Strategies for encouraging students in reading and literacy

The screen has taken away students from books. The time has gone where we see students holding and reading books. Now all day long, they only have smartphones and other different gadgets in their hands. Students like to spend their time playing video games and doing other stuff than reading or doing any other healthy activities. This has also affected the academic performance and literacy of the students. And it is also a reason that students have to ask for help from assignment writing service for their assignments because they did not have enough knowledge and information. Here are some practical and proven strategies that will help to encourage reading and literacy among students.

Share your reading experience:

Share your reading experience with students to encourage them in reading and literacy. Share the interesting books you have read, what you have to learn from them, and how they have helped you in a different situation or throughout your life. Only a good reader can encourage others to read. So make sure you have enough and a good experience of reading books. Share your reading routine and the best part from different books with students. And share your reading experience interestingly and excitingly that impelled students towards reading books and literacy.

Encourage reading:

Encourage students to read. Do not set boundaries on their reading choice. Let them read what they want. Ask students to read what they find fascinating. Give them the freedom to choose a genre or book they want to read. Do not make reading a burden for them. Make reading fun and let students enjoy reading. Ask them to read their favourite writer’s book or favourite genre. For instance, some students like to read science and fiction, some like thrill and suspense, while others love to read fantasy and romance. There are also students who like reading about the world, history, and geography. So do not limit the choices for students. Because once they become habitual of reading, they will slowly and gradually start reading and trying different genres and types of books. To begin and encourage reading, it is necessary to make it easy and fun for them.

Arrange visits to libraries:

Along with different educational and field trips, arrange a visit of students to libraries. Begin with the nearest library. When students visit the library and experience a peaceful environment of the library, soothing smell of books and relaxing place where there are plenty of books and when they will see people reading books automatically they will also try to experience this. And it will also encourage students to visit the library on their own. Another thing that may attract students is plenty of books and options to read. When they see that they have plenty of choices, there must be some books according to their taste.

Invite authors:

Invite authors for the session or as a guest. Who will talk to students and share their writing and reading experience with students? It will be surely amazing and encourage students to read the book. Allow students to ask questions with them. So that if they have any queries or confusions, they can remove them. When the author shares their stories and experience with students will also start taking an interest in books.

Assign reading assignments:

Assign reading assignments to students. Ask them to read a book, write a review on it, and share their experience of reading that book with other class students. Also, ask them to share or read the best part, page, or scene of the book aloud in the class. You give students the books of your choice students, or the students can also choose the book for review on their own. But it would be good if students choose a book because they can easily review a book they like most. Begin with the short books that students can read in three to four days.

Encourage read aloud:

Whenever you start a new lesson, ask students to read aloud the chapters. Give every student in the class a chance to stand up and read a few lines or paragraphs from the chapter. This will encourage reading and literacy among students, but it will also help students improve their reading and give them confidence. When students read aloud in the classroom, they will start taking an interest in it and enjoying it. Give students homework for reading even if they do not have books. Tell them to take help from the internet and read e-books.

Fix a time for reading:

Fix a time slot or unit for reading in which students have to read different books. They can also have discussions on different books during this time. This will create an environment in class that will encourage students to read more and more new books. Because when this discussion becomes a permanent part of the classroom to become part of these discussions and participate in it, they will read books. It is human nature they attract towards things that are discussed again and again around them. For instance, if there are five people among them, three or four are interested in watching movies, then movies will always be a hot topic of discussion among them. The rest of the group members will also start interested in movies as they do not want to feel left out during the discussion. The same will happen if reading discussions will happen in the classroom.

Set a small library in the classroom: Make a small library in the classroom which everyone can use. Make it with the contribution of all the students in the class. Ask students of the class to bring their books to the classroom and share their collection of books so that their friends can also read them. This will also bring students of the class closer. Also, let students bring that books to their home for reading in their free time.