Reader Profile Survey
As part of my RPI course, I used the following slideshow with my Year 10 Humanities class and asked them to complete the Reader Profile Survey.
Survey Results
My Analysis of the Survey Results
My key takeaways from the survey results were:
- Only 1/3 of my class reads for pleasure
- Students think that their teachers have a lower perception of their reading ability than they do, while their families think they are better readers than they themselves do.
- On the reading behaviours and skills, most students said that they give up immediately if they don’t understand what they are reading.
- Students often lose track of the meaning before they get to the end of a sentence.
- Most students felt they could not connect what they were reading to their cultural identity.
My perception is that teacher attitudes come across as negative and that I have some work to do in teaching, encouraging and reinforcing the strategies students can use to decode more difficult text.
Ground Rules for Talk
At a subsequent lesson, I introduced the Ground Rules for Talk with the class, using the following slideshow:
Student Comments on the Survey Results
The groups were tasked with reading and discussing the following Summary of the Reader Profile Survey results for the class:
Each group had the survey results on their Chromebooks, a copy of the Ground Rules for Talk and a sheet of A3 paper on which they were asked to record points from their discussion of the results. Here are the comments recorded by each group:
Some of the key points that came through were:
- Forcing people to read when they don’t want to just makes them hate reading.
- Some students prefer to read at home, so people don’t know they are good readers.
- Reading is difficult for some students, e.g. with dyslexia.
- Time spent on sustained silent reading (SSR) in class seemed debated, with some saying it was too long and others that it should be longer.
- There seemed general agreement that students needed to be encouraged, not forced, to read.
- Students need to be helped to find a book they will actually enjoy.
As I circulated around the groups, I recorded the following student comments, which are not reflected in their group notes:
- I could be earning money [instead of reading].
- I’d rather just play a game.
- It’s something I’ve got to do for school.
Student Suggestions for Improving Engagement in Reading
Finally, the students were asked to come up with their best ideas on how to improve students’ engagement in reading for enjoyment. They recorded these on sticky notes as follows:
- Make reading activities more hands on.
- Make reading activities more engaging and interesting for the students.
- Just have a class book which is read aloud by the teacher.
- During reading time, give the option to do a different type of work that isn’t reading.
- Get better books in the library, e.g. comic books, picture books, and books filled with short stories.
- Going through each genre of books to find what you most enjoy.
- Encourage people to pick books they are interested in, instead of randomly picking a book to read.
- Not force it but encourage it.
- Try to find a relaxing place to read.
- Help people find books that they like.
- People around them reading.
- We could help people by finding a book they like.
Student reflections on how well they used the Ground Rules for Talk
My reflections on the Ground Rules for Talk
I was pleasantly surprised by the way that students engaged in the discussion and the way that many referred back to the ground rules as they were talking.
I had laminated copies of the Ground Rules for each group, which was a useful visual reminder.
Next time I will provide some question and discussion prompts as well, on another card, and perhaps allocate group roles.