Too often, students, at least those in middle school, maintain and apply the skills and habits we seek to build in our English classroom struggle once they walk out of our doors. Of particular interest to me today is how we build up students to read for pleasure. There are many great classroom practices, such as free-choice book units and independent reading time built into the school days. One of our hopes in these practices is that students will find an appreciation for reading within the school day that they will eventually pursue on their own. For many students, though, even if they enjoy the practice of selecting their own titles and reading independently at school, it becomes more of a task in the real, often chaotic worlds they live in outside our walls. Lately the question of turning a reading practice into a reading habit follows me everywhere I go.
One thing I think is key to creating independent readers among young teens, especially, is showing them that they are surrounded by independent readers and that those independent readers are not only their peers. I try to keep a book I am reading for pleasure on my desk at school at all times. It usually takes me a long time to finish these titles since there is not much time for pleasure-reading in my day, but it’s presence and the slow progress of its book mark is still valuable. Right now, you will find Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher presiding over my desk. Despite my significant lack of Star Wars knowledge, it is clever, funny, and surprisingly well done, but I will provide a review when I finish in a few weeks. My hope is that they will see that not all reading is assigned and that there is a surprising amount of variety out there. Star Wars written in the style of Shakespeare? Who would have thought!?!
A screenshot of outrteacher book collage from my class website.
Still, I am their English teacher, and of all the adults they know, my students expect me to be one who reads for pleasure. I needed to expand the picture for them. I reached out to my fellow 8th grade teachers and asked them what they were reading for pleasure that would also be appropriate for our students. The response was great! I created a collage/slideshow on my class website (see screenshot to the right) to illustrate for students that reading for pleasure is not reserved for English teachers alone. Math teachers read! Science teachers read! History teachers read! And, they read things you may be interested in! I also wanted to provide these teachers with a new avenue for reaching out to their students by showing the kids what their teachers are reading and hopefully inspiring some new conversations and connections.
So, now students know that there are adults out there who read for pleasure, but you may have noticed by now, that one critical element is missing. Parents. Teachers are a unique subset of adults in the minds of teens, and what applies to teachers does not always apply to the world around them. Teens need to see adults in the world outside their school, and their parents in particular, reading – maybe even reading to them! On numerous occasions, I have had eighth grade parents share with me that their children used to be readers, but that their enthusiasm has drop as they progressed through middle school. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon pattern as students go through dramatic changes that seem to consume their thoughts and more demands are placed on their time. Just because it is a pattern, though, does not mean it needs to persist. In communication with parents, I usually give three pieces of common, research-based practices in encouraging a student’s at-home reading practice. Feel free to share with the parents of your own students:
- As a family, make sure that reading for pleasure is a visible act from time to time. If reading for fun is modeled, it will become a more normalized activity that teens are more likely to pursue on their own.
- Have casual conversations about what your teen is reading. These conversations should not feel like work or a quiz. For instance, I know that [insert student’s name] just started a book for independent reading titled [insert title and author]. This title could be a great jumping off point for some dinner table conversations.
- When appropriate, recommend something you have read to your teen, or read a book you may both be interested together.
Hopefully,at least some of these practices are already a part of a family’s environment, but even when they are, I remind parents that being a little more intentional in them can make a difference.
How do you move beyond reading logs and book reviews to help students turn reading independently into a valuable habit?
teachernextdoor 
I’ve done similar work with high school students, and I can tell you it’s a tough sell to motivate seniors who haven’t chosen a book to read, or completed a book on their own, since fifth or sixth grade. But it can be done! When students are given choice, opportunity, and encouragement, they will read.
Just today I heard from a college student who graduated last year. She says she no longer has time to read books of choice for pleasure, but she’s learning to find pleasure in some of her assigned reading. I’m now quite sure what to think of that, but at least she is equating reading with pleasure.
Thanks for doing such important work with these students, Katie, and it’s great to see you blogging!
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Thank you for the encouragement! Independent reading is, indeed, a tough sell. But, hopefully we are at least planting seeds. I don’t know quite what to think about seeking pleasure in assigned reading, either, but I always hope that my students will somewhat enjoy what I assign and that it will perhaps help them find new things to read on their own.
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