SP25-57 Primary Reading Simplified: Theory into Practice

Dates:   Wednesday 26th February, 5th, 12th & 19th March 2025
Time:     7 - 8 pm
Venue:  Online via Zoom

Target Audience: Primary teachers and school leaders

Session 1: What Every Teacher Needs to Know About Reading
An astonishing wealth of relevant research exists on the subject of reading development. This is both a blessing and a curse. Navigating the evidence and deciding what concepts our colleagues need to grasp can be an overwhelming challenge for teachers and school leaders. This session is designed for anyone who wants to overcome this challenge and to better help all pupils become capable, confident readers.

Session 2-4: Introduction to Reading Lesson Structures and Fluency Reading
There are many ways that reading lessons can build on systematic phonics and early spoken language development to maximise the chances that all pupils become capable, confident readers. However, for any approach to be effective it must address three priorities:

• Develop pupils’ reading fluency by providing them with opportunities to reach fluency through modelling, practice and feedback.
• Increase pupils’ understanding of written English and the world to which it relates by providing extensive, meaningful experiences with a variety of texts chosen for this specific purpose.
• Nurture pupils’ understanding of their subjective, strategic role in interpreting and appreciating texts through discussions that analyse written language and explore pupils’ own ideas.

Reading lesson structures are tried-and-tested ways of meeting these priorities in ways that simplify the teaching of reading while offering teachers scope to develop their expertise and maintain their sense of agency in the classroom. This session will discuss the advantages of reading lesson structures and introduce the first reading lesson structure, fluency reading, including how it can be planned and taught for the benefit of all pupils.

Session 3: Extended Reading
Building on the previous session that introduced reading lesson structures and described the first of these, fluency reading, this session will focus on the second reading lesson structure, extended reading. The aim of this way of teaching is to build pupils' understanding of written language and the world to which it relates through pacy, engaging experiences with texts chosen for this purpose. This session will discuss in detail how extended reading can be planned and taught for the benefit of all pupils.

Session 4: Close Reading
Building on the previous sessions that introduced reading lesson structures and described two of these, fluency reading and extended reading, this session will focus on the final reading lesson structure, close reading. The aim of this way of teaching is to nurture pupils' understanding of their subjective, strategic role in interpreting and appreciating texts through shared discussion and analysis of the craft of writing. This session will discuss in detail how close reading can be planned and taught for the benefit of all pupils.

Bio of Presenter: Christopher Such