Usually pairing the term ‘Outside the Box’ with discussion of remedial
support of children’s literacy difficulties would be enough to raise concerns
about programmes that offer little in terms of substance. However, sometimes children can be difficult
to engage in any task involving literacy and a creative approach may be
needed. However, this does not have to
be at the expense of what guides good literacy teaching practices, evidence
based approaches, and links to the curriculum.
When a child is reluctant to read, it is of upmost importance to firstly identify
the underlying reason why. Reluctance is
commonly a sign that there is a problem with reading. A comprehensive assessment will help to
identify if a child has a specific learning difficulty that is making reading a
task they want to avoid and what the nature of the problem is. For the children with specific learning
difficulties, a systematic evidence based programme targeted at areas in which
a child has weaknesses is crucial for improving skills. With skills comes confidence and with
confidence often comes greater engagement and willingness to read.
Sometimes children with improved skills or even children with competent
reading skills may still avoid reading.
The motivation to read may be low or a negative attitude towards reading
may have developed for other reasons. Confidence
in reading skills may be low. There may
be poor role models in the child’s life, particularly if parents had similar
reading difficulties and are not big readers.
Also the issue of the ‘reluctant male reader’ has been well studied. Research has also highlighted the different
reading interests of boys and girls, and the view of reading as being an
activity for “girls” has been well documented. Of course, children also
commonly complain that texts are simply ‘boring’.
High Interest Texts
The difficulty of finding high interest books suitable for children of
low reading ability is a constant battle for the parents and teachers of
struggling readers. Hi Lo Fiction series
are popular in the resources of Learning Support Teams and often include
graphic novels, comic books, books with non-fiction and science fiction themes,
or sports themed reading materials.
An example of an ‘Outside the Box’ series of books is
the Goal! Reading Series. These soccer
themed readers leverage on children’s love of soccer and have been linked to follow
the UK’s Letter’s and Sound’s Programme.
This is a systematic phonics based literacy programme used in early
years in UK schools. The Goal! Readers
are colourful and full of soccer themed pictures featuring local soccer stars. They include fiction and non-fiction titles
and have also been found to be popular with struggling readers up to the age of
14.
More Soccer and
Reading
The UK is the home of many great ‘Outside the Box’
approaches to encouraging literacy. For
the past 11 years, the UK Literacy Trust has run the ‘Premier League Reading
Stars’ programme. This football themed
literacy project is a reading intervention programme that uses football to
inspire children to read more and is linked to the national curriculum. The programme builds on evidence that footballers can influence
the way children, particularly boys, view reading. It contains reading journals, badges and
certificates. ‘The Tactics Book’ provides 10
curriculum-supported literacy sessions, written by literacy experts and
there are also a range of online challenges to be completed.
Rugby League Reads
In Australia, the Rugby League Reads programme was developed by Suzan
Hirsch, who is a lecturer at the ACU
in boys’ education. The programme was developed in conjunction with the
NRL to increase the engagement of
students in reading by using their interest in Ruby League. This school-based programme provides teachers
with a practical syllabus with links to literacy resources with a Rugby League theme. Both literary and factual texts are available
and these can be used by teachers as samples for reading or writing that are
linked to the syllabus. Reading
materials include the Rugby League Reads Magazine and Rugby League home
readers. The programme also aims to use
sports starts as role models for reading.
Importantly, the programme incorporates important Boy’s Education
strategies and research.
Focused Footy
Recently at the Literacy and
Learning Centre we ran a school holiday programme that aims to utilise
children’s love of sport to encourage the development of important skills. While the majority of remedial work takes
place at school or in after school tutoring programmes, the Focused Footy
programme was run in the school holidays and much of the activities took place at
a football ground in a local park. The
programme was developed in response to parents’ requests to provide something
different to engage children’s interests in literacy.
The programme was run by a
teacher with Special Education background and a PE teacher who is also a
professional rugby union player. The aim
was to leverage off children’s interests in taking part in a holiday sports
camp to reinforce and teach important literacy concepts. Topics covered included knowledge of grammar,
vocabulary, and discussion with children the important roles these play in
literacy. A range of skill based sports
games was developed mixing popular footy games such as Oztag and ‘Bullrush’ to
include literacy activities. The
programme also provided practical and supported opportunities for writing
practice on sports based themes (eg, creating a personal footy card, making a
fitness plan etc) and support in creating an exposition or narrative. Giving the opportunity for children to meet
other children who are struggling with literacy is also a good way for children
not to feel isolated and alone with their struggles and to develop
self-esteem.
Thinking “Outside the Box”
The creativity of those working with struggling readers shows that it is possible to motivate reluctant readers when a bit of "Outside the Box" thinking is applied. It is the responsibility of those involved in supporting children with literacy difficulties or who are reluctant to read to keep up to date with research
about best practices and programmes.
However, when children are reluctant to read, questions need to be asked about how we can modify our approaches to make the learning experience a more engaging experience for the child. The examples discussed above show that there are creative ways to work with children and that this does not have to be at the expense of best practice and evidence based approaches.