Create a Reading Atmosphere

Yesterday, when I was reading an email, I noticed that the sender included the title of a book they are currently reading below the signature. What a great idea! We want to create readers and foster a love of learning and reading in our schools, so why not take every opportunity to create a reading atmosphere?

Reading is fundamental for success in all professional fields in some manner. As educators, we try to promote this thought to all students in all grades. The question I ask is this: How do we model our expectations for students and how do we promote a reading atmosphere at all levels with all students? When do we provide time for our students to read and when do we provide time for our students to talk about what they are reading? If we want to foster this culture and develop successful learners, we have to find ways to provide opportunities to read, talk about reading and share everyone's reading story.

Many elementary schools provide time for reading in class. This is sometimes called Read to Self or Independent Reading or SSR (old days!). How do we provide these opportunities in Secondary schools and then teach students how to talk about their reading lives and what they are reading? In order to create a reading atmosphere, we have to move beyond the classroom into the rest of the school. This can be done in many ways, but it has to include everyone in the school for it to be successful

Students share with others. Students can promote reading by giving book recommendations to the class or even the school. A simple form can be filled out to frame the thinking and promote interest in the book the student has just finished and wants to share. The student's goal should be to give enough info without giving too much info so that others want to read to find out what happened in the text. Students can also post signs that have the titles of what they are reading on their lockers or in the hall. This is a great way to share a bunch of titles so that kids walking by are constantly seeing titles of books. Teachers can laminate the forms that are posted, or stick them in plastic sleeves so the students can fill them out with a dry erase marker!

Teachers can share their reading in many ways. Teachers are great about giving "book blessings" to their class. This is when they introduce a book and give a teaser to the class to get them excited or interested. A teacher can share their book ideas with the rest of the school by also posting what they are reading, being a guest on announcements and sharing ideas or putting out monthly lists of recommended books in a newsletter, tweet or blog.

A school can share and promote reading on a larger scale. One School, One Book is a way for the entire school community to share a reading experience. The project is fun for everyone and geared to all age levels. With One School, One Book, everyone gets a copy of the same book. EVERYONE. All students, parents, school staff. There are many activities that can be associated with this project and a school can create them to be unique to their book and their stakeholders. A school can also share and promote reading by creating videos from classrooms or groups of students to share more titles and give teasers.

When an entire school is involved in creating a reading atmosphere, a change will be evident. The school will come alive with excitement and collaboration. Don't we owe this to our kids?