Summer Holiday Versus Term Time: The Reality of Part-Time Study

Over the summer, before the start of this course, I devoted myself wholeheartedly to reading. My summer reading list looked like this:

Anderson, R. C., Wilson, P.T., & Fielding, L. G. (1988). Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside of school. Reading Research Quarterly, 23, 285-303.

Clark, C. & Akerman, R. (2006) Social inclusion and reading An exploration. London: National Literacy Trust

Cliff Hodges, G. (2010). Reasons for reading: why literature matters. Literacy. 44 (2), p60-68.

Cowley, S (2014). The Seven E's of Reading for Pleasure. Bristol: Sue Cowley Books, Ltd. p32-34.

Cremin, T. (2014). The UKLA Projects: Teachers as Readers. In: Cremin, T. Mottram, M. Collins, F M. Powell, S. and Safford, K. Building Communities of Engaged Readers. Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge.

Dean, G (2003). Teaching Reading in Secondary Schools. 2nd ed. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd. p18-57.

Educator’s Briefing (2008) Scientific Learning Corporation. Adding ten minutes of reading time dramatically changes levels of print exposure . Available: http://www.scilearn.com/sites/default/files/imported/alldocs/rsrch/30388RAExtra10min.pdf. Last accessed 1st March 2015.

Giovanelli, M and Mason, J. (2015). 'Well I don't feel that': Schemas, worlds and authentic reading in the classroom. English in Education. 49 (1), p41-55.

Hearn, B. (1993). Making Connections: Children's Books and Cohesion. In: Pinsent, P The Power of the Page. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd. p45-54.

Hunt, P. (1993). Finding the Right Book for a Reader. In: Pinsent, P The Power of the Page. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd. p83-86.

Kelly, R. (2014). What does Reading for Pleasure mean to us?. Available: http://readingmatters.org.uk/what-does-reading-for-pleasure-mean-to-us/. Last accessed 28th February 2015.

Krashen, S (2011). Free Voluntary Reading. Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited.

Laurenson, P. McDermott, K. Sadleir, K, Meade, D. (2015). Promoting Reading for Pleasure. English in Education. 49 (1), 5-24.OECD: Reading for Change

Meek, M (1971). On Being Literate. London: The Bodley Head Children's Books Random House.

Meek, M (1994). Learning to Read. London: The Bodley Head Children's Books Random House.

Nunn, J. (1993). Moving On: Becoming a Mature Reader. In: Pinsent, PThe Power of the Page. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd. p87-95.

Pennac, D (2006). The Rights of the Reader. London: Walker Books Ltd.

PISA, Reading for Change PERFORMANCE AND ENGAGEMENT ACROSS COUNTRIES http://www.oecd.org/education/school/programmeforinternationalstudentassessmentpisa/33690986.pdf

Stanovich, K E (2000). Progress in Understanding Reading. New York: The Guildford Press. 

Westbrook, J. (2013). Reading as a hermeneutical endeavour: whole-class approaches to teaching narrative with low-attaining adolescent readers. Literacy. 47 (1), p42-49.

And I've made careful notes from each. The summer holiday was six weeks long. There are twenty items on here. I think this is quite an impressive amount of reading in that time.  In fact, by the beginning of September I was feeling quite good about how 'under control' my preparations were. 

And I had this idea that once back at work, if I could just manage a chapter of a book or journal article a day, I'd keep on track.  Half an hour, perhaps?

We are three weeks in to term and my reading list in that time looks like this:

That's not a mistake.  It is quite simply a blank space. I just haven't got anywhere near it in the madness that is the start of term.  So I need a rethink.

It's Saturday night. The rugby's on. I'm writing a blog post. Strictly Come Dancing's back. My first supervision is on Tuesday. 

Keep calm and carry on reading.