Sharing Good Practice
Drop Everything And Read:
the value of DEAR time
By Leisa Simapili
I must admit that it took some time
and reminding to get this embedded.
However, by term two when it became
a school routine, those were some of
the calmest starts to the school days
we experienced.
Increased knowledge
It is said that everything you read fills
your head with new bits of information,
and you never know when it might
come in handy. We encouraged
students to read on topics that were
of interest. That was our only guideline
apart from them ensuring they could
understand what they read. Students
often reported learning something
new each time they had DEAR time.
These were not always what we could
describe as big things but it added
to the body of knowledge they were
developing over the year.
Vocabulary expansion
W
e have heard it said many
times before, reading is
good for you. However,
helping
students
to
cultivate a love for reading is easier said
than done. Teaching a child to read is
great. Helping a child to develop a love
for reading is even better, because he/
she will more than likely pass that love
for reading, on to their own children
one day.
It is very well documented that
students’ reading habits are changing.
Some may even argue that students are
not reading less; they are just reading
differently. For example people are
exchanging the traditional books for
electronic books. But as teachers, we
have observed that many students
lack the ability to carry out sustained
reading and we have the mandate of
helping them to be able to do so. Here
in the Middle East, people are quick to
tell you that we live in an oral culture.
This makes it even more challenging to
cultivate a love for reading in students.
Last academic year, we were faced
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with this very dilemma in my school.
Students were just not doing enough
reading whether for pleasure or
information. The reasons were many;
not being able to choose books
at their correct reading levels, not
finding things they were interested
in or simply not making the time to
read. Then, we instituted DEAR (Drop
Everything And Read) time and things
began to change. Below are some
of the benefits we reaped when we
instituted school wide DEAR time
three mornings a week. During DEAR
time, every single person in the school,
from the Principal to the Janitors had
to drop everything and read.
Less stressful start to the day
DEAR time was used to replace the
morning assembly three times each
week. It made the start to those days
so much calmer. Students and teachers
along with all other members of staff
came to school on those days, went
straight to their classrooms or offices
and read silently for pleasure for the
first twenty minutes of the school day.
Class Time
This goes with the above benefit: the
more the students read, the more
words they gained exposure to, and
these words will inevitably make their
way into their everyday vocabulary.
Being articulate and well-spoken is a
great result of a reading programme
that any teacher would be proud of. It
could even aid in their future career, as
those who are well-read, well-spoken
and knowledgeable on a variety of
topics tend to do better, career wise.
Reading books is also vital for second
language learners, as non-native
speakers gain exposure to words used
in context, which will ameliorate their
own speaking and writing fluency.
Better writing skills
This goes hand-in-ha nd with the
expansion of vocabulary: exposure
to published, well-written work has a
noted effect on student’s own writing,
as observing the cadence, fluidity,
and writing styles of other authors will
invariably influence their own writing.
These benefits, we hope, will only grow
and multiply as we increase DEAR time
this year to four mornings each week.