Running Head: ENCOURAGING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

Encouraging Student Reading of Various Genres Through Student Self-Selection of Texts

A Teacher Action Research Study
Courtney Samuelson
North Carolina State University

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

Part One. Introduction

Introduction to the Teacher Research Project
This project aims to answer the question, "How can teachers encourage student self-selection of texts
while also encouraging students to read a variety of genres?" I implemented this project in my English
Language Arts class of eighteen 8th-grade students at a public charter school in Durham, North Carolina. This
project is part of a larger yearlong endeavor that challenges students to read forty books in one year. This
challenge is part of a new program at my school that encourages students to spend more time independently
reading self-selected books by implementing more time spent reading at school, requiring students to read at
home, engaging in activities that build a culture of a love for reading, and weekly written and spoken
conferences with the teacher. The forty-book challenge also encourages students to read from a variety of
different genres. At the beginning of the year, I noticed that many of my students were reading from the same
genre and were not choosing to branch out into different genres on their own. Thus, my teacher research project
explores whether teachers can encourage students to read a variety of different genres within a framework in
which students still get to self-select the books they read. I implemented a literacy contract project, or a genre
challenge, with my students and collected data on their reading habits and book completion along the way. I
found that with a number of structures in place, students can be encouraged to try new genres while also picking
out their own texts, but that widely broadening students appreciation for various genres is an effort that takes
several months to a year to fully achieve.

School and Classroom Context

I teach at a public charter school where students are accepted via lottery. 92% of the students at our
school qualify as low-income; 61% of the students in my 8th grade class are African American, and 39% are
Hispanic/ Latino. According to the Teachers College Reading Assessment that uses Fountas and Pinnel reading
levels, 56% of my students read on grade level, while 89% of the students read at or above a 6th grade level.
56% of my students passed their 7th grade Reading EOG last year. According to a survey taken in August of this

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

year, 56% of my students said they like to read, while 44% of my students said they feel neutral about
reading. None of my students said that they did not like to read on this survey.

Identifying the Problem

I taught the same class of students last year, so I have the advantage of knowing a lot about this group as
well as possess a lot of data points on them. While it is a strength that the majority of my students like reading
and no one says they dislike it, the problem still remains that a large chunk of my students are not reading on
grade level. Furthermore, last year my students did not read many books on their own: on average, my students
read 17 books independently last year; within that number, 8 students read fewer than 10 books, and one student
read 0 books on his own. Yet numerous studies, in particular Cunningham and Stanovich (1998), have
suggested that the more time children spend reading independently, the higher their achievement levels will be
in all subjects (p. 4). The following chart demonstrates my kids urgent need to spend more time reading:
Achievement Percentile
20th
80th
90th
98th

Minutes Spent Reading Per Day

.7 minutes
14 minutes
21.1 minutes
65 minutes

Words Read in a Year

21,000
1,146,000
1,823,000
4,358,000
Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998, p. 4

In response to this data, this summer I engaged in a lot of research to determine how to implement a
robust independent reading program at my school. We decided to model our program after the work of Donalyn
Miller, author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child (2011) and Reading in the
Wild: The Book Whisperers Keys to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits (2014), who each year challenges her
students to read 40 independent, self-selected books from the genres of realistic fiction, historical fiction,
fantasy, science fiction, poetry, graphic novels, nonfiction, and autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs.
Millers model rests on five key components: time, the idea that students need substantial time at school to read
and look through books; choice, that students need the opportunity to choose reading materials for themselves;
response, that students should respond in natural ways to the books they are reading through conferences,
written entries, and classroom discussions; community, the idea that students are part of a classroom reading

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

community in which every member contributes; and structure, or the fact that the reading workshop rests on a
set of routines and procedures that supports teachers and students (Miller, 2011, p. 16, and Miller, 2014, pp.
xxvi-xxvii) . At the beginning of this year I implemented, and still implement, the following procedures to
support each component of a strong independent reading program:
1)
2)
1)
2)

Time
Choice

3)

Response

1)
2)

Community

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Structure

1)
2)

3)
4)

Students spend at least 30 minutes every day at school reading.

