As an ELA teacher, independent reading time will always be a part of my classroom teaching repertoire. Continue on to read to discover how I prioritize independent reading by building a culture of reading and using the book club format within my curriculum.
Build a Positive Reading Culture
One question I hear often online and in conversation is, “How do you get your students to actually read!?” And I understand that the struggle is real with middle and high school students. The competition independent reading has with technology is a hard battle to win, but there is hope. Centering your classroom teaching around the philosophy that independent reading is what we do in this room can help create a mindset for yourself and your students about independent reading time.
Ways to build a culture of reading:
- Incorporate choice into independent reading
- Talk about books regularly
- Create displays to help students find books easily
- Lean into themes and celebrations as a way to introduce new books and authors
- Make time for reading as often as possible (daily if you can)
- Build a classroom library
- Create opportunities for student to talk about their books and share recommendations
- Share your reading life
If you want to read more about how to build strong independent reading routines, check out one of my previous blog posts about it!
Use the Book Club Format
Using book clubs as part of my classroom teaching has a huge impact on independent reading. Also, there are many benefits of a book club for middle and high school students. When students learn in book clubs they are engaged in reading independently and collaborate on answering book club questions, completing analysis activities, and supporting one another through discussion.
Tips for starting book clubs:
- Determine the types of book clubs your students will enjoy. This may be genre-based, student-led, or even an author study.
- Identify the best book club books for your students. I suggest selecting 4-6 titles that fit the type of book club you are teaching.
- Introduce the books to students through book trailers or a book tasting activity so that students have a choice in which book they read.
- Develop mini lessons to teach the skills or strategies you want students to practice while reading their book.
- Create routines and activities for students to engage with during a meeting.
One aspect of book clubs that I enjoy is getting to facilitate student-led discussions. It is empowering for middle and high school students to have a voice in what is important to discuss with their peers. If you want to learn more about strong student-led discussions, check out this guide to pep up your book club discussions. It is free and has specific strategies and tips for building strong academic conversations in your classroom.
If you are looking for ways to talk more about books within your classroom, sign up below for my free guide to using book talks to foster independent reading.