Teaching the whole-class novel

Teaching and reading the whole-class novel remains one of the most popular and rewarding reading activities with teachers and pupils, and yet it can also be problematic. On this site you will find activity grids focused on reading skills for over 20 novels written since 2000. The reading skills are based on those skills that research tells us good readers employ. The grid is not intended to be used by itself, but to help you formulate medium- and short-term plans on that novel; to help ensure that the particular skills that you identify as necessary for pupils’ reading development are focused on.

If you wish to find out more about the reading skills and strategies, you can find them on the Improving Reading CD ROM (DfES 1557-2005CDO-EN, copies of which should be in your department).

The ideas for the activity grids have been generated by English consultants and teachers working with and teaching pupils in secondary schools.

Activity grids
Each activity grid follows the same format, with a list of the reading skills in the left-hand column, accompanied by suggested activities for each skill in the middle and examples for that particular text in the right-hand column e.g.

The Fire Eaters

Reading skill Suggested activities
Example

• Developing a mental map of the text as pupils read • Flow chart of events
• Thought map of key ideas
• Drawing and labelling a map of the setting
• Drawing a family tree
• Tracking a character or theme using sticky notes in book Draw a labelled map of Keely Bay, showing who lives there and where key events take place. Include:
• pub, post office, lane, beach, lighthouse (Chapter 3)
• house on the beach (Chapter 5)
• Ailsa’s house (Chapters 10, 21)
• beach café (Chapter 14)
• dunes (Chapters 8, 9, 38).

(N.B. - please note this grid is part of a larger grid)

A tried and trusted approach for planning to teach the novel:

• Break the novel down into natural segments
• Plan around no more than two main objectives per segment
• Plan for assessment opportunities
• Consider the groups in your class and how to support them
• Formulate the teaching plans

Benefits of teaching the whole-class novel:

collective reading experience

extended reading experience

supported reading experience

access to the idea of development, for example of theme, plot, character

opportunity to share your own enthusiasm for a text

the text itself is a supporting structure for the lessons

Constraints in teaching the whole-class novel Suggested solutions

Pupils have already read the novel
Rereading can be positive if there is progression. Involve, extend and stimulate pupils.

Pupils’ absence means that they ‘lose the thread’

Recapitulate (a necessary device anyway), but use other pupils to do this as well as yourself.

Trying to cover too much in a text
Look at progression over the key stage and be selective (objective-led).

Killing a text – pupils reading aloud badly

Give pupils time to prepare passages in advance or find alternatives to ‘reading round the class’.

Could spend too long on it

Make sure that the objectives determine the length of the unit – no longer than 6 weeks, for example.

Pupils may not read for homework
Give them a reading schedule with ‘bottom line’ priority passages.