Bonus Copies: Hey, Who Has My Book?

Convincing teenagers to read has never been known as an easy task. While our independent reading time during class was first met with resistance, my students have begun to really enjoy having 15 minutes each class period to explore literature focused on their own interests. I teach Freshman, Sophomore and Sophomore Honors English to 147 students in the Arkansas Delta. Our school is located in a poverty-stricken community that is striving to overcome its current situation. With dismal test scores, staffing concerns, and state audits, it often seems that the odds are stacked against us. Despite these challenges, we're committed to providing the best possible education we can to our students. Our school has been consistently scoring low on Arkansas standardized tests. Last year only 17% of the students scored Proficient in English, with the remaining 83% scoring Basic or Below Basic. In core subjects, like English, they often are in classes of 25 to 30 students per period because of a lack of qualified teachers. Initially the traditionally low test scores and large classes were not their biggest obstacle- it was their attitude and dislike of English. The students have begun to see that they are not on-track with other students around the United States. While friends and sports may still take precedence over schoolwork, they have begun to genuinely care about bettering themselves as readers and writers. My students are now convinced of the value of independent reading. They enter our classroom and immediately pick out a book to enjoy for the first 15 minutes of our time together. Since they have embraced reading, the largest obstacle they face is the lack of resources they encounter on a daily basis. Now that the students have become engrossed in particular novels, they rush into the room to be the first to snatch up a particular story. I often hear that another student grabbed "their" book. Less frequently the problem is that someone forgot to bring back one they borrowed before school started for the day. I would love to have additional copies of their favorite books in our classroom. This would cut down on the cries of "she stole my book!" and will hopefully increase the requests to borrow novels and take books home. Please help my students continue their newly found interest in reading. Your generosity will help empower these students to identify with literature and will help hook them into becoming life-long readers.