Welcome back to Term 3 where we are blessed with many opportunities to read, write, and talk about the things that matter, including the events that take place around us on a local, national and international level. 

Our previous literacy newsletters have featured reading and vocabulary as essential for operating smoothly at school and well into our adult years. For some of our Year 9 students, reading featured as a holiday activity, with Bruce Pascoe’s nonfiction book “Dark Emu’, William Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’, a book on communication and a narrative by Pat Barker  ‘The Silence of the Girls’ all featuring as selections that were read.

On a recent trip to the Sunshine Coast, for the purpose of attending a 10 Day Cricket Competition, I had the joy of engaging with people I would otherwise not have interacted with, nor come across. What struck me most was the talk around reading, it featured as a topic that people across all ages engaged in. People were sharing experiences of reading to their children, competing to finish a book first, with some reflecting on not reading as often as they wished. 

People shared these insights:

• Reading widely helps interactions when meeting new people,
• Thinking and talking about the challenges of reading opens up our dilemmas and solutions which can be presented in reading material broadens our world view,
• Writing down a key phrase or saying written in a book, reminds people about something they value at a given point in time.

An Australian Under 19 Triathlete said that reading for meaning happens when she makes a connection with an idea, and sometimes this isn’t immediate. So the challenge for her is to connect reading with a goal.’ Then she suggested that selecting the right reading strategy helps her to reconnect with the book. 

Some of her suggestions included: scanning, skimming, rereading, reading for speed, reading for comprehension, reading for interpretation and reflection.

Next time you read, or become unmotivated to read, which strategy will you try?

(Year 7 English silent reading their novel "Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" down by the dam)

Mrs Joanne McMahon

Literacy Instuctional Coach