Students are required to read at home every night for at least 20 minutes.
Students may read whatever books they choose to read.
If a student chooses a book that is too far above their reading level, I suggest another book,
but I never tell a student they cannot read a certain book. Generally, I let the student try to
start reading it, and if the book is too hard, the student abandons it on his or her own.
At the beginning of the year, I taught students how to choose books (genres or authors they
like, reading the front and back cover, skimming the chapters, etc.)
Each week, students write letters to me where they describe the books they are reading,
reading strategies theyre using, celebrations from the week, how they feel about their books,
and how they feel about their progress. I write a response back to each student.
Daily during independent reading time, I engage in one-on-one conferences with my
students, discussing the books they are reading, their progress, celebrating completion of
books, helping them choose their next book, and setting goals.
Every student in the class is working toward reading 40 books this year.
During independent reading time, I encourage students to share book recommendations with
one another in a casual and authentic way.
Three students per week share a Book Talk with the class, where they advertise a recent
book they read in order to encourage others in the class to read it.
Students may write their favorite quotes from their favorite books on the Reading Graffiti
Wall in our classroom.
Weekly, students engage in shout-outs where they can acknowledge a particular classmate
for completion of a reading goal.
None of the activities are graded. The 40-Book Challenge is a challenge, not a requirement.
Students do not have to write book reports on the books they finish.
Students keep track of all of their progress in their Readers Notebooks, a composition book
with the following: a Genre Graph, where they track their completion of books in each of the
eight genre categories; My Reading List, where they keep track of every book they start,
abandon, and finish; and Books to Read list, where they document upcoming books they
plan to read. The rest of the notebook is where they write their reader response letters to me. I
encourage students to update this notebook daily and to keep it organized.
If students wish, they may take an online Accelerated Reader quiz on the book they just
completed, but they are not required to.
I measure student completion of books using Accelerated Reader quizzes, observations
during independent reading time, reading logs for homework, reader response letters, and
student-teacher conferences.
Most of these strategies come from Miller, 2011 and Miller, 2014

With these plans in place, I started off the year excited and ready to dive in and encourage students to
read many books from a wide variety of genres. However, the most immediate problem I found was that
students did not want to try new genres. Many of my students favored one particular genre over all of the
others; some were stuck in a series and did not want to read anything else; and many others only wanted to read

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

graphic novels. The chart below highlights my students genre completion when I began this project on October
10, exactly seven weeks into the school year:

Number of Books
Read (Class Total)
% of Students Who
Had Not Read a Single
Book in this Genre

Realistic
Fiction

Historical
Fiction

Fantasy

Science
Fiction

Poetry

Graphic
Novels

Nonfiction

Biographies,
Autobiographies,
and Memoirs

17

27

19

38

41%

76%

53%

82%

76%

24%

76%

76%

As shown above, my students were particularly struggling to read historical fiction, science fiction, poetry,
nonfiction, and biographies, autobiographies and memoirs. Graphic novels were by far the most popular,
followed by fantasy and realistic fiction.
I immediately began to realize that in order to encourage my students to read a wide variety of genres, I
had to put specific structures into place. However, my initial hesitancy was this issue of choice. How could I
still allow my students to read what they wanted to read while also encouraging them to try new genres? How
could I encourage them to explore new genres without requiring them to complete certain tasks and thus
associate reading with something they are forced to do? How could I still celebrate completion of selfselected books but prod and nudge my students to try something new? Thus the idea for my teacher action
research project was born.

Project Description
After doing some research I chose to try literacy contracts with my students. Under the National Council
of Teachers of Englishs guidance, teachers and NCTE members Megan Ginther and Holly Mueller are
currently working on a manuscript of a book about how to implement literacy contracts in the classroom, and
they recently presented about literacy contracts at the NCTEs Dublin Literacy Conference in March 2014.
According to Ginther and Mueller (2014), a literacy contract is a tool in which teachers develop lessons around
a certain theme or topic and then expose students to book clubs, high-interest nonfiction, and digital literacies
each month (Ginther, http://meganginther.blogspot.com/2014/06/curiosity.html). Examples mentioned on the

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

blog are literacy contracts on the topics of curiosity and empathy. I decided to adapt this literacy contract for my
purposes and call it a genre challenge. The reason for this is because under Ginthers model, literacy
contracts are part of her course curriculum and class grade, but my 40-book challenge does not count as a grade
for students. Miller (2011) found that students will not be intrinsically motivated to read, and thus will not
become lifelong readers, if they are associating reading with grades or are only doing it to pass a class (p. 78).
Thus I wanted to create an environment in which students are encouraged, or challenged, to try new genres, but
will not be penalized for not doing so. It is a daunting taskto motivate children to do something without
offering a reward or consequencebut it is this sense of challenge that urged me to undertake this project.
I created my genre challenge for students and wanted it to be similar to Ginther and Muellers literacy
contracts in that all students are urged to read different genres, all about a similar topic. Since we were about to
begin a unit on the Holocaust memoir Night as a class and just finished reading a historical fiction novel about a
Latina girl struggling with her identity, The House on Mango Street, I thought the theme of discrimination
would be broad enough and engaging enough for my students. On October 10th, I rolled out my project to my
class. The nuts and bolts: students have seven weeks to read four books independently. Three out of these four
books needed to be new genres they had never tried before, and all of the books need to somehow relate to
discrimination. If the book did not have an obvious or overt theme of discrimination, the student could still read
the book and look for smaller examples of discrimination throughout the book.
I put a couple of additional structures into place to carry out the challenge. First, after introducing the
challenge, I had my students engage in a book pass. Book passes are a great way for students to explore a
number of different books in a short amount of time (Miller, 2011, p. 128). I took all the books out of my
classroom library that I believe most relate to discrimination and displayed them on a table, organized by genre.
Each student got up, chose a book (they were encouraged to pick a book from a genre they had not read yet),
previewed the book for 3 minutes by looking at the front and back cover and reading the first few pages, and
then we passed the books around the room, repeating the process, until each student had previewed six books.

