Do you have any students that do not finish books constantly? Students can and should abandon books they aren’t enjoying. We need to strategically give students the tools and confidence to know when it’s the right time to give up on a book that does not catch their interest. Teachers need to teach students when to give up on a book they aren’t enjoying. We also need to know when to support students who chronically move on to new books without finishing any of them.
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Teach Students to Abandon Books they Don’t Enjoy: When to give up on a book
My goal as a reading teacher is to build life-long readers.
To build life-long readers, we need to know when to toss aside books that just don’t hold our attention. No one is going to develop a sudden love for reading if they continue to hold on to a book that is taking them three, four, five months or longer to finish.
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When I am enjoying a book, I know that I am because I can’t stop reading it. I become Gollum from Lord of the Rings, each new book becomes My Precious.
The books that I have enjoyed the most are the ones that I move through the quickest.
As I devour the books, I am finished in one, two or three days. Students certainly don’t have to finish them in three days to enjoy them, but the quicker they move through them, the easier it is to see the interest.
Slower readers will take longer to go through a book, but if a student is reading at least 20 minutes a day, every day, students should be moving on to a new book every three weeks or so (depending on the page length). Who Was? should not take three weeks, Eragon might take a bit longer.
Teach Students to Abandon Books they Don’t Enjoy: When Do I Give Up on a Book?
My rule of thumb is that if I am not captivated by the first 10% of the book, I am going to pass on the book. I define ‘captivated with a book,’ as my desire to read the book during my designated reading times.
If I find myself not in the mood, looking at other books or that my mind is wandering (more than it normally does) during my reading time, I might have a stinker of a book on my hands.
Some books I know that I absolutely will not get into. This usually happens when I try out a new author and find that I don’t like their writing style- too much dialogue, too little dialogue, generic language etc. This doesn’t happen with every new author, but typically my immediate discard pile is usually a new to me author.
Other times I might struggle with an author that I usually enjoy, but for some reason do not feel a connection with the specific book I am reading at the time. If I find this happening I will do one of two things- I might increase my skimming of the book. Increasing skimming of a specific part of a book might help to move on to a more interesting part, in which I would slow down to savor the book. If skimming doesn’t seem to help or if I am not in the mood to skim, I will put the book down, pick up another one and then return at a later date to revisit the story.
Sometimes my interest in a book wanes because a more interesting book has recently become available to me. If this is the case, I know I can put the book off to the side, read the more preferred book, and then return to the original book.
Knowing my own habits and preferences as a reader helps me to discuss and guide my students to make their own reading decisions, deepening their skills as life-long readers.
How to Teach Students to Give Up on an Independent Reading Book
The first thing every reading teacher needs to do is give students the permission that it is okay to give up on a book. Some students are taught and others feel it internally, that all teachers read everything and enjoy every book that was ever written.
This shouldn’t be surprising. As a reading and writing teacher, my topics covered include teaching syllables, Greek and Latin stems and vocabulary, many topics that students might find excruciatingly torturous.
Why wouldn’t students start to develop the mindset that every reading teacher everywhere reads (and enjoys) absolutely every single book that has ever existed?
I happily teach the difference between open and closed syllables (with a smile on my face). Of course some students think I read the dictionary for fun!
So, first and most importantly, talk openly about books and authors that you read with your students. Make sure to include times that you read a book that you didn’t enjoy or gave up on. Give the students permission that it is okay to give up on a book they don’t like. Many of your struggling readers need to hear this reassurance.
There are a few different ways you can teach students either as a think aloud or through student reading conferences.
My rule of thumb is to stop reading a book if I am not hooked at about 10% of the way through the book. My students know how to figure out 10%, so it should be a skill they can develop. You can create an anchor chart or a page in their reading notebooks if you think students need to reference this information.
10% of a 100 page book is page 10
10% of a 150 page books page 15
10% of a 200 page book is page 20
10% of a 250 page book is page 25
You get the picture.
Most books for 5th graders are somewhere between 150-200 pages. This means, that if they are not pulled into a book by the 15-20th pages, they might want to consider giving up on the book.
Doing this as a think aloud with the whole class ensures that everyone has heard the strategy and has ‘permission’ to give up on a book. Following up during individual reading conferences can extend the thinking as well increase students abilities to take chances on books they might not normally pick up.
Why not try this book by a brand new author or genre? What’s the worst, the student could always give up on it if they don’t like it. Giving students a structure to try new things and how to handle it if they don’t like their choices can extend their reading experiences and growth as life long readers.
Teach Students to Abandon Books they Don’t Enjoy: How to Deal with Students that Do Not Finish Books (DNF) Constantly
DNF – Did not finish
Do you have students that do not finish books?
I have a student who is always checking out books. They are always holding the book. They always have the book with them, they will even look in the book. The only problem is they never ever seem to read the book.
In my experience these students haven’t developed the stamina to independently get into a book. Think about all of the metacognitive skills that go into starting a book of fiction. I personally don’t have this problem with informational text- maybe because of the pictures, the structured topic or my overall background knowledge. I can read informational text and hit the ground running.
Starting a book of fiction requires an extra amount of focus in the first third of the book that is not needed for the remaining two thirds of the book.
You need to figure out the setting (where does this take place? Does this place already exist- which is easier to imagine than an entirely newly created fantasy land, the characters- what do they look like? The characters in my head at the beginning of the book are just placeholders compared to what they look like at the end of the book. Are all the characters important? Who do I need to focus on and remember- who is unimportant?
The amount of brain power used to start a new book, especially a new author, is huge. Some students, especially the repeat DNFs need more structured support to get into a story. These students might need you to sit with them to read the first few pages of the book together. You don’t have to read the entire book with them, just help get them going. Break the story down with them and give them the training wheels to start the book. Once they get going with a story they choose, they should be interested enough to continue on on their own.
These students would most likely be more successful with books in which they have already seen the movie version (less brain power used to visualize the story), formulaic books (I Survived or Who Was) and books that have a shorter page count or a book of short stories (David Lubar’s Weenie books are all delightfully weird).
The goal is to give them enough support to get them going and then release them to finish the book independently.
If students still struggle beyond that additional support, you might want to check their decoding ability. Are they fluent readers? How is their attention and ability to attend in class?Is something getting in the way of their comprehending the story?
Looking For More Resources for Teaching Reading?
Flashback Should Be Taught Before Foreshadowing When Teaching Reading
Teaching Narrator and Point of View
How to Find Good Independent Reading Books for Students
Executive Functioning and Teaching Reading in the Classroom
You Need to Do a Teacher Read Aloud
What about you?
Do you teach your students to give up on books? How do you support your students who cycle quickly through books without finishing? I would love to hear?
