Lesson video

Hi there, my name is Mr. Charlesworth and in today's reading lesson, we're developing our reading preferences through personal reflection.

In today's lesson, we're looking at how texts can connect with us on both an intellectual and an emotional level.

We'll then have a go at doing our Desert Island Texts, which is an activity which makes us reflect on the text that mean the most to us.

I'm really looking forward to working with you today.

Let's get started.

Today's lesson outcome is I can understand my reader identity by reflecting on my reading experiences.

The key words are my turn, your turn.

Reader identity.

Perspective.

Emotional connection.

Intellectual connection.

Nostalgia.

Let's try those once more.

Reader identity.

Perspective.

Emotional connection.

Intellectual connection, and nostalgia.

Well done.

Reader identity is a reflection on who you are as a reader and why you read.

Your perspective is your way of thinking about and understanding something.

An emotional connection can refer to how a reader identifies with a text, reflecting on their personal feelings and unique perspective.

An intellectual connection can refer to how a reader understands and engages with a book's themes and ideas.

Nostalgia is the sentimental longing for past experiences or times.

Don't worry if you are unsure about any of the keywords.

We'll be exploring these throughout the lesson.

Today's lesson is all about developing our reading preferences through personal reflection.

We're going to begin by reflecting on our relationships with texts before then having a go at an activity called Desert Island Texts, which gets us to reflect on the text that mean the most to us.

Let's start by reflecting on our relationships with texts.

Reading for pleasure is reading that we do of our own free will.

We want to read.

We are engaged by it.

We enjoy reading.

Reading for purpose is reading to gain information or to verify knowledge.

Sometimes we can do both at the same time.

Texts have the power to elicit a wide spectrum of emotions and their impact can be deeply personal.

Texts can make us feel happy, sad, excited, surprised, fearful, curious, inspired, compassionate.

That's all about caring and empathy.

Confused, empathetic, angry, and hopeful.

There are a range of other emotions.

These are just some examples.

A reader's reaction to a text can vary based on their individual experiences and their perspective.

Well done for noticing our keyword, our perspective is our point of view.

Each person's reader identity is unique to them.

It's like that reading fingerprint.

When selecting a text to read, it's important to recognise not only the texts that appeal to you as a reader, but also the emotional or intellectual connection that they can provide.

Emotional connections relate to feelings we experience as we read.

Intellectual connections refer to how we engage with the text's themes or ideas.

It's important to remember that all feelings and emotions are valid.

Therefore, texts that make us feel these ways are also valid.

We'll be looking at examples of texts that have these emotional and intellectual connections shortly.

The two that sprung to mind immediately for me were "The Arrival" and "The Invention of Hugo Cabaret." I formed an emotional connection to "The Arrival" due to its subject matter and theme.

It focuses on the refugee experience and how it might feel to start in a country where you don't know the language or the people or the customs. It's a really interesting graphic novel that's almost wordless.

I formed an intellectual connection with "The Invention of Hugo Cabaret." This is a novel and part graphic novel and it has themes about what makes us human.

It really made me think.

Let's move on to exploring other texts that have those connections.

A text that made me feel excited was "Mortal Engines." This is a sci-Fi dystopian novel.

It's really exciting because it takes settings of cities around the world and turns them into living, breathing places which gobble each other up.

When reading this text, I experienced an emotional connection.

I was able to really engage with the characters and the settings.

They're really fantastical, but explore what it is to be human too.

I wonder, do you have a text that makes you feel excited? Tell your partner with reasons why.

Pause the video now whilst you do so.

Fantastic work, I hope you enjoyed sharing texts that made you feel excited.

We're now going to explore texts that make you feel empathetic.

Feeling empathy for someone is the idea of stepping into their shoes, experiencing what life might be like for them.

A text that made me feel empathetic was a graphic novel memoir, "When stars are Scattered." It focuses on Omar Mohammed, who's one of the creators, and it chronicles his life with his brother in a refugee camp in Kenya.

It's a deeply empathetic text because it authentically portrays life in the refugee camp.

