In a study of over 8,000 primary and secondary students conducted in England and supported by the National Literacy Trust, one half of the participants reported not only liking to read but also believing themselves to be proficient readers. Researchers presented distinctions between confident readers and those who were dissatisfied and less confident. The research suggested that three overriding goals are vital to the cause of improved reading performance.

First, create a culture that encourages enthusiastic readers. The study suggested matching the actual interests of readers with the menu of reading materials. Second, engage boys with reading by involving male role models and engaging boys in the creation of the school’s culture. Third, support parents’ efforts to encourage children’s reading at home through home–school practices to create a habit of student reading.

Regardless of instructional methodology, consistent application of reading strategies is a prerequisite for reading proficiency. It has long been realized that the opportunity to individually choose reading material can be a source of motivation to continue to read. Curriculum experts warn us not to provide students with the option of not reading—some will always choose not to read. Ask students what book they will be reading today. Of course, this inquiry presumes that the opportunity to read literature as an integral component of the school program is available and acceptable. 

As one accumulates years of teaching experience frequent feelings of déjà vu may occur. In his teaching experience, this writer initiated a new reading practice known as “individualized reading” into his classroom.

This pedagogy continues in some contemporary classrooms as a vehicle for delivering a deeply rewarding reading experience for teacher and students. Some writers express a preference for a focus on literature rather than reading methodology during teacher preparation due to a conviction that children’s literature is the basis for effective reading instruction. Others also insist that we must convey to students it is not what they choose to read but that their commitment to read that matters. The more students read real books, the more opportunity they have to apply the skills we wish them to acquire. My fifth grade students consumed 1,354 books during one year of individual reading choice.

Stories challenge the reader’s ability to reflect on his or her beliefs and assumptions about diverse and unique individual persons. This is the insight reading holds for all learners. Indeed the power of stories is insurmountable. All of the world’s great teachers employed the vehicle of stories—Gandhi, Confucius, Jesus, and Gilbran, to name a few—to reflect on life’s dilemmas, enabling us to confront them without having to actually live through them. Consider the dilemma in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as Huck confronts the choice of turning Jim, the slave, over to the slave traders as he weighs what’s “right” against what “don’t feel right” about turning over the man with whom he has become so empathic, but conflicted. In the wordless storybook Sing, Pierrot, Sing, we can engage children by asking them to create a story as we guide them through each page. Children may offer many different stories demonstrating that meaning can be constructed in the mind of the individual not solely from the words on a page. Why do stories help us to teach so effectively? They reveal who we are to ourselves.

Another advantage of stories becomes evident when they serve as explicit models of human behavior. They tend to do so in a manner that is more vivid than any bland or logical entreaty. The most compelling representation of storytelling for children is found in literature written for them. Let’s not squeeze the bountiful stories of children’s literature into the classroom; rather, let’s proactively invite the lessons of children’s literature to form the basis of instruction in reading. Thus, we can create a classroom culture that engenders confidence and self-efficacy for all our students, while delineating the instrumental role of coreader with children for their parents.

John R. McIntyre is a professor in the Educational Administration and Supervision graduate program at Caldwell University in New Jersey. He began his educational career as a fifth-grade teacher and a reading specialist. He earned his doctorate at Rutgers University and held a number of positions in educational administration, including school superintendent.