You’ve gathered the books. You’ve cultivated a classroom library. You have even created a cozy book nook for your students! And still, when you start independent reading…students resist.
This is a classic problem in ELA classrooms, especially as each year the world grows more digital. Every year I introduce students to my classroom library and talk about the procedure for checking out books. And, every year, some students will laugh at the notion.
While you can’t force a love of reading, there are lots of ways to make it more appealing. Here are some tips and strategies to make independent reading engaging, intriguing, and worthwhile to your students.
Do a Book Tasting
If I send my students to a bookshelf to pick a book, they will literally just stand there. Most won’t even pick a book out of the stack, they just look at the spines. This is why book tastings are absolutely imperative when rolling out independent reading.
Book tastings can look lots of different ways. I used to print out informational sheets for each of my books, but I’m trying to work less than my students these days. I’m modeling my new approach after a co-worker’s strategy that she uses with her middle school students.
Book Tasting Directions
- Put your tables or desks into a circle.
- Grab your favorites books (between 20-30) and put 1-2 on each desk.
- As students walk in, invite them to sit at a desk.
- Hand out something for students to record ideas. This can be as simple as a notecard or a pre-prepared list of books.
- Give students 2-3 minutes at each station. Tell them to examine the front cover, back cover, and the book’s premise. Fast readers can even read the first paragraph of each!
- After the allotted time, ring a bell or say, “Rotate.” At the bell, students then move onto the next desk and repeat the process.
This is lesson is engaging, purposeful, and guaranteed to fill an entire lesson. When they finish, ask students to save their book ideas. You can also collect their lists and redistribute them when they finish a book.
Share student reviews
I’ve always asked students to share reviews of their books, but as they read more it takes longer and longer to share in class. Now I give them review cards to fill out for each book. Each one takes only a minute to complete and I tape them to the shelf around the book, informing future readers about their choice.
Another review assessment I’ve created is this Reader Response sheet, a two-page assessment. I ask AP Lit students to complete one per quarter and my Honors students to do one per semester. In my Honors class, this is our only assessment for independent reading. I let students handwrite their review or fill it out on Canva and we post them along the wall to inform our choices for next time.
Carve out reading time
Another must-do to make independent reading successful is to give in-class time to read. In my classes, we devote about half of our block periods to independent reading (we’re on a modified block, so that’s just once a week). My co-worker uses her Friday lessons for independent reading (48 minute periods).
Yes, this feels like a lot. Yes, it is a sacrifice of precious instructional time. However, by making time for independent reading, we show students that we value that time. And by implementing the assessment and engagement strategies that follow, you make it worthwhile to even the most reluctant reader.
Students won’t prioritize independent reading if we don’t.
Avoid busy work
One surefire way to kill an independent reading program is to require a boring book report for every book they read. Think about it, what’s the incentive of reading more books if it means more work?
If you can, avoid time-consuming reading lots and post-reading essays. There are ways to assess and incentivize reading (keep reading), but work to make them worthwhile, creative, and relatively quick.
Try informal conferencing
If you have a class of reluctant readers or younger students (especially middle school), you will probably find that more supervision is required. My colleague who teaches middle school uses her independent reading Fridays to walk around and check in with students. She writes down what page they’re on and does a quick check-in on their progress. The next week, she does it again. If a student only moved one page in that week, they have some explaining to do. If this repeats, students are urged to select a new book or may require more supervision or monitoring during independent reading time.
Pro tip: Ask students to turn in cell phones during independent reading. These little guys are pretty tempting during quiet time!
Incorporate creative projects
If you require a summative assessment for your independent reading program, be sure to offer a variety of creative project choices. Some options include:
- Booktok book review
- Book Bento
- Redesigned book cover
- Character diary entries
- Book soundtrack
- Comic book version
- Book in a bag
- Film a scene from the book
- Work of art
- Poem or creative writing
- Book board game
Pro tip: Be sure to have a rubric that is inclusive of creative options and informs students of the required components.
Give the right book
If you’re active on teachers’ social media accounts you’ve likely heard of book challenges. We’re living in a new age of book banning, and the internet is only helping fuel the paranoia. One proactive way to avoid content challenges is to inform parents on your independent reading program. I email the parents of my AP Lit students, explaining that AP is a college prep course, requiring analysis and discussion of some adult themes.
I have gone through my whole library of AP Lit books and taped masking tape along the bottom of the spine. Then, on the bottom, I write 1, 2, or 3. I then explain what each number means:
1 – Little to no objectionable material. Some infrequent uses of “TV-level cursing” (words you can say on television) or mild acts of violence may be used. (examples: Pride and Prejudice, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, etc.)
2 – Infrequent objectionable material, which may include frequent “TV-level cursing,” infrequent stronger curse words, plot events relating to sexual activity (not not graphic portrayals) and some strong acts of violence (examples: A Man Called Ove, The Road, 1984)
3 – Objectionable material, which may include regular use of stronger curse words, plot events relating to sexual activity which may be graphic or violent, and several strong acts of violence (examples: Beloved, The Kite Runner, The Things They Carried)
Parents are invited to email back if they are unwilling to let their son or daughter to read a 3 (a great opportunity for dialogue on why!), but explain that they are expected to read up to level 2. Most parents allow all levels and tell me they appreciate being informed.
I know that parent concerns and book banning is a sensitive subject. I would be irate if a parent took to the internet with concerns over a book I’m teaching rather than talking to me about it first. However, I have found that this system and its email often avoids future conflicts. I have had parent challenges, but because I introduced myself at the start of the year, they feel comfortable discussing them with me. We usually find a solution through email or an amicable meeting and no internet shaming is necessary!
Pro tip: This is also a really good system for warning students about possible triggers. It’s hard to avoid reading about death in AP Lit, but I do try to give trigger warnings for stories with suicide or rape. Again, this helps eliminate a lot of problems before they even arise.
I’m sure there are more tips I can offer but this seems like enough for now. What else would you suggest if implementing an independent reading program? I’d love to hear your tips!
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