Educators all understand the importance of keeping students engaged in reading and writing activities. Building these skills is the cornerstone of learning. While the literacy journey begins in reading and English classes, a student’s competency in this area has cross-curricular effects. These effects often have a significant impact, good or bad, on academic success.
As students advance in grade level, reading engagement generally decreases, especially reading outside of school.
Students who were once regular readers in elementary school begin to read less, as their focus gets pulled in other directions, and struggling or reluctant readers are at greater risk of stopping reading altogether. So, how can educators motivate students to read more? It’s no secret that finding new ways to do this is not easy. It’s even more challenging to build it into a classroom culture that can translate into more reading for pleasure. Teachers and Librarians often have to be creative with different methods and tools to keep students inspired and engaged in reading and writing. And there is no one answer. It takes a village!
And we’d like to tell you about our “village” of authors…
BookBreak provides a path to inspire all students to engage in regular reading and writing activities. Our program brings bestselling authors to the classroom each month via live-stream. These interactive events on reading and writing are customized for each grade level cohort in K-12, and include comprehensive lesson plans and activities that adhere to curriculum standards. BookBreak subscribers see first-hand how authors inspire their students to read and write more, and most of all, find their passion for reading and writing. This is wonderful! Because that’s our mission at BookBreak. Students who were not regular readers get excited about books because of the authors and the connections they make with them and their stories. The students get a front seat in hearing the ‘story behind the story’. They learn about character development and have the opportunity to ask questions, which is always fun!
Our authors also talk about their experience as writers. They share their own struggles and triumphs with the students, such as, what it actually takes to get a book published and how many drafts they had to write to make their story better. This resonates with students, and helps them to see why their teacher has asked them for one more draft! Authors share that ALL students’ stories deserve to be told and that what they have to say is important.
The inspiration this provides for students experiencing our author talks is invaluable and is truly motivational, and the impact this motivation can have on student learning and confidence is measurable.
…According to a summary report by the Center on Education Policy (CEP), “Higher motivation to learn has been linked not only to better academic performance, but to greater conceptual understanding, satisfaction with school, self-esteem, social adjustment, and school completion rates”.
There’s no question that inspiring students to read and write will lead to an increase in reading and writing engagement. Sparking this passion gets us one step closer to inspiring a culture of reading in the classroom. And classrooms that have achieved this experience greater academic success.
But don’t take our word for it.
The National Literacy Trust conducted studies about the impact of author talks on students. They compared responses to reading test scores and found that of these 50K+ students:
A follow up study in 2023 surveyed 60K+ students and looked at attitudes toward reading and writing. This study found that:
We’re not totally surprised by this impact since we know how inspiring authors can be to get students excited about reading and writing. You can see the specific findings in the graph below:
At BookBreak, our daily passion is continuing to build on our virtual author talk program, making it an important tool to support literacy for all students K-12. Igniting a passion for books expands the pathways for creating regular readers, confident writers, and a classroom culture of reading.
Elevate your reading culture with BookBreak!
Elementary School Program
