Getting Students Hooked on Books

While reading the novel Lunch Money (by Andrew Clements, author of Frindle) to my 9-year-old son, I had a major "aha" moment. Let me add some background. My 9-year-old son, while a good reader, does not often choose to read for pleasure. He is intimidated by long chapter books because, as he puts it, "They take so long to read." However, he loves being read to and does enjoy books once he gets started. It's getting started that is the biggest obstacle. This is similar to many of the struggling adolescent readers I have in class. Getting started--finding a book that they enjoy from the start--is the hardest part. I often find that if I can get a student hooked on a book quickly, they are far more likely to keep going and to enjoy it. Sometimes enough to ask whether the author has written a sequel or if there is anything similar.

Anyway, back to my revelation. We started Lunch Money tonight and read the first chapter. I closed the book and he begged me to read "just one more chapter." So I did. Then when we finished chapter two, he begged and begged me to read "just one more chapter." I said that was it for today. Then he did something that surprised me: he begged me to let him continue reading on without me. I said he could, and that I'd just catch up before we continued together the next night (I'm really enjoying the story, too).

As I left his room to go downstairs to get a few things done, my mind was racing. This is not the first time he has begged me to continue. The same thing also happens when we have teacher read-aloud time in class; the kids beg and beg to continue the story when we come to a stopping point. It never occurred to me that starting a book together could be a great way to make kids salivate enough that they want to pick up the book on their own and keep going.

I can see several ways this idea could be implemented in my reading class. I could choose a different book once a week (or at some other shorter or longer regular interval) and read the entire first chapter to the students. When I do this, I need to be prepared with at least a few copies of the book for kids who want to check it out. I will also let the school librarian know in advance.

I have done basic booktalks before, and they do generate a lot of interest in books. But not for ALL of my students. I wonder if in addition to the basic booktalks I do, if I throw in a couple of "first chapters" here and there, if that variance in attack strategies might not capture a few more kids and get them started. A book doesn't seem nearly as intimidating if you have already knocked off the first chapter. Also, most people do not like to be left hanging, unable to find out what will happen next in a situation they have been following with interest.

I will give this a try this year. Maybe not once a week because it might take a lot of time away from teacher read-aloud time, but maybe in weeks where we are between teacher read aloud books, I will try to read the first chapter of a few different books. I'll be sure to report back on whether it helps students get hooked on books.

Reading Class and Survival Skills

Just finished the book called The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner (2008). The premise is that we are teaching our kids to be great fact-memorizers and high-stakes test takers, but we are not preparing them for the future where they will need what Wagner calls the "Seven Survival Skills" (1. Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, 2. Collaboration Across Networks & Leading by Influence, 3. Agility & Adaptability, 4. Initiative & Entrepreneurialism, 5. Effective Oral & Written Communication, 6. Accessing & Analyzing Information, and 7. Curiousity & Imagination). I thought it was really good and it has given me some ideas that I might be implement into my high school reading classes. I am lucky to have a lot of flexibility in my curriculum, and all of the items above would not only help students improve their reading skills, but help them be able to use what they read and comprehend; therefore, I in particular should be doing more to help students improve in these areas.

1. I want to offer more rigor along with choice. In years past I encouraged students to read things they were interested in. This is good, but I want to up the ante a little by having them work toward some sort of knowledge or achievement goal with what they learn. This will be with respect to the nonfiction reading we do. Maybe instead of me selecting all of the articles we use to practice reading strategies, I can let them select an article and use it for practice. This will take a little additional time, but it will also allow me to provide more practice and instruction at evaluating sources and focusing reading / reading with a purpose.

2. I want to have fewer "tests" and more projects. I already do a lot of projects, but why not turn current unit tests into projects too. Students could collaboratively come up with a way to present/teach the strategy and its application to the class. This would be better than a review and would also offer better evidence of their mastery of the concepts and their ability to do it.

