How to Promote Reading in Your Classroom

As teachers, we all know the benefits of reading: stronger social skills, better vocabulary and writing skills, and increased creativity just to name a few. And yet, in an era of YouTube, Instagram, and Xbox, a big challenge for teachers can be getting students to pick up a book in the first place, let alone take pleasure in reading! The start of a new academic year is a great opportunity to implement some new strategies to create a culture of reading in your classroom. I am sharing some quick and easy, tried-and-tested techniques to transform your students from social media focused to literature lovers (or, at the very least, technology addicts who love to read every day, too!)

SHARE YOUR OWN LOVE OF READING WITH YOUR STUDENTS

It sounds obvious, but if we want students to become enthused by reading then we first need to model this behavior ourselves!

This can be as simple as just creating a poster for your door which lists the books that you are currently reading and a brief summary of what they are about. The purpose of the poster is twofold: as students wait outside your room, they are reminded of the fact that reading is an enjoyable or purposeful activity, and it also helps to create a dialogue about books or reading in general. As students enter the room, you can ask them to share in return what they are currently reading, their favorite character or event in their book so far, or a book that they might recommend to other classmates - anything that gets them talking and enthused about reading.

MAKE TIME FOR ESCAPISM

Setting aside time for reading in your classroom is also very important; if students aren't reading at home then this might potentially be the only time they are engaging with a book of their choice each week. Consider starting your daily lessons with 10-15 minutes of reading time or ringing a DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) bell a few times a week; as well as this being a great 'settling' activity, this also means that students have to get in the habit of carrying a book with them at all times, just in case!

MAKING LEARNING ABOUT NEW BOOKS FUN

I have personally done book talks with my students and I have also invited our librarian to share some of the latest books with my students. This is definitely a great strategy, but sometimes students require a bit more action. So, to get everyone up and moving and learning about some new book titles that they might like to explore, I use this Reading Escape Room with them!

The five, fun challenges included will have students (quite literally) jumping up and down with excitement! In addition to walking away from this activity with some new titles and genres to explore, students will also be able to use the previous knowledge of books that they read and incorporate this knowledge into some of the challenges (reviewing some famous authors, characters and quotes). This Reading Escape Room can truly be used at any point within an English Language Arts classroom and it is applicable for middle and high school students.

*Just as a side note, it would be fun to display some of the titles found within the escape room on the ledge of your whiteboard, for example! This will help with discussion and this will give students a tangible item to grab as soon as you are done the activity. You will be able to gauge their reading exciement if a good majority of your students are reading to pick up a book shortly after they are finished with the escape activity!

PROMOTE READING VISUALLY

As J.K. Rowling famously said, "If you don't like to read, you haven't found the right book." Another easy way to promote reading and introduce different books to your students is through the use of display boards in your classroom. There are a number of ways that you can do this: create a board of famous literary quotes; hang posters promoting the positive effects of reading; make a 'recommended' reading wall based on age or interests; or ask students to complete book summaries and display these for other students to read.

Make your boards colorful and interactive (Pinterest and Instagram are excellent sources of inspiration for this) and they will soon catch the attention and interest of your students.

 INTRODUCE READING COMPETITIONS

Students love competitions (especially when there are prizes involved!) so use some good old-fashioned in-class rivalry to get them reading!

A competition that works well with every age group is the 'Read your Height' challenge. This can be completed individually with students racing to read their own height in books, or it can be turned into a whole-class challenge with students competing against other classes in the school to see who can read an average height first. This also works great as a display board idea; when a student has finished reading a book, they can measure the spine and add it to the wall as a visual reminder of how close they are to meeting their target.

If you are worried about the quality or range of books that your students are going to read, the '16 Before 16 Challenge' is an excellent way to encourage to advance their reading by engaging with classic authors, such as Dickens, Austen, and Orwell. This can also be adapted to encourage students to read different genres of books, including autobiographies, poetry and play scripts.

Finally, 'Extreme Reading' is a fun way to encourage your students to read outside of school. Students compete against each other to read in the weirdest and wackiest locations possible - in trees, in the middle of a football field, in remote locations on a holiday - anything goes, as long as it's safe and legal and photographic evidence can be provided!

I'VE DONE THE READING, NOW WHAT?

Are you tired of the same old paper and pencil tests at the end of a text? Are your students struggling with remembering the details from a novel or play that you have studied in class? Are you searching for a fun, collaborative activity? Look no further, I have the solution for you! I have written an informative blog post about this Whole-Class Novel Study Final Project! Click HERE to read more! Click HERE to access the project!

This project is great for novel studies. Not only did the final posters make great classroom decor, but the students can really take pride in their work once they are on display.

As you can see, I displayed this outside of my classroom.  The students who created these got to see their work every time they entered my room, but also, students and teachers from other classes also had an opportunity to see what kinds of FUN things we were doing in English class! :)