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

Students took notes on each book, and at the end of class, they wrote down books they were interested in on
their Books to Read list (Miller, 2011, p. 128).
Next, the primary way that I upheld the challenge with my students was through daily conferencing
during independent reading time in class and through reading their Readers Notebook response letters. Since
the genre challenge was not for a grade, my conferences mainly consisted of praising students for their progress
in trying new genres and offering suggestions for new books to try, all while making sure students still had
choice in the genres and books they chose and did not feel pressured one way or the other. A third structure was
the Discrimination Log. Each night, students were required to read for twenty minutes, as usual, but in
addition they had to write the page number they ended on and jot down any notes about discrimination they saw
in their book that night while reading. This was done in a graphic organizer format, and students had guided
questions to help them think about what kind of notes to write. Finally, each week I had two students get up in
front of the class and do Book Talks about the book they had just finished reading that related to the topic of
discrimination. Book Talks are an informal way to create hype about books; since middle school students are
so social, student excitement about one book will create excitement in other students as well (Miller, 2014, p.
180). Moss and Young (2010) created a structure for books talks which I use: their book talks consisted of a
short sentence to summarize the book, information about the genre and how it relates to discrimination, and a
cliffhanger to get the rest of the class interested in the book (p. 70). Overall, every student in the class knew
they were working toward this challenge of both reading about discrimination and trying new genres, and they
were held accountable for it each day for seven weeks through my regular conferences and check-ins.

Part Two. Review of Related Literature and Project Rationale

According to Moss and Young (2010), in order to become successful and lifelong readers, students need
to spend lots of time reading, and they need exposure to a variety of genres (p. 54). Furthermore, Miller
(2014) found that on national surveys, middle school students show the most preference for fantasy and science
fiction texts, and they show the least preference for historical fiction, poetry, and nonfiction (p. 176). Yet

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

students who read a wide variety of genres are exposed to a [vast and comprehensive] view of our world and
the people who inhabit it (Moss and Young, 2010, p. 52). Poetry, for example, is regularly featured on
standardized tests, so students should have regular opportunities to read, write, analyze, and connect with it
(Moss and Young, 2010, p. 53). Nonfiction texts connect our students with real people and places from the
present and past, and they provide students with rich material for inquiry and research (Moss and Young, 2010,
54). Historical texts allow teachers to carry out our responsibility to expand students knowledge of the world
and their place in it (Miller, 2014, p. 177). Through reading historical fiction, nonfiction, and biographical
texts, our young readers are offered a lens into the lives of people whose circumstances differ from ours and
anchor us in a time line of human experiences that reaches into the past and extends into the future (Miller,
2014, p. 177). Miller (2011) also found that challenging students to read a wide variety of genres also allows us
as teachers to cover the state standards we are required to cover (p. 79): allowing students to self-select books
they want to read, from a variety of genres, benefits teachers who would plan for those genres to be part of the
curriculum anyway. Finally, a comprehensive study from the National Endowment for the Arts (2007) has
shown that adults who read often and from a wide variety of genres are contribute in measurable ways to civic
and social improvements (Iyengar, 2007, p. 90). Adult active readers are a lot more active in voting in
elections, volunteering in their communities, and attending cultural and community events (Iyengar, 2007, 1819). Not to mention, adults who read on a high comprehension level and who read often have more stable
employment and make higher salaries on average than those who struggle with reading or do not read (Iyengar,
2007, 16). Thus if I want to start preparing my students to be active contributors to society, I should make sure
they are reading lots of books from a variety of genres.
Yet the same study from the National Endowment for the Arts found that American adults from every
demographic group are reading fiction, poetry, drama, and books in general, at significantly lower rates than
their counterparts twenty years ago, and that the steepest decline is among young adults (Iyengar, 2007, p. 7).
If a student has negative attitudes toward certain genres or toward reading in general, it is probably because they
have not had a positive reading experience with these types of texts or any texts at all (Miller, 2014, p. 182). It

