Book reviews

I have had the great good fortune to be asked to review lots of children’s books over the last few months. I had not written a book review for some considerable time and I realised whilst writing the reviews for the books I had read, how essentially dull writing a review can be.

The exception was when I got tremendously excited about a particular book I had read and then it became much easier to write. Often, however, we expect children to write reviews about many of the books they read and children may find this task dry and unexciting.

How can we make it a more enjoyable learning experience for children ? This is particularly important as the aim has to be to create lifelong readers.

· Ask for something different each time so it is neither boring to write or read. E.g. give it a rating in stars or smiley faces and the next time just talk about the character you might like to meet and then next time make it an advert for the book or a picture of your favourite part of the story. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

· Vary the audience- If you have a computerised library system, they quite often have opportunities for book recommendations for other children to use. Or it might be a review for the teachers so they can suggest books for their class, or a sort of what to read next if you liked a particular book.

· Instead of writing book reviews try reading them and see if you agree with the reviewer.  Readingzone.com,  https://www.primarytimes.net/reviews/book-reviews, and most newspapers.

· Write letters, to parents, friends, teachers about the books and get them to respond with comments and questions.

· Put comments on Twitter– it is easy to link with authors there and they usually respond if you say positive things.

· ENJOY the books!

Phonics teaching- argument? What argument?

I'm always slightly baffled by the incredibly ferocity of the arguments over synthetic phonics teaching.  There is no real argument; synthetic phonics work, the end.  Yet that does not stop people on both sides of the argument firing off pretty dreadful comments on forums and blogs. It is enough to make me pause before posting items about phonics and it is usually my blogs about phonics that get the most hits- though fortunately never any trolling because of my views!

I have to admit, when Letters and Sounds first came out I was deeply cynical. I thought, if it was that easy why weren't we all doing it decades ago? Now I just think, why weren't we doing it decades ago? Teaching phonics in a really systematic way works; it enables children to read and I really cannot see why people argue about it, as it is a fact. In my very long teaching career I have only ever met one child who completely failed to read learning phonics, but then he completely failed to learn to read at all. He had a very specific learning difficulty which meant his maths was fine but he was unable to remember letters or sounds and had to have the maths paper at Y6 read to him. That is one child out of hundreds who did not make a success of reading through phonics- not a scientifically conducted test, but pretty compelling none-the-less.

What I have seen is Year 1 teachers amazed at the jump in standards when Reception started teaching systematic phonics. Year 1 teachers could not get over how much better the new Year 1 children were after a year of phonics teaching. This was noticeable, not only in reading but writing too. By the end of Reception children can have a go at spelling any word they want to and whilst they won't yet know all the variables involved in spelling, they can make a pretty good stab at  some very complicated words. How amazing to be able to give children the gift of being able to write as well as read!

Some of the more anti-systematic phonics brigade seem to think that by teaching phonics you are not teaching a love of books. I do admit some of the very phonic based books are not great literature, but they serve a purpose, namely to support early reading through using phonics skills previously learnt. No-one is suggesting that children only read these sort of books, but merely that they learn to read with this type of text, as it supports them. They can then read plenty of other, wonderful children's books at the same time. So, for example, alongside learning Phase 3 phonics from Letters and Sounds in Reception, a child could be reading Shark in the Park by Nick Sharrett which amply illustrates the use of the /ar/ phoneme, or Mr Magnolia by Quentin Blake, which goes beautifully with Phase 5 /oo/ graphemes in Year 1.

Amidst all the arguing it seems to me that the essential fact has been lost, namely that phonics teaching is the tool not the end goal. The end goal is learning to read, which requires both phonics skills and comprehension. Once again,  good phonics teaching allows for this, with fantastic words littered across schemes such as Letters and Sounds.  Within the first weeks of phonics teaching children are learning words like nip, sap, din and nag and in order to read and write they do need to have the understanding of the word meanings that go with this. I know the decoding check seems to be demanding the opposite, with half of it being made up of 'nonsense' words, but these words will not improve reading standards, where as good phonics teaching will.

Then there is the argument that the test is biased against good readers. My son was one of those children, he was reading fluently by the end of Year 1. Having had excellent phonics teaching it made no difference to the outcome of the decoding check, he had just been taught that he should always use phonics as his first strategy, so that was what he did. Interestingly, in the word by word breakdown of the decoding check outcomes, it is always words with split digraph, whether nonsense or not , that have the lowest number of children read them correctly. The simple solution is to make sure teachers revise split digraph just before the decoding check. It would appear children are not phased by the nonsense words at all if they are used to using phonics as their first strategy when reading.

So you see I really do not understand the arguments at all (or why anyone has to be unpleasant about it, whatever their view). I have visited many schools as well as taught hundreds of children. Systematic phonics, when taught well, has meant great success for many children and there can be no argument in that.

Letter from a class teacher to a difficult parent- the response!

I know who you are, I’ve heard all about you and I’m not going to run away and hide. I will give you the time you need to talk to me, but it will have to be planned. I realise there is a lot you will want to say so I want to give you a proper opportunity to speak to me, not just a few snatched moments before or after school or in public.

I know you are a teacher and I respect your experience. I will listen to you when you let me know about the homework being too hard or too easy and I like the notes you write on it. It is very helpful to see what your child is doing at home and how much help he needs. I know that you understand the levels and the jargon and I will talk to you openly and honestly. I will tell you quickly if there is any sort of problem where I feel your child is not achieving as they should and not leave it until parent consultations to spring things on you. I will also tell you when your child is doing really well and show you things you will be proud of. 

I also know that you have particular expertise and whilst I understand you want to be a parent whilst at this school I will ask your opinion if it is relevant. I know you know a lot about reading for example, so if you think a particular book would be great for your child or the class, let me know.

I do know how able your child is, even though he has been hiding it a bit. Thank you for pointing some things out to me because I did not know about the maths, because as you say, he has not been taught it and therefore not used it in class. You mentioned he was reading a particular book at home so please encourage him to bring in books to school and to tell me about what he is reading. This term we are actually starting a challenge group for both maths and English and I am  going to put your child in those groups; I was going to include him before you told me about all the things he can do, but now I have even more evidence about him, it is very useful.

I completely understand about your anxieties over your child’s health issues. I did not know anything about Diabetes before he was in my class but I do now. I suggest you come in and we can have a long discussion ; we can ask you all the questions we need to ask and you can tell us all we need to know. We will also attend training and as many of us as can be released will go. This will ensure there is never an occasion when no-one knows what to do.  I will also ensure he is not missing lessons due to his condition and I will do this by keeping his medication in a safe place in the classroom, so that he does not have to go anywhere to deal with anything. I will make sure we have a good routine and if there is going to be any change in the routine or any cooking/eating activities I will discuss it with you first. I know the emotional aspect is hard for everyone to deal with and we will all follow the care plan and review it frequently.

Finally I want to say we value having you as a parent and we understand the needs of your child. All of the staff will do everything they can to support your child right through the school.