3 Elevating reading to a special status

It is understandable if students, amid the expectation of daily reading in lessons, occasionally perceive the activity in a negative way. However, by elevating it to a special status – that is to say, encouraging students to view the activity in a new exciting light – you can generate interest and help create a reading-rich culture in your school. Author events are a prime example of how to stimulate such interest in books, especially amongst younger readers, many of whom may never have encountered anyone famous before. Although these events may be infrequent, perhaps taking place just twice a year, they never fail to create a buzz throughout the year groups present.

Throughout the rest of the year, you may wish to focus your efforts on projects of a smaller scale. For example, you can share authors' blogs, podcasts, or YouTube interviews, all of which offer quick and inexpensive ways of lending books a bit of celebrity cachet. In the same way, hosting themed library events to complement book launches or using signed books as competition prizes all help make reading that little bit more special. You may even wish to promote books that have been adapted into movies or TV shows, taking advantage of their popularity and spotting trends amongst your students. Associating books with their film and TV counterparts reminds children that reading is not a chore, but an activity which has the potential to open up new worlds of their imagination.

To think more about this topic, watch the video below where Nick offers further thoughts on how you can give reading a special status throughout your school. After you have done this, complete the activity, reflecting on some of the events you have held in your library and how they have elevated the status of reading.

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Transcript: Video 3

NICK:

I think that promoting reading for pleasure beyond the classroom can make a real impact on the reading culture in school. So author visits are a great way to generate excitement about reading and provide a real buzz for students having an author in in person, maybe combined with a workshop or book signing session.

Or increasingly, these are being done virtually online. Online sessions can be great as well. They're much easier to arrange, but students can still get to ask questions. And they can be really inspired to hear how authors go about writing their books.

Ongoing interest can be maintained through social media, blogs, podcasts, and video interviews, that can be put on your library management system or website. So again, these can be accessible for students when they're at home, not just in the school library itself.

Book clubs are another way to generate that reading culture. You might decide to have a set book that everyone reads together. Or you could have a group where everyone meets up and gets to talk about their favorite books. Depending on your students, you might like to try a Manga club or information books or shadow an award scheme such as the Carnegie Medal. You might have a local book award In your area. And local independent bookshops will also run events that you can tap into.

There are a whole range of literacy-related special days and weeks, which can be used to promote whole school reading events, such as World Book day, Roald Dahl Day or Harry Potter night. And you can combine these with games or competitions or get creative with MakerSpace events, an escape room, or a murder mystery event.

So there are lots of ways you can promote the library and embed reading for pleasure. And it's a lot of fun too. The engagement with students and making a difference is really one of the most rewarding parts of the job.

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