Issue 29 Autumn 2000 Boys 'n' Books: Shortening the road to confidence in reading skills	Collections under which this       article appears:       Reading

The Project
The National Year of Reading spawned many initiatives, but a truly special one in Northern Ireland was the BOYS 'N' BOOKS 2000 pilot scheme in Newry, Co. Down. The project comprised a partnership between the Public Library in Newry, a community arts group named the Newry Storytellers and a local boys' Primary School, St. Patrick's Boys School. The project aimed to raise the profile of reading in the school, in line with the objectives of the National Year of Reading; and to encourage the boys to read for pleasure by providing male role models to visit the school, to read and storytell to the boys.

The Partners
St. Patrick's Primary School was built in 1959 and has at present 300 pupils. Its catchment area bears all the hallmarks of social disadvantage. In the early 70's the area was a hotbed of social and civil unrest and the echoes of this turbulent past resound to this day. St. Patrick's offers a pleasant green backdrop to an area, which is otherwise barren and densely populated, and is concerned with the physical, spiritual, and moral needs of the children as well as their intellectual development. In 1995 the school became involved with the Raising Standards School Initiative (RSSI), and focussed on the raising of standards in literacy and numeracy. The funding obtained through the RSSI enabled St. Patrick's to finance a brand-new computerised library with CD-ROM facility, listening centre and an excellent range of fiction and non-fiction books. P3-P7 children are engaged in a shared reading programme, and November 1998 saw the launch of the 'Read to Succeed' programme which included a visit by storyteller Billy Teare and Eirian McKay from Newry Library.

Newry Library is a modern building, well sited in a busy shopping area of the town. It is currently one of the busiest libraries in the North of Ireland and serves its community with some success - taking a proactive role in community development. Its catchment area includes a primary school population of 3,300 and post-primary school pupils total 8,080.

Work with Children has a high priority in the Library with talks for parents and carers, training for community volunteers in storytelling, and class visits for Primary and Secondary School pupils. There is also a busy library programme that includes reference workshops, storytimes, arts and crafts activities for all including special needs children, drama, annual seasonal events and weekly storytime and activity sessions throughout the summer for children.

The Newry Storytellers Group is part of the network of yarn-spinning groups that cover England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Their aim is to promote storytelling to all ages within the community, and to provide a platform for local storytellers. They also provide visiting storytellers wherever possible, sometimes from as far afield as North America. The group was launched in September 1998 and had the backing of celebrity storyteller and Library consultant Liz Weir. Another well-known storyteller with a keen interest in Library management is Doreen McBride, who gave her time and encouragement to help with the formation of the group. They were fortunate to secure funding of £3,000 from the National Year of Reading Initiative, which enabled them to host three major projects: an International Storytelling Conference, a three-day Festival of Reminiscence, Storytelling and Creative Writing and the BOYS'N'BOOKS 2000 pilot scheme. In addition to these events, the Group holds Story-swaps and workshops on a regular basis, together with visits by guest storytellers to libraries, schools and community centres. A core group of a dozen local amateur poets and storytellers regularly meet at restaurants, pubs and arts centres to tell stories to all ages, from 4 to 90! Many Public Libraries are now finding it worthwhile to invest their support in local storytelling groups of this type. Storytelling, as well as being an ancient art, is also very much a library art!

The visiting storytellers who were involved with the project were: Willie Drennan from Ballymena; Patrick Ryan from London; Winston Nzinga (also from London) who, together with partner Kate Corkery, form the duo 'Spud and Yam'; Mike Dunstan, alias lecturer Dr. Michael Wilson, and Liz Weir.

Local poet and storyteller Brian Fearon also became involved, reading and telling stories to the boys. It was a first time for him, working with children of this age group, and he read and discussed picture books much in the style of a favourite uncle.

And Pat Speight from Cork, helped celebrated the completion the project in December with a special evening for staff and parents, at which Kate O'Hanlon, the Southern Education and Library Board (S.E.L.B.) English Advisor, was present.

How It Started
The National Year of Reading was set up as a key part of the Government's drive to raise standards through the national Literacy Strategy and its policy for life-long learning. The importance of reader development work was highlighted during the year and the importance of libraries continuing to work with local and national partners to reach new audiences, tackling social exclusion and promoting lifelong learning was a theme of the National Year of Reading in its aim to 'build a nation of readers'.

