One of the most vital goals a librarian can have is to instill the love of reading in his or her students. It is my desire as a high school librarian to plan activities that encourage students to explore YA literature and inspire them to become lifelong readers.
I am a librarian in a rural high school.
For years the English teachers and I have encouraged students to participate in an outside reading program to get them excited about books and expose them to different genres. We use our 15 state high school award books and challenge students to read all 15 books each year. Students have to take an online quiz each time a book is finished to prove the book has been read. Additionally, teachers assign student participation in online blogging about the stories. The more books a student reads, the more prizes he or she can win. We feel it is necessary to expose students to popular YA fiction and make it available to them in a variety of ways because many students find the literary texts recommended by state curriculums and used in the classrooms difficult to understand and hard to relate to their personal lives. Students associate more with the conflicts and characters in YA fiction; these connections are vital to reading success.
My Project
The reading incentives are important because the better the incentives, the more motivated many students are to read. There will always be those students who will read just to read, but many need extrinsic rewards. The money I get from this project will allow me to purchase nice incentive prizes like earbuds and Camelback water bottles for my students. We would like to give away a Kindle Fire as the top prize this year, just like we did last year. Exciting prizes like these will help encourage students to reach their goals during the rest of the year. Students benefit because many will read more books and experience more genres. What this does in the end for students is so important! By exposing them to a variety of authors, genres, characters, conflicts, settings, etc., students will generally find a book they like--or an author they like--or a genre they like. This is vital to their success as a reader. Most of the time students will come back for more. That is the ultimate goal.
With this funding, the teachers and I will be able to continue a tradition our students enjoy.
Many students are already over halfway finished with their 15-book goal. Those who complete this challenge are oftentimes reading over a million words a year! There is such a look of satisfaction on each student’s face when he or she has met the yearly challenge. It is our hope that we can continue to do this year after year to help develop confident, lifelong readers.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Bennett and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.