How to Stop âFake Readingâ in Your Elementary Classroom
We all know that feeling. We are in the middle of a small group reading lesson and it is going so well!! Then, we look up to see one of our reluctant readers simply flipping through the pages, instead of reading closely. This common reading behavior can be monitored and addressed using these simple strategies that can be adapted for any classroom!
I feel like all teachers have to take a really deep breath when they see âfake reading.â It is sometimes hard to catch and often comes from the students that need to be reading the most. So, how do we monitor fake reading (for all 20+ students) and how do we motivate students to do some real reading?? Here are a few strategies that you can use, regardless of your grade level, ELA curriculum, or ELA block structure.
What is Fake Reading?
Fake Reading may look like one (or all) of the followingâŚ
Simply looking at pictures or graphics instead of reading text.
Flipping through books and âfinishingâ them within a few minutes.
Abandoning books after a few pages.
Book Clubs
Yes - guided reading and small groups have their time and place. However, book clubs put an emphasize on student-led discussions and allow you to have conversations about maintaining stamina through a longer text.
I was completely overwhelmed the first time I even thought about using this with my third graders. I couldnât imagine them getting much out of it. Not to mention, how am I supposed to teach specific skills related to our curriculum and state standards? Here is how I currently run my book clubs AND how I utilize them to stop fake reading.
Preview the Book - Before you assign a book (or allow students to pick from a few different options), you have to get to know the book yourself. This ended up being way easier than I imagined. I read an entire 3rd/4th grade level chapter book on a two hour flight to Nashville! As I read, I put post-it notes on the pages with different questions or teaching points I thought of.
Start Small - I started with a small group of my most advanced readers. This gave me a good trial run before I opened it up to the rest of my class.
Set Deadlines and Host Conferences During Independent Reading - I would give students 2 days to read a chapter and answer a few questions. You could totally adapt this based on your own goals for book clubs! I have students do this work in class, but have some coworkers who use it as homework too! Here is the big key for limiting fake reading: confer, confer, confer!! Since you have become familiar with the text, you can pull up alongside your students and ask them questions as they read. You can offer specific strategies and even preview vocabulary they will see on upcoming pages. You are taking a lot of the elements from guided reading and applying them to independent texts!
Meet with Your Book Clubs - Some teachers opt to have their clubs meet without the teacher present. I strongly recommend hosting the book club, at least for the first book. This will give you an insight into their comprehension, allow you to model strategies, and you can even preview the upcoming chapters and ask for predictions.
Expand at Your Own Pace - Once your first book club is complete, try with another group of students while your first group goes back to their independent reading books. Although they might not be reading with you in a book club, I noticed a HUGE jump in their reading stamina after even just one book club.
You can certainly adapt this structure to match what you want for your own classroom! I just quickly learned how overwhelming it can be to run 3+ book clubs at once. Instead, I invite a few students at a time to join my âexclusiveâ book club. They literally beg to be invited! What a huge change from when they were âfake readingâ a few weeks ago!
Use Reading LogsâŚThe Correct Way!
When I was a first year teacher, my students would literally take advantage of their reading homework. I assigned 20 minutes of reading and had their parents sign on a basic reading log that was kept in their homework folder. I am sure this sounds familiar for most of usâŚ
It took less than a week before students starting forging signatures and losing their reading log. Not to mention, students were abandoning books and somehow finishing a 200 page chapter book in less than two days.
It took me a LONG time to do something about this! Finally, I landed on **drumroll please** a Reading Log Bookmark!! It solved so many problems for me!! I could hold them accountable and monitor their reading habits. They would simply go and get a blank bookmark whenever they started a new book. This bookmark idea was a game-changer!
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