Michelle Maginnis (English co-ordinator at St. Patrick's), Christina Sloan (Librarian at Newry Library) and Eirian McKay (Principal Library Assistant, Newry Library and Secretary of the Storytellers Group) had already been involved with a 'Read to Succeed' programme at St. Patrick's school - a course for parents that is geared towards helping the parents of children who are having difficulty with Maths and English.

Trevor Currans, lecturer from the Upper Bann Institute of Further Education in Lurgan and co-ordinator of the 'Read to Succeed' course at St. Patrick's, had found that a significant number of the parents attending the course may not have been fortunate with their own schooling or home background. For these parents the course had much more potential. Not only did the parents have confirmation that they were supporting their own children's education, but there were high enrolment and retention rates for the course. Furthermore, all members of the group participated fully in tasks and discussions. A session that was particularly favoured was the storytelling session with Billy Teare, as storytelling as well as story reading is a very important part of the child's education.

The decision to concentrate on boys' reading came as a result of a report highlighting the S.E.L.B. as having the worst literacy levels in Northern Ireland, this was identified as being in no small way due to the high proportion of boys in the area served by the Board. For many years it has been realised that boys perform differently from girls. In the past it was believed that the faster maturation of girls accounted for the difference pass rates for girls and boys in the old eleven-plus. However, many psychologists now believe that the left hemisphere of the brain, which deals with communication and language, is better developed in the female than the male. Therefore boys will find it difficult to compete with girls in the present education system. This can be seen in the performance and grade allocation between girls and boys in 'A' Levels and GCSEs where it is the girls who pick up the most top grades.

Christina Sloan, Branch Librarian at Newry Library saw the potential benefits of the BOYS'N'BOOKS 2000 pilot scheme in its early stages, and was impressed by the enthusiasm and concern of teaching staff about the literacy levels in the school. The project offered the Public Library the chance to promote the library to a more or less captive audience. Peter Hughes, the only male member of staff, and Eirian McKay, Principal Library Assistant, were time-tabled to visit St Patrick's on a weekly basis, to storytell and read books to the boys at the school, starting with the Reception class and working right through the school up to Year 7. They took with them a selection of books that had already proved to be sure-fire winners with children who regularly attended library events. Peter was a tremendous hit with the boys, though initially nervous he soon found his feet and enjoyed the 'craic'!

Library work is dominated by female staff and often it is women who read to children, so it is both a novelty and an education to see the differences in the way that men approach storytelling and reading to children. Both the children and teachers found it most entertaining!

What are the problems that this project was trying to address?
St. Patrick's staff were well aware of the current research indicating that boys are underachieving in all areas of literacy in comparison to girls. Educational psychologists take great pains to point out the importance of motivation and raising self-esteem when working with boys, as a foundation to their success in school. St. Patrick's looked at the boys and where their weaknesses lay; in the majority of cases teaching boys how to read, did not necessarily make them readers. Reading was often viewed as a task to be done, rather than something to be enjoyed. Also, taking into consideration that many of the boys at St Patrick's are deprived of male reading models, the provision by the Newry Storytellers Group of some of their visiting male storytellers was an ideal to counteract this view. The visits promote active discussion, increase vocabulary and stimulate imagination leading to follow-up activities.

Perceptions
What the Storytellers thought ...
Patrick Ryan, who has years of experience as a storyteller working with schools from many different backgrounds, says:

"As a guest storyteller I did two sessions at St. Patrick's, telling P1-2 and P3-4 boys stories that were traditional but related to well-known published stories in books that are available in the school and public library. I also involved the boys in word games and riddles to encourage them to use the library and to explore different books. Having visited hundreds of schools, I can usually tell which have made an effort to involve pupils in reading, writing and telling stories. The boys at St. Patrick's demonstrated a knowledge of and enthusiasm for folk stories which indicates that their school literacy programme is well developed and executed."

"Storytelling can be the ideal medium for fostering a love of language and firing the imagination. I told the boys participation stories so that they could feel rhythm and rhyme and really enjoy words. They had to use their listening skills and concentrate - a good foundation for the reading process.
"Even creating a climate where people can talk about books is an important part of the process. The important thing is to relate reading and stories with the lives that they themselves lead, rather than it being something they have to do at school. At a time when young people have less and less opportunity to hear stories told, it can be one of the most effective ways to engender a love of narrative. To see the expectation in the faces of the listeners, the shared enjoyment of listening with their teachers is a wonderful thing to behold. The child who has nothing to talk about has nothing to write about, and the whole experience of sharing stories using a wide range of talking and listening skills, can clearly stimulate the imagination and promote creative speech and writing."