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

is our job as teachers to help students discover genres that they might not have ever explored on their own.
However, Moss and Young (2010) pointed out that our classrooms and class libraries typically have provided
students with exposure to a narrow range of text types, like textbooks and state-adopted basal readers (p. 55).
Furthermore, Miller (2014) again cited national survey data that shows that avid adult readers favor historical
fiction and nonfiction, so teachers and librarians should think about their own students preferences and interests
and how to bridge that divide between our appreciation of these types of texts and our students dislike or
ambivalence towards it (p. 176-177). The key, I believe, is to start by exploring our students interests and to
find books in those genres that match and compliment those interests.
This brings us back to the issue of student ownership and choice, a huge component of my genre
challenge and teacher research study. Adults who love to read choose books for themselves using a variety of
methods, and we must teach our students to do the same. Requiring students to only read books on a certain
level or to read books that do not interest them results in student distaste of reading, or choosing not to read at
all (Miller, 2011, p. 72-73). Johnson and Blair (2003) highlighted several ways that self-selected reading builds
childrens and young adults self-efficacy as readers: Self selected reading material allows students to value
their own decision-making ability, fosters their capacity to choose appropriate literature, gives them confidence
and a feeling of ownership, improves reading achievement, and encourages them in becoming lifelong readers
(p. 183). Further research by Kelley and Clausen- Grace (2009) showed that in order for an independent
reading program to be successful, students must be engaged in the books they are reading (p. 313), and Wutz
and Wedwick (2005) emphasized that students must spend a large amount of class time reading and exploring
books they picked out themselves (p. 16). If students are self-selecting texts, they are a lot more likely to be
engaged and interested in what they are reading. Thus, in every conference I had with my students, I constantly
thought about my goal: to increase student independence and ownership. This means if a student chose to
abandon a book, I had to be okay with that. If a student tried historical fiction and hated it and wanted to return
to fantasy, I must celebrate their effort, allow them to read what they want, and potentially try again with a
historical fiction text of a different topic later on in the year. Miller (2011) has emphasized that if my goal for

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10

students is that they can discover that they can be readers, then it is important to celebrate the little milestones
along the way, not to focus on their failure to meet requirements (p. 83). The key is that I value the student,
allowing him or her to embrace their inner reader by self-selecting texts, and give them the power to make
their own choices (Miller, 2011, p. 23). Without this choice, students are unmotivated to read (Wutz and
Wedwick, 2005, p. 16).

Part Three. Data Collection and During-Project Analysis

Because this project primarily measures student attitudes, habits, and motivation, the majority of the
data I collected was qualitative. By far the most important method of data collection I used was reading,
analyzing, and responding to the weekly letters my students wrote me in their Readers Notebooks. Each week,
I asked students to write a one-page letter to me, reflecting on any of the following prompts related to their
progress on the genre challenge: reactions to the books they were reading, summaries of what they were
reading, questions they have about their books, predictions they are making, how they feel about trying new
genres, what genres or books they plan to read next, how they saw the theme of discrimination represented in
their books, and what celebrations they have about their progress that week. Through reading these letters each
week, I was able to identify student attitudes about particular genres, assess why a student might be stuck in one
particular book or genre, reflect and respond to student misconceptions or opinions, and offer my own
celebrations and suggestions for books or genres they should try next. These letters, which I urged the students
to write with a casual and honest tone, gave me a very clear glimpse each week into the reading lives of each of
my students. In the example letter below, Isaac1 reflects on his progress so far this year. He admits to being
stuck in a genrehe had read many sports biographies this yearand is ready to venture into something new,
so he asks me for recommendations: view Photo 1.

1 All student names have been changed.

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11

Because of Isaacs honesty in sharing that he has not ventured out into new genres but wants to try it with my
help, I was able to respond by getting a science fiction book in his hands on Monday morning.
The students also tracked a lot of their own data throughout the project. Each week when I collected their
notebooks, I also checked their Genre Requirements Graph, which they fill out whenever they finish a book to
track their progress. The students also fill out their My Reading List when they finish a book, in which they
write the title, author, genre of book, date they finished it, and their ranking of the book on a five-star scale.
These two tracking methods allow me to get a quick glimpse each week of who is completing books and
reading from a variety of genres.
Photo 2: Diana is one of my most avid readers and has already forty books this year, but still needs to expand to
nonfiction and poetry.
Photo 3: Torien is one student who loves graphic novels but has had trouble branching out into other genres.
Each week, I used the data from my students genre graphs and inputted them into my own Excel spreadsheet,
where I could track overall trends and gaps in particular genres by looking at number of books read overall,
percent of students who still had not tried a certain genre, and growth in number of books read in a particular
genre. This weekly reflection was by far my most influential use of quantitative data. When I saw these gaps, I
responded by pushing that genre the next week through my conferences with students or through informal book
talks where I would just pick up one of my favorites from that genre during independent reading time and pitch
it to the class to spread some enthusiasm, for Miller (2011) pointed out that we must see ourselves as the
reading role model in the classroom (p. 15), and I certainly do.
To measure my students initial attitudes about genres, I gave my students an interest survey on the day I
rolled out the genre challenge. Students had to answer the following questions:
1) Which genre(s) are you struggling to read or dont want to read?
2) For each genre you listed in #4, explain WHY you feel that way.
3) On average, how many books have you been reading a week so far this year? ___________
To calculate this: take the number of books youve read so far this year and divide that by 7.

