Bring your class to the library to check out indepedent choice reading books!
Independent choice reading builds literacy, vocabulary, and a lifelong love of books by letting students select their own reading materials based on personal interests. Success relies on providing dedicated class time, maintaining low-stress accountability, and offering engaging project options instead of heavy, punitive assignments.
If students finish an assignment early in class, they always have their independent reading book with them and they can read!
Dedicate class time: Set aside 10 to 15 minutes at the start or end of class for silent reading to build stamina.
Model the habit: Read your own book alongside the students to show that reading is valued.
Guide book selection: Help teens find "just-right" books by connecting their interests in movies, hobbies, or sports to related titles.
Reading Questions: Put these on Google Classroom, print them out as exit tickets, or write them on the board and have students pair share.
Shelf Talkers: Have students create a review of their book on an index card that can be displayed in the library.
Library Slideshow Slide: Have students create a slide for the library slideshow that plays in the morning and at lunch in the library.
Make a Book Review Flyer: You can have students design a flyer on Canva for their book and then display them in the classroom.
Book Review/Reading Log Half Sheet: You can print them and students can keep them in their book like a bookmark.
Book Talks: Students can give a short presentation (or make a video or podcast, etc.) about their book.
One Pager: Students create a one pager about their book to display in the classroom.
Book Clubs: When a class finishes a book students can meet in small groups, as a whole class seminar, or just in pairs to share about and/or recommend the book they read. You can even have some students read the same book or read different books in the same genre, etc.
Exit tickets: Use quick, 1-minute written checks asking about setting, a favorite quote, or a quick reaction.
Reading conferences: Have brief, informal one-on-one chats with students about how their book is going.
Literary Terms: Practice literary terms by asking students about their choice book.
Cognitive Strategies: You can have students practice cognitive strategies through their choice reading book.
Choice menus: Give students a choice for their final assessment after they finish their book.
Vocabulary Wall: You can give students index cards and have them find new and interesting words from the text to put on the card and add to the Vocabulary wall/bulletin board.
Creative projects: Allow students to design a modern book trailer, curate a character playlist, or create a comic strip summary.
This is up to you, but I recommend letting students pick any book they want (that is appropriate for school). You can require them to pick a fiction book if you want them to pratice literary terms, etc. but otherwise non-fiction books are allowed. Graphic novels and manga also count! You can let them listen to audiobooks if you want! You can let them read books in other languages if that's OK with you. Diary of a Wimpy Kid? It counts as reading!
When you bring your class to the library and tell them they can pick any book you want there are always students who pick the Bible or a children's picture book. You can let them pick whatever book they want or you can give them some guidelines. If they finish early or decide they don't like their book then you can send them with a green pass to the library to exchange it!
Take your class to the library to check out books. Let them bring a book from home if they already have one. If they forget their physical book there are some options:
Have them read online on their Chromebooks. Here are some sites with free eBooks:
https://simonteen.com/free-reads/
https://libbyapp.com (free with a library card)
https://www.hoopladigital.com/ (free with a library card)
Have a classroom library of books they can borrow for the day (if you need help starting a classroom library, ask the librarian). You could also have magazines and newspapers for them to borrow.
Students who have a library card through the city, county, etc. can check out eBooks and audiobooks through apps/websites like Libby and Hoopla (they can access these through their Chromebooks).
Send them with a green pass to the library to pick another book (students can check out up to two at a time).
Let them use Independent Choice Reading Time to catch up on their in-class reading (such as a whole class novel).