3. I want to try to go to the local grade schools more often. In years past we have gone as a whole group to the kindergarten classes in December, then to the second grade classes in April. This is a big "one shot deal," and although the kids love it, I think it would be to their benefit to go more often. Maybe I can work out some sort of arrangement with the local grade schools so that a few kids could come each period of the day. Transportation would be an issue, BUT, maybe I can work with the Driver's Education teacher to arrange transport? Don't know if there is any liability associated with this option. I'd probably have to get parental permission at the least. Definitely worth exploration, though.

4. Finally, I want to offer some sort of incentive for FINISHING books. This idea did not come from the O'Connell book. It actually came from a book called Differentiated Instructional Strategies for Reading in the Content Areas (Carolyn Chapman & Rita King, 2003). They provided many ideas for "Celebrating Reading Achievement." It dawned on me while reading this chapter that I don't really do anything to celebrate when one of my students finishes a book. I should be, because my students have a higher "non-finishing" percentage than regular students and those who do finish a book always come up to my desk eager to talk about it. Why not capitalize on this eagerness and let it affect the rest of the students as well! They could earn something for finishing a book, or we could even have mini-celebrations (treats, etc.) when someone finishes a book. The finisher will be encouraged to share his/her opinion of the book and give a recommendation.

Those are just a few big ideas I've gotten from some of my summer reading. Many more are written in my "ideas" notebook, but they need further thought and weighing.

Summer Reading

Still pondering the issue of motivation and how to encourage kids to read more on their own--especially during the summer, I flipped through some old issues of reading journals and magazines. The April 2008 issue of Reading Today had a great article called, "Closing the Summer Reading Gap."

It offered suggestions for reducing the summer brain drain and increasing the likelihood that kids will read over the summer. This list of specific suggestions is taken directly from the article, which was written by Linda B. Gambrell (a professor of education from Clemson University). Some of these ideas are really great.


"1. During “teacher read–aloud time,” share information about a variety of books. Students are more likely to read books they know something about. During the 15 to 20 minutes that you would read aloud from a single book, give a brief overview of multiple books instead, making sure you share a balance of narrative and informational texts reflecting a range of reading levels. Encourage students to make a list of the books they want to read over the summer. If a teacher shares 12 to 15 books a week during the final four weeks of school, students will be introduced to 50 or 60 books for potential summer reading.

2. Share “3–a–day.” If you can’t devote 15 to 20 minutes at a time to book sharing, try taking 5 minutes each day during the last month of school to share “3–a–day,” quickly sharing a narrative text, an informational text, and something else, such as a book of poetry. Using this approach, you could share up to 60 books with your students.

3. Distribute older books to students to take home for summer reading. When I was a classroom teacher, I carefully guarded my own library, making sure I could account for every book. As a consequence, the number of books in my classroom library grew substantially each year. I’ve since come to realize that students, like adults, gravitate toward newer titles. While there are some classics we will want to retain in our classroom libraries, perhaps it is time to weed out some of the older or never–touched books and give them to students for summer reading. If the books in your classroom library have been purchased with school funds, first obtain permission from your principal. Giving students books to take home on the last day of class is a powerful way to increase the likelihood of summer reading. You might want to duplicate a book plate that students can paste inside the front cover of the books they select. This book plate might say something like “Happy summer reading from your 5th–grade teacher, Mrs. Brown.” Books given to students by the teacher often become favorites and are highly likely to be read over the summer.

4. Explore other ways you and your school can promote access to books, particularly for students from low–socioeconomic families. Suggestions include keeping the school library open during the summer months, taking a class trip to the local library during the last month of school to ensure that every student has a library card, and working with local businesses to sponsor the purchase of books for each student to take home on the last day of class."

To read the full text of this article online, go to: http://www.reading.org/General/Publications/ReadingToday/RTY-0804-summer.aspx

I intend to implement some of these in my own classroom next year.

Time to Read

How can I expect my students, many of whom are reluctant readers, to try to set aside 15 minutes each day to read when I have difficulty doing this myself.

