The benefits of extensive reading (ER) are well known, yet integrating ER into curricula has been problematic. One factor is the adherence to the principle that students should freely choose what to read, which complicates connecting out-of-class reading with in-class content. Class readers, however, can more easily tie in book content with…

The authors examined the dimensions of reading engagement for rural ninth-grade students who participated in a supplemental literacy intervention for students who struggled with school-based reading. Using a comparative case study approach, researchers investigated the ways in which engagement was characterized and undermined within the context of…

Suggests that the school year is like a growing season, but with planting in the fall and harvest in the spring. Discusses ways teachers can "prepare the soil" for cultivating students' love of reading. Presents a baker's dozen ideas to build the desire to read. (RS)

Encouraging the love of reading is a vitally important priority that has positive consequences for students' literacy growth, both now and in the future. Children need daily, in-school opportunities to enjoy reading and become immersed in reading as a lifetime activity. Although a wide variety of considerations are useful for promoting the reading…

A method of facilitating leisure reading time in the classroom is described here. It encourages leisure reading as a natural, uninterrupted process at school, so students may see how enjoyable reading is and transfer those positive feelings to reading at home. Each Wednesday, junior high school students in Centerville, Indiana, spend an average of…