This is the second year that I’ve run a TRG and I think we’re unique in that the group is made up of qualified class teachers and senior leaders, as well as student teachers. This leads to a great dynamic as teachers share their broad experiences and students share their enthusiasm for their new-found role in developing RfP.
In our second meeting we decided to focus on non-fiction. We were privileged to be joined by BGU colleague Dr Mary-Louise Maynes who shared with us her recent research into children’s responses to what she calls ‘poetic non-fiction’. We discussed the nature of non-fiction texts and the cross-over texts which defy categorisation. This led us into a great book speed-dating session where we shared our favourite non-fiction texts.
Finally, we shared our audit results and identified the areas of RfP strength and those we’d like to focus on developing further. All the schools involved are already doing lots of exciting book-based activities. But we know that one-offs will only take us so far. Embedding RfP into everyday practice is much more far-reaching and long-lasting. Therefore, we identified 3 areas;
– developing teacher subject knowledge
– informal book talk
– the wider reading community;
which we are combining into one focus – 'Reading Community'. So, we are working towards developing strong reading communities where teachers, pupils and parents are involved in RfP. I can’t wait until our next meeting to hear what the members have all been up to!
