Throughout the past week, I have been thinking about how I will want to motivate my students to read for fun, outside of class. In 8th grade, my English teacher said we were required to read 300 pages per 9 weeks outside of class and from books not included in our assigned reading. This assignment more or less gave the students a reason to read outside of class, not necessarily motivation. Also, there was no reward for the students who read more than the required amount. Perhaps I only feel that this should have been changed because I always read well over 1,000 pages. Many teachers require that the students read one book for fun outside of class, but this still makes reading a requirement and gives no personal incentive, besides the desire to not get an F, to read.
I have decided that I will offer bonus points each quarter for any student that creates a project or gives a simple presentation in order to entice the other students to read a book they read in their spare time. This would give the students who are falling behind to make up for lost points and reward the students who already read outside of the classroom.
I would love to hear anyone else's ideas!
It's a good idea to start with. Would you do it with only one book and give points based on the presentation? Would there be a maximum amount of books or a certain kind of book the students could read so that they couldn't try to cheat their way out of it with a book below their grade's reading level? It's a good starting off point, and I think you'll figure it out on your own just fine. :)
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