| Teaching Student Teachers How to Use Shared Reading as a Positive Teaching Strategy
Introducing the activity
This activity is designed to enable student teachers to understand the value of shared reading by taking part in a shared reading session. In groups, they should then be expected to prepare and teach shared reading in later sessions.
Those with Key Stage 1 experience will be used to working with big books and the whole class (Holdaway, 1979). But for many, this will be a new approach to teaching reading and will need careful and continuous modelling if they are to make effective use of it, especially if their class experiences have led them to see this as a rather mechanical activity. They need to understand what is involved and why. Taking part in this way will also develop their own subject knowledge. If possible you should also model how this work can lead into shared and independent writing.
Student teachers are often given both the Primary National Strategy teaching objectives and school resources for shared reading and it is useful if you can use these to model how to plan effective and meaningful sessions, foregrounding text. If your institution has a particular format for lesson planning, then use that for this purpose. You can then conduct the shared reading session using your plans, explaining the reasons for the activities, the role of the teaching assistant, differentiation, and assessment practices.
Suggested Teaching Strategies (Geekie, Cambourne & Fitzsimmons, 1999)
Select a challenging text for KS2 e.g. introduction to The Way to Sattin Shore (Pearce, 1983).
Before revealing the text (use OHP/IWB) ask student teachers to predict the genre from the given title. This will help them to think about knowledge and understanding of genres.
Then model how to read the text aloud.
Next ask student teachers to read parts individually.
Finally ask student teachers to read it silently.
Discuss the reasons for this practice since student teachers often do not realise the difficulties of comprehending a text on one reading. What have they seen in school?
Demonstrate how to teach the use of the cue systems when the text is read by children. Student teachers need to realise that this is where they can teach children to ‘read the words’ and to develop their phonic knowledge (Phonics).
Drawing on What goes on in our heads when we read?, model a range of questions/responses to help student teachers learn how this practice can enrich understanding of both the text and the writer’s art. Help them to see the importance of textual evidence for responses.
Model the use of open ended questioning and strategies to prevent IRF style of exchange (See Raising Student teachers’ awareness of the structure of Teacher-pupil talk in classrooms and how to assess its quality in Speaking and Listening at Key Stage 2 and Beyond.)
Discuss the advantages of a ‘no hands up’ policy.
Model the use of interactive teaching strategies designed to develop knowledge and understanding of how language words to create meaning e.g.
- Paired talk - discuss the difference it would make to meaning if certain adjectives were omitted
- White boards - identify word classes/ clauses in given sentence. Write the missing dialogue etc.
- Drama techniques - freeze frame a given incident (Drama at Key Stages 1 & 2 - Drama Conventions) Focus on words crucial to the way they decide to stand/look.
- Follow up Independent Reading activities
Provide learning activities which will further enrich understanding of the text. In later sessions students can do the same
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