I read a wonderful article recently by James Patterson called How to get your kid to be a fanatic reader on CNN.com. After reading it, I shared it with parents and students on my Library Media Center Facebook page. James Patterson is a popular author in our library and I also shared his ReadKiddoRead website with my students and parents a while back on our School Library Media Center webpage under the Reading Lists tab. So I was anxious to read what he had to say about getting kids to read.
Patterson makes some excellent points in his article. Foremost, he says that reading needs to begin at home with parental encouragement, support, and example. Just as important, though, is having schools and school libraries encourage reading and reading choice each and every day. One important truth Patterson points out is that "The more kids read, the better readers they become." Our school curriculum is designed with just that thought in mind. As a charter school, we have lots of leeway to design a curriculum that works best for students and student learning. Eight years ago, our English Language Arts curriculum was divided into two separate classes. All 6th, 7th and 8th graders have an LA class where writing, grammar, and spelling are taught, and a Reading/Literature class where reading skills and vocabulary are taught. Students are required to have a book with them at all times because every day in reading class, students are required to read for 30 minutes. This helps to increase their reading comprehension and vocabulary.
Another point Patterson makes is that kids should have a wide variety of books and freedom to choose what they want and like to read. I have to agree with Patterson that "Freedom of choice is a key to getting them motivated and excited." And the choices include magazines, graphic novels, vampire sagas, sports books and anything else that will grab their attention and get them asking for more.
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