2.2 Reading promotion
Candidates use a variety of strategies to promote leisure reading and model personal enjoyment of reading in order to promote habits of creative expression and lifelong reading.
2010 ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians
 Photo by Stephanie Soldavini 2013
“To be able to talk to your heart’s content about a book you like with someone who feels the same way about it is one of the greatest joys that life can offer.” – Haruki Murakami
One of the great aspects of the library is the balance of information research with reading for pleasure. Sharing enthusiasm for books engages students – even students who claim they do not like reading. Enthusiasm is contagious, and students will want to be a part it. In the Young Adult Literature course, SLM 504, we were asked to develop a reading promotion plan that would entice students to read for enjoyment. My reading promotion plan addresses this need with a series of parent/student reading experiences, like Books & Bagels before school, Love a Book during lunches, Novels & Noodles at the dinner hour, and Fireside Tales, an evening event. Events held at differing times of day, combined with a print and online campaign, are designed to accommodate and engage all types of family structures and schedules. This promotes reading to the widest possible audience within our school community. |
Drawing on my classroom teaching experience of reaching different learning styles and personalities, I tried to be extremely conscious of reaching as many individuals as possible – a menu of “something for everyone.” Each event includes a theme and at least six suggested reads, with a conscious effort to include different reading levels and cultural representation. The reminders will also address the various ways parents hear about events at school--print flyers and a webpage—with references to both in the weekly principal phone call and on the main school’s home web page. I will also ask the PTA for monthly promotion time at their meetings.
This became one of my favorite assignments and I have already made plans to work with the reading specialist to implement it in my first year. We are discussing turning the October event, Fireside Tales, into a camping night on school grounds complete with tents, sleeping bags, and s’mores. I know firsthand what busy lives families lead. The message of finding time to enjoy reading is a vital one. I hope the outcome will be a community that views reading for enjoyment with just as much importance as they do reading for education and work purposes.
This became one of my favorite assignments and I have already made plans to work with the reading specialist to implement it in my first year. We are discussing turning the October event, Fireside Tales, into a camping night on school grounds complete with tents, sleeping bags, and s’mores. I know firsthand what busy lives families lead. The message of finding time to enjoy reading is a vital one. I hope the outcome will be a community that views reading for enjoyment with just as much importance as they do reading for education and work purposes.
 This portfolio and the artifacts contained herein by Amy Soldavini are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. |
Revised July 2013