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12

I saw this survey as a way to measure my students confidence about their reading completion so far in the year
and to get some honest opinions about genre preferences. I used the genre preferences (questions 3 and 4) to
determine what genres to push with which students, and what genre misconceptions I needed to conference with
students about and work through. I used this same survey again at the end of the project, which is referenced in
the Findings section of this paper. On the initial survey, I gathered the following data from the students:
Most Disliked Genres
Biographies, Autobiographies, Memoirs (8 mentions)
Poetry (8 mentions)
Nonfiction (8 mentions)
Science Fiction (6 mentions)
Historical Fiction (4 mentions)
Fantasy (2 mentions)
Realistic Fiction (2 mentions)
Graphic Novels (2 mentions)

Using this data, I was excited to get started on the genre challenge, because I knew the novel Night, which is a
memoir, would draw some interest toward that genre, as well as toward other nonfiction and historical fiction
books that relate to the Holocaust, a topic that is generally very interesting to middle school students.
Journaling and constant reflection through the use of note taking in Evernote was another hugely helpful
qualitative data collection for me. Evernote is digital workspace software in which you can collect and take
notes and categorize ideas both on the web and through the mobile app. Each day I had a conference with a
student, I would pull up Evernote during or after the conference and jot down quick notes about genre
preferences, challenges the student was facing, or my own ideas about books to recommend or to look for at the
public library. I also used Evernote to journal my reflection on how the process was going on a weekly basis.
Each week, with Evernote pulled up and my students notebooks and letters before me, I was ready to make an
informed decision about who to talk to and encourage that upcoming week, methods to completely change
about my project, what genres to push, and books to look for to recommend to my students. Because my
project relies on this intrinsic motivation versus working for a grade, my constant reflection and analysis of

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13

the students letters and book completion tracking was extremely important. I had to take strong notes so that I
could remember all the little nuances and details of my students genre preferences.
Being this reflective in analyzing my students reactions during these one-on-one conferences was
extremely beneficial, for it allowed me to see where I might have stepped out of place in encouraging my
students to read more and pushing that ownership and independence, versus making students feel that their
choices arent valued or that a certain type of reading should be done because I want them to or are requiring
them to. One example of this is a note I wrote on October 23 about a conference I had with Celeste, a student
who really was struggling to stick with a book, and whose only book she had read so far this year related to
soccer. After putting one realistic fiction, one historical fiction, and one nonfiction book in her hands, she asked
me, Ok, but now can I pick out a book I want to read? This stopped me dead in my tracks! Here I was, trying
to push the genre challenge while also promoting student choice, and Celeste completely calls me out for
stifling her choice. I took a step back and realized that there is a balance between giving recommendations to
students and making them feel like books are forced upon them. Later as I was reflecting in Evernote, I
remembered one of Millers tips for recommending books to students while also promoting choice: preview
stacks. Preview stacks, according to Miller, are a way to share recommendations with students but also to be
careful not to influence students opinions of the books too much or take away their ability to choose freely
what they want to readCreating preview stacks for my students meets students halfway (Miller, 2014, p. 71).
By first asking what the student is interested in, and then thoughtfully creating a stack of books for them to
preview and sift through, students are still making choices about what they want to read, just in a scaffolded or
guided way. I created a preview stack for Celeste the next day, and she chose John Greens novel The Fault in
Our Stars. I was thrilled to read her reading response letter about the book in Photo 4 (idk here means I
dont know).
Remember Isaac, who wanted to try to start a science fiction book and asked me for a recommendation?
The very next day, I gave him a preview stack of seven science fiction books that I thought might fit his
personality. Learning from my mistake with Celeste greatly helped me put the choice back in students hands.

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14

Another qualitative data collection method I used was observing my students reading habits during
independent reading time. In their articles and books about engaging students in independent reading, Kelley
and Clausen-Grace (2009) stressed the importance of knowing ones students as readers, and they identify
different types of readers from disengaged (fake readers, challenged readers, wannabe readers, and compliant
readers) to engaged readers (Does Nonfiction count? readers, stuck in a series readers, and bookworms) (p.
314). Their article has taught ways to observe your students during independent reading time, take notes on
their behavior, identify what type of reader he or she is, and then conference with the student to share some of
your findings and to talk the student through what is disengaging them about their book (too hard or too easy,
not the right interest/topic, not the right genre, etc.) (Kelley and Clausen Grace, 2009, p. 316). Through
observing certain students reading behaviorssuch as students who zone out while reading, students who tend
to run personal errands during reading like visiting the bathroom or the pencil sharpener or organizing their
binder, or those who stay stuck on a book for a long timeIm able to intentionally approach the student and
determine what is holding them back from their text. Through this method I was able to help several students
who said their book was too boring or too confusing, and steered them in the direction of a different book
that would work better for them.
Finally, I cannot underscore the value of my teacher research groups feedback and assistance in
interpreting and analyzing my data. One of the largest pieces of reflection I had throughout my journaling and
note-taking was lack of time: students were not finishing books quickly enough, and I was afraid that no one
would meet this genre challenge. I had noticed that my students who already read a lotlike Diana above,
who just needed to try poetry and nonfictionwere branching out into new genres, but that students who
struggled to finish any books at the beginning of this year or last year were just not making progress quickly
enough to read four books over the seven weeks, much less three of which are a new genre. I began to think
that I started this project too early in the yearI needed to first get my students hooked into reading, and then
worry about exposing them to new genres. Take my student, Zyairia, for example. She only read two books
independently all year last year. This year, at the beginning of the year, I could not get her to complete anything

