I did say last week I'd discuss my thoughts a little further going by my experiences last term so here they are and yes the evaluation is right in front of me too to discuss a little further.
Last week I commented that they found it to be "positive" and they were "in control". I observed how relaxed they were when they read. Some achieved it by sitting on a lounge or lying on one of the oversized pillows.
Technology has done favours to support the concept of DEAR. Some students prefer to read on an ereader or tablet or their smartphone. A student is enable to use the tools that they enjoy using in general to help them enjoy reading. A few opted for laptops. While this may not be the most comfortable tool to use because the size of laptops in general, still they were reading and felt happy to do so.
The overwhelming majority still went for printed books and that really says something about reading - Print is still in vogue. The demand is still there. Abolishing print collections like some schools are doing, are more than likely doing a disservice to their students.
DEAR is not just about reading but also talking about literature. I promoted literature e.g. new releases to keep students informed on books that they could read. In fact if a student had already read the book, they were invited to share their thoughts and provide a recommendation to encourage students to share their reading. Some recommendations happened to become quite popular with a number of students forced to place a "hold" on the title of choice.
I even asked them to challenge themselves with their reading by doing litgym. litgym simply refers to setting challenges to improve how you read e.g. reading more challenging texts or alternative genres. At the end of the term, I asked my groups to look back at what challenges they had set, If they had met them, they gave their peers tips on how to meet it. Those who didn't meet their challenge got help from their peers as to how they could meet it.
With one group, we had an E-Book presentation and taught them how to access the Bolinda Collection which they found to be quite interesting.
I also had a luminary (pastoral/roll call) group and the concept of DEAR had actually left the library. We had completed a pastoral care program focusing on girls, education and empowerment and had several sessions left for other activities. Many of them had asked for this time because they saw it as a simple activity to do in that time but also because it allowed for some quiet time admist the chaos of school life. This was chosen over a myriad of other activities that had been proposed e.g. public speaking, social justice issues, time management, meditation etc. I shared this with my house patron and she thought it was a good use of time. Even my co-luminary was backing it. When it came to evaluating the activities completed during Term 1, we actually proposed DEAR as a possible activity to do in that time across other groups (and perhaps) the school.
