Building a Love of Reading in School
Promoting a school culture that is rich in literature involves ambitious work and collaboration between the school, students, and community. There are many ways to promote a schoolwide love of reading and build a support network for moving students into reading. When looking for a way to promote a love of reading in your school, it’s necessary to realize why reading is essential and to understand ways to encourage reading schoolwide.
Build Engaging Classroom Libraries
Classroom libraries that grab students’ attention can make students’ reading experiences. Classroom libraries that are organized so that students can find books on both their reading and interest level encourage students to want to read.
Ways to be a Role Model for Reading
Let?students see you read. If?you?are going to encourage?your students?to?read, then?you?better make sure?you're?leading by example. Instead of doing busy work, grading papers, or checking emails when students read silently, model a love of reading by reading a book. Convey to pupils how much you enjoy the book you read and why. You may be amazed by how much this folds your child’s curiosity and willingness to seek new books.
Invite Guest Readers into Your Classroom
A great way to encourage reading school-wide is to ask for guest readers in the school. Guest readers could be parents, board members, or local government officials. When pupils see those outside a school setting relishing reading, somebody will inspire them to do the same.
Support Reading from Visual Displays
The hallways and walls in a school often show a part in the school culture. Considering this, make reading a part of these walls and hallways. When pupils see big, artistic, attention-grabbing reading displays, they are reminded that reading is essential at their school.
Read Alouds
So much research is available on the benefits of read aloud in the classroom. Read-aloud offers an opportunity to build classroom community while witnessing a quality representation of fluent reading.
Let Your Students Lead:?
Turn the tables and request pupils for their recommendations for great reads for both instructors and their peers. They can offer their perspective through book talks—concise presentations that do as an advertisement for a specific book. Unlike a book report, these quick talks are planned to pique interest rather than sum up the plot. Pupils, instructors, and other staff can share their ideas on a book they’ve read and why they would suggest it to others. More introverted pupils can try “writing a review on a sticky and leaving it inside the front cover or putting a book on a special shelf with a recommendation.”?
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Highlight Individual Authors:?
Use the narratives and biographies of respective authors to support power in their work. Losee suggests sharing authors’ websites with students. She shared the personal story of best-selling author Jason Reynolds, who didn’t read a book until he was 17 years old, and pupils were aghast. She used their shock as a springboard to boost interest in Reynolds’s work.
Easy Ways to Make Reading a Priority:?
Time selected for reading should be a non-negotiable in schools, Losee says. For upper elementary, middle, and high school pupils, she presents setting aside an hour a week for independent reading. “If we care about reading and we want our students to read more, we have to make time for it,” she writes. “It’s that simple.”
?Benefits of Reading Books in Different Subject Areas?
Reading doesn’t have to be confined to English class! By pairing various subjects with books on in-hand themes, your school’s reading culture will flourish across all subject areas. For example, if you’re a PE teacher, you could take five minutes of class time to read a section from Bend It Like Beckham. If you teach Food Preparation and Nutrition, promote your class to see recipes and a selection of articles about food. If your subject is History, your pupils could read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
Present DEAR to Your Classroom
DEAR—Drop Everything And Read—was started in the US by children’s author Beverly Clearly. . In several schools, it’s part of the school day when a special bell rings, and everyone in the school – pupils, instructors, management, and auxiliary staff – stops what they are doing and reads for half an hour. This reading isn’t part of the curriculum, and kids aren’t tried and tested on it. It’s purely for pleasure. Of course, it doesn’t have to be school-wide. Start small with DEAR time in your classroom – and if your pupils respond positively, maybe somebody can roll out the thought across the school.
Encourage Students to Read a Variety of Genres
Allowing your pupils to read across genres offers them many entry points into reading for pleasure. Encouraging individual students to read more will also subject the class to the many alternative options available to them. Graphic novels, biographies, memoirs, poetry, picture books, short stories, essays, articles, and blog posts offer thought-provoking and better alternatives to classic books. You could even challenge your class to read from five genres in a month.
?Create reading nooks all around the school
As well as making books accessible to your pupils, it’s essential to provide pupils with a place to read them. Look at where students can read in your school. Are there reading areas in the common spaces? Is there anywhere to read outside in the playground? You can create a reading nook in your classroom – decorate a corner with some posters and bookmarks, put some beanbags or comfortable seating there, and encourage your students to use the space for their reading.