The objective of AIR is to support an improvement in written responses so that they can become more analytical, well developed and personal.
Studies show that reading for pleasure makes a big difference to children’s educational performance. Likewise, evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who do not, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures.
We expect every student to read independently for 20-30 minutes every week (at least).
We expect every student to write a paragraph (or more) about something that they have read over the course of the week and post this as a private comment in the relevant section of the ‘Communication’ Google Classroom. The homework will be set every week (due on Mondays).
At John Spence, we are committed to promoting reading for pleasure. We believe that reflecting upon reading and submitting supported opinions about reading on a weekly basis will help to build key transferable skills that can be applied across the curriculum as well as in life outside of the classroom.
We also run a Reciprocal Reading programme at John Spence. Here, small groups of students are supported to explore deeper meanings in texts. We focus on inference and interpretation; we read between the lines.
