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Original poster

Any secondary a English teachers around? Or people with an interest?

30 replies

Hakluyt · 13/09/2014 09:53

My ds is in year 9 of a school with a very challenging catchment and a very low % of high attainers. It's doing a fantastic job, and everyone works hard for the children- I can't fault that. A particular issue is boys and literacy- and there are initiatives in place to help encourage them to read.

DS brought home a reading list yesterday. He's in the top set- but by definition there will be plenty of level 5s in that set with him. The reading list is an A4 sheet with 67 titles on it. Just that- no notes or suggestions or anything. Ds is a reader, and he found it incredibly daunting. Hell, I found it incredibly daunting.

My question. I was thinking of suggesting to the teacher that I took the list, picked out maybe 10 or 12 books and made a booklet, with a plot summary and a review or two- just to make it more appealing.

I don,t know the teacher at all. Would I be overstepping the mark? I do already volunteer in the school with a year 7 reading scheme. I've attached a picture of the list- but I'm sure you won't be able to read it!

Any secondary a English teachers around? Or people with an interest?
OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 13/09/2014 11:04

Are they supposed to read all those books? Confused

Agree that it needs some sort of hook to get them to want to read them. If you already volunteer in the school and can see the teacher face-to-face I think it would be a great idea to suggest that you knock up a more appealing booklet. Might be worth checking what their plans are for the list first.

LIZS · 13/09/2014 11:03

Can't read list . Think a good starting point would be to get any of the kids who have read any of the books to write a brief review. Maybe do a poll to see which are most commonly read .

LoopyLoopyLoopy · 13/09/2014 11:02

Whzt would be better is if your DS googles them all and copies a paragraph of blurb into a doc and hands to teacher. She might then, of her own accord, suggest it gets distributed.

I don't think she will like your involvement, though I think it's noble.

Original poster
Hakluyt · 13/09/2014 10:57

There is a book club, and that's a fantastic long term idea. But I was wondering whether I could get something done quickly- it seems to me that this list is so off putting that it's going be counter productive. I've read enough of them already to produce something in a couple of days. I suppose I'm worried that a teacher who doesn't see an issue with handing out this list probably isn't going to take kindly to me butting in.....

OP posts:
ZeroSomeGameThingy · 13/09/2014 10:37

Is there a book club? Or would there be time or resources to set one up? Then the children could do this themselves - each taking one or two books and writing a small review (which wouldn't have to be positive.)

It works better as part of the school website - so reviews can be continuously added and it becomes something dynamic and fun.