How to Create Bookworms (When Half Our Students Don’t Read)

Did you know that fewer students now than ever say that they enjoy reading? The National Literacy Trust in the UK reported only 2 in 5 students between ages 8 and 18 enjoyed reading, claiming that this is the lowest reported number since they first asked in 2005.

And that’s no surprise when you look at the next statistic: fewer than 3 in 10 students in the same age group say they read daily. How are students going to develop an enjoyment for reading if they’re not actually reading?

The last statistic is, to me, the most upsetting, but one that we can maybe do something about. Only half of the students in this age group reported that they were encouraged to read by their caregivers. That means half of the students surveyed were not encouraged to read at home.

I don’t know who I would be today if not for a childhood of watching my mom read every single day, and it breaks my heart to consider how many children are not growing up in book-filled homes.

I’m not a parent myself, and even if I were, I could only impact my own children. But as educators, we have the potential to have an even larger impact when it comes to encouraging reading. If students don’t get that encouragement at home, we have an obligation as educators to provide it at school.

Besides, what teacher doesn’t want to share a love of reading with their students? Okay, okay, maybe I’m biased. I am an English teacher at heart.

It’s not just the English teachers.

I know that when we think about fostering a love of reading in schools, the responsibility automatically falls on the shoulders of the English teachers and librarians. But look, we’re not the only adults in the building. We’re not the only ones who can build a campus-wide culture of reading. In fact, the only way for it to be a campus-wide culture of learning is if everyone gets involved.

And to be honest, students expect it from us. Many of them probably assume we only tell them to read because it’s literally our job to tell them to read.

Now imagine the head football coach talking about reading. The STEM teachers. The principal. The school nurse. That’s where we can really have an impact and build a true campus-wide culture of reading.

One of my favorite initiatives I started when I was an English department chair was to create laminated signs for every teacher to post outside of their classroom. They had a space for the teacher to write their name and the title of the book they’re currently reading. And of course being laminated, the titles could change frequently.

This was such a low-lift way to spread the reading love through every hall of the building. It took very little effort for teachers to implement – simply write in your book and post it on the door. Yet, it had a huge impact. I heard students actually talking about what their other teachers were reading. I had students request new books in my classroom library because their other favorite teachers recommended them. It was amazing.

Librarians could even take this a step further by collecting those currently reading or book recommendations from teachers all over campus and compiling the books available in the library into a collection. Imagine a student walking into the library and asking to see the collection of books their teachers are reading. Maybe it’s the nerd in me, but I think that’s cool!

Some peer pressure is good peer pressure.

You know who else can encourage students to read? Other students! 

Think about it. Where do you get most of your reading recommendations? BookTok aside, most recommendations probably come from the people in your life. My co-workers, my friends, my family. 

Talking someone you love into reading a book that wrecked your soul is a love language all its own.

In my experience, one of the biggest reasons students avoid reading is because we, the authority figures, tell them that they have to. It can really be that simple. When it’s their choice, it’s easier to enjoy. And honestly, I’m the same. One of the greatest joys of having a terminal degree is that no one will ever again tell me what I have to read.

How about student-led book clubs? The students choose the book, the students lead the discussion, the students are in charge. As the teacher, all you have to do is give them the safe space to talk. Let them choose the book. Let them lead the discussion. Maybe redirect if they stray from the topic, but then again maybe don’t and just let the conversations happen how they happen. And tools like Destiny Engage can take book clubs to an even larger scale with campus-wide reading initiatives!

A little competition is good for the soul.

As an educator, as an instructional designer, and as a learner, I am a total sucker for good gamification. I’ve been mildly obsessed with gamification since I took a master’s course that was completely gamified into a space metaphor complete with a video game component.

Part of my obsession stems from my own competitive nature, but another part is much simpler: it’s fun! Students love it! Why else would Kahoot still have so much power over us all?

Maybe it’s because I was raised on the idea of Reading = Free Pizza Hut, but I believe that competition and challenges can create readers.

Goodreads is known for their yearly reading challenge. My husband and I have been known to make bets over our Goodreads reading challenge. My favorite thing about the Goodreads challenge is that you set your own goal and there’s no judgment. My husband reads way more than I do, so saying the winner is the first to read 100 books isn’t a fair challenge and I’ll lose every time. But setting our own goals and betting on who reaches it first? That’s a bet I’ll take.

Now, I’ll be honest, getting students on Goodreads has never quite worked out for me. But there are other options to set up school reading challenges, like bulletin boards in the halls or even software like Destiny Engage that can award badges to students for meeting reading challenges.

My husband keeps a running total in his classroom of how many books he’s read so far that year, and some of his students try to beat his number. The bragging rights attached to reading more books than Mr. Hebert are huge.

The important thing here is to make the challenges achievable for every student. If you tell a reluctant reader they have to read 50 books this year, they won’t even try. But tell them to read 1 book this month? Tell them to set their semester goal and simply reach it? These are the moves that can have an impact, and setting personalized goals will ensure we don’t alienate our true bookworms by making the challenge too easy.

It takes a village to raise a reader.

If we want to encourage all students to read, it’s going to take buy-in from every adult on campus. We know a lot of students aren’t encouraged to read at home and may not even have books in their homes, but if we can get every adult they encounter at school to promote reading, maybe we can start to make up for that gap.