Sharing Good Practice
Get your studentS to love reading
By Melissa Monney
A
“
reader lives a thousand
lives before he dies; he who
never reads lives only one.”
– George R.R. Martin
Summiting Mount Everest, exploring
the great barrier reefs, solving a
murder mystery or doing something
heroic can all be easily experienced
by simply opening a book. Many
educators are avid readers who can
extol the virtues of reading, but the
challenge of getting our students to
develop a love for reading is one that
we grapple with on a daily basis. Why
are students not reading as much as
they should? Many argue that students
are too distracted by other activities or
they are not seeing good examples of
readers at home or among their peers.
Teachers who have managed to
successfully ignite the love for reading
in their students, have suggested the
following as some of the basic things
educators can do to start the process
of developing students’ love for
reading.
TAP INTO THEIR INTEREST
Reading for most, begins with
something they are actually interested
in reading. Taking an interest survey
or finding the opportunity for students
to self-reflect on things that interest
them sparks the ‘reading flame’. When
writing, I always tell my students,
“you write best when it is a topic that
interests you; ” the same holds true for
reading. Once students have found a
topic that they are actually interested
in, they will be willing to engage with
texts on this topic.
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Go Viral
As a teacher your love for reading
can be contagious. Talk to your
students about books you remember
reading when you were their age.
You may even tell them about what
you are currently reading as long as
the content is ap propriate. Get your
students to blog about what they are
reading. Better yet get them to tweet
about it. Ask them to make a post on
Facebook about their latest book and
see how many likes they can get. It may
be possible to reward the person with
the most social media likes on their
reading related post. If your students
are too young for the real social media,
simulate one in your classroom on your
noticeboard and allow students to
make their posts there.
BRING THE BOOK TO LIFE
“Reading is not as fun as watching
television
or
doing
something
engaging” – how many times have
we heard this? As educators, we can
change this sentiment by bringing
the books to life. Research in literacy
shows that one of the signs of being a
‘good’ reader is having a running script
in your mind as you read. Being able
to see the text as a movie is a great skill
that we should teach young readers.
After reading a text, have students
act out the scenes, draw story boards,
write scripts or just draw what they
were imagining as they read.
READ EVERYWHERE!
Reading is everywhere, literally. As
educators, we must show students
that reading is a part of our daily lives.
By making reading applicable and
Class Time
relevant to students’ lives, a natural
love for reading may arise as they
find themselves reading everything
everywhere. With younger students,
pointing out signs around the city or
school and encouraging them to read
and understand these could ignite a
natural desire to read things wherever
they may be. For older students,
having critical thinking discussions on
how reading can impact their daily life
in a positive way will also give students
a purpose to read.
NOURISH THE READER
WITHIN
Assist students with bringing forth
the reader within by creating reading
environments that are inviting. Create
a reading area in your classroom and
allow students to use it freely. Don’t
be restricted by classroom space even
the smallest area can be utilized. Soft
cushions, ample lighting, a variety of
books aimed at the various levels of the
students in your class are the basics.
For teachers who have a larger space
and more resources, you are only
limited by your imagination. If you can,
invest in listening centres, computers
or tablets, software for reading and
sufficient books so that students can
take books home on loan. Allow the
students to help with the design of the
reading space.
The search for strategies to ignite our
students’ love for reading is one that
will continue for most if not all of our
career as teachers. Do you have a
method which worked well with your
students? Share it with us. Tweet your
idea to @TEACHUAE_MAG or use the
hashtag #EdChatUAE.