Ideas for encouraging peer recommendations in the classroom

Children who are encouraged to read and who have books suggested to them by their peers are significantly more likely to enjoy reading and say that it is ‘cool’ than those who don’t (National Literacy Trust surveys, 2008-2016). Creating a culture of peer recommendation in a classroom takes time and effort, but the results are definitely worth the investment. To hear a child say to a classmate ‘You just have to read A Library Of Lemons because it’s the best book ever written’ or 'I absolutely loved Once and think you will too' is a magical feeling for a teacher who's trying to create a reading culture, especially when the conversation is reciprocated a few days later. When it starts to happen on a regular basis, you know you've created a class of genuine readers! As an added bonus, it's a great way for teachers and librarians to hear about new books. About half of the children's books that I read have been suggested to me by pupils.

Year 6 recommendations

One of the easiest, but most powerful, ways to get children sharing and discussing books with each other is by being a ‘reading teacher’ and by recommending books to the class yourself (if you're not already aware of Teresa Cremin's Teachers as Readers report, then you need to explore it as a matter of urgency!). Try and find the time to talk about at least a couple of books each week; tell them why you enjoyed it and why you think they will, compare it to similar books they may know, read them the blurb and an exciting extract and then leave it somewhere prominent in the classroom. It will definitely have been borrowed by the end of the day! Once the children see you recommending books that you’ve actually read (as opposed to recommending books where you’ve just whizzed through the blurb) they’ll start to do it as well.

Although being forced to regularly write book reviews can quickly kill a love of reading, it doesn’t always have to be so painful. A two sentence mini-review, written in a brightly coloured gel pen on a fluorescent sticky note and then stuck on the front cover of the book, is a lovely way to share recommendations. Writing Twitter reviews to be shared with other classes also helps give the children a real audience for their opinions.

Mini-reviews

Our school book council (which is currently made up of one child from each class in the school) have a regular slot in assembly where they share books that they have enjoyed or promote new books that have come into the school library. Although it was originally only the council members who recommended books, other children often ask if they can talk about a book they’ve just finished because it was so good. Some of our Year 5 and 6 children also visit Key Stage 1 regularly and share books that they read at that age. Both groups of children take the sessions very seriously; the older children put a lot of thought into selecting the books that they take with them, and the younger children listen carefully and enjoy asking questions about the books.

Reading to Key Stage 1

When a child has particularly enjoyed a book, encourage them to fill in an 'If you liked reading...then try...' bookmark which can be passed on to another child (templates are easily available online). We have an exercise book in our reading area called 'If you liked reading...', where lots of children's authors are listed. The children then update the book by recommending similar authors (eg If you liked reading the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz, then try the Jimmy Coates books by Joe Craig or the Young James Bond books by Charlie Higson and Steve Cole). It's great to see how often they refer to this while choosing their next book!

Filming short videos where children talk about favourite books can be made very easily and shared widely. We currently swap recommendations with a primary school in New Zealand. Although there are a lot of similarities in their choices, there are also several books which are only published in one of the countries, which has led to interesting discussions about books from different cultures and countries. The link to our most recent video can be found here.

We’ve also introduced a ‘Reader of the Week’ where the winner is chosen by their classmates (with a little guidance, as and when necessary…Oh, I wonder who it might be this time? Maybe Sean, who read beautifully to his little sister last night). We then add a photo of the child holding their favourite book to our display and the other children their own ‘Well Done’ comments. It definitely helps raise the status of reading in the classroom and helps make being a reader cool.

It will take time for children to develop the confidence to share their reading preferences with their classmates but, once it’s firmly embedded in the classroom routine and ethos, it’s a very powerful tool to help engage all readers and can make a huge difference to the value that they put on reading.

Children's Reading Surveys

I knew my previous class as readers extremely well, mainly because I'd been fortunate enough to have worked with them for almost two and a half years. I knew their favourite genres and authors, I had a clear picture of what their reading life was like outside school, I understood their views on the importance of reading and I was in a position where the children and I were able to make recommendations to each other based on our mutual knowledge of each other’s preferences (see previous post). Earlier in the year, they all moved on to secondary school and a new Deer Class appeared at my classroom door. I knew that, on the whole, they were fairly keen readers and I was aware of the class books that they'd read, but I knew barely anything about them as individual readers.

    

Without the luxury of having so much time this year, I thought that a quick way to help us get our 'reading relationship' up and running would be by getting them to complete a short reading survey. I looked online for examples, as well as at previous ones I'd carried out, and then created a survey which I felt would best suit our needs. I gave it to them on the first afternoon of term, and provided no guidance as to what I was looking for in their answers, how much detail I would like or what my own thoughts and preferences were. I wanted to have the most genuine picture of them as readers as I could. It was made clear that I would be reading all the surveys, that we would be discussing them further and that they would not be marked for spelling, etc. The children were then given as long as they needed to complete the questionnaire.

I then read through their completed questionnaires, looking for common themes, and recorded anything that stood out for each child (e.g. those who never read at home, those who hated being read aloud to, those who had devoured His Dark Materials). The results gave me several things to consider and act upon over the first few weeks:

• As a class, their knowledge of children's poets and poetry was almost non-existent (very few were aware of anyone apart from Michael Rosen!).
• Almost all of them wanted more time to 'just read' in class.
• Most enjoyed having stories read to them but didn't like it when the teacher 'stopped and asked us stuff all the time'.

The surveys reinforced the fact that every child and every class has a hugely different reading identity based on their previous experiences. Although I now have an overall view of them as individual readers, it doesn’t lessen the importance of continuing to develop this vital relationship. We will still be engaging in conversations about books and reading, both planned and spontaneous, at every opportunity and continuing with our daily reading time, class story, and so on. I have shared the survey format (below) with the other teachers in the school and encouraged them to adapt it for their own needs. We will be discussing common themes at a future staff meeting and assessing whether the RfP provision that we feel we’re providing is the same as the RfP provision that the children feel we’re providing.

(A more detailed write-up of this is available on the Open University Reading for Pleasure site:

https://researchrichpedagogies.org/research/example/reading-surveys)

Year 6 Reading Survey

Name:

Write down three books that you have read in the last year.

What is your favourite type of book (adventure, mystery, graphic novel, non-fiction, poetry, etc)?

Can you name any children’s authors?

Can you name any children’s poets?

Do you enjoy reading in school? Score between 1 (absolutely hate it) and 10 (absolutely love it).

Do you enjoy reading at home? Score between 1 (absolutely hate it) and 10 (absolutely love it).

Apart from books, do you read anything else at home or in school?

Are you a member of a local library?

Do you enjoy an adult reading you stories? Why?

How would you make reading more enjoyable in school?

I read because…

I would read more if…

My teacher is a reader (true/false)

Moorlands is a reading school (true/false)

Reading is cool (true/false)

Tell me two interesting facts about you as a reader (eg Mr Biddle loves reading books about cricket; Mr Biddle enjoys Fighting Fantasy adventure books where you get to choose what happens next)

1)

2)

Draw a picture which tells me something about you as a reader.