Reading for benefit. ‘A word after a word after a word is power.’ (Margaret Atwood) I have been meaning to write this blog for most of the summer but kept procrastinating – spending time with family, pottering, shopping, holidaying, chilling, cleaning and many other activities kept getting in the way (as they should in the holidays!) However, as I make the transition from my school of the previous nine years to a new school and professional adventure I felt I wanted to get it down – call it a vanity project if you will! One of my achievements at my last (amazing) school that I am most proud of is setting up and implementing a tutor ‘read aloud’ programme and this is the tale of why. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” (George. R. R. Martin) A romanticised and somewhat clichéd
The summer term - that time of year when teachers all around the country are going into hibernation and giving up their family time, social life and general peace of mind in the pursuit of marking for exam boards, whether it be SATs, GCSE or A Level. But is the sacrifice worth it? What are the benefits and how could we make it more manageable? Marking for an exam board is a big commitment. It should be – after all, these are our pupils’ final results. However, it is time consuming, all consuming and often can seem like a thankless task. I didn’t mark for an exam board until a number of years into my teaching career. If I am honest – I really don’t enjoy marking. (Just putting it out there.) When I had a young family it just didn’t seem like something I wanted to add to my list of jobs considering that it would impact on my home and family time. Plus, you really need somewhere quiet to mark and toddlers and young children really don’t offer tha