Empowering Teachers to Augment Students’ Reading Experience

This chapter discusses an attempt to empower teachers to 'augment’ students’ reading experiences as part of the project The Living Book, Augmenting Reading for Life (Erasmus+). The project’s overall aim is to address the under -achievement of European students in reading by developing an innovative approach that combines offline activities promoting reading literacy with online experiences of books’ 'virtual augmentation.’ More specifically, recognizing the important role of teachers in any educational reform effort, the project aims at strengthening teachers’ profile and competences in adopting the Living Book approach and in dealing with diversified groups of learners, and particularly with pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, through a series of training sessions. The chapter outlines the theoretical premises of the Living Book and provides an overview of the theoretical framework underlying the design of the 'Augmented Teacher’ professional development course. It also describes the content and structure of the course, and the process of evaluation currently taking place in the project partner countries.