To encourage high school students to read, Northwest High School principal Jason
Childress asked me to help spearhead a pilot program, #N2RDG, that would begin
during the 2013–2014 school year. The premise was to make the program as simple as
possible, centered around reading text in various formats, such as e-books, books,
database articles, graphic novels, online news journals, fan fiction, and required reading
to name a few. With high school students, reading is in competition for their time in
other extra-curricular events, hence why databases, magazines, required reading are
counted. Information about what everyone read is posted via Twitter voluntarily using
the hashtag #n2rdg. Students can read as many books as they want, and extrinsic
rewards are given for every five books read up to thirty books. Students are
encouraged to read beyond the limit, which many do, which intrinsically motivates them
to read more often.
The idea originally sparked with NHS principal Jason Childress to create a culture of
reading at the high school. He then handed the concept over to an associate principal
and myself to create a think tank to design the specific program targeting the high
school audience. Including faculty members in the planning also created teacher buy-in
to a new program that looked chaotic at first, but began to flesh out with more meetings,
recommendations, and ideas in which I played a strong role in through conversation as
well as collaborating with other district librarians and the committee members. Using a
Twitter hashtag was an idea we thought was best at reaching students via social media
as well as bringing the campus together virtually and physically through the process of
pleasure reading. Initially, it started with a core group of teachers, but now the
stakeholders are everyone on campus from teacher to administrator to student.
Before the program, I had implemented the habit of asking teachers to send me what
they read so I could create plaques to display outside of their doors. This was to help
stimulate conversation and relationships through reading between students and
teachers. The #N2rdg team interwove what was already in place with more activities,
including staff t-shirts with the #N2RDG logo, using advisory as a place to discuss
books and allow free reading time, giving dedicated wall space for me and the library to
use to display books, and using the state-of-the-art television studio on campus to
broadcast teacher segments about the best books they’ve read, as well as book trailers
created by myself to further encourage students to check out books.
Students will be rewarded for their reading, which is inherently embedded in public
education and controversial at most. But it also goes hand in hand with valuable
rewards that can’t be seen, such as finding the love of reading a good book, enjoying
time spent in school dedicated to reading for pleasure, and sharing enthusiasm with
their peers. Those students who mastered all thirty books are visited by the Prize Patrol
and recognized in class for their participation. My library assistant come to the door and
ring bells, turn on lights…do anything we can to create positive energy about the reader
because to me, it should always be about celebrating the love of reading. Surprisingly,
those that complete the thirty-book challenge asked if they could continue turning in
their reading lists without rewards attached. The Prize Patrol will continue to recognize
any student who reads over and beyond thirty books. The prize that students who’ve
read over thirty books receive is the option to have a cook-out with our principal, who is
well-loved by the students and staff, and this has become a popular choice. Being able
to use staff as an incentive to read is truly remarkable and shows that reading pervades
everyone from top to bottom.
Advisory meets once or twice a month for 30 minutes. Every teacher on campus has an
advisory group of 20-30 students. Each advisory can be different depending on the
grade level and is built to keep students updated on campus activities as well as a place
to encourage reading. Each advisory teacher is in charge of keeping track of student
participation, which is then given to me for completion.
The program has two tiers; one is the teacher reading challenge, which is handled by a
campus administrator who recognizes teacher readers and distributes rewards, much
like what students receive. I am in charge of student reads and distribution of rewards.
Any student who wants to participate is given a sheet to record their books. These
sheets are collected by the advisory teacher and used to tally rewards. I get the
information so I can keep a running total of how many books are read by students
during a month. As I write this in December (which had 975 book read during a two
week period) I’m looking back to see that in October 1,395 books were read by students
while in November the number read jumped to 1,635, with more participants turning in
reading logs. The initial focus was on creating conversations on campus that directly
correlated to #N2RDG. Teachers and administrators in much the same way, sparking
conversation campus-wide. After the first round of rewards and recognition, the program
has gained ground with more checkouts occurring.
Since this is a pilot program, data will be gathered to see if #N2RDG has any
correlational effect on state and campus assessment tests. More significant than test
results, though, are seeing students talking to each other about books, checking out
books on a regular basis, and working/studying in a pervasive culture of reading for
pleasure instead of doing only forced reading in textbooks. The program is also about
creating relationships not only between teachers and students but also creating vital
relationships between students and reading on all levels.
Whenever a high school student reads for pleasure, it’s truly a remarkable thing. When
most of what a high school student reads is text-based, they learn to lose the love of
reading. A reading program like #N2RDG, although voluntary in nature, puts students
into a reading environment, which makes a huge difference. If there are only a handful
of reluctant readers that begin to read in the #N2RDG program, I consider that a
success.
Naomi Bates has been a teacher librarian since 2000. She has a master’s degree in
library science from Sam Houston State University. Naomi has worked in both small
town and urban high schools as a teacher and librarian. She collaborates with teachers
on her campus helping them integrate technology, research, and great YA books into
their curriculum. She has consulted with other professionals throughout the state and
nation about YA books, technology and library advocacy. Naomi is passionate about
her job and enjoys creating and spreading that passion