10 Tips for Keeping All Readers Accountable

A common goal among English teachers is to pass on a love of reading, but what if that’s not enough? The Common Core promotes skills-based standards, and what if your kids aren’t even reading and comprehending the text on a surface level? Creating the college-ready readers that you hope for will be quite a challenge. Plus, your classes will miss out on the magic that is literature! Keep your middle and high school readers accountable for their reading, particularly their independent reading, by testing the 10 strategies listed below.

1. Assign Text-Dependent Questions

Send readers home with a reasonable amount of text (nothing too long), and assign a few text-dependent questions to check their understanding. Text-dependent questions require kids to carefully read and search the text instead of drawing on prior knowledge or their ability to make connections. These questions work best with dense, above-grade-level texts, forcing the reader to read and reread certain sections.

2. Conference with Your Kids

Do you have class time set aside for independent reading? Set up a table and call over readers to conference with them one-on-one while the rest of the kids are reading. Ask them to give you the general gist of the text they’re reading. Take notes on your conference so the next time you call them over for a quick chat, you can ask specific questions relating to the characters and the plot.

Note: If your reader seems less than enthused with what they’re reading, help him find something else! Reading should be fun, and forcing oneself to read something that isn’t personally interesting is not going to build a love for reading.

3. Recommend High-Interest Material

Set up a recommendation station near your class library, have kids talk about books they loved, and search high and low for text that might interest your readers. If your bookshelves are low, set up a recommendation station with weekly or monthly recommendations. Choose a variety of genres, and provide a short summary for each top pick. You can also encourage other readers to put their own favorites on display. That way, when indifferent readers search for a new book, they have plenty of recommendations to help guide them. We can’t always provide personalized, high-interest material, but independent reading materials is one place we can accomplish this goal.

4. Require a Journal Entry or Reader’s Response

As pupils progress through a novel, ask them to record their thoughts in a reader’s response journal. Provide them with a list of questions, or give them a specific question each day, to have them continually check in with their reading. Randomly check journals to make sure the day’s response varies from the days around it and is the quality that you’re looking for.

5. Assign a Reading Quiz

Particularly useful if you’re receiving low-quality text-dependent questions or reading responses, quizzes can be a useful way to assess who might be reading and who is reading carefully. Immediately after your class reads a chapter or an article at home, give them a short, comprehension-based quiz. Ask about main characters, large plot events, and even specific details to determine the quality of their reading. Encourage your non-readers to go back and read the skipped, or skimmed, chapter by offering some points back for writing a short summary of the chapter.

6. Use a Reading Log

Provide a reading log and require a parent signature to indicate the pupil spent the desired time reading. More successful in middle school than in high school, reading logs can be a quick, simple method for checking in with independent reading. Provide readers a log that requires them to list the book title, the pages read, and write a short one-sentence summary after each night’s reading.

7. Require Book Reports

Create a template that insists readers report on the characters, the conflict, the plot progression, and their personal response to the reading. Be aware of the many Internet resources that could aid in creating a book report, and consider running sections of their report through the Internet to ensure they’re not claiming anyone’s work as their own.  

8. Assign a Short Summary or Gist

Although summaries are sometimes effective, I’ve recognized that my middle schoolers need a little more support while trying to recall important events. Asking them to write the who, what, when, where, why and how challenges them to connect the text in a different way. You could also build clarity by asking specific gist questions. So, instead of asking just for the who, you could ask “Who was leader of the Nazi forces during World War II?” These specific questions can help your readers build understanding where they might get lost.

9. Practice a Reading Strategy

Have your class members read and take notes during independent reading. Provide them with one strategy to practice, or give them the option of choosing between a few different strategies. Then, check in with their notes to ensure that they are engaging with their text and understanding what they read.

10. Create Reading Goals and Chart Progress Frequently

Whether you create a goal for pages read, books read, or personalized goals using programs like Accelerated Reader, making a goal and checking in with that goal is a surefire way to build interest and excitement. If you can, display student progress in the classroom. You could create a class display to show work toward a group goal, and you could display the individual reader’s progress as well. Then, plan a few times throughout the semester to have kids check in and assess their progress. Are they going to make their goal? What can they do to make sure they reach their goal? What will you do to celebrate their achievement?

Being a close, critical reader is essential in today’s world, and using a variety of strategies can help you instill a high level of accountability in your class members and their reading. How do you keep your sixth through twelfth grade readers accountable? The Lesson Planet community would love to hear what you do to make sure your kids are responsible for their reading.