Rapid Readers: using Glow to support a lunchtime reading club
Overview
Librarian Linda Martin runs a Rapid Readers club at Carluke High School in South Lanarkshire. The club, for S2 pupils, meets at lunchtimes in the school library. It aims to encourage pupils to read for enjoyment and to read as widely as possible.
Carluke Rapid Readers – using Glow during the lunchtime sessions in the library
Context
When Carluke High School first started using Glow in early 2008, the Rapid Readers Glow Group was created as one of a number of pilot projects, to explore how Glow could enhance pupils’ learning.
The same Glow Group has now been in use for over two years, evolving with each new activity the club undertakes. The Group is now a central hub, providing a focus for the lunchtime meetings and giving pupils a wealth of information and activities to explore when they log on to Glow at home.
* Linda Martin gives a tour of the Rapid Readers Glow Group
Areas of the Glow Group range from a focus on a single short story, through peer recommendations, to participating in national book awards.
One of the earliest activities at the club was a study of the short story, “The Witch’s Headstone”, by Neil Gaiman. Pupils took copies of the story home to read, and then discussed it together in the lunchtime session.
The snakestone
In the Glow Group, background information to the story was added, such as images, a glossary of unfamiliar terms and a list of characters. Pupils could then choose from a number of different activities, exploring characters or incidents in the story. Pupils’ work was uploaded to the Glow Group so that they could view and comment on each others’ responses. Glow Meet and Glow Chat were also introduced, to encourage pupils to discuss the plot and characters further.
Book recommendations
Pupils have become very confident through the club about expressing their opinions about what they read, and about recommending books and authors to their peers. They have collated lists of books under headings such as “The books that we couldn’t put down”, “ The character that we’d most like to be”, “Saddest books” and “Books that we’d like made into a film”. They have used discussion boards to comment on favourite reads and the books they’ve received for Christmas. They also use links in the Glow Group to websites that provide book recommendations, such as the “Reading Matters Bookchooser”, which is particularly popular for its interactive facilities.
In August 2009 the club visited the Edinburgh International Book Festival to see two popular children’s authors, Catherine MacPhail and Malcolm Rose. Pages have been added to the Glow Group, displaying photos, a report about the trip and information on the authors and their books. This all continues to inspire the pupils to explore perhaps unfamiliar authors and genre.
Holocaust Memorial Day
In 2009 the club decided to take part in the Booktrust Teenage Prize. Pupils read and discussed the five books on the shortlist and then voted on their favourite. They were delighted when this novel, “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman, was declared the overall winner!
Other pages of the Glow Group have supported further club activities, such as participation in Holocaust Memorial Day and submission of a bid for a grant for books for the library.
Ingredients
For the Rapid Readers, Linda created a Glow Group and then:
- added additional pages when required
- created new list web parts (eg. Web links) to be able to display different content on different pages of the Glow Group
- changed the display of web parts (eg. to provide additional information about a web link or document)
- used Text Editor web parts to display text, images and hyperlinks
Video clips in the Recipe section below show how you can replicate these ideas.
Recipe
* How to add, edit and remove pages from a Glow Group
* How to change the display of a web part
* How to create a new Web links web part
* How to add the Text Editor web part and insert text, images and hyperlinks
* How to use tables in Text Editor
Impact
Club membership has now risen from the original eight pupils to around 20. Although this makes it more difficult to ensure that all pupils can have hands-on access to Glow during the lunchtime sessions, pupils thoroughly enjoy participating in the club and using Glow in the library and at home.
In general, the club members have become very assured about discussing their views on what they’ve read and about making book recommendations to their peers. Pupils have become noticeably more willing to try book recommendations and to move beyond their comfort zone; some of the boys in particular have been encouraged to explore other genre.
Linda is delighted with the success of the club and with the role that the Glow Group has played in it.
* Linda Martin talks about the impact of Rapid Readers
