Establish a comfortable, inviting reading corner or area in your classroom. Doing so will enable students to disassociate the activity of reading from academic and social issues that they regularly deal with at school. In the reading area, offer guidance but do not pressure students to read anything in particular. Explain to students that the time they spend in the reading area should be fun and relaxing and serve as a break from their daily struggles.
Stock your reading area with a variety of interesting reading materials to draw students in and keep them engaged. Know your students' backgrounds and interests and continually introduce new materials that reflect those interests. Do not limit your materials to fiction; some students are more attracted to informational books, sports magazines and newspaper articles that teach them about their world. Discuss what you find interesting, funny or meaningful about a new item, and encourage students to explore it on their own time.
Read aloud to your students frequently. Keep your reading sessions brief to maintain their interest, but read with proper tone and inflection to grab and maintain their attention. Select a chapter book that features characters with whom your students can identify. In doing so, you will help them appreciate how books can and often do relate to their own lives. Leave your students hanging at the end of every reading session to generate excitement and to leave them thirsty for more.
Promote peer discussions about books your students have read. By doing so, you turn reading into a social, interactive activity. Peer discussions can be far more engaging than teacher-directed question-and-answer sessions. Students who participate in lively discussions about a book tend to view reading as more relevant, important and valuable than students who merely answer questions posed by their teachers.
Make use of the reading-writing connection. Give students a chance to write their own books, journal entries, letters and poems, and invite individual students to read their written work aloud. Encourage students to keep reading-response journals in which they can reflect meaningfully on something they have read.