Reading on Display

One of the most powerful things we can do to create passionate, lifelong readers is to be visible models. After hearing Steven Layne speak years ago, the adults in my school displayed their current “hot read” on a small easel. I made small laminated signs for each easel with personalized pictures that reflected each person's passions. Whether students were with the principal, the cook, the nurse, or their classroom teacher, it was evident that they were in a culture where reading was important. 

In their books, Steven Layne and Donalyn Miller provide practical suggestions for inspiring and developing lifelong readers. Donalyn refers to them as wild readers, those for whom reading is as natural and integral to life as breathing, sleeping, and eating are. Greene County Elementary in Jefferson, Iowa, has taken the mission to heart, expanding our books-on-an-easel idea to posters that reveal even more than what they are currently reading.

Posters were made for every adult in the school, and if you walk the halls, it becomes wildly apparent that you are in the realm of readers. We love that each poster includes other forms of reading. For instance, Teresa Skalla reads her mother's blog, People magazing, and Edutopia. We love that she printed small images of the book covers for extra eye appeal.