Part Two
For Schools
The Reading Strategies are designed to scale — from individual classroom activities to whole-school reading culture. Part Two of the book provides practical guidance for teachers, faculty heads, and school leaders.
From classroom to curriculum
Part One of Practical Reading Strategies gives teachers 24 individual activities to use in the classroom. Part Two takes a step back and looks at the bigger picture: how do we build these strategies into coherent units of work? How do we design assessments that authentically capture reading development? And how do we create a whole-school culture where reading is valued across every discipline?
Combining Strategies
The six Reading Strategies are not hierarchical — they can be combined and used flexibly. This chapter explores how activities from different strategies can be woven together within a single lesson or sequence, and how one activity can serve multiple strategy areas with small adjustments.
Constructing a Unit of Work
A practical guide to embedding the Reading Strategies within a complete unit of work. Includes worked examples showing how strategies can be sequenced across a term, with activities building on one another to develop student reading skills progressively alongside content knowledge.
Folio-based Assessment
The Reading Strategies lend themselves naturally to folio-based assessment, where students compile a portfolio of reading activities over time. This chapter explores how to design and manage folio assessments that authentically capture student reading development rather than relying solely on traditional tests.
Developing an English Curriculum
How to embed the Reading Strategies at the faculty level, building a coherent English curriculum where reading skills are explicitly taught and developed across year levels. Includes guidance on whole-faculty planning, vertical alignment, and ensuring consistency of approach.
Reading Across the Curriculum
Reading is not just an English subject skill — every discipline involves reading. This chapter provides examples of the Reading Strategies adapted for use in Science, Humanities, The Arts, and Technology, with sample activities and resources for cross-curricular literacy.
Creating a Culture of Reading
Beyond the classroom strategies, this chapter explores whole-school approaches to building a culture of reading: structured silent reading programs, classroom libraries, author visits, celebrating reading events, book clubs, and developing a shared vision for reading across the school community.
Reading Across the Curriculum
Reading is not just an English subject skill. Every discipline involves reading — from scientific reports to historical sources, from design briefs to mathematical word problems. Chapter 11 provides examples of the Reading Strategies adapted for use across different subject areas:
Science
Inference grids for experimental data, guided summaries for scientific reports, questioning frameworks for research articles.
Humanities
Context walks using historical primary sources, connections mapping for geographical case studies, text interrogation for contemporary issues.
The Arts
Visualising activities for artistic analysis, Bloom's questioning for art criticism, SCAMPER for creative reinterpretation of works.
Technology
Text Files for design thinking processes, guided summaries for design briefs, synthesising activities for project-based learning.
Creating a culture of reading
Research consistently shows the benefits of reading on cognitive development, academic performance, vocabulary growth, and mental health. Building a reading culture at your school means going beyond classroom instruction to create an environment where reading is valued, modelled, and celebrated.
- Develop a shared vision — Gather data on current reading habits and develop a school-specific rationale for improving reading culture.
- Structured silent reading — Consistent, well-managed silent reading time that gives students space to read for pleasure.
- Role modelling — Teachers reading during silent reading time, talking about their own reading, and sharing recommendations.
- Classroom libraries — Diverse, accessible collections of books available in every English classroom.
- Author engagement — Regular author visits to help students see that books are crafted by real people with real skills.
- Celebrating reading — Participation in national reading events, literary festivals, and book-related activities.
- Book clubs — Student and staff book clubs that build community around reading.
Get the full guide
Part Two of the book includes worked examples, complete unit plans, assessment templates, and cross-curricular resources.
Buy Practical Reading Strategies