Inspiring Children to Read and Write for Pleasure: Using Literature to Inspire Literacy learning for Ages 8-12

222 Pages·2010·0.55 MB·English

by  Fred Sedgwick

Inspiring Children to Read and Write for Pleasure
‘A marvellous book of great practical value’ – James Carter
The lack of interest in reading for pleasure amongst large numbers of
primary age pupils, put off by ‘mechanical’ worksheet-driven approaches,
is a cause for major concern amongst education professionals and parents.
However, Inspiring Children to Read and Write for Pleasure from writer,
journalist and education commentator Fred Sedgwick uses the context of
literature to illuminate and inform the teaching of literacy in the primary
classroom and inspire children to a love of books.
Aimed at year 4, 5 and 6 primary pupils, but also signifi cant as a transitions
text to teaching secondary school pupils, this book shows how children’s
fl uency in language – their thinking, their talking, their reading, their lis-
tening and their writing – can be greatly improved and enriched through
contact with literature placed in an understandable context. With both
focus on prose and poetry, primary pupils will be introduced to using
grammar, syntax and sentence construction skills in meaningful contexts.
Through the use of inspiring case studies, schedules of work and practical
classroom applications as well as literary fi gures like Dickens, Coleridge,
Carroll, Rossetti and Shakespeare, primary school children can enjoy
reading and writing again.
With a number of sample passages to use, teaching guidelines and exam-
ples of children’s work, this book will be of great interest to literacy co-
ordinators, practicing Primary PGCE and KS2 teachers and those on BA
Primary/BEd courses.
Fred Sedgwick is a writer, journalist and commentator in education. He
has written for various national newspapers, education associations and
reviews.

Inspiring Children to Read and
Write for Pleasure
Using literature to inspire literacy learning for ages 8–12
Fred Sedgwick
This fi rst edition published 2011 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2011 Fred Sedgwick
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sedgwick, Fred.
Inspiring children to read and write for pleasure : using literature to inspire literacy
learning for ages 8-12 / by Fred Sedgwick.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Literature—Study and teaching (Elementary) 2. Language arts (Elementary)
3. Motivation in education. I. Title.
LB1575.S43 2011
372.6—dc22 2010007645
ISBN 0-203-84532-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN13: 978-0-415-56505-9 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-56507-3 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-84532-5 (ebk)
To the memory of John Cotton
1925–2003
Poet friend teacher

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
Part I: Prose
Introduction 13
1 Absolute nonsense! 21
2 Getting rid of common sense 24
3 Characters 29
4 Characters: Charles Dickens 33
5 Action: Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island 51
6 Biography: John Aubrey Brief Lives 55
7 Journals 62
8 Beginnings 64
9 Finally . . . 67
Part II: Poetry
Introduction 71
The voice of anonymous: poems from the oral tradition
1 How many blackberries grow in the sea? Nonsense verse, and
children writing it 83
2 Anonymous speaks again: nursery rhymes and other folk poetry 97
3 A spiritual: ‘Motherless child’ 110
4 More from the voice of anonymous: ballads 113
vii
Contents
5 An anonymous alphabet 117
6 Anonymous speaks from the grave: epitaphs 121
7 And more from anonymous: riddles 126
8 Anonymous at Christmas 133
9 How many miles to Babylon? A short anthology of anonymous 137
poems
Writing to explore: poems from the written tradition
Introduction 145
1 Small explorations: some short poems 147
2 Hymn: exploring where the rhyme takes you 156
3 Exploring nonsense: Lewis Carroll 161
4 Exploring the past: Thomas Hood 164
5 John Clare: ‘Meet me in the green glen’ 167
6 Thomas Hardy: ‘To the Moon’ 172
7 Too wonderful for me: something from the Bible 178
8 Exploring Geoff rey Chaucer: a start 181
9 Rupert Brooke’s favourite things 185
10 A voice from the United States of America: Walt Whitman 187
11 Gerard Hopkins 191
Appendix: a short anthology of poems on the seasons 194
Notes 201
References 203
Index 206
viii
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements are due to the following schools:
Aldwickbury Preparatory, Harpenden
Bealings Primary, Suff olk
How Wood Primary, St Albans
Key’s Meadow Primary, Enfi eld
Middleton Primary, Suff olk
Nacton Primary, Suff olk
Peasenhall Primary, Suff olk
Piper’s Vale Primary, Ipswich
Riverside Community Primary, Tadcaster
St Michael’s Primary, St Albans
Sherburn Village Primary, Durham
Sidegate Primary, Ipswich
Wood End Primary, Harpenden
I am grateful to Peggy Cotton for permission to print John Cotton’s riddles
on pp.127 and 128.
Thanks to Daniel, especially.
ix