ENHANCING STUDENTS' READING EXPERIENCE THROUGH TEACHER EMPOWERMENT: THE LIVING BOOK - AUGMENTING READING FOR LIFE PROJECT

The article provides an overview of the EU Erasmus project The Living Book -Augmenting Reading for Life. The project aims to address the under-achievement of European students in reading by developing an innovative approach and related resources to increase young (ages 9-15) students' motivation in reading, whilst also boosting a cluster of other skills and competencies (e.g. digital skills, learning to learn, critical thinking, co-operative skills). Living Book's approach, that combines offline activities promoting reading literacy with online experiences of books' "virtual augmentation", enables at the same time, through the project's Living Library, the creation of European communities of young "augmented" readers. With a combination of Open Educational Resources (OER) and involvement in training activities and pilot experimentation, Living Book will also contribute towards strengthening the profile and competences of European teachers from upper primary and lower secondary schools in adopting standards-based practices and dealing with diversified groups of learners, particularly with pupils from disadvantage backgrounds. Teachers will, in parallel, receive training on how to involve parents from disadvantaged and/or migrant backgrounds in pro-reading activities to back the overall strategy at home. Finally, a series of OER toolkits (downloadable guides, videos, etc.) will be integrated in the project's multilingual platform, and will be used by students and teachers to curate and create content, which will be added to the Living Library.