Just Caught You Reading: A Simple and Engaging Student Assignment

AMENDMENT: I wrote this blog post 8 years ago. In fact, it was the first blog post I wrote for Lit & More! The purposes behind this assignment have changed, since I no longer assign summer reading. But I’ve decided not to change the writing about its intentions. Instead, I’ll share how I use it now in a new paragraph added at the end. Enjoy! – GK, August 2026

Every spring, I go into the classroom next door and greet the ninth graders with that most dreaded news: they must complete summer reading. Our school implemented a summer reading program a few years ago as a way to engage students in doing something academic over the summer, and to make our English program a little stronger. The jury is still out on whether this achieves the first objective, and I’m slightly biased towards the second one. However, it did usher in one of my favorite projects, which I call Just Caught You Reading.

Before school lets out, I challenge students to send me a picture of them reading a book, any book, anywhere. I give out “bonus brownie points,” aka, nothing but pride, to take it in a creative location or in a unique place.

I now have 5 years of Just Caught You Reading pictures in my classroom. For current students at my school, I post their pictures on my bulletin board in the back of my classroom. After students graduate, they move to the top of my walls, and they’re getting extensive enough that they currently wrap halfway around the room, creating a unique and delightful border.

Here are some of my favorite photos submitted to the Just Caught You Reading Challenge over the years:

This project has been a delightful opportunity to show other students in my class that it can be fun to read. Yes, obviously we probably can’t read upside down or while we play tennis, but these students really did take a book with them to places like Loch Ness and the Canadian Rockies, and I’d like to think that maybe they relaxed with a book for even a few minutes.

I encourage other ELA educators to implement this project over the summer, or as a back to school assignment. If nothing else, you’ll wind up with a great collection of photos to display.

For more creative teaching ideas and resources, follow me at my TPT store!

Update: The time finally came where I needed to take down 12+ years of Just Caught You Reading pictures. They were coming unstuck from the wall and just too high for anyone to enjoy. This year, I got a 300-slot photo album to hold all of the prints, reserving about 30 to frame and put on the wall.

I no longer assign this for summer reading, but open it up to all my students as an assignment. For AP Lit, it is a graded assignment (but worth an easy 10 points). For everyone else, I make it extra credit. My instructions and grading scale are fairly simple:

Submit a photo of you in a unique, creative, or quirky place. You must be reading a book (not a digital one). 

Here’s how scoring goes: 

1 – Lame. You’re clearly in the school and in uniform. 
2 – Fine. You’re out of school but it’s not particularly creative. 
3 – Interesting. You found a unique spot or idea and made it fun. 
4 – Great! It made me smile, laugh, or gasp!
5 – UNBELIEVABLE! THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST I’VE EVER SEEN!