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15

besides a graphic novel. Finally, I introduced her to the Bluford series, a high interest realistic fiction teen
series. Zyairia loves these books! She eagerly devoured the first one and wanted to move on to the next in the
series. If these books get her hooked into reading, why would I stop her momentum by pushing her into a
different genre? I posed this question to my teacher research group, and they affirmed that building student
interest in reading is the key, and if I have expanded that students genre appreciation by at least one genre, that
is still growth. Now, though we are only a little over a quarter of the way into the school year, Zyairia is so
proud that she has completed 5 books, which is over double the number of books she read for the entire year
last year. She may not meet the genre challenge, but how can one not celebrate this progress?
Another point my teacher research group helped me with was the idea of differentiating goals for my
students. For my students who read two years below grade level, finishing a two- or three-hundred page book is
a daunting task, and finishing four of these in seven weeks can be extremely tough. On the other hand, if
another student reads a bunch of graphic novels and short poetry books, it does not seem fair that he or she is
closer to meeting the forty-book challenge. Thus my teacher research group suggested I differentiate goals and
measures for my Special Education scholars and those that read two years below grade level. For these
scholars, I allow them to count any book over 200 pages as two books, as a way to make them feel excited and
invested in spending so much time in a long book. Furthermore, many of my scholars will not meet the genre
challenge, but if I have exposed them to new genres during these several weeks or helped them grow an
appreciation for a particular type of text or series, I see that as an accomplishment, and I know that I can loop
back and push them into other genres later on in the year when theyve got a stronger reading foundation. The
forty-book challenge is a very high expectation that requires students to spend a lot of time reading, so I know
the adjustment may be hard for some students, especially those who were non-readers in the past.

Part Four. Data Analysis, Findings, and Interpretations

At the close of my project, the qualitative and quantitative data showed that the majority of my students
had a positive experience trying new genres, though not all students met the goal of the challenge. The charts
below shows the increase in number of books read in each genre for the whole class:

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

Genre

16

# of Books the Class

Read in the Seven
Weeks Before the
Project
8
5
21
10
7
37
21
38

# of Books the Class

Read in the Seven
Weeks During the
Project
20
12
37
14
6
14
6
24

% Increase/
Decrease

Genre

# of Students Who Had

Read Books in this Genre
(Pre-Project) (out of 18
students)

# of Students Who Had

Read Books in this
Genre (Post-Project)
(out of 18 students)

Increase/
Decrease

Biographies, Autobiographies, & Memoirs

Poetry
Realistic Fiction
Historical Fiction
Nonfiction
Graphic Novels
Science Fiction
Fantasy

4
4
11
5
4
13
5
9

12
11
17
10
7
16
7
9

8 students
7 students
6 students
5 students
3 students
3 students
2 students
0 students

Biographies, Autobiographies, & Memoirs

Poetry
Realistic Fiction
Historical Fiction
Nonfiction
Fantasy
Science Fiction
Graphic Novels

250%
240%
176%
140%
-14%
-63%
-72%
-158%

The charts above show that biographies, autobiographies and memoirs were by far the most popular new
genre to try, followed by poetry, realistic fiction, and historical fiction. This is an exciting finding, because
biographical texts and poetry were the top two genres my students mentioned that they disliked on the presurvey. The least popular genres to try were fantasy, science fiction, graphic novels, and nonfiction. Fantasy
was the only genre in which no students branched out to read in that genre for the first time. All other genres
saw an increase in number of students trying those genres during this unit.
The chart below reflects the attitude of students toward genres as determined by a post survey. The post
survey asked students to identify a new genre they tried during the challenge they enjoyed, and to describe a
new genre they tried but did not enjoy. The students also had the opportunity to explain their answers. Positive
attitudes are written in green, while negative attitudes are written in red. I have included additional comments
that I collected throughout the unit from students reader response letters and reading conferences:

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

Genre
Biographies,
Autobiographies,
and Memoirs

# of Students Who
Mentioned Enjoying
this Genre
6

# of Students Who Said

They Did Not Enjoy This
Genre
1

17
Additional Comments by Students
(Taken from Survey and
Anecdotal Notes)

Historical
Fiction

Poetry

Realistic Fiction

Science Fiction

Nonfiction

I really enjoyed the action and

suspense.
I enjoy reading about how people
persevere through struggles.
I stopped reading a biography
because I didnt fully understand it.
I dont want to read biographies
because they are boring. Unless I read
one on Drake or Iggy Azalea, that
would be cool.
Its interesting reading about the past
so we can not repeat bad things that
have happened.
I stopped reading my historical fiction
book because it was too long and
boring.
I have been doing good in reading
other genres and I like them, its been a
refreshing experience from always
reading fiction books. Right now Im
reading a poetry book and its
entertaining, insightful, and
informative.
Poetry didnt work for me because it
wasnt interesting enough.
I dont like how poetry compares
things to other things.
I usually dont like realistic fiction,
but I really enjoyed that book.
I do not like realistic fiction books
because they are too grim and
disappointing.
I dont like realistic fiction as much.
Its just that I want something
historical, something that is true. I
could read fiction but sometimes I tend
to get bored of it because Im not
seeing a lot of great action going on or
simply just dont like it.
Im enjoying my science fiction
because the beginning started with a
mystery and Im excited to see what
will happen.
Im starting to like nonfiction now! (I
never thought Id say that!)
Ive started getting real and reading
more nonfiction books and its going
pretty good. Im learning new things
about how our world is getting on.
I didn't enjoy nonfiction because if it
could always happen it seems that it's
just too real and it is something
everybody goes through.

