IOW Parents: Proven Way to Help your Child’s Progress
Typically, I don’t write posts like this, but I’ve felt compelled to produce this piece for a while. With both my parent and teacher hat on, I’ve got something I just want to say, really- especially at the start of the summer holidays...
We know that, here on the Isle of Wight, our academic results generally score lower than other regions (there’s many thoughts on this- for another day!) However, I think there's a way each child’s progress could be clearly improved...
And it's READING.
Before you switch off or leave this page, hear me out:
You might have seen something like this image doing the rounds on Facebook?
If it passed you by or you thought, "Oh, it's just another thingy...scrolling on..." then I really urge you to STOP on this one. (Nope, I don't believe everything I've read online, either- but there's a A LOT of reliable research to back up the power of reading.)
A huge amount of research has been done into the impact that reading has on a child’s academic ability and achievements. Reading for fun helps children make better progress. Fact.
And this isn’t just about their literacy progress. Evidence suggests that children (who read) do better across ALL of their subjects- including maths! And it makes sense, right? If children can read well, they can access more of the world around them, with a wider range of vocabulary and comprehension.
Read Aloud or Read Alone
According to Literacytrust.org.uk - ‘10-year-olds who enjoy reading have a reading age 1.3 years higher than their peers who do not enjoy reading, rising to 2.1 years for 12-year-olds and 3.3 years for 14-year-olds.’
Isn't that staggering!? What a difference.
I appreciate there might be challenge when trying to get kids to enjoy books at home. But, in my teaching experience, teens who don't like reading independently often respond really well when being READ TO! I honestly think we underestimate that secondary school children are still... children!
When reading aloud in a calm and quiet spot, listening is the only natural thing to do, right? Without distractions, a story becomes intriguing and information is absorbed. I'm very much a believer that reading aloud to children and teenagers can be equally as effective to reluctant readers as reading alone, and it offers an alternative way to access story materials.
Building Language
Another figure that does the rounds: if your child reads for 20 minutes per day, they are exposed to 1,800,000 words per year. If they read for 1 minute a day, this becomes 8000 words a year. So if they’re not reading at all, their exposure to our own language is much more limited.
There’s also been studies into how children relay their emotions and communicate better if they know a wider range of words. The more vocabulary a child has, the better they will be able to articulate their feelings. Children who know less vocabulary struggle to communicate their feelings as effectively, because they simply don’t have the words to portray the complexities they might want to say.
Research also suggests that five year olds with a small vocabulary will find literacy tasks (and literacy tasks come into pretty much every subject!!) more challenging throughout their schooling life!
What I find a bit stressful, as a parent, is that this seems like a short time frame! Five years old?! Our eldest daughter is nearly three- how many more words do I need to try and use?! When shall I crack out the Harry Potter series as bedtime reading?!
But, I guess the point is that reading regularly at any age is certainly never going to be detrimental! I’m 27 years old and I read a toddler book the other day where I learnt that female barn owls make the “Twit” sound and the male owls “Twoo.” Maybe I could learn this from TV or the internet, yep, but it’s not always the same. Reading is a focused activity, whereby distractions are at a minimum. You’re either reading the words on the page or you’re not. (When you’re watching tv for example, you might also be having a chat, eating a bag of crisps, looking at a device....)
Why Now?
If you’re still with me by now, you’re probably picking up the impression that I could go on and on and on about this- and I happily would! But, I’ll get to the crux of this piece for now: I just want to deliver the message to Islanders in particular, because I love this place and people.
To help children in their schooling, in their academics, to understand life, feelings, emotions, language, culture, diversity... to use imagination, to become more creative, to be able to communicate more effectively... we need to spend more time surrounding them with books! If we, as a collective Island community, want to make a real difference to our children's educational experience here, then reading is one practical, impactful way we can do so. And it’s one that doesn’t involve status or money or anything more than getting hold of an appropriate book (and there’s millions of them, whatever your child's ability!)
Come on, let’s do this.
