Q2: What is it that we want our students to learn?

Developing an intrinsic motivation to want to read for pleasure is not going to happen by magic. This is something I need to develop by first analysing the baseline data that was gathered at the end of Term 1. I actually took this a step further and got my learners to analyse the data we collected and come up with their own suggestions as to how we can grow a culture of reading for enjoyment in our class. You can find a more detailed explanation of this task here.

A post on the National Library website states that reading for enjoyment 'gives people access to culture and heritage and empowers them to become active citizens, who can contribute to economic and social development.... It is also reading that may have begun at someone else’s request, which we continue because we are interested in it... AND CAN BE can be described as an act of play, which allows us to experience different worlds in our imagination and a creative and active/ interactive process.'

Research carried out by the Education Standards Research Team (ESARD) in the UK in 2012 found that reading for pleasure had educational benefits, supported personal development and had a positive impact on reading including:

• reading attainment and writing ability
• text comprehension and grammar
• breadth of vocabulary
• positive reading attitudes
• self-confidence as a reader

The post also shares findings from The Growing Independence: Summary of Key Findings from the Competent Learners at 14 Project report that found, 'The ability to read competently and, more importantly, the enjoyment of reading has implications for a student’s academic success.'

• higher scores on the cognitive and social/attitudinal competencies
• consistently higher scores in mathematics, reading, logical problem-solving and attitude
• higher average scores for engagement in school
• higher levels of motivation towards school.

I want my students to want to read a wide variety of texts because they want to. My aim this year is to help the students in LS2 to see our weekly library visit as both fun and to quote one of my learners, understand 'that opening the covers of books you haven't read books is a fun way to find new ideas or even learn a thing or two.... It's like a supermarket for the brain' - quote taken with student permission from this year's T1 writing sample.

Our data shows that within our class there is a huge disparity between the students who have made the connections they need to allow them to operate at a higher and more challenging level, and those for who the gap widens each year. By doing helping all of my students understand the benefits of reading for enjoyment, I hope to see a change in attitude towards reading, strengthened connections to new learning, increased vocabulary awareness which is transferred to personal writing, higher levels of self efficacy and an overall shift in achievement so that a higher number of our learners are achieving at or above the expected norms in literacy.