Here is a rundown of today's reading:

- 8:30 a.m. - 30 minutes - newspaper
- 12:45 p.m. - 15 minutes - The Global Achievement Gap (required summer reading for my school district)
- 3:30 p.m. - 15 minutes - two picture books (read to my 3-month-old son)
- 9:00 p.m. - 40 minutes - Frindle (read to my 9-year-old son)

This is all well and good, and is pretty typical for any day of the week (although the newspaper reading is usually less than 10 minutes; I read it longer today because it was the Sunday paper). However, I have been trying to carve out some time all week long to start reading James X, a book my 13-year-old son loved and wants me to read so we can talk about it, and in the past 7 days I have not even picked it up. And to be totally honest, there are several other books that I would rather read for entertainment.

Is this one of the problems our students may have? Are they always being told to read something that they didn't choose to read? Not that all reading must be self-selected, but I know that the books I enjoy reading most are the ones I choose for myself. However, with life as busy as it is, it's very difficult to set aside time for leisure. I know that adolescents probably do not have as many pressing life responsibilities as adults (childcare, work and family responsibilities, community responsibilities, etc.), but I also know that kids today seem to be more stressed and busy than kids were when I was in high school.

How can we recapture blocks of time that we can use to read for pleasure? And when we do happen upon these serendipitous blocks of time, how can we make sure there is an interesting text nearby? Once we figure out how to do this for ourselves, maybe we can help adolescents do this better as well.

HS Lit Circle Recommendations

Here are some books that I have found to work very well in literature circles with my struggling adolescent readers (in no particular order).

1. Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli (good for all levels; high interest; girls or boys)

2. Monster, by Walter Dean Myers (good for all levels, multi-genre, boys and girls loved it)

3. Rag and Bone Shop, by Robert Cormier (all levels, boys and girls, switching viewpoints were a little difficult for lower readers to follow so partnering with stronger readers is best)

4. Tears of a Tiger, by Sharon Draper (all levels - easy to read, boys and girls loved it; plot-based and very easy to follow the action)

5. Whirligig, by Paul Flieschman (wasn't as easy for my lower level students due to the switching viewpoints; girls liked this more than the boys did)

6. The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom (wasn't as easy for my lower level students due to the flashbacks; girls and boys liked this)

7. Nothing But the Truth, by Avi (all levels, boys and girls liked it, multi-genre)

8. Wolf Rider, by Avi (all levels, boys and girls liked it, plot-based and very easy to follow the action)

What are some other high-interest young adult books that work well in literature circles? I'd love to include some nonfiction titles.

Great Read-Alouds

It can be tough to find books that are just right to read aloud to your high school classes. First and foremost, you want to read them something they will enjoy, but that is appropriate to read aloud to everyone. You also want to read something that suits whatever instructional goals you may have, such as introducing new vocabulary words, exploring a particular theme, or modeling reading comprehension strategies. I like to read books that are a little more challenging than my students (struggling adolescent readers) might read on their own.

Here are a few books I've read aloud to my classes and the pro's and con's associated with each:

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon, 2009) -- Pro's: the kids loved this story; it introduced a lot of vocabulary words they had never heard; it spawned a lot of discussion about autism and other special needs; and it was great for modeling reading comprehension skills - especially inference due to the use of the "unreliable narrator" literary technique. Con's: Some bad language.

2. Son of the Mob (Gordon Korman, 2004) -- Pro's: the kids absolutely LOVED this book; it made them want to read the next book about the main character (Son of the Mob: Hollywood Hustle), good for modeling reading comprehension skills - especially prediction; some interesting vocabulary words. Con's: Not a particularly challenging book, not a lot of new vocabulary, some innuendo.

3. Born to Rock (Gordon Korman, 2008) -- Pro's: the kids loved the story; good for modeling reading comprehension skills - especially prediction; a few interesting vocabulary words. Con's: like Son of the Mob, not particularly challenging, some innuendo and references to drug use (not the main character and not portrayed in a positive way, though).

4. Rag and Bone Shop (Robert Cormier, 2003) -- Pro's: very suspenseful; changing viewpoints are challenging for my students and this book is a good way to introduce that; good for modeling reading comprehension skills - especially inference and prediction; good at spawning discussion. Con's: again, not particularly challenging except for the changing viewpoints.

I would love to hear what other teachers are reading aloud to their high school classes, and what worked well and what didn't.