In August 2010 I was given responsibility for a P4/5 class. In reading, it became apparent that the majority of the children were able to decode words confidently and read aloud, however they needed support to meet the Curriculum for Excellence Reading outcomes connected with ‘understanding, analysing and evaluating’ (literacy outcomes 16 – 19). I decided to adapt a Reading Detective programme outlined by Dundee City Council and to use it as the basis for a programme in class. The programme defines various reading skills and attaches a detective role to each; the children are encouraged to become these detectives whilst examining texts in class and at home. I chose eight reading skills to focus on: Summariser, Word Finder, Question Master, Passage Master, Link Maker, Illuminator, Mind Mapper and Style Seeker.
My adapted program began with the children receiving a brown manila envelope with a CD inside it sent by the ‘Department of Crimes Against Literature’, a special police department set up within Dundee to fight the eight members of the B.A.D. (Books are Dull) Gang. The children completed enrolment forms for the Trainee Officer Scheme and thereafter, on a weekly basis, received a case file about a member of the gang and an appropriate ‘training mystery’ to solve in class. The children therefore experienced a different reading skill each week since each member of the B.A.D. Gang corresponded to a specific Detective role. Once they had completed all the tasks a graduation ceremony was held and each child was presented with a Detective Kit.
The children, however, found some of the skills harder than others, particularly the skills which involved looking at how a writer uses descriptive language to convey meanings and feelings (Style Seeker and Illuminator), so the following term was spent focussing on these skills through the context of fairytales. Fairytale characters and stories were under attack from the B.A.D. Gang and they sent messages to the children. They were ‘trained’ to spot true and fake ‘mixed up’ stories. I chose to focus on 6 ‘mixed up’ fairytale books including ‘The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs’ by Jon Scieszka and ‘Goldilocks Returns’ by Lisa Campbell Ernst and the children ‘examined’ these in mixed ability groups. I also worked in collaboration with staff from the Learning Resources department and the Schools Library Service, and arranged visits to two local libraries in the area which had just been ‘attacked’ by the B.A.D. Gang.
The children have become much more confident talking about, and using, the skills required when reading and will often apply these skills in different contexts and other curricular areas. They are also extremely enthusiastic about Reading Detective tasks and so I wanted to channel this energy into tackling longer texts which require greater concentration. This term we focussed on the works of Dick King Smith: farmers have been calling the department to say that they have been finding fields filled with torn up books by the author. Instead of sending home books from the school reading scheme, all the children read a Dick King Smith novel suitable for their level of reading. He was a prolific writer and wrote for a variety of reading abilities. The children were put in to small ‘book groups’ and they chose the book they would like to read and discuss. We may also visit the Central Library in Dundee, however it is all dependent upon what the B.A.D. Gang will get up to next!
