OPRF Choice Reading Hub

Here’s what we know: There is no more important homework than reading. Seriously. Research shows that the highest achieving students are those who devote free time to reading. Studies show (again and again!) that students who read for pleasure do better in reading comprehension tests than students who don’t. Reading is the best way to improve comprehension, vocabulary, reading speed, spelling, grammar, and writing style. But it isn’t just about English class! One of the few predictors of high achievement in math and science is the amount of time kids devote to reading. Reading is the only thing that will make us better readers--faster and more fluent, purposeful, engaged, critical, and satisfied--and better readers are better students (and people).

There is no substitute for regular, sustained time with books. Do you plan to attend a university? College students are assigned an average of 200 pages a week in college. Are you ready for that? If you are, awesome, you probably already have a love of reading. If not, that’s okay! This is how we’re going to be there. You will still learn a lot about sentence structure, grammar, and comprehension from choice reading, and even more importantly, that kind of reading builds capacity and stamina for the tougher kind of reading you're asked to do in your classes.

We also read to become smarter about the world and how it works. Reading builds empathy. It's a way to step into other lives, times, and places. We read to become better people--more knowledgeable about and compassionate toward the range of human experience. Perhaps because they exercise active empathy through books, readers are more likely to contribute to civic and social improvement than people who don’t read.

So choose a book and find a cozy reading spot. Happy reading!