Reading Incentives that Help Students Love Reading!

It is no secret that the best way to learn to read is to read often. Even though most ELA teachers understand this, it is still difficult to devote time to independent reading. A great way to fill in this void is to promote independent reading outside of class. Luckily, once a student is hooked on reading, internal motivation will encourage continual reading. Getting students to take the plunge with reading is the tricky part. Here are some reading incentives that have worked in my classroom and just might work for you as well:

1. Individual Reading Goals and Conferences- Providing student with one-on-one feedback about their reading performance is invaluable. This may seem daunting with a full roster, but it is well worth the time. When students turn in their progress monitoring comprehension probes, I review their responses with them and then we chart their progress. We talk about their progress in reference to their overall comprehension goals. Then, we talk about reading practices that will help them achieve their goals. If your students do not have comprehension goals or if you do not regularly conduct progress monitoring, then it is time to start! These practices are not merely for special education students. All students benefit from progress monitoring and goal setting. Read *here* if you don’t know where to start. 

2. Reading Logs- Make reading a homework grade by assigning a regular reading log. You can organize these logs in different ways, but I typically require students to read for 15 minutes and then have the log signed by a parent/guardian. I check for 5 logs on every Friday so that students have 7 days to complete 5 logs. I also really like the idea of having students write a quick review or comprehension check for each log. 

3. Group Tallies and Rewards- There is a poster that hangs at the front of my classroom for each of my ELA groups. Each group is simply tasked with filling in each of the 20 spaces on the poster with the titles of books that they read independently. You can certainly adjust the total depending on the sizes of your groups. In order to log a title, the students need to fill in a quick slip and have it signed by a parent. I can typically verify that students are actually reading the slips that they submit by checking their regular reading log. Once the class reaches their goal, they can decide on a group reward. I typically go above and beyond for these rewards because I really want to hype up reading. Recently, one of my groups completed their poster so we held a cookie-decorating party during the second half of class!

4. Individual Recognition- I keep all of the slips that students submit for their group posters and tally up the individual submissions at the end of the year. I do not tell students that I will be doing this to avoid creating competition between the students because every student is on a different level. Sometimes reading 1 book is comparative to reading 5 books for another student! After tallying up the individual slips, I give students certificates, letters, and goodies. I typically will give students these things to students when I have a chance to conference with them one-on-one. This allows me to relate the reward back to the student’s goals. 

Remember, the goal with incentives is to build intrinsic motivation so that students become their own motivators. Be careful not to over-reward or students will always expect a perk for reading! We want to nudge them in the right direction until they realize how rewarding reading is all on its own!