Boosting Students’ Engagement in Reading With Weekly Labs

I don’t think I’m shocking any teachers when I say that there is a significant decline in secondary students who read for pleasure. Beyond reading for the sheer enjoyment of it, I’ve noticed a decline in the number of my own students who read as part of their assigned homework.

My colleagues are running into the same issue too: How do we get students to deeply analyze and discuss texts in class, when many students haven’t even read them yet?

Often, teachers have to sacrifice valuable class time to just read the material, which then takes away from the real meat of the class—the analysis and exploration that leads to meaningful knowledge-building.

This year, the English department at my school decided to address this issue by building a new block into our schedule: a reading lab.

CREATING THE 10TH-GRADE READING LAB

Our English department wanted to start by focusing on our 10th-grade students, both because they were showing a major decline in reading, and because their schedule already had two mandatory study hall periods each week. We decided to take one of those study hall periods and rebrand it as reading lab.

This block would be led by an English teacher with the support of another humanities teacher. All 10th-grade students were assigned one reading lab per week.

We planned to have students spend the first half of the block reading assigned sections of the novel they were working on in 10th-grade English, and the second half working on nonfiction texts for history class.

At the beginning of the year, we introduced this change to students during their English classes and explained that this block would not only help all students build their reading stamina, but also give them a structured time and place to complete assigned work.

KICKING THE YEAR OFF IN THE READING LAB

At the start of the year, we wanted to get students used to the reading lab and ensure that they felt confident approaching their assigned texts throughout the year. Since students didn’t dive into their novels right away, we used the first few reading labs to introduce and practice close-reading and annotation strategies with a few short stories and nonfiction texts.

While the English teacher led these lessons, I offered individual support to students and helped model the strategies.

Once the primary readings for English language arts and history were assigned, students shifted to reading those texts during their reading lab.

One key aspect of the reading lab was that there was no technology allowed—students only read printed materials. This helped us ensure that everyone stayed on task, and it gave students the opportunity to disengage from the technology that they spend so much time looking at.

RUNNING THE READING LAB THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

We wanted to make the reading lab more engaging than a study hall period might otherwise be. We also didn’t just want to force students to sit silently and read on their own for the entire time. Instead, we wanted students to deeply engage with the texts and with one another, helping them to not only better understand the content, but actually enjoy reading.

During the block, we varied the approach to reading: Sometimes, I read out loud to students, asked simple comprehension questions, and led a surface-level discussion. In other classes, we listened to audiobooks, popcorn read, or read aloud in small groups.

However students were engaging with the text, they had opportunities to ask questions and discuss what they were reading with one another.

By the end of the block, students were more prepared to delve deeply into material during their English and history classes—which also meant that English and history teachers could focus their time and attention on teaching skills and standards, not reading material with students.

THE IMPACT

Within our 10th-grade humanities classes, we saw a dramatic increase in student engagement, literacy skills, and reading confidence. Before we began the reading lab block, only about 25 percent of students regularly came to class having completed the assigned reading. After implementing the reading lab block, this grew to about 85 percent.

With that, class discussions became richer and more meaningful, allowing teachers to engage students in deeper analysis of themes, literary devices, and authorial choices.

Outside of class, we also saw an increase in PSAT scores across the 10th-grade class and an increase in the number of students who registered for AP English in their junior year. We’re excited to continue to watch this program grow and to see the continued positive impact on our students.

GETTING STARTED IN YOUR SCHOOL

Bringing a reading lab to your school takes some time and planning, but it can be far more effective and engaging than a traditional study hall. If your school already has a study hall block, this is a great place to implement the reading lab.

From there, your school will need to consider who will run the block, who will support them, and how those teachers will prepare.

For us, all humanities teachers were part of the reading lab, but you could easily include all teachers and even other school staff. For prep, the key is to have the history and English teachers tell those running the reading lab what it is that students should be reading and offer some ideas on how to engage students with that material.

Those running the reading lab don’t need to have read the text in advance—they can engage with the texts alongside students.

To make the reading lab feel a bit special for students, I tried to curate a book club atmosphere: I had an electric kettle in the back of my room with a bunch of mugs, and we made tea while we read. This made the reading lab feel different from other classes and helped students find that sense of joy that reading can bring.

Through the reading lab block, we were able to help students feel more confident and prepared to discuss texts in class. But beyond that, we helped students reconnect with literacy in a way that had been missing for many of them. And through literacy, students expand not only their knowledge, but also their sense of what is possible in the world and in their own lives.