Many of you reading likely have not had much to complain on when it comes to reading. If you’re anything like me, when assigned books in school, it was fairly easy to stay caught up, digest, and even enjoy the assigned material. But for others, it comes less naturally. Some may need a slower pace, a different medium all together (audio or digital copies), or may need guides for understanding some of the more complicated plots or uses of symbolism.

In my time studying as a English Educator, we talked a lot on the ways scaffolding needs to be given to aid students. Scaffolding may be as simple as a vocabulary sheet or a study guide when it comes to reading, or could be lessons providing historical context. All of this is important, and can do wonders to help student’s with their reading, but none of it solves the big problem that commonly affects secondary students:

They just don’t care about what they’re assigned to read, and that sucks the fun out of reading.

I’ve seen it happen around me, where my peers slowly read less and less in their free time. In elementary school, we all greedily digested hits like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, My Weird School, and one of my personal favorites, Big Nate. We got weekly trips to the library and personal pan pizzas when we met reading goals. In first grade, I even got a free ticket to the nearby amusement park when I hit the maximum prize of the reading challenge. It was fun, rewarding, and highly encouraged.

Fast forward to middle school, where now we’re getting assigned books to read, or now it’s more heavily graded. I remember in 8th grade we had to read at least a thousand pages each quarter. This was easy for me to do, as I was zooming through novels at an almost alarming pace, but many classmates struggled for a variety of reasons, be it sports, extra curriculars, home responsibilities, or more. Now that it was becoming more mandated, it was less about enjoying the act of reading and just getting it done.

Then in high school, the real damage is dealt. Books are now assigned, and usually decades old. You’re assigned a pace to read at, needing to stay with the rest of the class. And the content is usually dense, full of symbolism, and hard to follow. None of that sounds very fun to me.

But not everyone is like me. Most at this point in time really grow to dislike reading, seeing no point to it and coming to dread their English classes. Now this isn’t always the student’s fault! There is a balance between the student’s interests and the assigned literature.

So how do we fix this? As a future educator, and someone who just completed their student teaching last year, there are many things I’ve learned and many things I want to implement in the future:

• Tie in mainstream media. One of the classes I taught last fall was creative writing. I was assigned Fahrenheit 451, and was tasked with teaching different elements that go into fiction. Using examples is a great way to build connections, so I brought in three other dystopic novels that I would use throughout lessons: The Hunger Games, The Giver, and 1984. I would wager that most of us read The Giver in middle school, a vast majority of people have either read or watched The Hunger Games, and 1984 is another classic example of dystopic fiction. I did not assign these three books, but rather encouraged students to use them as connections and examples in their notes. I also encouraged them to bring in examples of their own. When learning about plotting a novel, they practiced by plotting a movie. When learning about genres, they brainstormed how they could change a book/movie from one genre to another (i.e. What if Twilight was horror instead of romance?). Using tactics like this really helped students engage and build connections from the assigned novel and genre to the media around them, and it was great to see what they were drawn to in their discussions.

• Bring in real world connections. The other classes I taught were all sophomore English, and the unit I was assigned was Of Mice and Men, a personal favorite of mine from high school. One thing I really tried to do was find ways that students could relate to the stories being told in the novel. Sure, I doubt many of us are migrant workers, but some of my students may have parents or grandparents who were immigrants, and they had to uproot their whole lives just to find work. Maybe not all of us desire a farm and land of our own, but we all have dreams that we would like to accomplish one day. We discussed what the American Dream looks like today, or how important friendship and human connections are to our lives.

• Follow what the students are interested in. I love me some good symbolism, and I considered including some niche examples from Of Mice and Men into my lessons, but I knew I could only go so deep and keep their attention. We talked about the big ones, like the origin of the title and the role of Curly’s wife as a temptress, but internally I was sad that I never got to talk about the many examples and symbols behind the character’s hands (Lennie’s hands described as paws, Candy missing a hand, Curly keeping one hand soft for his wife, Lennie crushing Curly’s hand, etc.). I find this topic interesting, but I knew I would lose many students if I devoted a whole lesson to the topic of hands. Instead, I made sure that topics were interesting and on par with the connections the students were making. Even if a discussion got a little bit off topic, if my students were engaging with the literature, we went with it. I can always pivot a lesson plan, but I can’t force their interest. It’s important to nurture what they are finding themselves drawn to as much as possible.

• Make assignments relevant and engaging. I had fun with this one, using a variety of assignments types to keep things fresh. One assignment I enjoyed seeing the submissions for was a visual for the American Dream as it is discussed in Of Mice and Men. Students could draw, act out, and interpret Lennie and George’s dream farm however they pleased. I had several students submit farms made in Minecraft! This really worked to cement concepts into their heads and picture for themselves events from the book. During a half-day, I even had students make memes, practicing with their knowledge of symbolism and events from the novel. This brought some fun back into reading! As much as possible, I tried to include discussions, projects, and interpretation, staying away from multiple choice chapter questions or endless writing assignments. All of this helped my students remain interested.

• Whenever possible, allow/encourage students to pick their own books. There is only so much time in a school year, and so much that is required to be taught. But one of my goals when I have a class of my own is to try my best to support books both within and out of the curriculum. Be it book clubs, book reports, or even simple book reflections, I want to build a way for students to get back into reading while not being suffocating.

“But Saige!” you may say. “I’m not an English teacher! What’s the point of this? What can I do!”

Well my dear reader, do what you can. Continue reading yourself, both what you enjoy and what challenges you. Talk to the young people in your life about what they’ve read, both their likes and their dislikes, and try to encourage more reading, no matter the grade level. Give book suggestions. Explain what parts of Lord of the Flies you liked or disliked. Revisit books you were assigned and consider how you feel about them now. Talk about how the themes in traditional novels are relevant to this day. Support local libraries and programs that help children read. Read banned books and savor their knowledge. It sounds cheesy to say that we all have a part to play, but it’s true. I think we can remedy this problem in the world, one book at a time.

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