Can you imagine having an whole hour just to read? That is what we do in Reading 4 Pleasure. My students find books they love and they get comfy and read! We need lots of interesting books around so all students can find books they love to read and keep reading for the rest of their lives.
My Reading 4 Pleasure students attend a public high school in a small Oklahoma community.
They are in grades 9-12 and there is a pretty even mix of boys and girls. About half of the students who enroll are already readers, but the rest need help finding a book they love, so they will, too, become "readers." Students are often placed in this class when they have low reading scores and have not passed our state's mandated tests. These students are skeptical when they enroll, but my challenge is to win them over. Many of the students in our school don't read outside of school so the Reading 4 Pleasure class gives them a time and quiet place to fit in reading.
My Project
I asked students to make a list of the books they'd like to see on the shelves in the classroom, and I used that as a guide to choose titles. I wanted them to have input so they would feel a sense of excitement about the books and feel ownership of the class. I have mix of students- some who read and some who don't, so I want to have as many books as possible to appeal to everyone. These books will allow my students to have a lot of choices when browsing and increase the chances that they find a book they can't put down. Reading is one of the most important activities for academic success and I want all of my students to be successful and become lifelong readers.
Reading is so important to academic success.
Reading for fun raises ACT scores, increases vocabulary and reading speed, making it one of the most important activities a person can engage in. Most of the teenagers I come across don't have time to read outside of school and don't read for fun. My quest is to change all of that by offering as many high interest books as possible.
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