Over the past two years of students having to distance from each other and not mix with other classes, it feels like we have lost a lot of our school’s culture and sense of community. There is no better way to build that back up again than by starting with fostering a culture of reading. All students in the school have access to the library and its’ books, so reading is an activity that we can all participate in.
Where I Am Now
I have tried to make our library a welcoming place for all students, and I like to think that they enjoy coming in! One of the most important things that I do to encourage classes to read is to allow free reign for students to choose their own books. I don’t put many limits on which books students can pick, and this allows them to choose topics that interest them. I do redirect the youngest students sometimes if they are choosing novels, but usually just opening up the book to show them a lot of words and no pictures and asking them if it looks interesting for them to read is enough to have them change their minds!
Another thing that helps increase book checkout is that I let students take books even if they haven’t returned their old ones. I would rather they have books to read each week and not make them feel bad watching their friends take new books when they can’t. I do lose some books because of this unfortunately, but I find that most of them come back eventually. I often have students come in with an armload of books to return after they clean their room on the weekend, and I just give them a big thank you for finding all of them.
A few other ways that I try to foster the reading culture in our school are-
- Books are used as prizes in our school wide draws
- Read alouds for primary classes every time they visit
- Lots of theme and holiday book displays on top of the shelves
- Author spotlights to increase interest
- Contests in the library make kids excited to come in
- Reading surveys at the beginning of each year to ask which topics they are interested in
- Take student requests for new books throughout the year and do whatever I can to get them (This is a big one to increase engagement. They often tell me what they would like, or they fill in this paper that I have available)
There are many online resources available to help boost reading culture in schools. One of my favourite websites that I go to for ideas is The Book Wrangler, aka Mike Rawls. I use many of his resources, including the What Should I Read Next? menus, author spotlight posters, and book trailers.
School Wide reading program
We did have a school wide reading program in our school that was run by a parent group. Unfortunately, covid restrictions on volunteers stopped them from being able to continue, but I hope that we can get back to a similar program soon. The students loved it and it was always a high point of the month when prizes were given out. We have also started ‘house teams’ in our school, so I would love to be able to tie a reading program into our house points.
Where To Go From Here
One thing that stood out to me was that when I did a simple google search on building a school reading culture, many of the articles and videos were coming from New Zealand. It seems to be a focus in their schools, and they have a wealth of information to share.
Here is how one school in New Zealand built up their school’s culture of reading:
All the articles about fostering reading cultures in schools have really given me some great ideas that I am excited to try. Our textbook started me off with the question “What is it that will make the biggest impact that can’t or doesn’t happen in classrooms in your school?” (McClintock Miller & Bass).
I really like their idea of having zones in the library. I would love to separate my space into areas for quiet reading, makerspace activities, and table activities for students to choose from. Definitely something I am moving toward as I redesign my space.
The articles ‘Ten ways to create a reading culture in your school’ by Catherine Wilson, and ’25 Ways To Build Your School’s Reading Culture’ by Lindsay Barrett gave me many practical ideas that I can incorporate right way to start building our reading culture. Some of the ideas that I would like to try are-
- Book talks to older grades. I like the idea of reading the first chapter of a novel each week at the start of their class to expose students to books they may not have tried on their own. There are also many authors and celebrities who do this if you search ‘First Book Friday’ on YouTube
Ryan Reynolds Reading the first chapter of Stuntboy (First Chapter Fridays)
- Author visits (in person or virtual)
- Family reading night
- Be more consistent with posting a ‘What Mrs. V is reading’ display
- Generifying my fiction section
- More category bins for non-fiction books (easier to find topics of interest)
- Weeding to lessen the overwhelming number of books on the shelf
- Have a book tasting when new books come in
- Opening the library up to families after school
- Imbed quiet reading into library class time
Of course, these can’t all happen at once, but I like that I now have a running list of ideas to start using as I have the time to organize them. Developing a strong school reading culture now feels possible with so many useful ideas available!
Resources
FollettLearning. (2022, January 4). First Chapter Friday - Stuntboy, in the meantime by Jason Reynolds. YouTube. Retrieved February 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u0zD8OXLrA
Lindsay Barrett on March 19, 2019 .contest-social .share-links svg. (2021, May 11). 25 ways to build your school's reading culture. We Are Teachers. Retrieved February 2022, from https://www.weareteachers.com/build-reading-culture/
McClintock Miller Shannon; Bass William. Leading from the Library (Digital Age Librarian's Series) (p. 90). International Society for Technology in Education. Kindle Edition.
Rawls, M. (2022, February 12). The book Wrangler. Retrieved February 2022, from https://thebookwrangler.com/
School libraries: The heart of a reading culture at hurupaki school. National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa. (n.d.). Retrieved February 2022, from https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/our-work/schools-videos/school-libraries-the-heart-of-a-reading-culture-at-hurupaki-school
Wilson, C., Catherine Wilson Catherine Wilson is part of the international schools team at Pearson. A graduate from the University of Northampton, Mario, M. D., & Rowlands, P. (2020, March 11). Ten ways to create a reading culture in your school. Resources for English Language Learners and Teachers | Pearson English. Retrieved February 2022, from https://blog.pearsoninternationalschools.com/ten-ways-to-create-a-reading-culture-in-your-school/
Great post! I agree with you about the pandemic tampering with not only our school culture but other schools around the world too. We have also felt that disconnection at our school and like you, are trying to come up with ideas to start building it back up again. I like your idea of the display showing what you are currently reading...maybe you can even expand it more by asking staff at your school to participate. You could call it "What Our Teachers Are Reading," or even have one month full of recommendations from students in school.
ReplyDeleteI also like your idea of Family reading nights! It sure is a great way of bringing families together...I do hope our restrictions ease off soon so we could open our doors up again to our school community! A good idea for now would be to maybe host online family reading nights by using facebook live or zoom.
I will certainly look into book talks...that's a great idea! I like that celebrities and authors do this...it is wonderful to see that kids can watch their role models share their love of reading!
Oh wow, I hadn't heard of First Chapter Friday, and I think I definitely need to watch those every week. Maybe even try to incorporate it into my website. Its a very cool idea, so thanks for posting that. You've included a lot of other great resources and ideas. I also hadn't seen the Book Wrangler before and have bookmarked his page. The video from New Zealand was great to watch and they had that great idea in the background of featuring an Author of the Week. As you said (and listed), all of this can't be done at once, but it's nice to have these ideas to strive for!
ReplyDeleteThis is a strong post filled with great ideas about fostering a reading culture. I appreciate your reflective narrative as well as the wide variety of strategies you share. The multimedia elements enhanced your discussion. I also appreciate how you wove in some of our learning for Leading from the Library.
ReplyDelete