Oxford Teachers’ Day, Zurich

Slides of my talk are available here in pdf format.

Litty-gritty: reading as a non-cognitve skill
In this talk I would like to bring a fresh perspective to a topic of perennial relevance: how we can get students to read more. Like many teachers, I am convinced of the value of extensive reading, and in addition to graded readers, I also enjoy using extracts from literary classics and young-adult fiction in the classroom. My students – like yours, perhaps – tend to avoid bookshops, and are certainly reluctant readers. My approach to promoting extensive reading skills differs from the norm: I do not believe that making reading “fun” is always the best approach. In my talk I will be considering the surprising benefits that can be reaped by conceding that reading is a chore for many students, and using that as a basis for developing important non-cognitive skills such as resilience and grit.

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