What the teachers thought ...
Theresa Kane who teaches Year 2 boys, after a session with Eirian:

"A very interesting and useful session which demonstrated effective use of read/tell skills - enlightening for Teachers! And provoking an imaginative and active response from the boys. I really liked the way the storyteller invited the children in, allowing them to experience and understand the need to enter into the storymaker's intent. Children can so easily skim through books understanding the literal meaning but losing out on the imaginative and emotional response required to get into the author's/character's implied meanings. The children lapped up the experience and so did I!"

What the Boys thought ...
They were asked which parts of the storytellers' visits they liked the most. Michael Finnegan (Year 4)

"The bit I liked best was when they were asking riddles, like 'What is on the bottom of your foot and not moving?' Answer is 'the ground!'"

"The (musical) performance and the stories were very very good. It's a tough decision but the stories were the best."

"Peter is a Librarian and he is good, and I liked the stories. I laughed. It was funny."

"Winston has dreadlocks and he comes from Jamaica. He told us a story about tadpoles and played instruments. I liked that part where Poppa Jack made the tadpoles out of sand and he said 'Glob!glob!glob!' Then at the end he sang 'Cma it's a storyteller's day!'"

Above: Boys from St Patrick's School enjoy a visit from "Spud & Yam".
Below: Storyteller Mike Dunstan in full flow!

And the Visits from the Library Staff?
Teachers found the selection of material excellent. The variety of the texts used and the strategies employed ensured that the children were involved the whole time. "There was no doubt that the entire class enjoyed the visit", said one teacher, "for not only did they actively contribute to the discussion, but they asked for all the stories to be read again!"

The benefits
Everybody involved became enthusiastic about the relationships they were building in the community to raise the profile of reading and literacy. A good time was had by all - especially the boys - …and let's not forget that books and stories are meant to be entertaining and enjoyable. They bring everyone together regardless of age.

What were the Benefits to the Library?
There has been a marked increase in the number of St. Patrick's School pupils who come into the library regularly now with their families. The boys have the confidence to ask for Peter or Eirian by name. We hope very much that these new links will continue. Another local boys' school in the area has asked us to initiate a similar project for their school and this time creative writing workshops and storymaking sessions will be included and provided by library staff. We hope that some of the boys' work will be suitable for publication, therefore raising their confidence and self-esteem. It is obvious that the library is making a positive effort to involve the community in raising literacy standards and in publicising their local library as a place where everyone is welcome. As a Public Relations exercise alone this project would have been worthwhile, as the teachers were full of praise for the library's contribution to the project.

What were the Benefits to the Boys
They were treated to a novel and entertaining educational experience that would not have been possible without the National Year of Reading . Michelle Maginnis who worked so hard to achieve the success of the pilot scheme, is pleased to report that some of the on-going benefits have been:

1. Continuing contact with library personnel
2. Continuing classroom-based storytelling sessions with an emphasis on richness and fluency in language and expression, interesting texts.
3. Continued classroom commitment to the purchase of new and interesting texts for guided reading groups of Key Stage 2 and commitment to the purchase of new library stock.
4. Funds set aside for the payment of visiting storytellers.
5. Reading groups in Year 6 for the first time.
6. Shared reading and writing introduced into Key Stage 2 with the use of enlarged texts etc.

"This year was designated by David Blunkett (Secretary of State for Education and Employment) as National Year of Reading, which represented a campaign to 'change the nation's whole attitude to reading and to unlock the knowledge and pleasure that reading can bring to millions of people.
St. Patrick's Primary School reacted in a very positive way to this challenge. In addition to the initiatives which were already in place in classrooms and the school library, the BOYS'N'BOOKS 2000 project aimed to raise the profile of reading through storytelling, broaden the children's experience and remind them that Newry Library welcomes them and encourages them to use the service. Parents and family members were encouraged to visit the school and read to the children, to share thoughts and ideas and the sheer fun of reading.
It has been my privilege to be associated with St. Patrick's in providing books for the school and I have always been impressed with the interest and enthusiasm of the teachers for books which they no doubt pass on to the children. During my visits to the school library this year, I have been impressed by the buzz and level of activity associated with books and reading. The corridor leading to the library has attractive and colourful displays of book characters, book reviews, photographs etc. The library is bright and cheerful and full of attractive books for all levels and abilities.
All these excellent and inviting features in addition to the visiting storytellers combine to create an atmosphere that makes reading and learning fun and enjoyable. To anyone visiting the school, the message is clear: books and reading occupy a special place in the life of this school."

"Peter came to our school. He told us stories and we shared our dreams."