Reading Strategies

One of my favorite things to do is read.

When I was younger, I slipped a flashlight into bed with me, and waited for my mom to come tuck me in and close the door so I could safely return to Sweet Valley High or Brooklyn or wherever my imaginary book friends would take me that night. The worst thing in the world I could be grounded from was a book.

Needless to say, I love books.

When I started teaching and my kindergarten friends would begin to learn to read, I was so excited for them. Just the thought of the amazing doors and windows that words would open for them almost made my heart burst! Seeing them light up when things would ‘click’ for them was the greatest reward I could ever ask for.

Over the course of my 17 years as an educator, I’ve watched true learning be reduced to just an education. I’ve seen less emphasis on the development of the student, and more emphasis on cranking out test scores; trying to eliminate the ‘low extremes’ so schools can look better.

My bursting heart turned to a breaking one. And there’s a huge difference between the two.

When I finally realized that the love of learning, especially the love of reading, was being stripped away from our students, I immediately tried to figure out what I could do to prevent that from happening in my classroom, while still meeting all that was required of me as a teacher. A very tall order for a day that was already packed full of teaching; alongside an overflowing plate of grading, parent emails, phone calls, and meetings after school.

Instead of trying to solve this challenge on my own, I went to the professionals: my (then) classroom of second grade students.

Since I always teach teamwork and problem solving in my classroom, I sat them down one morning and told them that I had a challenge and needed help finding a solution. They were more than eager to help out. I loved the sight of twenty sets of eager eyes ready to take on the problems of the world.

“Okay kiddos, I want you to look forward to reading at group time, and not feel frustrated. I want you to choose to go to our classroom library, without me asking you if you’ve visited it lately. How can I make this happen?”

Twenty sets of eyes began to glaze over and bated breaths were let out like balloons beginning to lose their helium. It was a ‘school’ challenge, not a ‘fun’ challenge.

Before I lost them completely, I had to back peddle and change my approach. “Let’s try this again. I want you to LOVE reading, and not because you HAVE to do it in school. I want you to want to sneak flashlights into your bed at night because you can’t wait to finish a book. I want you to be transported to magic kingdoms and scary forests. I want you to cheer for the heroes and cry because the ending wasn’t fair. I want you to finish a book and think, ‘I could have written a better story than that!’ I want you to experience what true reading is all about, not just this ‘reading stuff’ we do in school. That’s important, too, but when you leave our classroom, I want you to go home and decide to read for fun. How can I help you do these things?”

At this point, I was almost moved to tears. Suddenly, glazed eyes turned to excited eyes and voices began chattering.

“Can we have flashlights here?”

“How about tents?”

“Can we choose our books for reading groups, instead of reading the boring ones we have to read?”

The problem solving had begun!

Through much brainstorming, voting and rearranging over the years, here are my ten student-prescribed tips to help a child start reading for pleasure:

1. I always have a comfy area set up in my library section, complete with pillows and large stuffed animals. I rearrange it often, and launder everything frequently.
2. I always have a collection of high interest magazines available. In my opinion, reading is reading. For my struggling or reluctant readers, books look very frustrating and impossible to finish. Magazine articles are engaging and can be completed quickly – creating success.
3. I have students set goals for their reading at home. At the beginning of the year, they set individual reading goals by either number of pages or number of books. Students work toward trophies and awards, which are presented during the end of the year program.
4. We have required books to read during our group reading time – I can’t change this, but I did MODIFY it. Instead of just taking turns reading our chapters and then discussing what had happened, I have students act out characters, or we will break out our ‘Jeopardy buzzers’ and I have the kids answer questions. We also post a chart of characters, setting, conflicts and solutions to go along with each chapter.
5. With our modifications, I have been able to free up a few weeks over the course of the year so the kids can choose books they want to read during group reading time. Talk about getting the opinions flowing!
6. With each book, I select a ‘setting.’ Sometimes we read in the tent, sometimes we read in the playground fort, and sometimes we read by candlelight. I let the kids preview the book and make suggestions as to where we should enjoy it.
7. I ask parents to get involved. I send home a monthly newsletter so they know more about what we are reading and the different things we do in class. A lot of them really get on board by helping with props or suggesting books. This also opens up communication between kids and parents about what they read in class.
8. Reading and writing are always linked together. I give my students different choices of HOW they want to write, to better suit individual learning styles.
9. We do lots of art projects to go along with our reading. The kids love this, even the boys. If our book is about castles, we build castles. If our book takes place in Africa, we research Africa and create masks or African headpieces. It never ceases to amaze me at how quickly the kids will come up with ideas for projects.
10. And we keep plenty of flashlights and batteries handy.

Paula Kay Glass lives with her husband and three children in Oklahoma CIty. She holds a Masters degree in education, and her writing on this subject can be found on The Educator’s Room.