Marita ThomsonThe King's SchoolParramattamaritathomson.posterous.commat@kings.edu.au

ReaderDevelopment

in the Secondary

School

http://www.scoop.it/t/readers-advisory-for-secondary-schools

http://maritathomson.posterous.com/

Why be concerned about reading?

Challenges for Australian Education: Results from PISA 2009 (ACER, 2011)

Australia & Reading Literacy:

Performance has declined compared to other countries and on average. Significant decline between 2000 and 2009 primarily among high-achieving students.

Proportion of males and females in the highest two proficiency levels declined significantly and substantially. Proportion of males in the lowest proficiency levels increased. Enjoyment has strong relationship with performance. One-third reported that they did not read for enjoyment.

Students who reported reading frequently showed no significant gender differences.

http://www.acer.edu.au/media/pisa-009-national-report

What worries Peter Carey?

(Last few mins of Part 1)

Inspiring reluctant readers - Rick Riordan & James Patterson

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/08/19/books/review/100000000984246/inspiring-reluctant-readers.html

http://www.themonthly.com.au/peter-carey-closing-address-sydney-writers-festival-2466

Tips from Riordan & Patterson

·Reading valued and modelled at home·An enabling adult (8th Grade teacher)·Finding what you like (Greek myths)·Free choice·Dyslexia & other learning difficulties not necessarily barriers

Note: Fast pace of contemporary media

Reader Development (UK) Readers' Advisory (US)

not Prescriptivenot Groupnot Telling or Directing

DevelopmentalPersonal

Listening & Questioning

Both library and classroom offer opportunities for an 'enabling adult'

(Chambers; La Marca)

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work,

but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Photo: July 7 2009 Extravaganza – Prediction = True by Pilottage on Flickr

"Altogether, I think we ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the

book we are reading doesn’t shake us awake like a blow on the skull, why bother

reading it in the first place? ... What we need are books that hit us like a most painful misfortune, like the death of someone we loved more than we love

ourselves, that make us feel as though we had been banished to the woods,

far from any human presence, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is what I believe."

.― Franz Kafka in 1904 to his friend Oskar Pollak. The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka by Ernst Pawel

Photo: Orage 1er julliet by Matthieu Luna on Flickr

Ways and Means...

Appeal factors, or doorways

Ways and Means...

Use appeal terms for -

·RA interviews·Clarifying what appeals about a book·Writing reviews & annotations·Finding reviews which use terms to help in readers' advisory·Identifying readalikes

Case in Point:

"If you liked The Recruit (CHERUB 1) by Robert Muchamore then you'll like..."

Haven't read it? Ask the reader; ask other readers; check reviews; examine the book; read the book!

·Find appropriate appeal terms.·Which aspect of appeal was relevant for the reader?·Web2 tools- LibraryThing - Your Next Read - Book Chooser - Which Book?

<- Robert Muchamore reads from The Recruit

http://www.youtube.com/user/CHERUBVideos#p/u/7/xAunC28gMOw

Reading interest surveys based on appeal factors

Page 2

Reader recommendations sheet

Personal, based on form, interview or other knowledge

BookMatch is an online readers' advisory service.

Fill in a form and RA staff contribute to a customised recommendation list.

Very replicable/customisable with tools such as Google Forms.

http://www.skokie.lib.il.us/s_read/rd_bookmatch/index.asp

http://www.scoop.it/t/readers-advisory-for-secondary-schools

http://maritathomson.posterous.com/

Marita ThomsonTeacher LibrarianSenior LibraryThe King's SchoolPO Box 1Parramatta

mat@kings.edu.au

http://maritathomson.posterous.com/

@marita_t