THE trick to get your students reading
by Amy Bowker
March 24, 2022
All teachers debate how to get our kids to read. We all have the kids who won’t put books down, the okay if I have to readers, the pretend to read readers and the refusers.
Here are some things I’m doing in my classroom to help all students read.
Firstly, I give them a choice about how they read. My students haven’t wanted to read because they want to draw or doodle. I compromised with them and let them listen to audiobooks and then they can continue to draw while listening to books. It has worked perfectly. The students who refused to read, usually need to be reminded that reading time is over.
Secondly, give them choice about what they read! There has been a long debate about if audiobooks and graphic novels or comics are reading. They are! Graphic novels and comics are great ways to get kids into reading. I’m almost 40 years old and I love reading graphic novels. I love that I can read them quickly, they are so visual and it is nice to take a break from text-based books. Honestly, who didn’t grow up reading some sort of comic?
Thirdly, give kids easy access to books that they want. What has the best selection of free books out there? The public library of course! I use my own personal library card to request books for students. I usually go to the library about two times per week to either return books or pick some up.
It is the best because you can put a ton of books on hold and the students can research books or topics they are interested in. The best part is that students can get used to the library website and then they get used to having access to books and will hopefully want their own library card in the future.
I have been personally requesting books the students want and the students have set up a request area on our wall. After spring break I’m going to allow students to browse and request books using my card at set times throughout the week.
I also set up my students on Epic Books which is a free resource for schools to use during classroom hours. It has a huge selection of books to read, listen to and some even have quizzes attached to the books.
At my school, we just began to go to our school library every two weeks. The more books they can be exposed to the better in my opinion.
This is something I created for my class to use to have easy access to books, our reading forms and websites to help them determine what to read next.
Please let me know if you tried any of these tricks and if they worked. Also what other tips and tricks do you have?
