Reading across the Curriculum
The significance of reading cannot be understated within a school curriculum. Before learning, understanding and progress can occur, each individual must be able to access the resources needed to acquire knowledge.
There are many different ways in which we can enjoy reading, whether they are books, e-books, magazines, newspapers or the internet, to name a few. However we choose to access materials to read, there are numerous benefits:
- They are mentally stimulating and help to keep your brain active and engaged, which is important for the health of your brain.
- By reading, we acquire knowledge. This does not have to be from a non-fiction book, but can also occur through reading any type of book. Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information, and you never know when it might come in handy. The more knowledge you have, the better equipped you are to tackle any challenge you’ll ever face.
- Exposure to published, well-written work has a noted effect on one’s own writing, as observing the cadence, fluidity and writing styles of other authors will invariably influence your own work. In the same way that musicians influence one another and painters use techniques established by previous masters, so do writers learn how to craft prose by reading the work of others.
- Reading helps to develop our own vocabulary and understanding of when to apply it. This is an obvious benefit when pupils reach their final examinations and marks are awarded for the use of specific vocabulary. Being articulate and well-spoken is of great help in any profession, knowing you can speak to those who are higher-up with self confidence can be an enormous boost to your self-esteem. It could even aid in your career, as those who are well-read, well-spoken, and knowledgeable on a variety of topics tend to get promoted more quickly (and more often) than those with smaller vocabularies and lack of awareness of literature, scientific breakthroughs and global events.
- As a result of reading, you will improve your ability to remember. When reading, you have to remember different characters and contexts, twists and turns. This all helps to forge new synapses (brain pathways) and strengthens existing ones which assists in short-term memory recall as well as stabilising moods.
- Alongside being able to remember, reading gives you the opportunity to develop your analytical skills, by trying to work out how the story is entwined and maybe who is responsible. At the same time, you begin to evaluate and analyse whether the story is well-written and how you feel about the strength of the characters.
- Reading helps to reduce stress levels by distracting us, keeping you in the moment and allowing tensions to drain away.
- Reading allows us to focus on one thing, the book. It can be very easy to switch between tasks and try to do many things at once. Reading a book takes away those other distractions, immersing our self into the story.
- Finally, it is available to all. Visiting your local library or downloading free books on an e-book can take you to another world and enjoy whatever genre of book you are interested in.
As part of this, we have provided lists of books that we would encourage pupils to read, depending upon their age and ability. The point is not to read them all (although that would be wonderful) but to find books that interest you and then use them as a spur to read other books.
The links to the reading lists for each group can be found below:
We appreciate that for some pupils who have particular difficulty reading and would prefer books that are more appropriate, the above lists may be quite daunting. Therefore, the links below offer advice and alternative books that are dyslexia friendly in their presentation and wording but are also engaging due to being age appropriate in terms of the content. Other websites are also available.
https://www.barringtonstoke.co.uk/dyslexic-reluctant-readers/
http://www.barringtonstoke.co.uk/product-category/teen/
Please note – We are currently creating a page that will be a resource for pupils to discover and share reading books that other pupils recommend and enjoy.