12 Ways to Motivate Reluctant Readers

I think I must have been born with a book in my hand! My parents told me that from the moment I learned to read, I would read everything in sight, from cereal boxes to billboards. When I began reading books, there was no stopping me! I even begged them to name my baby brother after a book character. (Yes, that story is really true!)

When I became a teacher, I was amazed to discover that most kids don’t enjoy reading. To me, books are full of excitement and adventure, like a movie that you can take with you. I spent my first 25 years as a teacher in a quest for the perfect way to teach reading. You know what I discovered? There isn’t one. There’s no one way to teach reading that will meet the needs of every kid in your class. Children are too different, and their needs are too diverse to be met with one single reading program.

But the good news is that even if there’s not one “right” way to teach reading, there are at least a dozen ways to motivate reluctant readers. You just have to figure out what works for your students. External rewards may work in the short term, but if you really want students to love reading you have to look for other options.

Here are a twelve strategies to motivate reluctant readers, and none of them involve stickers, certificates, or pizza.

Read 12 Ways to Motivate Reluctant Readers