I love reading. I always have. My idea of heaven is curling up with a good book. I am one of those annoying people who emerses themselves completely in a book and struggles to engage with real life. I have also been known to go into mourning for a good book when I've finished it. Tomorrow we go on holiday and the kindle is fully loaded. Though to be honest I have a problem with Kindles. I can read about three books in row on one and then I have to get my hands on a proper book. One with pages and that booky smell. It's alright if you don't get, neither does my husband. He regularly bemoans my out dated habit of buying books! I mean, Woman this is the 21st Century! This time of year, when we are making our annual pilgrimage to France, is one of the few times I humour him. But only because the car is stuffed to the ginnels and using the Kindle is probably my only option.
So being a complete bookworm myself I assumed and dearly hoped all my Moglets would follow suite. The house was full of books from the day they were born , indeed they were read to from the day they were born. I have books they have long since officially out grown that I can not bear to part with.
All my Moglets have embraced stories in one way or another. Moglet number 1 is an avid comic book and graphic novel reader. His love of story is shown in his acting, animation and film making. Moglet number 3 goes in fits and spurts but loves books that appeal to his off beat and often toilet related humour.
Moglets 2 and 4 are book worms in the most traditional sense. They grab a book and devour it. They fall into an author and have to read all the books they have produced. I have mentioned before that even with his specific learning difficulty Moglet number 2 has been an interested and avid reader.
Every night reading is part of our bedtime routine and has been since day one. Although mostly the Moglets now read to themselves, stories before bed are the way we roll. During the day my Moglets are 'doers', books somehow seem to have become synonymous with bedtime. For a while this used to bother me, really bother me. I mean, when I was a kid I read anytime, anyplace, anywhere. I couldn't get my head around why my Moglets didn't too. But then it dawned on me, when I was young I didn't have half the entertainment my kids do now. I didn't attend half the after school activities, at their age there was very little homework and the lure of the 'screen' both TV and Internet was non-existent.
Now I am more at ease with it. I mean my kids prefer to read at bedtime, it's hardly the end of the world! There are worse problems we could be facing.
Moglet number 4, my only pink Moglet is the exception to the rule. She isn't restricted by time or place. If she's got a good book on the go she will read anywhere and anytime. Or at least she did.
This year a dark and sinister force entered our lives. Enter The Reading Journal!!
This was a suggestion made by her teacher for the more advanced readers. The idea was that she should write a journal every time she read, recording what she liked about the book, what the characters were, language used etc etc. The philosophy behind the idea was sound; it would deepen her thinking about books, engage with the language and push her on. The trouble was it killed the enjoyment of reading stone dead. The bedtime snuggle under the duvet with a book suddenly became a chore at the end of a long day. She attempted it valiantly for about a week, but then I noticed a change in her reading habits. She was reading for shorter periods of time and she was beginning to choose books that were very easy for her, all element of challenge was being lost.
It was when she actually stopped reading that I gently approached the class teacher and told her we were abandoning the project, simply because it had the opposite of the intended effect. Slowly this summer I have tempted her back. A bit like someone who had lost their appetite, I have been offering tasty bitesize morsels to entice her . It was finally Chris Riddell and his wonderful Ottoline and Goth Girl books that did the trick. I owe that man a debt of thanks!
So I hear you ask, what does this have to do with dyspraxia? Well it's a bit of a leap I grant you, but I was thinking what would have happened if a teacher had insisted Moglet Number 2, a bright and capable reader had kept a reading journal.if .If someone had made him WRITE down what he felt about and gained from a book. I strongly suspect it would have been all out war! With his attachment to reading at bedtime, the mere thought of having to put pen to paper would have tipped him over the edge, not to mention fired up so many neurons he wouldn't have slept until the early hours. You see, as I have said before, reading was a real strength for him. A real pleasure and, as things got trickier at school, at real confidence boost. To have coupled it with writing, something he found so difficult could have been a recipe for disaster.
But as I said the ideas behind the reading journal, to extend the experience of the book, to think about character and setting, to share our responses, are all valid and important. Being a true reader and lover of books is about more than just reading the words. But a reading journal seems to me such a alien way of doing things, not based in the real world. I mean how many of us as adults keep reading journals ? How many of us escape into a good thriller, sci-fi , romance and then write a page each night about what we have read?
There has to be some way to make our children critical and social readers but a more creative way. Or maybe ways! Ways that will help all children but especially those that have a specific difficultly with recording their thoughts. Ways that are fun!
Here I am afraid the teacher in me rears its ugly head! Below are some of my ideas on how we encourage children to share what they have read without killing the fun of reading! Broadly they are ideas for the classroom but they can be adapted for home.
• Think what you do when you have read a book you enjoy! You talk about it! Probably over a meal or a drink . Do this with children , OK cut out the wine(!) but the principle is the same. Have a book tea party! Serve cake and encourage children to talk about what they have read. No contribution is too big or small. We have had meals out (and in) at home where we have specifically talked about only books we have read, or books we have had read to us. Not all contributions were relating to recent books, but lots of recommendations were made.
• Create recipes for your favourite book characters . These can be in pictorial form or even scribed, with lots of chat about why you have chosen the specific ingredients. For example, What in the story makes you think Hiccup will like jelly baby sandwiches?! The crazier the better!
• Wholly practical this one ! Build towns, houses, castles and palaces for your favourite characters. Get out the Lego and the junk modelling ! Build the world the book took you too!
• Surprise your class or family one afternoon ridding the room of furniture ( well, push it to the side!!) . Throw down cushions and rugs, bean bags and blankets, stick out stuff to make dens and hidey holes. And add lots of books! Also put out books that you know will be maybe way too easy but might just trigger some fond reading memories. A sure way to get children talking about books and the reasons they are special to them.
• Make a class recommendation book. Where children CAN write down or get some one else to write for them recommendations for friends . It can be lengthy if they are keen but brief can be more intriguing - e.g Read " Dirty Bertie!" It's ace- see Billy and I'll tell you why!
This is by no means an exhaustive or even very inspiring list of suggestions. Most came to me in between packing and hoovering ! But what I want people to remember is that good readers aren't always good writers but it doesn't mean they aren't good thinkers. We just have to be creative and let them shine!