“If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.”

-J.K. Rowling

As soon as someone is told to do something, it stops being fun and starts being work. No matter what it is or how enjoyable it can be for a person, as soon as they are forced to do it, it feels like a chore. 

Unfortunately, this is true for reading. Reading can be such an enjoyable, enriching activity…but when students are assigned to read a text, that joy turns to misery as the assignment compels them to focus on completing a task rather than flourishing in an enriching reading experience.

As teachers, we must recognize that there are advantages to assigning students what to read. One of the biggest perks, for example, is that we have the chance of leading students to experience a story they may never have lead themselves to on their own. 

But on the other hand, if we are trying to develop lifelong readers, we don’t want students to think that the only time they should pick up a book is when a teacher tells them to. 

So how do we put the joy back into reading? How can we make sure students understand that they shouldn’t read because they have to, but because they want to? How do we make sure that we aren’t just turning students into “better” readers, but more passionate ones too?

Penny Kittle – teacher and author – reminds us in her book Book Love, “Teenagers want to read – if we let them. Students who I believe are determined non readers become committed, passionate readers given the right books, time to read, and regular responses to their thinking. The pathway to difficult reading begins with books they enjoy. Once they’re reading, together we can reach fo the challenging literature I want them to know. Rich and rewarding reading lives are within reach for all of our students.”

Here are several successful strategies teachers have used to ensure that students develop their own passion for reading without letting the chore of school bog down the experience:

1. Let students choose what they read. Everyone enjoys reading something different. So let students decide what it is that interests them and read about it. Don’t limit their selections or confine them to reading levels. As long as they are given the freedom to choose, they will choose something they can get passionate about. Choice helps to empower students, grant them independence, and show them that their interests and preferences are valuable.

2. Avoid assigning work with reading. Homework and classwork is a necessity in many cases, but there’s no better way to turn reading into a chore than to attach work to it. While you might not get away with this all the time, encourage students to read not for a grade, but because it is simply a good thing to do.

3. Let students decide what to talk about. Teachers have a notion of what’s “important” in a text and guide student attention towards that. However, if discussions were more open-ended, you might be surprised at what actually interests students. They’ll get more value out of what they see as important.

4. Get parents involved in reading too. While students might see this as another boring, stifling obligation of school, the long term benefits of “family reading” are incredible. Encourage parents to read the same texts and talk about them with their children. Or even encourage parents to read the stories with their children. 

5. Meet outside of class to talk about books. Those four walls of the classroom get real old real fast. Turn a typical “classroom” discussion into a more dynamic conversation by getting outside of your classroom. Try having your students join the school book club. Or meet with your students in small groups in the media center to discuss what they’re reading, or perhaps meeting during lunch and having a chat over some grub.

6. See a movie about what was read. Show you’re class the movie that was based on the text you read. Or add more video content by showing films and clips prior to reading to “whet their appetite” for the text’s content.

7. “Read for fun” each day. Just allow time in class for students to read. Teachers often feel fettered to a curriculum, but part of that curriculum should include time chiseled out just for students to pull out a text and enjoy it. Research suggests that giving students at least 15 minutes (but why not more?) to read per day can dramatically improve their reading exposure, scores, and abilities. 

8. Take class trips to the library or media center. Your school’s library is often a foreign place to many students. Allow them time to just be around books. Even if they’re just joking around amongst the shelves, students are looking at titles, observing covers, reading the book jacket descriptions, and getting general exposure to that wide world of reading.

9. Take a field trip to a local library or bookstore. Nothing would make a librarian happier than hosting a class full of students. Nothing would make a store happier than catering to a classroom of would-be customers. And nothing would expose students to books better than getting them to a location that has thousands and thousands of texts.

10. Buy books for students. Your school might have funding for this, or you might find yourself digging into your own pocket, but when you purchase a book for a student it’s like putting a huge stamp on a text that says, “I like you enough to give you this gift. Please read it.” Reading is no longer an obligation, but a gift.

11. Let students see your own passion for reading. I have had big posters in my classroom that display the books I’m currently reading. It’s a great conversation piece with students who see that I do read whatever I want to on my own time. Your students should know that you don’t just value reading professionally, but you value it personally too. Maybe let them make their own posters, too.

12. Read together. Experts say that you should read out loud to children for as long as they let you. Take time to read out loud to your class so they can hear what good reading fluency sounds like, and you’re whole class can share the experience of hearing a gripping text together. You can even get guest readers involved too!

Reading only seems like a chore in school because we let it. If we want passionate and competent readers, then we need to find ways to allow students figure out what role reading should play in their own lives. 

There are plenty of creative ways help turn students into passionate readers – share your own ideas and experiences in the comments below!