THE CHALLENGE OF HIGH SCHOOL READING

In elementary school, students love books. They cherish reading as a gift and look forward to their regular visits to the library. In middle school many students are still excited about books and reading, even if their interests are inspired by prizes from reading programs. In high school it is often a real challenge to get students to read, because by then most teens have forgotten to make time for books, or have just lost interest.

If we want to create a culture of readers among our teens, we have to find a way to get them in the library and motivate them to read. We have to create libraries that are a place where students want to be—a place so active that passersby pause to check out what’s going on.

THEMES AND PROMOTIONS TO THE RESCUE!

Our library has accomplished just that through themes and promotions. We market reading like businesses advertise and promote their products. We have students write “jingles” and songs that explain the lessons from literature. They create book videos that are broadcasted throughout our school television network. Our entire school dresses up for Wednesday READ shirt days, depicting themes like “READ Like a Rockstar” and “Carnival of READING.”

Videos and projects are displayed on our school library webpage, and students’ written book reflections and memoirs are published annually in bound books.

READ posters, created using ALA software programs, featuring students and staff, are regularly displayed throughout the entire high school, along with student book reviews.

Tiki huts and reading cabanas have been used to celebrate reading as a trip to paradise. Students were required to have a book if they wanted to enter the “Book Banana” and read in the chaise lounge chairs. The same rules applied to the “Reading Cabana,” which was all a part of READaville, where it was always “READ o’clock” everywhere.

Students were invited to “Saddle Up and READ” in our library “READING Ranch” where horses were hitched to split rail fences and students could rustle up a good book and gander into the “OK to READ Corral.” Dastardly dudes appeared on WANTED posters around the school, wearing ten gallon READ hats and READ bandanas.

We took trips back in time—all the way back to the ‘70s, when staff members had long hair and wore bell-bottom pants. The students had lots of fun deciphering one staff member from another, amidst lava lamps and disco balls.

We hosted an all-school flash mob event and treated our students to fruit and juice. We gave out READ candy bars and held treasure hunts and contests. We labeled every room in the school as a different country and learned about geography in a “Where in the World Is Dewey?” spy game. We introduced useful websites with our “Where in Cyberspace Is Dewey?” contest, and unlocked the “Magic of Reading” amid castles and flying carpets. We read “Down Under” and put a woman on the moon as part of “Reading Is a Space Adventure.” We read across America and celebrated “Freedom to READ.”

MAKING THE “SECRET” CURRICULAR LINK

Most importantly, we tied literature and books to each theme, incorporating the titles into the various classroom disciplines.

While our students and staff were caught up in the hype of each activity, they were reading and exploring themes and genres connected to content standards and lessons. Without realizing it, students were suggesting books to one another and sharing titles. They formed their own student-led after school book club, with the number of members growing exponentially.

We have a waiting list to try out for our school writing team. Students join us after school to attend author presentations and workshops. Recently, after visiting our school on a book tour, author D.E. Johnson wrote a blog about his experience with us. He wrote, “I had the most extraordinary experience,” and that “this school treated me like a rock star!” He was surprised to find that our school was passionate about literacy and writing.

An accident? Hardly. But we won’t tell our students that. We’ll just let them keep enjoying our games and promotions and let it remain our little secret.