In every classroom, there are students who struggle with book choices. They don’t know what to read and how to choose books for themselves. Over the years, I have come up with five things a teacher can do to facilitate students picking reading books.
1. Know your students’ interests
If you are aware of what interests your students, you will be better prepared to guide them with choosing the “right fit” books. If a child likes nonfiction stories, you will be on the hunt for nonfiction. If another child likes horses, you can go through your library looking for books related to horses. I use an interest list at the beginning of the year to see what things my students are interested in. If they can tell me what type of genres they like too, that is fantastic. Jen Jones from Hello Literacy provides a free Student Interest Survey that I use and is free in her TpT Store.
2. Know your students’ reading levels
At the beginning of each year, I run through several reading tests to determine my students needs as a reader. In my particular class of gifted students, most of my kiddos read a lot and read above grade level. However, some students struggle in areas of comprehension, vocabulary development, fluency, and concrete vs. figurative language. So I give the district FAST test, Analytical Reading Inventory (ARI), and Teacher’s College Reading Assessment. Each provides me with information about inferences, homophones, multiple meanings, etc. Once I know what type of reader my students are I can then implement my small group work appropriately.
3. Exposure to excerpts of different literature
I am very lucky that two years ago our PTA asked the teachers what we needed for students. As a staff, we had them purchase Scholastic Fiction and Nonfiction Short Reads. The kits come with 8 two-sided cards of excerpts from children’s novels and nonfiction books. In a small group, we work with the text and do activities. However, a result that I didn’t expect is that students often want to read the whole book after our small group meetings. I have had to purchase several books that they have requested. The students might not have chosen the book on their own, but after working with the text, it has piqued their interest.
4. Stock your library well
When I started teaching, I put any book in my library that I could for students to read. Now that I have been teaching for 25 years, I am constantly filling it with books that my students like. I cycle out those that get little use to make room for new titles or popular titles that have been “loved” and are falling apart. I also try to make sure I have a good variety of books. I want students to feel there are books in my library for each of them. I use several methods to organize my library for students to access books quickly. Some are organized by author, series, and genre. Others are alphabetized. I have thought about organizing by the Dewey Decimal System too. I just haven’t set out on that venture yet.
5. Buy new books
Finally, I buy books that my students want each year. If they want a book, I will buy it for them. I do pay for some, but I got smart a few years ago and started asking parents for Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift cards for classroom needs. I have mostly what I need since I have been teaching a while and I also receive a stipend from the PTA. Therefore, I really only ask parents to help pay for books.
I want to encourage my students to become life-long readers, so anything I can do to promote that is worth doing. I hope some of these ideas will work for you in your class too.
Karen
