The Power of Choice! Getting Kids Excited to Read
This summer, I spent a considerable amount of time cleaning out my house. As I was cleaning out the attic, I found boxes of books from when I taught 5th grade in Buffalo. Each class of fifth grade students I taught consisted of many more boys than girls. One year, I had 17 boys in class to 6 girls. It was that class of students that shaped how I approach reading with students. One September day, one of the boys in my class approached me and said that he was frustrated with reading. He had read all of the Matt Christopher books, which are books that are focused on different sports, and he had nothing else he wanted to read. There was my challenge! I had to find other sports books that would interest my students and keep them engaged in reading.
Students need to be excited about the books that they are reading. They also need to learn to make their own decisions about what they read. The goal is to create lifelong readers – individuals who enjoy reading well past the school years. We need to trust children to make their own choices about the books that they read. We can do this by ensuring that our classroom libraries represent the readers in the classroom and contain current books that students want to read. While book choice is important, it is not enough to have students randomly select books. There are some things that we can do as teachers (and parents!) to help students learn about books and make choices about what they want to read.
Book Shopping
I love book shopping with students and also with my two daughters. I take students to my classroom library or the school library and model how I look for a book that interests me. Once I find the section of books that I think I enjoy, I show them how I look at the front cover and then the back cover and read the description that is on the back of the book. I then open the book and if there is a table of contents, I read through the chapters to learn more about what the book is about. Often, I will read the first few pages of the first chapter to see if this is really a book that I would enjoy. Kids need to see you go through these steps – they may not know how to do this on their own. I do this with my own daughters. We will go to a bookstore or the library and I’ll help them find books that they may like. Together, we read the back of the book and the first few pages. I know it’s for them if they can’t put the book down!
Book Talks
Literacy is a social activity! It’s fun to talk about a book that you enjoy with others. We do that as adults – so, we should allow kids to do the same. If I read a book that I think a student will enjoy, I really try and sell it – telling all the wonderful things I enjoyed about the book. Most of the time, this gets the kids so excited that they want to read the book themselves.
This summer, I wanted to read Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo with my older daughter. Before we began reading the book, I told her what a beautiful story it is and how it will make her laugh and cry because it’s a story of friendship and love. I also told her that the characters in the book are all very different, but really bring the story together. My book talk was enough to convince her that she wanted to read it with me. She loved the book so much that when she learned there is not a sequel to the book, she decided that she wanted to read other books by Kate DiCamillo.
Giving kids agency to make choices about what they read is important for helping them continue to read. If we want kids to read books every day for pleasure, then we need to help them find books that they want to read. I hope these two tips help get your students reading books that they love!