When reading this text, I experienced an intellectual connection and that's partly due to the end papers.

They're really moving and they explore what happened to Omar after his life in the refugee camp and how he came to write the text.

I wonder, do you have a text that makes you feel empathetic? Talk with your partner and give reasons why.

Pause the video now whilst you do so.

Great sharing.

We're now going to look at texts that give us a feeling of nostalgia.

Books that remind us of the past or a certain time can evoke feelings of nostalgia.

Well done for noticing it's one of our keywords.

Nostalgia is the feeling of longing for past times.

Nostalgic texts can evoke sentimental memories.

Nostalgic texts have the power to connect us with the past, to provide comfort and to facilitate a deeper understanding of ourselves and our culture.

A text that made me feel nostalgic is "Private Peaceful." This is a beautifully written and moving text.

When reading this text, I experienced both an emotional and an intellectual connection.

It made me think of members of my family who were alive during the war and also the subject matter and themes that it contains are really moving.

Part of the narrative focuses on what it was like to leave the front line and the repercussions that might happen.

It really made me think about my attitudes towards war and peace.

I wonder, do you have a text that makes you feel nostalgic? Does it have an emotional and an intellectual connection? Does it make you think of a particular person or a moment in time? If you feel happy to share, tell your partner.

Pause the video now.

Great discussion.

I wish I could have heard some of your responses.

We are now going to explore some authors and their connections with texts.

Up first is Joseph Coelho.

Joseph Coelho is a British poet, playwright, and children's author.

He is the current Children's Laureate.

The role involves lots of work to celebrate children's literature and to get books into the hands of children.

Joseph's works often explore themes related to emotions, family, and relationships.

He's talked about texts at both emotional and intellectual connections.

The first of these texts is "Watership Down." This is a text which focuses on the life of rabbits.

It explores themes of treachery, danger, but ultimately hope.

I know lots of authors who also have it as an emotional and intellectual connection, and it's one that influences their own work too.

Another text that Joseph has connected with is "The Lion, the Witch in the Wardrobe." This is a fantasy novel.

It's all about four children who are evacuated from London to the countryside.

They find a mysterious land called Narnia through a wardrobe.

I can see why it might connect with lots of readers as they're able to imagine that it might happen to them too.

Finally, Joe talks a lot about his enjoyment of the "Tintin" series.

These are written in graphic novel form and have a range of different adventures.

I can remember reading these texts and going on adventures in the books too.

Another author who's talked about her connections with texts is Kiran Millwood Hargrave.

She's a British author known for her work in writing fiction for children and young adults.

Her most recent book is "In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen." Kiran's writing often explores themes such as adventure, history and mythology.

She's talked lots about how texts from her childhood still have a positive effect on her writing, now.

She talks about the famous myth "Beowulf" and the excitement it gave her when she first read it.

Other texts that Kiran has connected with is "Charmed Life," "Harry Potter" and "Northern Lights." These all explore magic and adventure, and you can see these themes throughout Kiran's own text too.

It's really interesting that both authors have said the texts that they read when they were younger are still inspiring them now.

I wonder what your texts would be.

Here's our first check for understanding.

True or false.

Texts that we read as children do not have an effect on us as we grow older.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done, it's false.

I'd now like you to justify your answer.

Is it because A, texts can connect us with our past, provide comfort and facilitate deeper understanding of our reader identity, or B, we can have emotional or intellectual connections with texts? Which justification best links with this statement above? Pause the video now whilst you decide.

Well done, let's see if you're correct.

It's A, texts can connect us with our past, provide comfort and facilitate deeper understanding of our reader identity.

We can have emotional and intellectual connections with texts, however, this doesn't best link with the statement above.

In this first task, I'd like you to select a text that you have an emotional or intellectual connection with.

Consider the following questions.

How did the book make you feel? What did it make you think about and do you have an emotional or intellectual connection with the text or do you have both? Share your answers verbally with your partner or someone at home.

Pause video now whilst you do so.

Fantastic work, let's have a look at an example from Andeep.

He chose "Survivors." It's an illustrated non-fiction text.

