How the Reading Challenge for 2018-19 Was Born

Recently I did a staff development about the benefits of teachers reading with their students and showcasing how the ACMS media center can help them in this journey.

To begin the session, I asked teachers to respond to two questions using PollEverywhere.com. The first question asked teachers how many books, on average, they expected their students to read each year. This included both books they had to read as all-class novels AND their independent reading. Their responses are below:

Then, I presented the staff with the second question: How many books did you read last year? 

I had quite a few staff members lament the fact that there wasn't a "0" option, and I told them that I thought for sure they could count their textbook as at least 1. After I reassured them that this was not meant to be snarky, but actually more illuminating, we talked about the importance of not only modeling independent reading, but reading books that would appeal to our students. 

We then discussed my book cover wall. I keep track of the books I read and post pictures of the covers. Here is my wall so far:

Recently, my para asked why she didn't have a book wall. I told her she was more than welcome to have one and then she wanted it to be a competition. After much discussion, we decided to involve even more staff members and make it a competition between all of the teams. So, next year, there will be a space for the 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, and Specials area teachers to post, track, and promote the books they are reading. I had a ton of excitement from the teachers and I even had two book checkouts during the Specials team staff development. 

In addition, I shared news about the ACMS Library summer hours and told teachers they were more than welcome to come in and check out books over the summer. They were assured that their summer titles would count for the challenge in the fall. :)

I'm excited to see how this goes and love the fact that so many teachers were interested in reading. In order to keep the momentum going over the summer I am starting a Google Classroom for us to share books and recommendations and will also be doing summer PD sessions via the blog. Literacy is something that I am SUPER PASSIONATE about and I can't wait to see how this student engagement and literacy next year.

Do any of you or your schools do any sort of reading challenges for staff? Do you have any ideas for reading promotion with your teachers? I'd love to hear them!