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

Genre

18

Graphic Novels

# of Students Who
Mentioned Enjoying
this Genre
2

# of Students Who Said

They Did Not Enjoy This
Genre
0

Fantasy

"None of the [nonfiction] books are

very interesting."

Additional Comments by
Students (Taken from Survey
and Anecdotal Notes)

I tried graphic novels which I greatly

enjoyed and love to read.

Additionally, eight students (44% of the class) said there was not a new genre they tried that they
disliked, meaning they enjoyed every single new genre they tried. Only one student said, There is not a new
genre that I have found that I have enjoyed." He mentioned to me in person that after this genre challenge he
would like to go back to only reading fantasy and science fiction novels, his favorite genres. However, this
student read seven realistic fiction books during this challenge, so is hard to imagine he did not like that genre at
least a little bit, and he also tried every other genre besides nonfiction.
Finally, the genre challenge, as well as the forty-book challenge, has vastly increased student reading
habits, as evidenced by the huge jump in number of independent books completed this year as opposed to last
year. The following chart shows that due to the introduction of the forty-book challenge and the genre
challenge, my students are far surpassing the rate at which they read and completed books last year:

Average # of Books Read Per Week, Per

Student
% of Students Reading at a Faster Rate
than Last Year

Last Year
This Year
0.44
1.18
100%

Here are a couple of additional positive and negative comments I collected through the Readers Notebooks and
reading conferences about the 40-book challenge and the genre challenge:
Positive
I learned now not to stereotype books because they
too will surprise you.
Im getting more into reading because of the 40 book
challenge. I think I can make it if I try hard enough. I
hope I can make it.
I like trying new genres because I like trying new
things.

Negative
I dont think I will reach the goal, but I will still read
more than I read last year.
I havent tried new genres because when Im in the
middle of another book I just dont want to start a new
one.
I only read at home if Im really into my book.

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

I see now how reading new genres can help you
because youre opening up a whole new world to
yourself.
I know if I read at home and read more genres I will
become better and the 40 book challenge will get me
there.
I feel that trying new genres is interesting because I
can feel more confident and sure of myself when
reading other random books.

19

Im only reading genres just to get them over with to

say I tried them.
Im not a really big reader, so it takes me longer to
read books than my classmates.
I am a strong but slow reader.

Interpretation of the Results

As leader of the classroom, teachers can create enthusiasm for biographical and historical texts by
building and activating students background knowledge about those topics and by reading a book in that
genre together as a class. The amount of memoirs and historical fiction books students read about the
Holocaust grew by a vast amount because we were reading the novel Night together as a class when this
challenge took place. I noted that on the very first day of reading Night, three students went and picked out
books about the Holocaust during independent reading time. After that, over half the class read a book related
to the Holocaust during this challenge. I believe that is why the genres that had a lot of success were
biographies, autobiographies and memoirs, and historical fictionbecause my students read Holocaust books or
books about other genocides and discrimination in these genres.
Furthermore, my teacher research group recommended that I use book trailers to create hype about
certain books. Book trailers are either movie previews online for those books that have been made into movies,
or videos students or video producers around the world create to preview or give a little taste of a book.
When I inputted my weekly data and saw which genres were lacking, I planned to show one book trailer per day
on a book that belonged in that genre. Once students had some background knowledge about the book or their
interest was piqued, they were more likely to choose that book or a book from that genre.
Though I read Night with my students as a novel study in which they did the reading each day (either
whole group with me or in partners), teacher read alouds are a great way for teachers to expose their students to
new genres. Miller (2011) emphasized that read alouds or novel studies are a great way for students to become
exposed to a new genre, and then the teacher can encourage students to read from that genre on their own now