He says, "I was really shocked, excited, and inspired to learn from this text.

It had lots of connections to the real world, as it explored people who had gone to extraordinary lengths to survive and endure.

I had an emotional connection with this book." I wonder if you had an emotional connection too, or maybe you had an intellectual connection or both.

Let's now move on to our reading activity, which is called Desert Island Texts.

Desert Island Texts is an activity which is based on "Desert Island Discs." "Desert Island Discs" is a BBC radio show where guests share their favourite music while discussing their lives and choices.

In today's lesson, we're adapting the show to reflect our own reader identity.

Well done on noticing the keyword that reader identity is like our reading fingerprint, it's unique and special to us.

You're going to imagine that you're going to be cast away on a desert island with only six texts to keep you company.

You are automatically given fresh water and food to sustain you, so you don't need to worry about survival.

It's all about the texts that you're going to choose.

When selecting six texts, you might want to consider choosing texts that have a range of emotional and intellectual connections.

Perhaps you might prefer a text that has a nostalgic connection to loved ones at home.

Here are my Desert Island Texts.

It took me a long time to try and get it down to just six.

The first is "Fox and Goldfish." This is a beautifully moving picture book about loss.

The next is, "Do You Remember?" I had an emotional connection with this one.

It made me think of my family and I think if I was stuck on a desert island, I'd want to have something to remember them by.

The third text that I would take with me is "A First Time for Everything." This is another graphic novel memoir and it explores themes around boyhood and what it's like to grow up.

If I was stuck on a desert island, I'd want to think about my youth too.

The next text I take is "Last." It's the story of the white rhino, and if I was deserted on a desert island, I'd want to know about the wider world and what humans can do to make it a better place.

The fifth text that I'd take is "Poems To Live Your Life By." These are poems selected and illustrated by Chris Riddell.

This poetry collection would give me lots of different poems by a range of poets, and these poems are all poems to make you think and contemplate life, which is what I'd want to do if I was stuck on an island.

Finally, a text that I couldn't be without is an encyclopaedia.

This has hundreds and thousands of facts, and if I was stuck on a desert island, I'd want to read as much as I could about all of them.

I would definitely have an intellectual connection with this text.

In our final check for understanding, I'd like you to name three things that you should consider when you're selecting a Desert Island Text.

Have a think back to earlier in the lesson.

Pause the video now whilst you name three things.

Great Work.

Let's have a look at a few examples.

Jun says that you should consider a text with an intellectual connection.

Sofia says a nostalgic text that reminds you of home, and Luca says a text with an emotional connection.

Feel free when you're choosing your own Desert Island Texts to choose a range or just focus in on one of these connections.

In our final task, I'd like you to complete your own Desert Island Texts.

Select six texts.

Prepare some responses to justify the reasons you are wanting to take each text.

There are a few questions you might consider too.

Do your texts reflect a range of forms? That's how a text is presented.

Do they make you feel a range of different emotions? Do they cover a variety of themes? Share your text choices with your partner or someone at home.

Remember, some text choices will be personal.

Respect anyone that includes a text and does not wish to share this for this reason.

Pause the video now whilst you select your text and come up with your justifications for taking them.

Well done, I hope you've enjoyed sharing your Desert Island Texts.

I wonder, what were your partner's top texts? What were their favourites? Did their choices reflect an emotional connection or an intellectual connection, or perhaps both? Did any of their texts have an nostalgic quality reminding them of home or their family or culture? I really hope you enjoy the activity.

I wish I could have heard your responses.

In today's lesson, we've been developing reading preferences through personal reflection.

We've understood that texts have the power to elicit a wide spectrum of emotions, and their impact can be deeply personal.

We know that a reader's reaction to a text can vary based on their individual experiences and perspective.

Emotional connections relate to feelings we experience as we read.

Intellectual connections refer to how we engage with the text's themes or ideas.

Finally, nostalgic texts have the power to connect us with our past, provide comfort, and facilitate a deeper understanding of ourselves and our culture.

I've really enjoyed reflecting on our reading experiences.

I'm looking forward to working with you again soon.