Shared Reading Practitioner Day: Where are you coming from?

The Reader Organisation's first Shared Reading Practitioner Day is fast approaching and, since facilitators are travelling from up and down the country to attend, we’ve been asking people to shout about why it’s worth the trip!

Here’s the latest feedback from two of our attendees, who are making their way to Liverpool from Stoke-on-Trent and Norfolk respectively :

‘‘It feels like quite a long time since I completed the Read to Lead training at Burton Manor. I essentially work alone as I am a volunteer with Stoke-on-Trent Library Service. This can lead to feelings of isolation and also (more worryingly) a sense of not always feeling challenged in my role.

I think it is important to pause now and again, to look around and see what others are doing. This may help to improve my own work. The Practitioner Day provides a great opportunity for this and I am really looking forward to having the chance to 'hone my skills' and soak up the enthusiasm of other Shared Reading Practitioners’’

- Heather Jones, Stoke-on-Trent Libraries

‘‘Since my excellent Read to Lead training last May I've been really enjoying running a variety of one-off sessions as a means of gathering evidence of the impact shared reading can have on individuals.

Being a Shared Reading facilitator can be a lonely job, especially when you don't have a local network of fellow facilitators to share ideas, successes and enthusiasm with. Although the Shared Reading Hub is brilliant, I'm looking forward to meeting with other people face to face to find out how they've put their training to good use and to pick up hints and tips on how to promote sessions, how to manage the sometimes very powerful emotional responses created by shared reading and how to evaluate the impact of the sessions on people's sense of wellbeing.

If the Read to Lead training is anything to go by it promises to be a really inspiring, stimulating and above all practically useful learning opportunity.’’

- Ben Miller, Norfolk Library Service

Both Heather and Ben really sum up the importance of the day as a chance to share with other facilitators and dig deeper into what makes a successful reading session.Visit our website for all the information on our Shared Reading Practitioner Day 2013 and to book your place without delay.

For those of you still sitting on the fence, please remember The Reader Organisation is here to help! Any requests for further information or accommodation tips can be sent to sophiejohnson@thereader.org.uk or call 07973 247890 .