Teachers ask, “How do I get my kids to read longer than ten minutes without distractions? How do I stop my students from fake reading? How can I teach reading when the kids don’t read?” 

What do we believe kids are capable of doing?  How long can we sit and read without being distracted? Are we creating a culture in our classrooms, in our schools that says to everyone around, “We love to read. It is our passion. It helps us to make decisions, to answer questions, to make sense of our world and we want to share that passion with you!”

We need to spend time reading kids’ books of all genres, searching for themes and interests, and characters we know will connect with the kids in our classrooms. We need to then share those books with our kids—selling the books, promoting the books, loving the books so our kids will come to love them too.  Books should be everywhere in the room, visible so kids can see them, and touch them and dig into them.

We need to have a climate where we talk about books all the time. What we are reading now, what we hope to read next and encouraging students to be that kind of reader as well. We want them to know what others in the class are reading so they can make suggestions to their peers, and know who to go to when they are looking for a new book to read.

We need to fill our rooms with rich new literature that speaks to this generation—graphic novels, picture books, mystery, fantasy, biography, informational … books that will pull even the most reluctant readers in, and make them ask for more. We can’t just have classrooms with only old reading series texts, and leveled books written specifically to teach specific skills.

And we must believe that everyone is capable. We must believe kids can read and read for lengthy periods of time because to not read is like not breathing!  Do we believe?