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

20

that they have interest in it (pp. 86-88). There is much research on the benefits for teacher read alouds: they
provide a way for students to hear great reading fluency and to experience the ups and downs of an exciting plot
together as a class (Miller, 2011, p. 88). I believe that fantasy was a genre that no students tried because during
this challenge, as a class we were mainly reading historical fiction and a memoir text that related to
discrimination and the Holocaust. Students were spending so much time trying books in these genres instead of
branching out to fantasy. I would recommend that if teachers wanted to try to get their students into a new
genre, they could read aloud a book from that genre and then tell students about other similar books to that one
if students enjoyed it. I would not be surprised that if I had done an additional read aloud of a science fiction or
fantasy novel during this challenge, I would see more of an increase in those genres being read.
For struggling readers or those only graphic novel readers, realistic fiction is the most popular
genre to gain an entrance into strong reading habits. The majority of my students who struggle to finish
books or who have not read a large amount of books besides graphic novels have the most success if they try
realistic fiction as their first attempt into non-graphic novel texts. This was certainly the case for seven out of
eight of my readers who prefer not to read or finished fewer than ten books last year. This makes sense, because
realistic fiction offers students an immediate connection to the characters who are living lives similar to their
own, and this genre does not require a heavy amount of background knowledge like historical fiction or
nonfiction does, so it is easier to access, especially for readers who struggle to comprehend text.
If teachers lack a large array of books of a particular genre in my classroom library, it is less likely
that students will read that genre at a high rate. The data showing how much students increased their
reading of certain genres is definitely reflective of my classroom library itself, which is bubbling over with
realistic fiction, biographical, poetry, and historical fiction texts. I have very few science fiction and highinterest nonfiction texts, so I did not see a great increase in these genres being read. If Im going to do this
forty-book challenge well, I must expand my students access to books, whether through increasing the selection
in my classroom library or taking my students to the public library.

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

21

While the majority of students had positive feelings toward trying new genres, students will be less
likely to be motivated to read on their own if they are not reading about a topic that interests them. At
the end of the day, teachers should celebrate students effort to try new genres and desire to read, and not
force them into continuing to read genres they do not like. Many of my students who had trouble
completing the challenge got slowed down because they were stuck on a book or a topic that they did not like
and continued trying to trudge through it. Struggling readers will not read at home if they are trying to read a
book that does not interest them. Throughout the project, I constantly had to affirm students opinions and
celebrate them for trying a new genre.

Part 5. Conclusions
How can teachers encourage student self-selection of texts while also encouraging students to read a
variety of genres? This can be done through a combination of student-teacher conferencing, scaffolded teacher
recommendations, and constantly getting to know your students better as you help them find books and genres
that interest them and motivate them to read more. It is possible to motivate students to read without using the
threat of grades or the reward of candy or parties; it can be done with a large amount of thoughtfulness and
work on the part of the teacher. If the components of time, choice, structure, community, and authentic
response are in place, students will become motivated to read. Guided by their teacher, an avid reader role
model, students will explore what genres and topics interest them and open their eyes to new concepts and texts
they had never even considered trying or appreciating before. The teacher must have structures in place to hold
students accountable in a way that is encouraging and promotes reading for the sake of reading; this means
validating student choice and celebrating progress and growth, and allowing students to do the same for
themselves as they track their own progress.

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

22

Part 6. Reflections and Action Plan

The biggest reflection I have from this project is the patience and encouragement I must use with my
students, and pulling back the reins on trying to control my students or force or require them to read a certain
amount of books, texts, or genres. It can be hard at times, but I know if I do release some of that control, I will
create lifelong adult readers who read because it is fun and interesting, not because they are required to. I will
build readers who can choose books for themselves and dont just read what someone else tells them to. I will
mold readers who want to try new genres and explore new things but who also love diving deep into a genre
they love.

I wont stifle readers or make students feel discouraged because theyre not completing enough

books or reading enough variety. Rather, I want to celebrate progress and exploration and recommend books I
love when I can.
If I were doing this project again, or were recommending it to other teachers, I would certainly suggest
doing it later on in the year. It is important to establish a strong foundation for reading before you start to push
students to read specific genres. I think my data would have been different if I had started this project later in
the year. This way, I will have already let students naturally find genres they liketo establish that positive
attitude toward reading-- before encouraging them to try something new. Furthermore, so much of the success
of this project depends on knowing ones students and their interests and habits extremely well. I am fortunate
enough to have taught these students last year, but many teachers do not have this luxury. It makes more sense
to wait to encourage students to try new genres until after youve created a strong relationship with them.
Moving forward, I plan to keep allowing students to read what they want to read, but then return to certain
students later in the year who still havent tried certain genres and see if I can push them in one genres direction
once they have more experience reading and more completed books under their belt.
Lastly, through completing this project I was reminded of the power of data and reflection. I thought I
had a pretty good understanding of how much my students were reading until I inputted all of the numbers into
a spreadsheet and saw it wasnt as good as I had hoped. I cant imagine doing this project without analyzing the
data and reflecting and improving and making changes based on that data along the way.

INCREASING STUDENT READING OF VARIOUS GENRES

23

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2. Ginther, Megan, and Mueller, Holly (2013). Top Ten Ways to Turn Your Classroom Into a Hotbed of
Enthusiastic Readers. Adventures in Learning Blog. Retrieved from http://meganginther.blogspot.com/2013/07/top10-ways-to-turn-your-classroom-into.html.

3. Ginther, Megan (2014). Curiosity [Literacy Contract]. Adventures in Learning Blog. Retrieved from
http://meganginther.blogspot.com/2014/06/curiosity.html.

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