SWANSEA High teachers are recording audio versions of books their students are reading, as part of a move to boost engagement with texts and strengthen literacy skills.
Relieving head teacher of English Kylie Bates said teachers had noticed over the past decade a decline in students reading novels for pleasure and an increase in resistance to reading novels for English classes.
"What I really understand is happening with not just kids, but with everybody, is we all still love stories and we see the kids at school they still love a good story, but because of social media everything is quite quick and so there's that two or three minute story they can just quickly engage with and then scroll onto the next thing," she said.
"With Instagram and things like that it's all very visual as well, so it's a different way of engaging with stories and the knock on effect is that it then becomes increasingly difficult to focus for very long periods of time on just the written word, because it's just not what we've kind of trained our brains to do on a day to day basis.
"When the kids are in class if we give them the novel to read... a lot of kids don't read it, and it's not because they're being defiant, it's just because it's actually quite difficult to sit down and focus in that very different way."
Ms Bates said teachers would then spend time in class reading aloud while students read along in their own copies.
"One of the best ways to get a class to be quiet is to say 'I'm going to read to you'," she said.
"They absolutely love hearing the story told in a way that is engaging, because as English teachers we can do the voices and really have that excitement portrayed in that verbal way.
"But then when they go home kids have been saying to me 'Oh miss I want to read the book but I can't get the voices right' or 'It's just like a wall of words'."
Ms Bates said years seven, nine and ten will start their novel studies in term two.
She said "it just made sense to me" for teachers to record a chapter at a time of the novels and upload the audio onto Google Classroom for students in the mixed ability classes to listen to, if they would like, as they read along with the physical copy.
She is using donated RODE podcast equipment and three other teachers are using their phones.
She said teachers will also record for the top stream classes, if it will be useful.
"Then we won't have the time taken up in the class to read the novel, because that takes away from the work that we do regarding the novel," she said.
"It's absolutely vital that they do follow along, because kids of all reading abilities will benefit from seeing the written word and seeing the construction of the sentence and the punctuation while it's being listened to.
"One of the things we focus on with the junior kids in particular is your punctuation and literacy 101 and it's something that happens without them realising, the more they're looking at the construction of sentences and paragraphs that have been done properly they're just absorbing it without really realising, it really is witnessing what that written word looks like when it's spoken... it is enhancing all of those skills without it being an arduous task either."
She also asked some of her teachers to research and read contemporary young adult fiction and choose new novels for students, to replace aging ones she said were no longer relevant or as engaging.
"We've had an overwhelmingly positive response from the kids so far, it's been really exciting," she said.
The year ten mixed ability students will read three newly selected novels, This is How We Change the Ending by Vikki Wakefield, Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina and Between Us by Clare Atkins. The top stream students are reading modern classic Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey.
The year nine students are reading two newly selected novels, the mixed ability students Sky So Heavy by Claire Zorn and the top stream students The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina.
Year seven mixed ability students are reading contemporary novels that have proven popular with recent cohorts, Parvana by Deborah Ellis and Trash by Andy Mulligan. The top stream students are reading a book selected last year, Juno of Taris by Fleur Beale.
Year eight's novel study will start term three.
Ms Bates said COVID-19 had reinforced the importance of being adaptable and new ways of teaching and learning.
"Even if something is a little bit daunting, it doesn't mean we don't go out there and give it a go," she said.
"At the start of this I said to the staff if it doesn't work it doesn't work, it's all experimental and we'll refine things as we go along as well."
