Hello, my fellow teachers. Before continuing, please know that this article is just a guide to SPICE up reading, not how to further mold skilled and passionate readers. For that article, click here. Want to learn ways to make EACH of your students rejoice for reading time and groan when the bell rings? You’ve come to the right place. Let’s jump right in.

1) Create a predictable routine for reading.

This one may seem obvious, but it had to be mentioned. Children are less likely to complain when something is a routine and is to be expected. At my school, more than half of my homeroom students show up after the first bell has rung. Reading gives me a way to integrate my learners into the school day, performing a task at their own pace and of their own interest. Reading is a self-starting activity that keeps me from having to re-teach the latecomers.

2) Create the environment

The environment our students learn in has everything to do with how they integrate the material. When it is time to read, I switch off the classroom fluorescent lights, turn on my cheap string lights, and open the windows. I hand out butterscotch candies to students who transition into reading mode without prompting or have my classroom assistant “pass out peppermints to everyone you [they] see actively reading,” with a universally audible warning to “watch them, to make sure they’re really reading.” The children will begin to associate reading with these environmental cues.

Also, in theme with building a positive association around reading, and a culture of reading- never, and I mean NEVER EVER, allow reading to be a punishment. Ever. When you hold students for detention, and they ask, “Dang, can we at least read?” Tell them NAH.

3) Curate a playlist of reading hits

You know your own students, so each teacher’s list will be different. There’s generally only one rule when it comes to working music, it should contain none, or as few words as possible. Some essentials from my classroom reading playlist are,

Human Nature by Miles Davis (a jazz re-work of Michael Jackson’s record)

Shoulder Kiss by Freddie Joachim

XO Tour Life by Brasstracks (a brass re-work of the 2017 Lil Uzi song)

You want to make sure that your playlist includes more than 20 songs, so that it isn’t repetitive. Spotify has great Lofi and Jazz for Reading playlists.

4) Make use of Background Videos

A background video can be put as the display on your smart board or on your projector. It’s somewhat a nod to virtual reality. Background videos can be played on mute and are ideal for your students who struggle with extended periods of focusing. Students can look up at the screen without disrupting other students when they need something to be distracted by. Background videos are just stimulating enough, but not the same as watching a traditional video or cartoon. Through background videos, some mornings our classroom will be in animated Tokyo, other days within a coral reef or on a windswept mountain. Most background videos loop for hours, so you don’t have to bother with switching them. Check out one of my favorite videos here.

5) Book trackers

Students should track what they have completed reading. In my classroom, we all do this via a Booktracker. I explain this in further detail in my article about the Reading Zone. Booktrackers, (alternatively identified as colored 5 x 8 inch index cards) allow students pride in their work, a way to become accountable to themselves, and become stakeholders in their own learning. It allows them quick access to their achievements and an opportunity to celebrate themselves. My own Booktracker is on display beside my desk, where students can see it.

Every student has at least one book on their list from the beginning, because each student in my class reads our class book, Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty. When we have new students, I assign a group of 2-3 students to read the book with them. Yummy’s is a book that needs its own post. Coming soon!

6) Bookmarks

For my middle schoolers, bookmarks are like little wonders. Each time I visit somewhere new, whether it is the local co-op, the art gallery downtown, or the corner bakery, I grab several well-designed graphic flyers for my little people to use as bookmarks. Every time I visit a different city, as close as Brooklyn or as far as Oakland, I visit the public library and leave with around fifty bookmarks. Postcards, polaroid photos, and Amtrak tickets have all made for exciting bookmarks.

Whenever a student finishes a book and logs it on their book tracker, they automatically come to my desk to choose their new bookmark for their next read. We know that reading comprehension boils down to three things; fluency, vocabulary, and background knowledge. Bookmarks give my students another means of accessing background knowledge, by widening their perception, in the slightest and sweetest of ways. They choose their own bookmark from my tabletop spread, a tiny win for a middle schooler craving individuality and agency, still awash in the pride of finishing yet another book. You’ll recall from my post about The Reading Zone how important choice is for readers of this age.

Pro-Tip: Be prepared for the perennial, “Do you have any other oooooones?”-er. Satisfy them. They’ll usually take whatever you pull out next because they’re happy their request has been acknowledged.

7) This is the MOST important of the list: When it is reading time, you should read also.

You should not be on your phone, you should not be checking emails, you should not be grading papers. You can walk around and read over your students shoulders a bit, whisper them questions or observations, and congratulate them for which page they have reached, but even this should not become the primary use of your time. You should be seen reading. This is part of a larger discussion on speaking truth to power. If you want your students to keep the classroom clean, you will keep your space tidy. If you want your students to be thoughtful about their word choice, you will be thoughtful about your own, both in the classroom and during your personal time. If you want your students to be kinder to one another, you will hesitate to indulge in workplace gossip. And if you want your students to become avid readers, you will be seen with a book more often than a phone. Read the books they read. Pull up a chair to the front of the class and sit there to read, or even better, sit amongst them. They will feed off your example.

I hope these tippies have inspired you! Remember, no act of reading, whether it's from a cookbook, a letter, a zine, a newspaper, or a graphic novel—is ever done in vain.