On November 13th, Sally Betteridge and Helen Victoria Smith launched their new ‘Teachers as Readers’ group at the University of Nottingham’s School of Education. It was attended by newly-qualified and experienced teachers, as well as some keen primary PGCE students.
The first session started with the reading of a picture book and a ‘book blethering’ session where the teachers’ favourite children’s books were shared. As well as exploring the Research Rich Pedagogies website, the teachers evaluated their current knowledge and practices relating to reading for pleasure. We found that pedagogies was an area several teachers wanted to develop.
The session finished with the teachers excitedly opening mystery books to take away and read before our next session in December – we look forward to their reviews!
We are hopeful that over the year, with our support and the wealth of resources on the website, our new community of readers will be empowered and equipped to develop their own thriving reading communities.