • CARS 5 teacher $7.50

  • CARS 5 student set of 5 booklets $21.95

  • CARS 5 reproducible $32.95 - a teachers guide comes with this pack, and the distributor tells me that you are free to reproduce as much as you want. Therefore, if you go for this option, you only have to deal with photocopying, and you don't have to worry about getting the first 2 items in this list.
    The beauty of this reading program [avail from Hawker Brownlow], Sue, is that it covers a range of reading skills, from fact finding to inferential & so on, while presented in a straightforward, userfriendly manner, with instant feedback on strategies. I have more info at school; could post you a brochure.

• When faced with similar, on a smaller scale, two years ago with a Yr 7 boys English class (30) - predominantly low functioning, but some fabulous high achievers as well - I decided that peer group & collaborative learning had to lead the way - dynamic, shared learning where it was going to become 'cool' to read (a couple of kids proudly boasted they had never read a novel. This was to change...!)
  I ran the Morris Gleitzman Olympics . IN pairs, they had to read as many of his novels as possible over one of the school holidays, including revisiting old favourites. The pair then had to choose and validate a 1st, 2nd & 3rd from their books read - Powerpoint presentation. If doing it again, I would only get them to award the 'gold' and hence my attachment called M.GLEITZMAN OLYMPICS 2. I think my original version (not attached) was too big & time-consuming, though they loved it. The results were unreal, and the low kudos with reading was overcome by this fabulous author study and the ICT component. These kids shone at Powerpoint! We even displayed the work at the LET'S READ EXPO here in Victoria in 2000. And they went on to become avid readers despite their difficulties, while the top readers (who read heaps) were rewarded with special certificates/prizes. Could be done for any prolific good author.
  Also, if you are in any position to get Boori Pryor in as a guest speaker, as I did this year for Yr 7, do so!! (Young Australians Reading, Sydney).

• Profiling literacy as fun: Anything with ICT component, and also: Literacy quizzes & puzzles eg Harry Potter - also quizzes - rebuses. for visual literacy.

• At the moment for wide reading for Yr 7 and now Yr 8 we have developed wide reading programs one period per 2 week cycle. There are 3 groups allocated by means of the Ella test and also another test for reading ages. Each group rotates through 3 activities, doing one activity per cycle. The topic is developed to provide a scaffold for the activities.
  This term yr 7 are working on Australian Authors and Yr 8 on Biographies and Autobiographies.
  The LIteracy focus is a different skills each term..this term - notetaking from an autobiography for John Marsden.
  The 'IT/Research'component - I have developed a worksheet for each topic which integrates Blooms Tax in the choice of activities, based on the topic for each form's topic, the third group are working on grammar skills activities in a booklet form developed by the Spec Ed teacher.
  The lesson starts with the groups involved in Wide Reading a Library Book based on the topic for 20 mins and then moving onto their othre activity. We have parents coming in also to help with those students who need help with their reading etc. Students are also expected to read at home and complete a reading response activity once per cycle from a sheet pasted into their activity log. The activities provide a basis for assement by way of an activity log and a reading log which students maintain and the staff sign. there are 3 staff..the English teacher, the Special Ed teacher and me.We trialled it for Yr 7 for Term 1 and the response was so positive that we now have Yr 8 involved. The OUtcomes are taken from the English Syllabus and we are working on a tracking system. I was keen to get something more challenging for the G&T group, for next term, even though I have used Bloom's Tax to develop the grid for the IT/research component this term.
  Hope that this helps those of you who asked about the wide reading program. Prior to this kids sat and read for 45 mins which was impossible for some kids obviously and the teachers also. the students really enjoy the variety.

• We also run a school Reading Challenge which is drawn in Book Week...with incentives drawn each fortnight on assembly. the students name goes in each time he/she finishes a book,signed by the teacher and parent from the reading log. Prizes are canteen vouchers, movie passes, health bars etc.