What Works

• giving children a choice of books
• availability and variety of books
• providing children with alternative forms of literature (i.e. comics, magazines)
• letting children pick their own books or letting them have some say in choosing the books they read
• allowing children to bring in material that they would like to share with the class
• appropriately presenting literature (based on interests of younger readers)
• regular and frequent reading sessions
• reading aloud with
• reading aloud to
• the parent or reader should be enthusiastic when reading to young children
• making reading entertaining and challenging
• focusing on immediate enjoyment of a text, rather than analysis; moving emphasis toward analysis as children gain experience with and begin to get enjoyment from literature
• encouraging discussion about the material in a comfortable, non-confrontational, collaborative environment
• letting each child work at their own pace
• trying to get readers to reason out their opinions or ideas
• getting to the point of the book/literature; narrowing down the focus
• connecting literature with broader curriculum (so long as it is done carefully; useful if path leads back to the literature as literature, while not very useful when the connection works to simply draw younger readers away from the literature)
• competition--sometimes competing with other students to read as many books as possible is a motivator
• making a comfortable reading environment including things such as pillows, blankets, and silence
• always encouraging the child in whatever tasks they are trying to accomplish
• always validating readers' unique ideas and opinions; asking them questions along their lines of interest in order to expand their thoughts/ideas
• spending time with the student if they are having difficulty
• one on one teaching
• being patient
• giving readers feedback as to how they are doing and why they might be doing things incorrectly
• listening very carefully when a child is reading and asking them questions about the material
• allowing children to work in groups
• letting the children create drawings that represent their understanding of the literature
• developing different kinds of art based on stories
• taking part in writing a book as a class--each student creates a page of the book
• more than one visual, i.e. movie, book, acting, etc.
• acting out stories
• verbal storytelling and creation
• "read-along" books
• tying in other creative elements
• teaching children that reading is valuable not only in terms of literature, but also in many aspects of daily life (i.e. reading signs)
• rewards

What Doesn't Work

• forcing a child to read something they don't want to read
• looking for hidden meanings
• dissection and analysis with a "right or wrong answer"
• spending too much time on making sense of the words and their meanings
• over-analyzing
• using incorrect or overly complicated vocabulary when teaching or exposing readers to literature
• literary techniques
• looking up every other word
• taking the entire text into consideration and not emphasizing the moral of the story
• force-feeding opinions as to why a story may be important
• reading beyond a level of comprehension
• simply reading the story to the class and not exploring the literature any further
• underestimating the intelligence of a student
• expectations that are too high or too low
• lack of variety in reading material
• doing the same work over and over again; children get bored doing things they already know how to do
• reading the whole story with the same emphasis
• competition--can be a discourager
• giving homework when a child doesn't understand how to do it
• too much lecturing, not enough discussion
• uncomfortable and/or intimidating situations, such as speaking/reciting in front of the class
• consistent use of individual work with no collaborative opportunities
• forcing children to concentrate on too much; lack of focus
• not taking into account differing reading levels within classes/groups
• interrupting from teacher when a child is trying to make an important point
• categorizing readers as low or high level
• method of teaching (activities boring to children)
• boredom; repetitive activities
• embarrassing the reader